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A big crowd on was on hand, including Nashville recording artist Ricky Lee, for the ribbon cutting of the Made in America Store at Batavia Downs on Wednesday.

Founder of the Made in America Store, Mark Andol, said that the idea began to develop quickly after the key players converged in July of this year.

"I'll tell you Ricky Lee, a sponsor of us, ambassador of Made in America Store for six years actually, you know, me and Mike Nolan (Batavia Downs executive) and Rick had been talking about different things, and Thurman Thomas is kind of an ambassador. Tie in Rick with the music and one thing led to another. I mentioned to Mike 'why don't you put a store in here?' he said 'I would if I had a store' and one thing led to another and here we are today.”

For more coverage of the opening, visit WBTAi.com.

Photo and information from our news partner, WBTA.

The former Muller Quaker Dairy plant in the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park is a big, gorgeous (if you're into such things), state-of-the-art dairy processing facility and Dairy Farmers of America officials think it has great potential. But they just don't know what to do with it yet.

DFA has yet to submit planning documents to the Town of Batavia and at the County's Ways and Means Committee. Today, Steve Hyde, CEO of the Genesee County Economic Development Center, said there are ongoing negotiations about the future of the plant, but he can't discuss them.

Hyde did say there are businesses interested in acquiring the plant outright and DFA is in negotiations with potential partners, but nothing is settled to date.

"They are fully committed to bringing milk into the plant and sending out dairy products," Hyde said.

There will be jobs in that plant again, Hyde said. It's just a matter of when and what business model either DFA or some other suitor decides to pursue.

Negotiations are ongoing.

DFA acquired the plant, which cost $206 million to build, for $60 million in January.

PepsiCo and Germany-based Muller Dairy formed a joint venture, Muller Quaker Dairy, to create tasty yogurt products designed to capture a portion of the growing Greek yogurt market, though the yogurt produced by the plant wasn't exactly Greek yogurt.

Whether through lack of marketing (either enough of it or the right message), lack of good distribution or lack of consumer interest, the product never caught on (though there was, according to sources, $100 million in first-year sales); the joint venture was dissolved and the plant closed in December 2015, costing about 200 people their jobs.

There are, we are told, still three former Muller employees on site, keeping the plant maintained so that when somebody does decide to do something with it, everything is in working order.

How much money Muller lost on the joint venture isn't known, because Muller isn't a publicly traded company. PepsiCo is, and the company took a $78 million impairment charge in 2015. An impairment charge is a somewhat complex accounting term that can mean a write-off on a loss of fair market value.

With gross sales of more than $66 billion annually and a net profit of nearly $10 billion, the write-down warranted nothing more than a footnote in PepsiCo's 2015 annual report.

The Wave Project, as it was initially known, did receive some subsidies along the way to assist in construction and starting production, but Muller Quaker never qualified for all of the subsidies it signed up for.

The PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes), mortgage tax abatement and sales tax abatement on construction totaled about $11 million, but Muller Quaker never benefited from most of that tax relief. Since the PILOT is spread out over a 10-year span, as a reduction in property tax on the increase in assessed value, with the size of the abatement declining over time, Muller Quaker doesn't benefit for any of the PILOT relief from 2015 onward. The new owners, DFA, or other, could benefit from the PILOT until it expires (or is replaced by a new agreement as part of a new business being established).

From Empire State Development, Muller Quaker was promised $4.5 million in tax credits tied to job creation. As a result of creating 446 jobs in 2013 and 2014 (the number is combined for the two years -- one job in one year warrants credits for that year, and the same job, still in place, counts in the second year, and so on), Muller Quaker received $556,446 in tax credits, not the $4.5 million originally offered.

The company was offered, and received, $995,000 from New York State Homes and Community Renewal.  The grant was based on meeting specific investment and job-creation goals. 

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) also made a commitment for nearly $2 million to offset the cost of installing energy-efficient equipment and HVAV measures that would lower costs at the plant. Only $1.2 million had been awarded prior to the plant closing.

The New York Power Authority awarded a 1.3-megawatt grant of power under the ReCharge NY program and the plant used the full allotment of the grant.

Lily, who likes to chase bubbles, has her life on the line.

In May, Judge Durin Rogers declared Lily a vicious dog and ordered her destroyed within 30 days.

Lily has had a stay of execution, so to speak, as volunteers and others have taken up Lily's cause, and the cause of her previous owner, Duty Caswell, to try and save her life.

Caswell has already surrendered ownership of Lily, and the Kramer Foundation, which specializes in rehabilitating dogs deemed vicious, has written to Rogers and confirmed an interest in obtaining Lily.

Lily's fate may rest on a hearing in City Court tomorrow (Thursday) on an appeal of Caswell's conviction of harboring a vicious dog.

The appeal was written by Public Defender Jerry Ader who stepped in after Caswell's conviction.

Ader's appeal rests on two primary points:

• Caswell was not represented by counsel. He was not granted assigned counsel and did not hire his own attorney.
• Caswell was convicted under Batavia's Municipal Law. A case in 2010 overturned a similar conviction because that local law, in Nassau County, was deemed void by conflicting with state law. Under state law, Lily would not be considered a candidate for euthanasia. 

Lily was taken into Animal Control custody on March 7 after she bit a 13-year-old boy on Hutchins Place while keeping a frightened woman pinned down as she screamed and Lily circled her.

At Caswell's hearing, the prosecution called three witnesses and Caswell produced no witnesses or testimony on his behalf. Rogers issued his decision after a short recess.

At some point, K-9 Deputy Chris Erion was called in to evaluate Lily. Lily bit him.

Erion confirmed he was bitten (his duty pants have a small tear, but he wasn't hurt) and said that Lily, with her current behavior, wouldn't be a good candidate as a family dog or a police dog. 

Volunteers with Volunteers for Animals believe that with proper training and socialization, she is redeemable. She is high energy and can't be trusted unsupervised, but they said she's fine when given a job to do, such as chase bubbles.

"Having a young, high-strung dog is difficult for anybody," said one volunteer. "Give her something to do and she's fine."

Another person at the shelter said, "With proper exercise and mental stimulation she is fine."

Erion, among others, said it was later learned that Lily may have given birth to a puppy prior to the March 7 incident, and her puppy was taken away from her. That would typically cause behavioral issues, both folks at the shelter and Erion said.

The hearing is tomorrow at 1:15 p.m.

File photo from March 7. The gentleman with Lily is a friend of Caswell's.

It's taken 26 years for sludge to build up to about a three-foot depth in one of the processing ponds at the Batavia Wastewater Treatment Plant, but that buildup has reduced the pond's capacity by about 50 percent, so it's time to have it removed.

A removal project is now underway that costs about $1.3 million and is being conducted by contractors who specialize in sludge removal.

The process involves pumping the water-logged sludge out of the pond, screening it for large objects -- shoes, bottles, rocks -- and then sending it through one of two centrifuges, which use gravitational force and a polymer to separate the sludge from the water. The water is pumped back into the pond and the sludge is sent up a conveyor belt and dumped into a truck before it is hauled to a landfill.

Initially, the original estimate for the project was eight weeks, but a second centrifuge was added and now the contractor is processing a truckful of sludge every 90 minutes, to fill at least eight trucks a day, reducing the project timeframe to about four weeks.

Jim Ficarella, superintendent of water & wastewater for the City of Batavia, provided a tour of the project yesterday.

The water that has been squeezed from the sludge just before being piped back to the pond.

There will be about 2,100 dry tons of sludge removed from the pond.

One of the two centrifuges being used.

The pipelines that draw sludge from the pond and return water to the pond.

The screening process for removing large items that have inadvertently fallen into the pond.

The pond with sludge that has floated to the surface and been pushed by the wind to the eastern shoreline.

Ficarella said they know they won't get 100 percent of the sludge out of the pond, but they'll get most of it.

This pond is the second stage of the process. By this point, the wastewater has been at the plant for about three months. The whole process, which includes passing the wastewater through several ponds and a series of wetlands ponds, takes about a year. The clean water is pumped into Tonawanda Creek. 

See our previous story: Batavia Wastewater Treatment Plant, one of city's hidden treasures

The plant remains a birder's paradise, with birders traveling, literally, from all over the world, to visit the plant.

Driving back from Bergen this morning, I saw a beautiful clear blue sky and one of my favorite trees on Route 33, Stafford.

An accident with injuries and possible entrapment is reported on South Lake Road (Route 19) and Maple Avenue, Bergen.

Bergen fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.

UPDATE(S) (By Billie) 8:44 a.m.: Mercy Flight in Batavia is on ground standby. Two vehicles and three people involved. One male in a truck is unresponsive, hunched over the wheel, and having difficulty breathing. He is the most seriously injured. Another male has facial cuts and abrasions. Another subject has no apparent injuries.

UPDATE 8:51 a.m.: Le Roy fire rescue is called to provide mutual aid to Bergen. Mercy Flight is summoned along with additional fire police. The landing zone will be the church parking lot across from just south of the accident site.

UPDATE 8:58 a.m.: Route 19 is to be shut down "completely."

UPDATE 9:02 a.m.: Mercy Flight has an ETA of less than a minute.

UPDATE 9:23 a.m.: Mercy Flight is airborne and headed to Strong Memorial Hospital.

UPDATE 9:40 a.m.: A pickup truck was eastbound on Maple Avenue when the driver apparently blew through a stop sign and was T-boned by a small plumbing company van traveling on Route 19. Both vehicles left the roadway as a result of the collision and the pickup truck struck a large tree in the front yard of a residence. A car occupied by a doctor, a nurse and possibly a combat medic happened to be driving by in the immediate aftermath. The car stopped and the occupants provided emergency medical aid until first responders arrived. The pickup truck driver was deemed in serious condition at the time he was airlifted to Strong. A first responder said if he makes it, he'll have the medical assistance provided by the passersby largely to thank for it. The driver and passenger in the plumbing van were taken to Strong by ground ambulance with minor injuries; in fact, the driver was walking around at the scene.

UPDATE 9:57 a.m.: One lane is open on Route 19 and fire police are alternating the traffic flow.

Mary-Clare Stokes gets a strike of blue hair weaved into her own as part of Spirit Week at Genesee Community College and to honor the college's 50th anniversary.  Kassandra Bowen, of The Mane Attraction Salon & Spa, is performing the weave. Staff from Mane Attraction were in the Student Union this afternoon to provide the weaves to any students who wanted them. It was all Stokes' idea.

All summer, we've watched the water level drop at the lakes off Cedar Street, including DeWitt Recreation Area, where a land bridge that probably hasn't been seen since the 1970s re-emerged as WNY has suffered through a rare drought.

Yesterday, County Highway Superintendent Tim Hens told county legislators that the level has been dropping about a third of a foot every two weeks, but this afternoon we learned that trend may be reversing.

Jim Ficarella, superintendent of water & wastewater for the City of Batavia, said he took a new measurement of the aquifer this morning and found it has risen more than a third since his previous measurement.

The aquifer not only supplies some of the city's water, it also replenishes the lakes.

The aquifer level and the lake levels have dropped pretty much in unison, Ficarella said, but there may be a lag in replenishing the lakes as the aquifer comes back.

Of course, it will take more rain, and in the winter, more snow, for the levels to recover to pre-drought levels.

Meanwhile, the city and county have an ample water supply from the Monroe County Water Authority.

A caller reports a fight just breaking up on Highland Park, Batavia.

Eight to nine people were reportedly involved.

There is a report of a possible injury.

Police are responding.

One person who ran from the scene has been identified by a witness.

UPDATE 11:18 a.m.: Police transmissions have gone encrypted.

Highlights from the department review presented yesterday by Tim Hens, county highway superintendent, to the Legislature's Public Service Committee:

• When Hens started in 1998, County Highway had 45 employees. Now there are 27 doing more work. "We're definitely way more efficient," Hens said. "Still, we could use another body or two."
• The county received no federal aid this past year for bridge and culvert replacement and repair, Hens said. He said the county continues to fall behind on maintenance needs. There were five culverts replaced in 2016. "We're trying to chase down more grants," he said. 
• Shannon Morley, Genesee County conservation education programs coordinator, is doing a great job of creating programs that get people out to the park, Hens said. A recent meteor shower event attracted 90 people out to Genesee County Park & Forest. About 80 percent of her salary is paid for by two grants totaling $36,000.
• The sewer and water connections for the new bathrooms at DeWitt Recreation Area are completed. Now the county is waiting on National Grid to complete electrical hookups and then the interior can be completed. Ideally, the work will be done by winter, because ideally, it will be a good winter for ice skating and the county can install and get up and running with the ice-skating rink donated by the Town of Oakfield. Hens said several people have stepped forward and volunteered to help run and maintain the rink, including Cedar Street Sales and Rentals, which has offered to "sort of adopt" the rink. There's just some liability issues to work out, Hens said. 
• Bids will go out soon for stone restoration work at the County Jail/Genesee Justice building. 
• The airport continues to be cash-flow positive for the county, Hens said. Jet fuel sales continue to rise, in part because the county keeps its prices lower than competitors. The strong cash flow will help the county more quickly pay down the bond debt for the new terminal and hangar. Next up for construction work at the Genesee County Airport is demolition of the old terminal building. Grants have already been secured for that project. Plans are in the works for two more 10-bay hangars. Each of those should generate about $30,000 a month in lease payments. The county has about $600,000 in state grants for the $900,000 project.

When the county implemented a new, all-digital emergency communication system two years ago, it wasn't long before first responders in Le Roy discovered there were dead spots in their community.

There were also buildings in Le Roy that the radio signals wouldn't penetrate.

Consultants were consulted and they did their studies and came to the conclusion that Le Roy needed its own repeater transmission tower.

The county has reached an agreement with the Town of Le Roy to obtain an easement on town property on Asbury Road to build a new communications tower.

 Steven Sharpe, director of Emergency Communications, said the new tower should solve Le Roy's reception problems.

The tower, the seventh in the $11-million system, is covered as part of a $3 million state grant for improvements to the system.

Construction should begin this fall, with testing to start in the spring or summer. It must be operational by December 2017.

A caller at Walmart reports a suspicious condition -- a man attempted to purchase numerous iPads from the store.

Apparently, the purchase did not go through for some reason.

The man left in a gray Chevy Tahoe with Georgia plates.

A deputy is responding.

UPDATE 11:08 a.m.: The Tahoe is a rental.

Special teams play put Le Roy on the road to victory with two quick scores in the first quarter in a game that was unique in a couple of ways.

First, it was a home game played on the road. Second, it was played on a Sunday.

Regardless of the strange circumstances, the Le Roy team displayed vintage Oatkan Knights' dominance as it cruised to a 52-7 victory over Wellsville.

The game was played in Perry because Le Roy's home field won't be ready for players and fans after a major upgrade until this coming Friday's homecoming game, and the game was delayed until Sunday because of a massive thunderstorm that passed through Wyoming County right at game time Saturday night.

The game started early, about 10 minutes before the scheduled 3 p.m. time, and Le Roy scored before the official kickoff time when Jason Doemling scampered 39 yards on a punt return.

Later in the first quarter, Le Roy scored its second touchdown, to take a 14-0 lead, when Josh Laurie blocked a field goal attempt and returned it 75 yards.

Wellsville never again mounted a serious offensive challenge, until the team scored late in the fourth quarter when the game was already out of reach.

Laurie had quite the game. Besides the blocked field goal, he had two interceptions. He rushed for 96 yards on seven carries and scored two TDs in the process. He also was 7-13 passing for 148 yards and a TD.

Nate Flint also had an impact, going 85 yards on 11 carries with a TD. Dom Filio carried the ball nine times for 54 yards and two TDs. Luke Stella added 61 yards on six rushes.

Pass catchers included Reece Tresco, two for 87 yards, Filio, three for 34 yards and a TD, and Ryan Boyce, two for 27 yards.

Luke Hogle had five tackles and a sack, Canyon Roster, five tackles and Cole Biggins, five tackles.

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Peggy Zambito felt blessed that she, her daughter and her two young grandchildren walked away without any serious injuries from an accident on Transit Road in Elba a week ago.

This evening, she said she felt a sense of closure now that a person has been located, arrested and charged in the terrifying accident.

Jose Francisco Ortega-Hernandez, 46, of Transit Road, Elba, has been charged with: aggravated unlicensed operation, 2nd; leaving the scene of a property damage accident; no insurance; unsecured license plate; uninspected motor vehicle; unregistered motor vehicle; failure to yield at a stop sign; inadequate brakes, and failure to report a motor-vehicle accident with more than $1,000 in damage.

Following his arrest today, he was arraigned in Town of Batavia court and jailed on $2,500 bail.

He is also being held on an immigration warrant for past driving offenses.

According to accounts Zambito shared exclusively with The Batavian earlier this week, she was a passenger in a vehicle driven by her daughter Mercy Caparco, and her two grandchildren, Maggie, 5, and Molly, 2, when they saw a red SUV flying toward the North Byron and Transit Road intersection. There was no way to avoid the vehicle, Zambito said, and, she said, the other driver couldn't have stopped in time, even if he had tried.

The SUV slammed broadside into the Ford Explorer the family was in and caused it to roll over several times.

It was only by the grace of God and the safety features of the Explorer that the two women and two children walked away without any serious injuries, Zambito said. 

She hoped that publication of the story and photos from the accident would help lead to the arrest of the suspect.

The Sheriff's Office press release does not state how the suspect was located.

ICE Supervisory of Deportation Officer A. Castro assisted the Sheriff's Office in the investigation.

It was on a Saturday in September 10 years ago that I first drove into Batavia.

I returned to that event today to sort of mark the anniversary.

It was through a calendar item in the Gardener's Journal 10 years ago that I saw something about a Master Gardeners' Gala at the Cornell Cooperative Extension in a placed called Batavia.

"Batavia can't be too far of a drive," I thought, while sitting in my hotel room in Fairport.  

I made the drive, and it was a bit more of a drive than I expected, but eventually, I found Batavia, and I found it charming.

I came out here looking for information on growing roses in Western New York (we were getting ready to move from Bakersfield, Calif.) and left charmed by this little city.

Little did I know then, that within two years, I would be starting an online news site for Genesee County and eventually moving here myself. But Billie and I are quite happy with that turn of events.

Thank you all for supporting our experiment in online-only news and embracing and accepting us as you have.

And yes, I've found it possible to quite successfully grow roses in Western New York.

The folks at Godfrey's Pond hosted an open house today, called Hunting and Fishing Days.

Eric Boyce had the best time for the men.

Kim Mills had the best time for the women (she also had the best women's time in the GLOW Corporate Cup).

Through three quarters of football, Pembroke battled Notre Dame to a draw, but when Jake Weatherwax dashed into the end zone from six yards out with five minutes left in the game, the Dragons were unable to answer and fell to 1-2 on the season, 34-27.

It was Notre Dame's first win of the season.

The Dragons and Irish were pretty evenly matched throughout the contest, with each team averaging 5.8 yards per play on offense and only being a minute apart on time of possession for the game.

Weatherwax finished with 187 yards rushing on 29 attempts (he scored four times) and Pembroke's Zach von Kramer had 187 yards on the ground on 27 attempts, and he had two TDs. 

Pembroke's Reid Miano had 13 completions on 29 attempts for 209 yards and two TDs.

Notre Dame's Brendan Klotzbach was 8-19 in the air for 126 yards. He was intercepted once.

"Pembroke’s a great team," said Notre Dame Head Coach Rick Mancuso. "They’re very well coached and they have a couple of great athletes on that team. We knew we would have our hands full. Their quarterback threw the ball fantastic and Von Kramer is just a phenomenal running back. We had our hands full. There’s no doubt."

Von Kramer also caught a TD pass and gained 74 yards on three receptions.

Mancuso thought it was a great win for his team, which struggled a bit through the first two games of the season.

"I think we're getting better each week," Mancuso said. "We're not there yet, obviously, but I think the kids had a great week of practice."

Mancuso was impressed with the game Weatherwax had.

"Jake did a fantastic job," Mancuso said. "He's a gritty, hard runner. He makes great cuts. He reads the blocks. I thought he did a terrific job."

Defensively, Notre Dame played tough, but the team still has some holes to plug.

"Defensively, we brought it," Mancuso said. "We really worked hard this week on staying diligent to our plan and working hard and I thought the kids stuck with it. I thought they did a very nice job of executing."

Caleb Wolcott had 10 tackles and a sack. Brad Misiak had 10 tackles.

"We’ve got a lot to work on," Mancuso said. "I mean, they put up 27 points. I’m not ecstatic about that, but those are things we need to clean up and each week we’ll get better."

For the Dragons on defense, von Kramer had 12 tackles.

Four Notre Dame receivers had two catches each -- Ryan Moffatt, Nico Zambito, Misiak and Jordon Weatherwax. Moffatt gained 45 yards and Zambito gained 42.

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John Kennedy School hosted its annual Community Night on Friday evening.

Campbell Anderson, a senior at Batavia High School, pictured with Principal Scott Wilson, has qualified as a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist. As far as Wilson knows, he's the only semifinalist in the region and one of only 99 in Western New York.

Anderson is a candidate for West Point and the Air Force Academy. He's also a standout in track and cross-country. Wilson said one of Anderson's unique accomplishments was completing all of the match courses offered by the high school, including advanced placement calculus, by the end of his sophomore year. The school has arranged his senior schedule so he can also take classes at Genesee Community College. He remains at the top of his class.

Photo and info provided by Scott Wilson.