One of my longtime goals has been to stop by Glass Roots at 12 Center St., Batavia, some time when Jeremy Almeter is blowing glass. Today, I happened to catch Jeremy in action along with Josh Taggart (bottom photo).
Almeter told me he and Josh can create any kind of glass object a customer might want -- just draw a picture and they'll make it.
A 16-year-old boy has officially been missing since Jan. 21, but Youth Officer John K. Dehm had been tracking him and had a good idea where he was, according Chief Deputy Jerome Brewster.
Now, the whereabouts of Ronald J. Murray Jr., are unknown and the Sheriff's Office is asking for the help of anyone who might know where he is.
Murray is 5' 10", 170lbs. He has brown hair and brown eyes.
He was last seen leaving Batavia High School and failed to show up for classes at BOCES.
Anyone with any information is asked to call Dehm at the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office at 585-345-3000, ext. 3575, or write jdehm@co.genesee.ny.us.
A wire on a pole in the area of 316 E. Main St., Batavia, is reportedly sparking, but is not down.
Batavia Fire Department is being dispatched.
Also, about five minutes ago, Stafford fire received a call of a wire sparking near Stafford Trading Post, called in by a passerby, but two chiefs checking Main Road have been unable to locate any such problem.
UPDATE 7:36 p.m.: The Batavia call was determined to be unfounded.
Let the mudslinging begin -- Assemblywoman Jane Corwin, the handpicked GOP candidate to replace ex-Rep Chris Lee, issued a press release this afternoon slamming her future Democratic opponent as a Nancy Pelosi lackey, even before the Democrats have started to interview candidates.
Full press release:
Statement from Matthew Harakal, communications director for Jane Corwin for Congress, regarding the list of Democratic candidates announced today:
“Jane Corwin has spent more than 30 years in the private sector creating jobs in Western New York, and if given the honor to be the next Representative for New York’s 26th Congressional District will lead the fight to reduce spending, cut taxes, and strengthen our economy for both the short- and long-term.
“The reality is that whoever Washington Democrats tell their local members to select, the Democrat candidate will be the handpicked choice of Nancy Pelosi and be another reliable vote to raise taxes to push her borrow-and-spend, big government agenda. That’s just a fact.”
Earlier today, local Democratic county chairs announced the names of seven people vying for their party's nod on the March 24 ballot.
A man stopped to drop something off at a residence on Liberty Street, left the motor running in his car, and when he came out of the house, he told police, the car was gone.
The car is described as a black Oldsmobile Alero.
It's unknown what direction of travel the thief took the car.
A police officer is responding to the scene now.
UPDATE 5:45 p.m.: If I heard correctly, the car was located unoccupied.
While it isn't clear who all will be vying for the seat, at least we now know there will be a special election to replace shirtless ex-Rep Chris Lee.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced today that polls will be open May 24.
The Republicans lined up early behind Erie County's Jane Corwin to carry the banner for the GOP in the election.
The seven Democratic county chairs in the district will start interviewing candidates March.
The candidates who have asked for interviews are Kathy Hochul, Mark Manna, Martin Minemier, Satish Mohan, Robert Stall, Diana Voit, Jane Bauch. Bauch is from Orleans County and Minemier is from Monroe County. The other five hopefuls are from Erie County.
Meanwhile, various news reports suggest three-time loser Jack Davis will run as an independent, and even though Batavia's David Bellavia was unable to secure support with the GOP or the Conservative line, some reports indicate he may yet try an independent campaign.
Apparently, some faction of Tea Party supporters favor Davis, but Rus Thompson of Buffalo is throwing his support behind Corwin.
Davis “is good on some things, so far as we know — on trade issues, things of that nature. But I think he’s just a little inconsistent,” Thompson said. “And Jane Corwin — I think we’re really leaning toward Jane Corwin. It’s really about Bellavia and Corwin for us.”
In the run up to the campaign, some controversy has already started to swirl around Corwin. Some conservatives are bothered by her position on abortion and there was also a brief rumor of a nanny problem.
Even while local Democrats go through the process of selecting a candidate, the party's New York chair expressed some doubt to Roll Call magazine about the viability of a Democratic candidacy.
“We’re also waiting to see how enthusiastic the DCCC is about this race," said NYS Democratic Committee Chairman Jay Jacobs. "It’s a very tough seat.”
Asked how the state party would judge the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s enthusiasm, Jacobs replied, “Dollars.”
“If the DCCC is going to invest money in this race and send up staff and go all out, it would have to be predicated on the viewpoint that we can stand a chance at winning,” he said. “Now, we can always win a race, and there are a lot of variables, but you start with the registrations. And we haven’t seen the Democratic performance being all that impressive for anybody in that district.”
A Conesus man who thought he was coming to Batavia meet a 15-year-old boy for sex will spend 10 years in prison and 25 years on supervised release.
Dalton E. Wilke, 46, who previously entered a guilty plea to online enticement of a minor, receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography, was sentenced Tuesday in a Rochester federal court.
Wilke was arrested in Batavia in August 2008 by federal agents and officers of the Batavia Police Department. Det. Todd Crossett helped lead the investigation by posing as a 15-year-old boy in online chats.
In addition to the prison term, Wilke was fined $2,500 and ordered to forfeit his GMC Sierra pickup truck that he drove to Batavia.
Following his arrest, agents seized Wilke's home computers and the computers were analyzed by the Regional Computer Forensic Lab linked them to the online enticement. A 48-minute video depicting two young boys engaged in sexually explicit conduct was also recovered.
Donna Jean Buckenmeyer, 45, of Hunn Road, Alexander, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Buckenmeyer is accused of punching another person and hitting that person with a cell phone during a fight at 6:46 p.m., Tuesday.
The developer of a proposed housing project in the Stringham Drive area of Batavia is misleading the public, according to a letter written by the director of the Batavia Housing Authority.
Gregory Langen sent a letter to Town of Batavia Supervisor Greg Post on March 8 and blasted Chatham & Nathaniel Development Corp. for not being completely upfront about planning a low-income housing project.
The letter includes a resolution passed by the BHA board of directors opposing the project.
Chatham & Nathaniel have been pushing for approval of a 19-home development that they have claimed will be open to all buyers, not just qualified low-income residents. They've tried to leave the impression that taxpayers won't foot the bill for the development.
In fact, according to Langen, a letter from Chatham & Nathaniel soliciting support from PathStone (the local Section 8 administrator), says preference in selection of tenants for 100 percent of the units will be low-income.
The project, Langen wrote, will be funded through $3.5 million in low-income housing tax credits, $2.4 million in New York State Home Funds and $158,000 in deferred developer fees.
"I believe this contradicts the public testimony of the developers that the project would be funded through private conventional financing," Langen writes. "In fact, this is to be a publicly financed project in the form of tax credits."
Because of New York low-income property tax rules, according to Langen, local taxpayers will also help subsidize each home occupied by a low-income family.
All of this, Langen wrote, at a time when there is simply no demand for more low-income housing in Batavia, especially for family housing of this magnitude.
BHA has no appreciable waiting list, and there is no unmet demand for low-income family housing.
"Rather than make low-income residents move to Batavia from other communities in order to be housed (and transferring that burden to the local Department of Social Services), it would make more sense to construct the subsidized housing in the communities where there is a current unmet need," Langen wrote.
Langen is also critical for a Chatham & Nathaniel reference to providing low-income housing for veterans.
"I question the need for yet another housing program for homeless veterans in Batavia when the VA is opening its own," Langen wrote. "The needs assessment identified 17 homeless veterans served in Rochester and Buffalo but does not identify the number, if any, in Batavia. While the BHA is proud to serve veterans in all of our facilities, we are aware of only one homeless veteran applicant in many years. That person was only considered homeless as a result of a pending divorce and his wife asking him to move. The BHA housed him successfully."
BHA currently operates 49 low-income units of three and four bedrooms. Langen said all of them -- in the north, south and east sections of Batavia -- are clean and maintenance requests are completed in one day.
"There are many communities where there are long waiting lists of publicly subsidized housing," Langen wrote. "Low-income housing tax credits should be invested in those communities."
One or two inches of rain expected late Thursday, combined with residual snowmelt and saturated ground, could lead to minor flooding along creeks and low-lying areas, according to the National Weather Service.
A flood watch has been issued for Thursday afternoon through Saturday morning.
There is a potential for flooding along the Tonawanda, Black and Oatka creeks.
Should have had this up sooner -- several people have asked for the results of Saturday's county tax lien auction. Below is the list of properties we previously published with the sale price in bold at the end of each listing.
Total profits for the county aren't available yet, according to Treasurer Scott German. He said the interest on back taxes need to be calculated out of what was owed in order to arrive at the final profit number. Those calculations haven't been done yet.
Pembroke High School has no varsity boys soccer team and a group of students at the school think that ought to change.
More than three dozen students and parents crowded into the district's board meeting Tuesday night to make sure the trustees clearly understand, there is support and desire to see boys soccer return to the school.
Tina Curtis (pictured above), the mother of one of the boys who wants to play soccer for his school, presented a feasibility study that shows soccer is a lot less expensive than football and isn't likely to sap talent from that squad.
The study was requested by the school administration after a group of boys in the school began making their wishes known.
"The boys came tonight to let the board and the district know that their interest is sincere and that they would really like to have the ability to play soccer in high school," Curtis said.
The trustees will discuss the proposal at their March 22 meeting.
Pembroke, though it has a girls soccer team, has been without a boys team for about 15 years.
That robs many boys of a chance to participate in varsity sports in the fall, Curtis said, because most of the soccer players have no interest in playing football or running cross-country.
Her study found that of the 29 boys in the school who expressed an interest in playing soccer, only four play football and only one runs cross-country.
Pembroke is the only Section V Class C school without both soccer and football.
In Genesee County, only Pembroke and Oakfield-Alabama don't have boys soccer. Alexander recently started a boys soccer team.
The study notes that with league and section permission, schools can combine teams, and both O-A and Alexander officials have expressed interest in exploring the idea of a combined team with Pembroke.
While football costs Pembroke $43,000 a year, the cost of a soccer team wouldn't be much more than $6,000. Cross-country costs $6,500 and boys volleyball, $4,000, according to the study.
"The administration agrees with us that the cost of funding soccer here Pembroke is not substantial," Curtis said. "That’s not a big barrier to bringing it back to school."
The biggest barrier, Curtis said, is the decline in school enrollment, but that's a problem similarly sized schools throughout Section V are facing. Their solution hasn't been to eliminate sports, but to combine programs -- merging JV with either modified or varsity programs, for example.
For Pembroke football, the program has declined from 71 JV and varsity participants in 2000 to 49 in 2010. In both years, that participation level represented 28 percent of the school's male population. In both years, Pembroke won 70 percent of their games.
According to the study, schools with both varsity football and soccer have better football winning records than schools with only football programs.
Schools with both programs don't really compete for students, the study found.
"Holley Central School and Alexander Central School added a football or soccer program to their existing fall sports," reads the report. "In conversations with Alexander and Holley athletic directors, it has been observed that the impact on the existing sport was negligible. In the words of James Palermo, Holley's athletic director, over the 10 years the school offered both programs, the crossover was insignificant. Soccer players and football players are two different types of kids."
Gabriel Birkby (pictured, inset) said he and a lot of his friends just want to play soccer.
"We have a lot of great guys, well-rounded men who are kind of deprived of a high school sporting experience," said Birkby. "I’m kind of hoping that the board and administration see it in favor of the students so that a soccer team is reestablished here Pembroke."
He said the boys will continue to let trustees and administrators know that they are serious about wanting to play soccer.
"I think (it will take) a lot of convincing and a lot of the boys pushing toward getting a team," he said. "If there’s no push there’s going to be no pressure on the board to try and get a team in there."
Here's three photos from my travels around the county this afternoon. Top, Peaviner Road, Alexander.
An irrigation system on East Road, Batavia.
A barn/shed on Buckley Road, Stafford.
When I turned onto Britt Road (Le Roy), I spotted two women wading through knee-deep water in a field seemingly herding three geese.
It turns out that Sid, Sally and Sandy had escaped their pen and decided to go for a swim. Shannon Yauchzee and daughter Kari had to go into the cold, swampy field and round up the wayward fowl.
The Genesee County Economic Development Center will host its annual meeting at Genesee Community College at noon on Friday.
There will be a performance review for fiscal year 2010 and the strategic goals for 2011 will be discussed.
The public is welcome. Registration begins at 11:30 a.m.
Assemblyman Steve Hawley and Sen. Mike Ranzenhofer will be in attendance along with Tom Kucharski, president and CEO of Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, Mark Peterson, president and CEO of Greater Rochester Enterprise, Mary Pat Hancock, chairwoman of the Genesee County Legislature, and Steve Hyde, president and CEO of GCEDC.
Nicholas Michael Lyons, 30, of Allegheny Road, Pembroke, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Lyons is accused with fighting with another person at 7:11 p.m., Monday, and hitting that person.
Scoring droughts in the second and fourth quarters proved the Lady Lancers' undoing Monday night in Letchworth as Elba dropped a western regional playoff game to Whitesville, 50-40.
Elba jumped out to an early lead and played with confidence in the first quarter, but by the half -- after scoring only one basket in the first half of the second quarter -- was down 17-29.
With a fast start in the third quarter, Elba managed to briefly tie the game and ended the third down by one, 34-35.
Using a combination of fast breaks and defensive control of the boards, Whiteville (20-3) dominated the fourth quarter, however, to end Elba's season at 19-4.
Jamie Marshall had 8 points, Meg Stucko 8, McKenzie Bezon 7, and Marissa Pangrazio 6.
More pictures after the jump. To purchase these pictures, click here.
After years of indecision, it's time to put the construction of a new veterans' cemetery in Western New York on the fast track and Genesee County is the perfect place to build it, said Sen. Charles Schumer today at a press conference inside Batavia's American Legion Hall.
Schumer called on Gen. Eric Shinseki, secretary of veterans affairs, to set a hard and fast deadline for construction to begin and to appoint a regional ombudsman to move the process along.
"The purpose is twofold -- to get it done quickly and to have local input from our veterans' groups," Schumer said.
There are 200,000 veterans in Western New York -- representing a proud tradition of service, said Schumer -- and they and their families deserve a cemetery closer than Bath, which is more than an hour from Batavia.
"Families shouldn't have to drive 75 miles to see a loved ones simply because you want to give them a proper burial in a veterans' cemetery," Schumer said.
"If you looked at all the veterans in Western New York and dropped pins on a map, and you had to find the middle, it would be here, in Genesee County."
In January, the Veterans Administration announced it had narrowed its range of possible locations to the Batavia area. The VA is looking for a suitable 200-acre location and a willing seller.
Schumer said the role of the ombudsman will be to act as a liaison between the local veterans' groups and the VA, enabling the groups to make one or two site selection recommendations to the VA and then moving the process along quickly.
The ombudsman should be someone all of the veterans' groups respect and can work with, Schumer said.
"I will bird-dog this until we make sure a veterans' cemetery is built."
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