Stories from

A story in the Democrat and Chronicle indicates the D&C is getting the USA Today printing contract, which for a generation has been with the Batavia Daily News, because the paper will finally have a plant capable of handling the job.

Ambor said USA Today had been printed for regional circulation outside the company for 24 years because the Democrat and Chronicle's presses, then located at the downtown building, weren't equipped to handle the extra work.

Construction of the Canal Ponds plant, and the current need to find economies within the company, made the switch possible and practical.

I can't believe a good reporter wrote "find economies." What he really means is "cut costs."

Gannett, which owns both the D&C and USA Today, is struggling like all newspaper companies, but it's problems may be more severe than some. This week the conglomerate announced yet another round of layoffs, reducing work force across the company by some 1,400 people. It also faces a huge debt payments due in 2011 of more than $700 million. There's much speculation in the industry that Gannett won't survive as a company beyond the date that payment comes due.

Meanwhile, Watertown-based Johnson Newspapers has little to say about the fallout in Batavia.

Harold Johnson II, president and chief operating officer of Johnson Newspaper Corp., which owns the Batavia Daily News, declined Wednesday to say how much loss of the contract would cost the company. He said there likely would be pressroom job cuts in Batavia because of the change.

"It's been a mutually beneficial relationship over years," Johnson said, referring to the contract with Gannett. "But there are other possibilities we will explore."

James Piersma, 49, of 7577 Townline Road, Bergen, is accused of stealing television cable service. He is charged with theft of service. Piersma allegedly stole the service between April 21 and June 24. He was issued an appearance ticket.

Joshua Bratcher, 19, of 88 Lake St., Le Roy, is charged with assault in the third degree. Bratcher allegedly fought a man from Alexander, hitting him in his face and fracturing his cheek bone. Bratcher was issued an appearance ticket.

A 17-year-old from Bergen is accused of damaging the property of another person valued at more than $250. He is charged with criminal mischief. The youth was issued an appearance ticket.

A 16-year-old from Oakfield is charged with coercion and disorderly conduct. Allegedly, the youth was involved in a domestic dispute with his mother. He allegedly threw items inside the house, threatened his mother and prevented her from entering the house.

Batavia residential homes and apartments will need to pass regular inspections -- either every 36 months or at the time of sale -- according to a proposal being put forward by the city's Neighborhood Improvement Committee.

The proposed ordinance changes would create a Residential and Rental Occupancy Permit that would be required on all rental properties, with a three-year renewal cycle even when the home or apartment doesn't change occupants. The permit would also be required whenever a single-family home was sold.

"This is important for the city itself because everything seems to be deteriorating," said committee chairwoman Karen Valle. "The housing stock is old. Almost half, if not half of the housing stock is income property. A lot of us are property owners, myself included, who are sandwiched in between a lot of income property and we've gotten swallowed up by the constant rotation of tenants who don't care about where they live. They take no responsibility for their actions or the property in which they live, so it's making us lose value in our property."

Committee member Anne Baron added, "There are too many people who live in the community who do not have the community's best interest in mind. They treat (property) as nothing."

The proposed changes will give city officials greater authority to get into homes and inspect them for safety issues as well as compliance with a range of city building and occupancy codes.

Terry Platt, who owns many rental units in the city and serves on the committee said the proposed changes will help protect property values and ensure people are living in safe and clean neighborhoods.

Under the terms of the proposed codes, landlords will need to register their tenants with the city so that city officials know who is living at a particular residence, allowing the city to more easily hold tenants accountable for home maintenance issues that are solely their responsibility.

"At this point right now everything falls on the landlord." Valle said. "There's a lot of quality of life issues that should be addressed by tenants."

When things do need to be handled by a property owner, the committee wants to ensure a person responsible for the property is easy to reach and has the ability to deal with the issues. Under the terms of the proposed changes, any landlord who lives outside the area will be required to register an "agent of record" who lives in Genesee County and will assume responsibility for the property.

The proposed changes are being sent to City Attorney George Van Nest, who will formalize the language and submit it to City Manager Jason Molino for review. The committee hopes a vote on the proposed changes will come before the City Council before the end of the year.

City Council President Charlie Mallow said it's time for the city to crack down on property owners and tenants who don't take care of their dwellings. After years of dealing with budget issues and other problems in the city, it's time, he said, for the City Council to take action to help clean up the city. (Audio Statement)

Valle agreed and said it's important to help residents understand that they're more than just occupants in a building when they move into Batavia.

"There's no respect for neighbors," Valle said. "I keep telling tenants when they moved in next to me, you didn't move into a house. You moved into a neighborhood. You have to respect the people around you and you have to respect the neighborhood."

Last night's consolidation meeting at Batavia High School wasn't much like the consolidation meeting earlier in the month.

Where the previous meeting was dominated by Town of Batavia residents who forcefully opposed even the suggestion of getting hitched to the city, last night there were many more reasoned voices, both from town and the city.

Outside of Ed O'Neil citing a straw poll that seemed to indicate widespread opposition to consolidation, the majority of speakers where either more interested in asking questions and at least entertaining the notion that consolidation might make sense.

If all you knew was the first meeting, you would feel assured that any consolidation vote in the town would go down in flames. If you listened fairly to last night's crowd, you might think, "well maybe this thing has got a chance."

Not, mind you, a strong chance, but a chance.

"We have a lot of different opinions here in this room tonight, a lot of different thoughts," said town resident Rick Gilmartin. "I think we can all agree on one thing -- it's that taxes are a burden in this state. If we can find a way to have less government instead of more, and if there are efficiencies to be gained by consolidation, then I think we need to look hard at that."

More than one person pointed out that for all the concern from town residents about city debt and expense becoming a burden for town residents (which shouldn't happen under the proposed tier system), the town is fairly dependent on the city for many services and facilities, such as the library, water, UMMC, GoArt, a good number of tax-exempt church properties and many businesses that town residents frequent.

There already is one Batavia. There just isn't necessarily just one government.

Here's a few audio highlights from the meeting:

• Ed O'Neil and John Gerace
• Bob Zeagler
• Hezekiah Webster
• Steve Hyde
• Unidentified City Resident
• Rick Gilmartin
• Abbie Dayland

A 50-year-old Le Roy woman previously accused of dealing drugs is now charged with murder.

Joann M. Rusby, of 92 Lake Street, Le Roy, is accused of contributing to the death of Yvonne M. Hart, 53, whom Rusby allegedly supplied with Fentanyl.

Rusby was originally arrested March 11 and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal sale of a controlled substance.

Today, Rusby was charged with manslaughter.  The charge was brought after an autopsy report by the Monroe County Medical Examiner was filed.

Le Roy investigators allege that Rusby recklessly supplied the victim with a Fentanyl patch that could cause death if not properly used and failed to notify the woman of the dangers.  The woman's death is believed to be a direct result of the Fentanyl patch.

Rusby is under supervision of Genesee Justice.

June Lee, left, and Janet Lee were outside of the Masonic Template 200 E. Main St., which also happens to be the location of The Batavian office, this afternoon, so I asked what was going on.

"We're waiting for the photographer from the paper," June said.

"Well, how would you like to have The Batavian take your picture, too?" I asked and she said "sure."

The book sale, sponsored by the Batavia Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, is Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., "rain or shine."

Proceeds will benefit various local charities.

One thing I was curious about: Whether Batavia has chapters of Demolay (I was a member for a short time in my youth), or Rainbow Girls.  The Lees said there is an effort ongoing right now to reconstitute a Rainbow Girls chapter in Genesee County.

When I drive through the Village of Le Roy, I see nothing but potential. It's a quaint "downtown" -- couple of blocks set against a scenic creek and a sense of history.

It's a shame there are so many vacant store fronts in Le Roy.

So, when I got this announcement today from Janice Revier, I was quite happy.  It's great to see a pair of entrepreneurs investing in Le Roy:

Take a walk down Main Street, number 70 to be exact (between the Wiss Hotel  and Townsend Oil), and you’ll find a new shop in town – “the Locally Made shop.”  This venture, started by Colleen O’Connor from Stafford and Jan Revier from LeRoy, will be a teaching gallery, displaying and selling items made by artisans from Genesee and surrounding counties.

It expects to be open starting July 10th and while in its infancy, it currently has some hand-woven products, hooked rugs and mats (traditionally hooked, not latch hooked), handspun and hand-dyed yarns, and some knit items. While this inventory is currently made up of fiber-related output, the goal is to have more artisans from different quality crafts represented –  artwork, pottery, jewelry, basketry, quilting, photography and any other  medium which blends well with the store’s other merchandise. Applications  to be represented at the shop will be available at the store itself or you can email locallymadeshop@aol.com for information or a copy of the application.

The shop will be open Fridays and Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and other times by appointment. Ultimately. they expect to have some supplies related to their handwork available, possibly an evening gathering where you can bring your project to work on, a small lending library of related books and magazines, and to conduct classes when there is enough interest. In the meantime, drop in and say hello and watch an heirloom being created. Any and all encouragement will be greatly appreciated and just maybe this can breathe a little life into downtown LeRoy. At least “the Locally Made shop” is 
going to try.

A two-vehicle accident with minor injuries is reportedly blocking Route 20 at 1888 Broadway, half way between Alexander and Darien.

The accident involves a car and tractor trailer. There is reportedly severe damage on the car and it's leaking gasoline.

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Recently, we've had a spate of issues around people getting very personal with each other on The Batavian.

In some cases, I've acted quickly to remove the posts. In a few others, I've been slow either because of other work, the need for sleep or trying to decide just how appropriate or inappropriate a particular post might be.

And in at least one case, I let a blog post make it onto the home page that contained a clear personal attack. Even though it involved a person who was not at the time a member of the site, he is a private individual in the community.

This person was called out by name and slammed pretty hard.

It was an oversight on my part to let the post go. The topic was worthy for community discussion. Ironically, it was on sportsmanship. Ironic, because it wasn't very sportsman-like of me to let the comment go by without at least asking the author to edit his post. My cringe factor when I read it wasn't attuned highly enough.

I've apologized to that individual and unpublished the post.

Going forward, I am going to try to be even more attuned to the personal attacks. We want to have productive discussions about community issues (and sometimes national and world issues) on The Batavian. It should be possible to do that without making it personal or mean spirited. 

If you ever feel an attack has made it onto the site and I haven't reacted quickly enough or judged it correctly, please write to me at howard@thebatavian.com. I'll review all such requests and do my best to make the appropriate decision in each individual case.

A Batavia man is accused of shaking a baby so hard that he caused serious injuries to the 15-month-old infant.

Dietrich Williams, of 14 Hutchins Place, Batavia, was indicted by the grand jury yesterday on charges of assault in the first degree and reckless assault of a child.

The incident allegedly occurred around June 20 or June 21.

Williams is being held in Genesee County Jail without bail.

The indictment reads that Williams acted "under circumstances evincing a depraved indifference to human life, recklessly engaged in conduct which created grave risk of death to another person, and thereby caused serious physical injury to another person.

Williams reportedly slammed or threw the child "so as to impact the child's head on a hard surface."

The baby has not been identified nor were details supplied on the nature and extend of the infant's injuries.

Arraignment has been set for July 7 at 9 a.m. in County Court.

Dennis M. Abrams, one of the three men accused of robbing the M&T Bank in Elba on June 18, was, according to his attorney, a respectable, upstanding, taxpaying citizen prior to the alleged crime and subsequent chase and six-hour manhunt.

Abrams reportedly has no prior criminal record, is employed full time (with a collections agency that is supposedly keeping his job open for him), married and expecting the couple's first child in a month on their fourth anniversary. Abrams is also a foster father to his wife's nieces.

Yet, Dennis M. Abrams, 26, is also accused of using a pistol he bought and registered to put a teller "in fear of her life," according to District Attorney Lawrence Friedman.

In his written confession, Abrams reportedly admits to waiving his gun in the air inside the bank. Friedman said a teller tells a different story. She said Abrams pointed the gun at her head.

Friedman said Abrams admitted to hatching the bank robbery plan and driving his vehicle to and from Elba, after removing the license plates to help avoid identification.

Abrams, and co-defendant Demone D. Dillon, 25, both plead not guilty to three counts each of robbery. The third defendant, Michael J. Wells, 24, appears in court to answer the charges on Monday.

They are both being held on $250,000 bail and $500,000 bond.

Abrams has retained renowned defense attorney Paul Cambria, who is currently also representing Scott Doll, who is accused of killing a business associate in Pembroke. Daniel Killelea appeared today on behalf of Cambria.

With at least a dozen friends and family members, as well as his pastor, present, Killelea tried to convince Judge Robert Noonan to reduce his bail to $25,000.

"I think Mr. Abrams isn't typical of a defendant who stands before the court accused of bank robbery," Killelea said. "He has an actual life beyond the charges currently before the court."

Killelea also noted the Abrams gave himself up within 15 minutes of the manhunt starting and cooperated fully with law enforcement from the moment of his arrest.

Friedman countered that Abrams is accused of being the mastermind, the getaway driver and the man who owned and used a loaded handgun to help commit the crime.

"I'm confident in the strength of the people's case," Friedman said. "Mr. Abrams gave a full written confession. I find it hard to believe that a reputable collections agency would continue to keep him employed."

Noonan said that while he was mindful of Abrams clean background, he had to take into consideration the nature of the crime.

"I'm extremely shocked that a licensed handgun was used by the licensee in such a brazen manner," Noonan said. Noonan said that in 30 years he's only seen a licensee us his own gun in a crime once. "This never happens," Noonan added.

The trio allegedly left the bank with more than $20,000, according to Friedman.

Abrams' uncle, John Abrams, was among the family members in court. He seemed eager to talk about the case, but was advised by Killelea not to speak with the media. John Abrams -- who is reportedly in law enforcement and showed up at the State Police Barracks in Batavia during the manhunt to encourage Dennis Abrams to continue cooperating with the police -- did say there are two sides to the story and more to the case than what has come out so far.

Contrasted with Abrams, Dillon does reportedly have a prior record. He reportedly also has parole and probation violations in his past.

Nicholas Jacob Ridge Adkins, 18, of 6954 Swamp Road, Byron, is charged with a felony count of burglary and a misdemeanor charge of petty larceny. He is accused of entering a neighboring residence and stealing property from the house. Bail is set at $2,500.

Richard Mungo, 42, 3252 Pine Terrace #3, Macedon, is charged with petty larceny. Mungo allegedly stole a variety of items from the gift shop at Darien Lake Theme Park on June 30.

David Tuttle, 69, 1 Hidden Meadows Drive, Bergen, is charged with harassment. He is accused of punching a neighbor in the face twice during an argument in front of their homes. He was arraigned in Bergen Town Court and released on his own recognizance.

Two deals today:

Belladessa's Pizzeria, 9 Jackson St., Batavia, N.Y.: Here's a deal -- half off on a Family Meal Deal from Belladessa's, which is a large 1 topping pizza, 24 wings and 2 liter bottle of soda. It's a $25 value for $12.50.

Center Street Smoke House, 20 Center St., Batavia, N.Y.: Ribs, brisket, steak, prime rib -- Center Street is a meat lovers paradise. We have a $25 gift card for $12.50.

A $1 PayPal service fee applies.

Rules: The gift certificate must be used by within 30 days of purchase. It is not valid with other offers and has no cash value.  People who have won a certificate in the past 30 days are not eligible to win a certificate from the same business as before.  By state law, gift certificates cannot be used for alcohol purchase.

How to Win: Purchase using the PayPal "Buy Now" button below. After the first person to hit the "buy now" button completes the purchase, PayPal will let you know that the item has been sold. Ideally, the winner will arrange to stop by my office on Main Street to pick up gift certificate. Mail is an option, but it would be better to hand you the gift certificate. 

If you want to be notified via e-mail of future Deals of the Day, sign up for the Deals of the Day e-mail list by clicking here.

Merchants: If you would like your business featured in Deal of the Day, call Howard Owens at 260-6970.

Belladesssa's

sold

Center Street

sold

One of the highlights of summer in Batavia is just around the corner: The Ramble Music & Arts Fest is set for July 11, opening at 11 a.m. with local author Bill Kauffman setting the stage, so to speak, with opening remarks.

This year, there will be 24 bands and performers on two stages, along with artists, poetry readings, food and an area for children's chalk art.

"A lot of people think that Ramble is just a reunion for the musicians," said Bill McDonald, one of the organizers. "It's not. It's a chance for all people who have loved the music and the art to come together and hear the music again and see the art."

This year will also includes an 8 p.m. guitar raffle, with tickets being sold all day, to benefit the Mental Health Association of Genesee County.

Pictured above are Jeff Wilber, Charley DelPlato, Bill Pitcher, Roberta Pugh, Don Burkel, Sue Gagne and Bill McDonald.

Here's the complete schedule of events for Ramble 2009.

Here's Philip's video from last year:

Writing for the GLOW Democrats blog, Adama Brown (whom I believe is from Livingston County) speaks some sense:

I'm hereby calling on the entire New York State Senate to resign, effective immediately.

Every member of the chamber, go home. Have the Governor call a special election, complete with primaries, for all the Senate seats. The current senators can run to get their jobs back if they like, but let's allow the voters to decide who they want running this thing. Everyone is at exactly equal risk--the only thing that you have to be judged on is how you've conducted yourself.

What a perfect solution to a horrible situation.

If they won't resign, I wonder what process could be done to start impeachment proceedings against every member?  Or, does New York  have a recall process like California?

Just how do you throw the bums out?

Nothing against our own Senator, Mike Ranzenhofer, but he may have to risk his Senate career for the greater good of the state.

However, Brown is nothing but a realist. This is all fantasy, as Brown says:

Believe me, I'm under no illusions that this will actually happen. But at this point it doesn't seem any more unlikely than a power sharing agreement that will do anything other than put the entire state on hold until 2010.

Two of the three suspects in the June 18 robbery of the M & T Bank in Elba will be in court tomorrow to answer charges related to the alleged crime.

Appearing at the 10 a.m. arraignment at the county court house will be Dennis M. Abrams, Jr, 26, of 202 Merrimac St., Buffalo and Demone D. Dillon, 25, 128 LaSalle Ave., Buffalo.

Both men, along with Michael J. Wells, 24, 69 Camp St., Buffalo, were indicted by the county grand jury on June 23 on a charge of robbery in the first degree.

Dillon is represented by Gary Horton and Abrams is represented by Robert Convissar.

Previous coverage:

• Manhunt in progress near Townline and 63
• Elba robbery suspects identified, arraigned and held without bail
• Suspects didn't know what they were getting into when they chose Genesee County
• Alleged Elba bank robbers indicted by grand jury

When William Allen White bought the Emporia (Kansas) Gazette in 1895 for $3,000 he probably didn't even dream that one day he would be America's most popular and famous small town newspaper editor.

Long before White became nationally known as a leader of progressive Republicans and the "Sage of Emporia," his immediate concern was: Survival.

There were at least three other newspapers in Emporia when he bought the weakest, least profitable of the group.

One his first tasks was landing some lucrative printing contracts. It would be some years before the Gazette made much money from advertising. White could afford to pay himself and his editorial staff largely because of piece-work printing.

White's experience is hardly unique. Most of the newspapers that survived the early tumultuous days of printed journalism relied heavily on outside print jobs.

Those big, bulky, dirty presses are expensive to run and maintain. The big iron is part of the mythology of journalism, but those presses are not really earning their keep when they're sitting still.

Fewer and fewer newspapers these days print their own editions, but those that still retain a printing operation aggressively seek print jobs. It's an important part of their cash flow.

In that light, our friends at the Daily News received some disturbing news yesterday. Gannett informed the company that it is moving the regional print run of USA Today from Batavia to Rochester, where Gannett prints and owns the Democrat and Chronicle. The Daily will print USA Today for 12 more months.

By its own account, the Daily has done a fine job of printing USA Today. There's no doubt that's true. Print quality is exceptionally important to a graphic-oriented paper like USA Today. The Daily could not have kept the contract for 24 years without delivering quality results. The team that worked on USA Today -- and I've met a couple of them -- should be proud of the work they did.

This move is certainly a financial consideration by Gannett.

But surely it has a tremendous financial impact on Batavia's only daily print publication.

So far, General Manager Tom Turnbull hasn't publicly discussed what that impact will be.

Ever since The Batavian first came to town, I've heard from a number of people around the area that the Daily's profitability is tightly bound to the USA Today contract.

I've no way of knowing if that's true, but many people seem to think so, therefore it's a point worth raising. It is suggested that Mr. Turnbull act quickly to assure the community that his corner of the Johnson Newspaper chain will remain strong and intact.

Newspapers are important facet of a community's life and vibrancy. No person who cares about a community's welfare wants to see its newspaper struggle.

I've been asked what this development means for The Batavian. I hope, honestly, nothing. I'm busy and focused on building a business that can sustain me and my wife and hopefully employ a few people in the not-too-distant future. I don't see The Batavian's success dependent on, or tied to, what happens at the Daily. There's no reason both media companies, along with WBTA radio of course, cannot thrive.

Even if this news is as bad as some might assume, I wouldn't count the Daily out. The company is staffed by a group of bright, hard-working, creative and intelligent people who won't just roll over. If there is a plan to make up the lost Gannett revenue -- and we don't really know this for sure based on Mr. Turnbull's statements thus far --  we should all expect the Daily staff to succeed.

For the community's sake, we should all wish them well in that task and root for their success.

The Sheriff's Office announced today that during Friday's Def Leppard/Poison concert at Darien Lake Theme Park 15 young people were arrested for alleged under-age drinking.

The operation, aimed at aggressively clamping down on under-age drinking during the concert, was co-sponsored by GCASA.

The names and ages of the people charged are:

• Kaitly M. Rozwood, 18, Blasdell
• Kayla M. Kinsley, 19, Blasdell
• Timothy L. Kiebzak, 18, Kenmore
• Brandon C. Costanzo, 20, Buffalo
• Ellie N. McGee, 18, Williamsville
• Jillian E. Pettis, 20, Williamsville
• Thomas D. Meyer, 20, Belfast
• Ashton M. Meyer, 20, Bath
• Joey J. Ruderman, 19, Cheektowaga
• Tara M. Wojtkowski, 18, Savona
• Michelle C. Schwegler, 20, North Tonowanda
• Valerie D. Kostart, 20, Noth Tonowanda

Plus one 17-year-old male and a 16-year-old male from Rochester.

Five men from Rochester apparently thought they were pretty clever last night when they showed up to the CSX railroad tracks on Route 98 in the Town of Batavia with a plan to use a logging truck to steal scrap metal.

Not clever enough, though, to avoid observation by Sheriff's Deputies.

Deputy Chief Jerry Brewster told WBTA this morning that lawmen watched the alleged would-be thieves load the scrap metal onto the the logging truck and then tailed the vehicle into Batavia where the truck was stopped in a well-lit area.

The scrap metal was owned by Ed Arnold Scrap Processors of Corfu.

The five men arrested in connection with the case are:

Christopher H. Monfort, 37, of 113 Pine Street, East Rochester, charged with two counts of grand larceny. Monfort allegedly stole scrap valued in excess of $12,000 during the weekend of June 19-21. In last night's case, he's accused of trying to steal scrap worth more than $4,000. He is held without bail.

Anthony Toscano, 44, 918 S. Goodman St., Rochester, is charged with one count of grand larceny. He is held without bail.

Richard E. Riedman, 35, 542 Klem Road, Webster, is charged with one count of grand larceny. He is being held on $15,000 bail.

Anthony J. Russell, 35, of 75 Snug Harbor Court, Rochester, is charged with one count of grand larceny. He is being held in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Timothy M. Stone, 29, 3735 Chili Ave., Rochester, is charged with one count of grand larceny. He is being held on $10,000 bail.

Assisting the Sheriff's Office were the State Police and the Batavia Police Department.