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There's an underlying assumption in today's Daily News story on murder suspect Scott Doll's mayoral candidacy in Corfu that Doll shouldn't be on the ballot.

Two phrases related to America's judicial system spring to mind: presumption of innocence and innocent until proven guilty.

Doll hasn't even been indicted yet for the beating death of Joseph Benaquist.

The evidence against Doll, as reported so far, is pretty damning.  But none of us where there. None of us yet really know what's going on.  There could be as yet some undiscovered or unreleased piece of evidence exonerating Doll.

I'm not saying or even suggesting that such evidence exists.  The issue to me is it seems a violation of due process to remove Doll's name -- a punishment of sorts -- from the Corfu ballot until he's convicted.  Shouldn't we just drop the question of whether his name is on the ballot until he is either convicted or admits the crime?  If neither happens before the election in March, it's up to the voters of Corfu to decide whether they want to stand behind a man suspected of murder.

BYRON, NY -- A small plan has  reportedly crashed into trees behind 6946 Ivison Road.

There are no reported injuries and minor damage to the plane.

There is reportedly a small, personal runway behind the house at that location.

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UPDATE 2:00 p.m.: John Sackett of Batavia said it looked like a beautiful day to take in World War II era Ercoupe prop plane for a short air patrol. Unfortunately, the battery was a little short on juice, so he needed to start it by turning the propeller.

That's where things went wrong. Sackett said the engine got a little too much gas and when the engine started, the plane pushed over its chocks and started rolling down the runway.

Sackett was able to avoid getting hit by his own plane, but the grape vines of a neighboring house were less fortunate.  As the plane entered the yard from Sackett's private runway, it headed straight for the grapes, hit a post, spun nearly 360 degrees and rolled into three pine trees, where it came to rest.

There were no injuries.

Sackett valued the plane -- used to train pilots near the end of WW II -- at $25,000.  One wing was damaged and there's dent on the engine compartment. He said he isn't sure how much it will cost to repair the damage.  He's owned the plane since April.

BATAVIA, NY -- It's cold. There are still patches of snow on the ground with more fluffy showers predicted for this week. But it's not too early to start thinking about spring.

In Arizona and Florida, pitchers and catchers have reported. And Friday Muckdogs faithful gather for the team's annual hot stove league dinner.

But before we look toward a new season, let's reflect once more on an incredible 2008 Muckdogs season.

How incredible? According to Brian Walton of Scout.com, it was remarkable in a number of significant ways.

With a record of 46-28 (.622) the Muckdogs posted the best winning percentage of any team in the St. Louis Cardinals system.

It was Batavia's first championship since 1963 and the first New York-Penn League championship for a Cardinal's affiliate since 1994.

The last Cardinals New York-Penn League affiliate to post a better record than the Muckdogs was the 1992 Hamilton (Ontario) Redbirds. That club went 56-20 (.737). Ironically, their manager was the current leader of the Memphis Redbirds, Chris Maloney.

No Cardinals minor league club at any level had registered a better record than the .622 2008 Muckdogs in the last 15 years! It is tops in the entire system since the 1993 Savannah Cardinals of the Single-A Sally League had a .662 winning percentage (94-48).

For more on the record setting season, read all of Brian's post.

Don't miss Friday's dinner. The 2008 season is well worth Batavians remembering, and we look forward to a great season in 2009 thanks to the Cardinals and Red Wings' organizations.

An ice damn that formed on Oatka Creek caused some flooding in the Village of Le Roy, according to a report on the R-News Web site.

LeRoy Fire Chief Bill Wood told R-News that crews spent the day pumping water from basements along Munson Street.

There were also problems with the sewer system, according to the report, but those issues have been cleared up.

No word on an estimated amount of damage to any property.

We're upgrading our web server.  We're moving The Batavian to a bigger, better, faster server (you should notice the site loads faster after the move).

We're making the switch at 11 p.m. tonight.  The Batavian will be off line for about 15 minutes.

In an article by Tom Rivers on legislators calling for caps on spending, we find this interesting passage about Assemblyman Steve Hawley's musing on secession:

Hawley last month sent a letter to seven universities in the state, asking them to consider the potential political and financial pitfalls of separating upstate from New York City, and creating two different states. The divergent interests of rural upstate and the city of 8 million people makes it difficult to govern the state, and create laws and regulations that work for both regions, Hawley said.

He isn’t necessarily pushing for an upstate-New York City separation, he just wants some facts on the long-simmering issue. He knows many upstaters would like to divorce NYC.

“Can there be a new New York and a New York? I don’t know,” Hawley said. “But it would be foolish to introduce some legislation without knowing the impact.”

He sent letters to universities across the state, from the University at Buffalo to Columbia University in New York City, seeking their help with the study.

Now, secession in New York is an old idea, but that doesn't mean it's a bad idea.  If Hawley's requests for information and studies are answered, the information would certainly be useful. It could be the nail that closes the coffin on talk of breaking apart the state or it could nail a revolutionary manifesto to the door of every town hall in Upstate and Western New York.

Bill Kauffman is expected to have a book out in the spring on secessionist movements in the United States.  Here's an article along those lines from a few months back. Kauffman writes:

Some of the contemporary secessionists are puckish and playful; others are dead serious. Some seek to separate from the main body of a state and add a fifty-first star to the American flag while others wish to leave the United States altogether. Some proposals are so sensible (the division of California into two or three states) that in a just world they would be inevitable; others are so radical (the independent republic of Vermont) as to seem risibly implausible—until you meet the activists and theoreticians preparing these new declarations of independence.

My sense is, that while many in the state outside of The City, are dissatisfied with the direction of government and have a long list of complaints -- from unequal services to high taxes to overregulation -- there's no sense that splitting the state will mend any of the people's grievances.   On the other hand, it contradicts the flow of history to assume that today's boundaries and political alignments will remain indefinitely as insoluble marks on maps .  Somehow, someway, things will change someday.  The question is, will we be  masters of our destiny or victims of historical fate?

The longer we wait to repair the mounting problems confronting New York, the less control we will have over the final outcome.

The driver of a small passenger car was unhurt after the tire of an oncoming semi-truck flew off the wheel and was hurled into her front windshield.

I happened upon the accident driving into Batavia this morning.

The incident was on Route 33 north of Ivison Road.

The driver the car was suffered a minor cut, according to an official on scene, but she declined an interview request. She appeared pretty shaken up.

We'll have a short video from the scene soon.

Tina Rose, co-owner of Sunnys Restaurant in the Genesee Country Mall, left a comment on The Batavian about an hour ago offering to honor unused gift certificates from South Beach, which was shuttered Sunday.

Long time Batavia Restaurant Owners comes to aid:

Local family owned Sunnys Restaurant in the Batavia City Centre is stepping in to honor Gift Certificates.
Anyone who has purchased or received a Southbeach Gift Cert.- Sunnys owners Michael and Tina Rose will honor at their Restaurant. In these tough economic times no one wants or can afford to lose money. Simply give us a call at 343-4578 or stop in.

*some restrictions may apply*

That's a generous offer, but also smart business.

UPDATE: Cori Majors from Center Street Smokehouse says gift certificates may also be redeemed there, and there may be job openings.

Colleen Odessa, sales manager for Alex's Place, also said certicates can be redeemed there as well.

"The strength of free peoples resides in the local community. Local institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they put it within the people's reach; they teach people to appreciate its peaceful enjoyment and accustom them to make use of it. Without local institutions a nation may give itself a free government, but it has not got the spirit of liberty."

-- Alexis de Tocqueville

The Farm Gate reports that $27 billion of Barack Obama's stimulus package is slated for rural programs.

The package includes $200 million for public safety, libraries and education; Another $500 million will be used to guarantee loans for rural housing; Rural community drinking water systems will receive $1.5 billion; $100 million will be used to spur $2 billion in loans and grants for rural businesses.

Click the link above for more details.

(via the Rural Blog)

Funny, I was just thinking a night or two ago -- I wonder if there shouldn't be some sort of Boston-Tea-Party-inspired protests in New York.

One of the things I love about Western New York in general, and Genesee County in particular is the sense of history I get from visiting its villages and towns.

All of the county's of WNY once played such a prominent role in the economic vitality of the nation, not to mention its contribution to culture and politics.

For all the short-sightedness of the city to tear down three city blocks of majestic historic buildings and build an ugly, non-functional mall, WNY is nothing like California, where the words "new" and "progress" are nearly sacred.  The idea of preservation is nearly unheard of.

Thankfully, most of WNY's villages are still in tact. There are so much great architecture on display when you drive from town to town (avoiding the Thruway as much as possible).

Yesterday, while searching for a picture of Le Roy, I stumbled across this collection of historic photos of Genesee County.

Above is an old postcard from the collection, a picture of The Batavian Office Building the Masonic Temple on East Main Street.

Brian Mann says the appointment of Kirsten Gillibrand to replace Hillary Clinton as New York Senator re-exposes the Urban-Rural divide in New York.

Within the Five Boroughs, the reaction to her red-state tendencies has been fierce. Before she had been officially named, Gillibrand had liberal opponents lining up to dethrone her.

I'll admit it: I was taken aback. I thought the obvious backing of New York's Democratic elite -- Schumer, Paterson, Clinton, Lowey, etc. -- would be enough to establish her progressive credentials.

Not so. The liberal blogs have issued a collective shriek of rage.

The main issue, according to Mann, is gun control.

Unfortunately, he links to no urban/progressive blogs to support his statements. I'm not sure if he's fairly characterizing the position of urban bloggers.  It wouldn't surprise if it were true, but I'd like to see some links.

Do you agree with his basic proposition, that urban progressives see Gillibrand as a rural rube, a gun-toting hick? Do you care?

(via The Rural Blog)

Firefighters were battling a blaze at 12 Elm St. Saturday night, when a second alarm was sounded for a fire at 45 Walnut St., according to a report in the Democrat & Chronicle.

The Elm St. fire caused an estimated $2,500 damage to a multil-family complex, 

The two-apartment building on Walnut was gutted, causing an estimated $50,000 in damage.

Off-duty firefighters and units from the Town of Batavia were called in to help Walnut St. blaze, which took 25 minutes to suppress.

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Whenever I drive down Route 5 into Batavia, I pass by the Pine Grove Inn, which always looks like an inviting roadside bar and grill.

But I've long been perplexed by the "Legal Beverages" on the sign.

I stopped in for a beer late this afternoon and chatted with owner Michele Klees.

She's friendly and quite willing to talk, but she doesn't know much about the sign either. It was there when she bought the place 10 years ago.

As far as she knows, the location has always been a bar, but she's heard that long, long ago, it was a filling station.

I'm far from the first person to stop and take a picture of the sign, she said. It generates a lot of curiosity from Route 5 travelers, but she's never been able to find anybody who can explain the history of it.

Apparently, such notification was required by the state of New York, but I didn't turn up any history in a quick Google search.

Anybody know anything about the sign?

One other curiosity about the Pine Grove Inn -- there are darn few pine trees around the location.  A friend of Michele's told me there was once a grove of pines there, but disease took all but one of them.

The bar, beautifully handcrafted by the man mentioned above and another friend of Michele's, is made of a thick piece of pine. I think I'll stop in there again some time. It was a friendly visit.

A woman reportedly suffered a head injury in a single-vehicle rollover accident on Griswold Road east of Warner Road.

We have no information on the seriousness of the injury at this time.

The woman was reportedly in a tan Jeep Grand Cherokee.

We will provide more details when and if they become available.

A 31-year-old man in Byron was struck by a car while he was shoveling his driveway, according to a report on the scanner.

He is complaining of back pain and has minor abrasions. The incident is at Byron and Walkers Corner, according to reports. Ambulances are responding.

We will add details later when and if available.

Updated at 2:25pm.

Just picked up this from a D&C tweet: Caroline Kennedy is withdrawing from consideration to replace Hillary Clinton as a New York Senator.

OK. Curious move. There must be some explanation.

According to reports from two New York City newspapers, Kennedy decided to withdraw because of the illness of her uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.

Certainly, Teddy's illness is of great family concern, but correct me if I'm wrong: Wasn't Kennedy gravely ill before Caroline threw her hat in the ring to become Senator?

Surely, there's more to this story than what is being reported.

UPDATE: A friend on Twitter writes "Want to bet that NY Gov. Paterson decided against naming Kennedy and this is a face-saving way for her to bow out?"  Makes sense to me.

Which might also indicate, announcement coming soon.  My bets are on Cuomo.

Today, President Barack Obama made this statement:

Government should be transparent. Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use. Executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public.

On the same subject, the Washington Post reports:

The Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears," Obama said in the FOIA memo, adding later that "In responding to requests under the FOIA, executive branch agencies (agencies) should act promptly and in a spirit of cooperation, recognizing that such agencies are servants of the public."

His memo on government transparency states that the Obama Administration "will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government."

Follow the Post link for full text of President Obama's message.

The need for government transparency isn't just a federal thing. It applies to local government as well.  You know, governments like, oh, the City of Batavia.

Whenever a government agency fails to answer timely requests for information, to not ensure all relevant media receives ready and easy access to information, to stymie full disclosure of information by prohibiting government employees from speaking publicly about issues that effect taxpayers, then it isn't really serving citizens to its highest and best ability.