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There are no new developments this afternoon in the Lewiston Road fire that claimed the life of 17-year-old Erik Mooney (previous post).

Attempts to contact fire officials this afternoon were unsuccesful.

We also tried contacting somebody with the area Red Cross to see what arrangements were being made to assist the family, but were unsuccessful.

Below are yearbook photos of Michael, 15, and Erik (right).

UPDATE: Video story from WHAM.

UPDATE II:  Here's News 8 coverage.  Watch the video to about 3/4 of the way in and notice how the reporter and producer insinuate that there is something suspicious about Erik not getting out of the house. Classic Mainstream Media technique to remain "objective" while pumping up the story with some controversy.  It's not just a TV thing.  Print does it, too. (Also, warning -- obnoxious pre-roll advertising on the video).

WKBW in Buffalo also posted a video report.

WIVB out of Buffalo has two video reports posted.  Good, detailed, balanced and sensative stories.

In today's Daily News:

• The lead story is about the tragic death of Erik Mooney, 17, in an early morning fire on Lewiston Road.  Exceptional lede from Scott DeSmit: "Despite smoke detectors, a barking dog and the screams of his mouth, a 17-year-old boy was unable to make it out of his burning house on Lewiston Road early this morning."  The Batavian posted about the fire at 7 a.m. this morning.  The Daily News story ads no new information.
• In budgeting utility prices for the new Sheriff's Office, the Building and Grounds department did not factor in continuous use of the communications center.  .... What??? .... That nugget is buried in the sixth graph of a story by Paul Mrozek about utility costs being $71,000 over budget.  That's a pretty significant, "oops."
• Joanne Beck writes about this year's Dancing Under the Stars fundraiser for United Way, which is June 7 at Genesee Community College's Stuart Steiner Theater, 1 College Road.
• Nice picture page today on page A-10.

Subscribe to the Daily News at BataviaNews.com, or pick up a copy at a local newsstand, such as Main Street Coffee.

Press Release from the City of Batavia:

Please be advised that the Charter Review Commission for the City of Batavia will hold a meeting on Monday, June 2, 2008.  The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Work Room on the second floor of the Batavia City Centre.  

The public can speak at the meeting by signing in with the Chairman prior to the start of the meeting. 

WBTA reports this morning:

• Officials believe an accident on Dodgeson Road went undiscovered for several hours. At about 5:30 this morning, a wrecked car was discovered with the driver inside, conscious but trapped.  Power tools were needed to open the car.
• David Bellavia won't challenge a GOP-endorsed candidate for congress. UPDATE: Here's the Buffalo News coverage.

Listen to WBTA AM 1490 for news updates throughout the day.

News 10 reports this morning that a 2 a.m. fire at 7881 Lewiston Road took the life of a 17-year-old boy.

Firefighters found him at the top of a staircase. He was taken to United Memorial Medical Center where he was prounounced dead at 3:30 a.m.

His brother managed to escape the fire by jumping from a bathroom window, but injured his arm in the fall.

The mother of the two boys escaped without injury.

The chief said the fire started on a porch and spread to the house. There were heavy flames when they arrived on scene.

The WHEC web story includes video.

We imagine WBTA will update its news page soon and will likely have the names of the victims this morning along with the latest additional information.

UPDATE: The names of the victims have not been released yet, WBTA reports.

UPDATE II: WBTA reports:

The Genesee County Sheriff's office has identified the boy as Erik Mooney of 7881 Lewiston Rd.

Erik, his mother, 41-year-old Judy Clark and 15-year-old brother Michael were all at home when the fire started. Judy suffered smoke inhalation. Michael cut his arm jumping from a bathroom window. Both were treated at UMMC in Batavia.

UPDATE III:  The D&C reports:

Another resident, Scott Clark, 47, was not home when the fire broke out, deputies said. He was at work.

The brothers are both students at Oakfield-Alabama Central School District. District Superintendent Christopher Todd this morning said the mood in the 1,000-student distinct was somber and that many of the students were “having a tough day.”

“It’s awful, but we’ll band together,” he said. Grief counselors are available at Oakfield-Alabama Middle/High School today to assist students, faculty and staff, Todd said.

...

Judy Clark told firefighters that a sounding smoke detector and barking family dog alerted her of the blaze.

Genesee County Fire Coordinator and Manager Tim Yaeger said authorities are trying to confirm a report that Judy Clark attempted to extinguish the blaze with a garden hose this morning. He said authorities did not know whether that occurred before or after she called 911.

UPDATE IV: WHAM coverage can be seen here. 

The D&C profiles Batavia's Brothers-All-Natural, which makes healthy crispy snacks.

Buried deep in the story is some pretty big news:

Brothers-All-Natural recently signed a multi-year license agreement with the Walt Disney Company to co-brand its product with Disney characters, to go into stores in July at Toys "R" Us, Kids "R" Us, Babies "R" Us and Wal-Mart.

"This is a huge stamp of approval when you get a name like Disney to associate themselves with your brand," said Matthew Betters, 36, co-CEO of Brothers-All-Natural.

Near the end of the story, we also learn the 15-employee company has offices in Ecuador and North Carolina, in addition to Batavia, but manufactures its products in China.

UPDATE: Here's the video.  Original post below.  We have no additional information at this time.

Fire dispatchers received a call of a house fire at 8700 S. Lake Road in Corfu area at about 2 p.m.

Apparently, nobody was home and there were no reported injuries. 

A family of five rents the two-story structure.  Reportedly, their cats were in the house and may have perished.

The fire appears to have started in the kitchen area, which sustained the most damage, and spread to the living room and up the stairs.

The Red Cross has been notified.

A cause has not been determined.

Units from Pembroke, East Pembroke, Corfu, Akron, Batavia and others responded.

We expect to post a video within a couple of hours (assuming no technical difficulties).

A reporter from WBTA was also on scene, so tune into 1490 for further reports.

6:05 a.m., 8 Masse Place, criminal mischief
7:10 a.m., 136 W. Main St., accident
12:13 p.m., 40 City Centre, larceny
3:34 p.m., 10 W. Main St., criminal contempt
5:25 p.m., 116 State St., fight
6:02 p.m., 260 State St., larceny
9:45 p.m., Ellicott St., harassment
 

I forgot to count the total number of items, frankly.  We don't include noise complaints, domestic disputes and routine police business.

UPDATE:  Also, we received a press release from the BPD on an arrest made yesterday at 5:15 p.m.  Charged with meanacing 2nd degree and criminal possion 4th was Kim R. Ransom of 218 State St. Ransom was held on $1,000 bail. She was charged after she reportedly displayed a knife and threatened another person.

From today's Daily News:

• Scott DeSmit reports that Le Roy trustees voted Wednesday to merge its dispatch operations with the county. Trustees hope to transfer some jobs to county dispatch, but recognize that may difficult since Batavia agreed to the same consolidation previously and is already slated to transfer two jobs.
• Cold War veterans may get a tax break. The County Legislature is pursuing a 10 percent tax credit on the first $60,000 of a home's accessed value for Cold War veterans.  The Batavian posted on this story two weeks ago.
• Holli Gass, 17, when she graduates from Pembroke High School, will represent the fifth generation from her family to graduate from a school in the Pembroke district.  Kristen Kotz, a Daily News intern, wrote a nice feature story on the family.  It's the center package of today's paper.  Nice clip, Kristen.
• The Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council at 201 E. Main St. will host a "Building a Vibrant Community Identity" workshop from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., June 5.  It's all about "building a brand" that people remember is geared primarily toward non-profits, but writer Joanne Beck suggests that some commercial businesses are participating.  The deadline to register is Monday.
• Hot Shot's Caffe has opened a second location at 56 Harveter Ave., according to an article on page A2.
• Scott DeSmit passes along a reminder from fire officials to check your smoke detector.  You want to make sure your smoke detector doesn't have a dead battery or otherwise won't function properly in an emergency.
• A letter to the editor from Rose M. Ruhlman praises Lt. Eugene Jankowski and questions the wisdom of passing him over for the chief-of-police role.  She makes good points.  The Batavian broke the story last week that Jankowski was apparently out of contention for top post.
• Former Buffalo Bills guard Joe DeLamielleure will be at Terry Hills Golf Course from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday signing autographs.  Joe D. is in town for the Jim Kelly Celebrity Golf Classic, which takes place Monday at Terry Hills.
• Former Batavian Patric Donaghue was inducted into the Rochester United States Bowling Association Hall of Fame.  Before moving to Rochester in 1981, Donaghue started his bowling career at Mancuso Lanes.

The Daily News is available at local news stands, including at Main Street Coffee, and you should subscribe, and can do so on the Daily News web site.

WBTA has posted several items available in it's June 7 "Father's Day" auction.

Interesting items include:

• One night at Delta Toronto East
• Four-pack to Martin's Fantasy Island
• Birthday party blow out at the Gravel Pit

The auction will run from 9 a.m. to noon.

Dan Fischer just told me that he'll be posting more items this afternoon.

Merchants who still wish to participate have until tomorrow to contact WBTA.

On June 6 at Batavia Downs, there will be a Festival of Hope to benefit the Genesee Cancer Assistance program.

The event runs from 4 p.m. and includes a Kidsfest starting at 5 p.m.

Children 8 and under can be pre-registered by parents calling Jennifer Lewis at 820-6946.

Tonette Stone of Noah's Ark Animal Workshop sent us a message this morning about her participation in the Kidsfest.

Noah's Ark Animal Workshop will be taking pre-orders for our Hope Bear to be delivered at the event.  The cost is $25, with $5.00 going to the GCA fundraiser.  We will also be selling "Wishing Stars" throughout the event at $3.00 each with all the proceeds going to GCA. 

For more information, click here.

Gas prices are over $4 per gallon now.  That's got to hurt Batavians who commute to either Buffalo or Rochester for work.

And it's quite possible, likely even, that prices will climb even higher.

What's the impact of gas prices on you?  If you commute, does that have you rethinking either where you live or where you work?  What does it mean for your other household spending?

Batavia-based Graham Corp. (AMEX: GHM) has made Business Week's list of fastest growing small companies.

From the article:

This year's Hot Growth ranking also features a whole lot of heavy metal. Dotting the list are small manufacturers with low-cost structures and the ability to make specialized products that can't easily be copied by foreign rivals. Among the success stories: Graham (GHM), a Batavia (N.Y.) maker of heat-transfer equipment, and Haynes International (HAYN), a Kokomo (Ind.) supplier of specialty alloys used by jetmakers and gas drillers.

This morning, the stock opens at $63.50 per share.  It's 52-week high is $71.58 and 52-week low is $13.45

Graham's 2007 revenue was $65 million, with an EBIDTA margin of 11 pecent. Graham employs 265 people.

The company, which claims no long-term debt and $36 million in available cash, is announcing this week that for fiscal 2008 revenue is $86.4 million.

According to it's corporate history page, Graham was founded in 1936 and moved to Batavia in 1942.  The company went public in 1968.

Jerald D. Bidlack, 71, is chairman of the board, and James R. Lines, 46, is president and CEO.

Business Week's description of the company:

Graham Corporation engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of vacuum and heat transfer equipment used in the chemical, petrochemical, petroleum refining, and power generating industries worldwide. Its products include steam jet ejector vacuum systems; surface condensers for steam turbines; vacuum pumps and compressors; various types of heat exchangers, including helical coil heat exchangers marketed under the Heliflow name; and plate and frame exchangers. These products are available in various metal and non-metallic corrosion resistant materials. Graham Corporation’s products are used in a range of industrial process applications, including petroleum refineries, chemical plants, pharmaceutical plants, plastics plants, fertilizer plants, liquefied natural gas production facilities, soap manufacturing plants, air conditioning systems, food processing plants, and other process industries, as well as power generation facilities, such as fossil fuel, nuclear, cogeneration, and geothermal power plants.

From reader Georgia Voss:

My husband and I were honored to have a visit Sunday with a Korean Veteran who was to be honored with 6 others on Memorial Day by Steve Hawley.  I saw no mention of this in the Daily News and am curious if you folks have knowledge of the event and other participants.

So we contacted Assemblyman Hawley's office, which provided the following information on honors handed out Monday:

• Thomas E. Hayes Specialist Four, AUS, of the US Army, received the New York Medal of Merit. Hayes served in Vietnam and his military service covered 1969 to 1971.  He is a Silver Star winner.
• John E. Corrado was awarded a Conspicuous Service Cross.  Corrado served in Vietnam and was in the Army from 1968 to 1970.
• Ettore Ianni also received the Conspicuous Service Cross. Ianni served in Korea and was in the Army from 1951 to 1970.
• Keith A. Weinert also received the Conspicuous Service Cross.  Weinert is a Vietnam veteran and served in the Army from 1967 to 1970.

The Conspicuous Service Cross was created by the New York Legislature in the 1920s. It is the highest award New York can bestow in its veterans. Recipients must have distinguished themselves by performing particularly brave and heroic acts which earned them individual citations while serving in the armed forces.

Dan Fischer summarizes WBTA's news this morning, including coverage of last night's City Council meeting.

He includes audio clips from the dust-up revolving around whether City Attorney George VanNest should attend council conference meetings.

In our post last night, we mentioned that City Manager Jason Molino took issue with some members of the council repeatedly raising concerns about the expense.  Here's some audio from Molino's quote.

WBTA's coverage also includes the city passing a resolution to borrow $1.5 million as a bridge loan to cover city expenses while waiting for taxes to be collected, more on the proposed agri park, and the $15,000 grant for improvements at Dwyer Stadium.

In a series of remembrances of former Buffalo Mayor Jimmy Griffin, who passed away recently, former City Council president Paul J. Weiss is quoted:

In the early 1990s I served as President of the Batavia City Council. Batavia does not have a mayor so Council President was the highest elected officer of the city. When an ice storm hit Rochester and other parts of Genesee County, Jimmy Griffin was on the phone offering Batavia help. Batavia was fortunate that the storm did not hit our city but I will never forget his offer of help.

There were inspiring moments during Batavia's Memorial Day parade, and there were moments of significant community pride, but what may have been the single wow! moment was when Lt. Eugene Jankowski drove by on his restored Harley-Davidson police bike.

Yesterday, I visited the acting police chief and 30-year department veteran at his home and shot a short video interview with him about the bike. He was kind enough to supply some pictures to help tell the story of the bike.

Here's the video:

In case you missed it, here's our video from the Memorial Day parade.

Tonight's Batavia City Council meeting ended on a testy note with a majority of the council agreeing to keep the status quo with City Attorney George Van Nest's conference meeting attendance and to drop the issue until next budget season.

Council members Bill Cox, Bob Bialkowski and Sam Barone dissented.

Cox and Bialkowski had brought the matter before the council -- and from the chatter during the meeting, apparently for the umpteenth time.

"We have in this particular case," Cox said in leading off the discussion, "some discretionary ability to cut costs in this one small area."

Barone later said that the city spends $209,000 on legal fees, but Van Nest and Council President Charlie Mallow later noted that not all of those fees go to Van Nest's firm.  There is also expense, for example, for labor attorneys.

Van Nest's fees for attending the meetings amounts to about $1,600 per meeting per year, according to Mallow. 

Mallow said it was his decision to have Van Nest at the meetings, and that he and City Manager Jason Molino discuss every item on every agenda and decide whether Van Nest's attendance is warranted.  He characterized having VanNest at the meeting as responsible leadership, and suggested that the council trust his judgment on whether to have the attorney present.

Later he said: "As long as I’m council president, I’m not going to conduct a meeting without an attorney."

Councilman Frank Ferrando said the council should drop the subject for now.  The appropriate time to address the issue is during budget discussions, which won't start until September, he said.

"I get tired of talking about these things five or six times over again," Ferrando said. "I’m not interested in talking about budget revisions at this time. We’ve got lots of other fish to fry."

Cox countered that no issue should ever be closed for discussion, that in order for council members to be responsive to constituents, they should be able to raise any issue even if it has been addressed before.

"I don’t feel it’s proper for council people to be criticized for bringing up issues at a meeting," Cox said.

Molino appeared agitated, if not angry, near the close of the discussion, calling the "belaboring" of the topic a distraction for the city.

"I'm very sorry that this has created a very negative work environment, which none of you witness," Molino said. "Can we move on? I’m sorry to be so blunt, but I’m really sick and tired of this." (UPDATE: WBTA's audio.)

Once the issue was closed, the meeting adjourned and the council chambers emptied quickly.

So here's the lingering question: Why does the city pay a fee for its city attorney to attend its routine meetings?  Shouldn't that just be covered under a flat-fee contract?  Shouldn't the only extra cost incurred be only for work above and beyond routine?

Steve Hyde  of Genesee County Economic Development Center presented an update on Agri Park development and tonight's council conference meeting.

The proposed ag park could be worth $1.4 billion to the local economy and create 1,100 jobs.

It will cover 200 to 300 acres near Oatka Milk in the Town of Batavia.

It will be the only ag industry focused part in the Northeast.

A Canadian company seems ready and serious to be the first tenant of the park, bringing 100 jobs and taking advantage of current monetary exchange rates.

"We’re not coming here today to ask for help, but to look for a partnership that says this benefits the people in the community," Hyde said.

Grants of $6 million are currently available to fund Phase I.

The Rochester Red Wings will get another $15,000 for improvements to Dwyer Stadium this year after the City Council approved 5-3 a resolution authorization the expenditure.

Councilman Bill Cox led the opposition, saying that taxpayers should not subsidize private enterprise.  He objected specifically to the funds being used for grounds keeping.

"We're being asked to do this with no specific knowledge of any bricks or mortar or steel that needs to be repaired," Cox said.

The money is coming from the city's capital budget and, according to City Attorney George Van Nest, is consistent with previous grant requirements for the city to maintain the stadium.

Previously, the city entered into an agreement with the Red Wings with payments of $10,000 and $15,000 this year, $20,000 next year and $25,000 the following year.  Council President Charlie Mallow indicated the resolution was consistent with that agreement.

City Manager Jason Molino made the point that grounds upkeep is appropriate use of Capital Account funding, because "without a field, you don't have a stadium."

The Red Wings are currently operating the Batavia Muckdogs.

UPDATE: Buffalo News correspondent Bill Brown filed this report on the council proceedings.