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So we here on The Batavian, had some debate over the past day or two about the need/wisdom for hands-free driving rules, whether New York should have outlawed cellphone use while driving.

And that prompted me to note that I've seen a few cops in Monroe County, at least, but none so far in Genesee County, gabbing on mobile phones will driving patrol cars.

That's always bugged me.  I've never gotten a ticket for such an offense, but friends have, and if cops are going to enforce a law, they should obey it.

So I contacted Sheriff Gary Maha and Batavia Chief Randy Baker to see what the local policies are -- not the most earth shaking issue to raise with local law enforcement, but still good information to know.

Sheriff Maha responded via e-mail:

We do have a written policy (copy attached).  Keep in mind  police officers, a peace officer, a member of a fire department, or an operator of an authorized emergency vehicle are exempt from this law when acting in the performance of their duties.

Download the PDF of the policy here.

I caught up with Chief Baker after the City Council meeting. He said Batavia PD has no written policy, but he's verbally and strongly encouraged Batavia PD officers to avoid using mobile phones while driving for personal use.

With out a vote, but by consensus the City Council agreed Monday night to make two key changes to the Bank Street crosswalk, connecting the City Centre parking lot to Genesee County for the Aging.

The cross walk will be restriped to help make drivers more aware of the cross walk, and removable rumble strips (so that can be taken up during winter) that will alert drivers to the cross walk, will be added to the area, which is close to the Bank Street intersection with Main Street.

In response to a council question, City Manager Jason Molino said there have been no known car-pedestrian accidents -- which Chief Randy Baker said was right -- at the crosswalk, but because of the heavy traffic, the number of seniors who use the crosswalk and the number of ingress/egress points on Bank Street, improved safety was a good idea.

A third safety change -- adding a left-turn-only sign to the exit of the YMCA parking lot will require a code change and a public hearing. No date was set for that hearing.

At tonight's special council meeting, there wasn't too much debate about the three resolutions authorizing the city to apply for RestoreNY funding to spur development of the Masse Gateway Project, but there was tussle over individual council members should be contacting state agencies and possibly subverting the will of the council.

Prior to the vote, council member Rosemary Christian asked a series of questions and made statements that indicated she had been in contact with RestoreNY officials, possibly suggesting the city should not pursue the grant.

Marianne Clattenburg raised a point of order, asking whether it was appropriate for individual council members to contact state agencies about pending council business.

City Attorney George Van Nest said such conduct was inconsistent with City Council rules and the city charter.

When Clattenburg raised an objection to council members making such contact, Christian interrupted and said that she would make such contact if she thought it was necessary.

At that point, City Council President Charlie Mallow handed out a copy the council rules.

"It says council members can't act as individual members," Mallow said.

Council member Kathy Briggs asked a clarifying question: Can a council member ask purely information questions of another agency, without expressing any views? Van Nest said yes.

It's unclear whether Christian contacted RestoreNY on a purely information basis or conveyed information that could run counter to the council vote.

Speaking of the vote, all three resolutions passed with only Christian voting no and Council member Bob Bialkowski abstaining because of a potential conflict of interest.

After the meeting, property owner Tom Mancuso said: "I"m very grateful that the council saw this as a worthwhile project support and now I hope the state will agree."

Previously:

• Today's Poll: Should the city seek state funding for Masse Gateway Project?
• Batavia council schedules public hearing on Masse Gateway Project
• Masse Gateway Project public hearing draws light turnout
• Masse Gateway Project up for council vote Monday
• Cox and Christian raising questions about proposed Masse Gateway Project
• Video: Tom Mancuso talks about Masse Gateway Project
• City may seek $2.5 million state grant to help with Masse Gateway Project

UPDATE: Joanne Beck posted her coverage tonight, as well.

UPDATE: Dan Fischer at WBTA posted a bit of the conflict on audio. Listen here.

Fire units are responding to a reported grass fire in Pavilion at 1135 Wyoming Road. Crews on scene report the fire will be "knocked down in a second."

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Firefighters are responding to a reported car fire at 633 West Main, Monro Muffler and Brake.

A police officer on scene reports smoke and flames. The vehicle is some distance from the building.

UPDATE: Minutes after posting this, personnel on scene reported the fire appeared to be out. Firefighters arriving at the scene said they would hose down the vehicle.

NOTE: Originally, we reported this at 133, but it was 633 W. Main St.

UPDATE 11:45 p.m.: OK, this is really bad, and comical at this point in number of corrections -- First, 133 Main St. as originally reported was correct.  But it wasn't Batavia. I was LeRoy. But it was Monro, as originally reported.  This according to Chief Tom Wood of LeRoy FD.

Today's Deal of the Day: A $25 gift certificate from Vintage and Vogue Inspirations in LeRoy. The Batavian's Good Deal Price: $12.50 -- HALF off!

If you've not been in Vintage & Vogue yet, it's a new store in the village that is well worth a visit. It features great handcrafted goods for the home.

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. Previous winners, within the past 30 days, of this item are not eligible.

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 before 5:00 p.m. 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.

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Sarah and Gretchen Protulipac were popular with their classmates, who are shocked and saddened by their deaths Saturday in a two-car collision at Route 77 and Sumner Road, according to the Buffalo News.

Both girls were honor students and Pavilion Central School. About 100 students gathered there Sunday for a vigil, according to the News.

Sarah was a junior at Pavilion Central. Her sister was a sophomore. Both girls were well-liked honor students who were musically inclined, said Edward Orman, the school district’s superintendent. In fact, Sarah performed earlier this spring in Pavilion Central’s production of “Guys and Dolls.” She also took part in a talent show.

“She always tried to cheer people

up,” said Macy Penders, 16, who knew Sarah since second grade.

“She was a very sweet person,” said Brian Mogenhan, a senior at Pavilion Central who described Sarah as laid-back and compassionate.

Gretchen loved softball and volleyball, her friends recalled. But she wasn’t one of those overly competitive athletes.

The News reports that the girls were returning Saturday afternoon from Darien Lake, where they had gone to apply for summer jobs.

Pictures: Sarah, 17, top, and Gretchen, 16.

Robert D. Wood, 18, of Batavia, in being held without bail in Genesee County Jail and charged with a felony count of burglary. Wood is accused of helping another person enter an apartment so that person could attack somebody inside the apartment.

Tracylee Cayea, 39, of Livonia, is charged with criminal contempt in the second degree. Cayea allegedly violated an order of protection by going to her ex-boyfriend's home in Pavilion.

Michael J. Pask, 39, of Basom, is charged with DWI following a traffic stop in Oakfield. Pask was allegedly driving with a BAC of .08 or greater.

Daniel J. Staebell, 42, of Corfu, is charged with DWI following a traffic stop in Pembroke. Staebell was allegedly driving with a BAC of .08 or greater.

UPDATE: I initially missed the press releases for the following two arrests, so updating this post.

Derek F. McQueen, 21, of Corfu, charged with aggravated harassment and held on $500 bail. McQueen is accused of sending threatening text messages to his ex-girlfriend.

Robert J. Shutt, 26, of Batavia, charged with DWI following a reported traffic stop. He is accused for driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and drinking alcohol in a motor vehicle.

If you're reading this at 12:50 p.m. on Sunday, and you're in Western New York, Time Warner is not your Internet service provider.

Customers throughout the entire northeast region have been hit with a service outage that has disabled Net access as well those customers using TW for phone service.

The outage started about 10 a.m. in the Syracuse area and spread from there.

The massive outage comes, ironically, after Time Warner tried convincing customers that some of them should pay more money for their service.

This from WHAM 13:

The company says they don't know what is causing the outage but once that is determined they will try to get service back up as soon as possible. 

There is no estimated time for restoration.

UPDATE: Service was restored about 5 minutes after I posted this.

Personally, I find eating at a locally owned restaurant more satisfying. The menus items are generally more interesting, the food preparation more unique, more flavorful and more of my money is staying in the local community.

Starting tomorrow, it's the Greater Rochester Area Local Restaurant Week.

Sponsored by by LocalFoodService.com and the Greater Rochester Chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association, the week is designed to raise awareness of local restaurants, with participating restaurants offering special discounts.

In Genesee County, participating eateries are: Alex's Place, Sunny's Restaurant and Lounge, D&R Depot Restaurant and Red Osier Landmark.  A complete list of participating restaurants can be found here.

Whether a participating restaurant or now, Genesee County is fortunate to have dozens of outstanding locally owned, independent restaurants. So this week, eat out at least one evening and skip the chains. Pick a local restaurant, maybe one you've never been to before, and treat yourself.

And look on The Batavian this week for Deals of the Day from Larry's Steakhouse, T.F. Brown's and Main St. Pizza Company.

Today's Deal of the Day: A $25 gift certificate from Adam Miller Toy and Bicycle in Batavia. The Batavian's Good Deal Price: $12.50 -- HALF off!

Adam Miller's is the best place around that I've seen to shop for a bicycle. You can also get your bicycle serviced at Adam Miller.  Adam Miller's is at 8 Center St. in Batavia.

The gift certificate must be used by within 30 days of purchase. It is not valid with other offers and has no cash value. Previous winners of this gift certificate are not eligible for this offer.

Rules: 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 before 5:00 p.m. 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.

Two sisters, age 16 and 17, were killed instantly when their vehicle was broadsided by a pick-up truck hauling a car on a trailer at the intersection Sumner Road and Route 77 in Darien, the Sheriff's office reports.

Sarah M. Protulipac, the older sister, was driving a 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier west on Sumner when she reportedly failed to stop at the intersection.  Gretchen Ann Protulipac was a pasenger in the car.

The accident occurred at 12:35 p.m. Genesee County Coroner Jack Taylor pronounced the girls dead at the scene.

The truck was driven by Robert J. Pool III, 28, of Lockport. His passenger was Trina L. Vekich, 40, of Lockport. Neither Pool nor Vekich were injured.

Deputy Lonnie Nati, Sgt. James Meir, Investigator William Ferrando and Chief Deputy Gordon Dibble along with members fo the Crash Management Team investigated the accident.

Three resolutions enabling Batavia to apply for a RestoreNY grant for the Masse Gateway Project are on the agenda of the City Council on Monday.

The council meets in a special business session to consider the resolutions at 7 p.m.

There is no public comment time scheduled on the agenda of this meeting.

The resolutions authorize the application to RestoreNY, provide for a municipal expense match for the project, and designate the city as the lead agency.

Following the special business session, the council will meet to consider several other items. Among the items on the agenda:

• Batavia Minor League baseball wants to build new restrooms at its facility at MacArthur Park. This would reqire the league to raise funds to build the restrooms, but since the land is owned by the city, the league will be required to donate the restrooms to the city once they are completed. The council will consider a resolution authorizing the project and accepting the donation.
• There is concern that the Bank Street cross walk isn't safe enough, especially for older people going to and from the senior services center on Bank. The council will consider three low-cost options for improving safety at the cross walk, including repainting the cross walk, adding removable "rumble strips" that remind drivers to slow down, and installing a no left turn sign for drivers coming from the YMCA parking lot.

Contrary to the perception that crime is on the rise because of the recession, in the City of Batavia, crime actually went down in 2008 versus 2007.

Calls for service in the city dropped from 17,707 to 15,854; however, serious crime reports were virtually unchanged, with 502 reported cases in 2008 versus 509 in 2007

Motor vehicle accidents involving personal injury increased from 89 in 2007 to 103 in 2008. There were no fatal accidents in 2008.

You can read the full press release (PDF) by clicking here.

Today's Deal of the Day: A $56 gift certificate from Blue Pearl Yoga in Batavia. The Batavian's Good Deal Price: $28 -- HALF off!

Blue Pearl is located in the Masonic Temple on Main Street. With a wide-open fourth-floor location for yoga classes, it provides a great setting for these classes.  The gift certificate provides 7 classes over a seven week session.

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. 

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 before 5:00 p.m. ON MONDAY 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.

SOLD

The downtown carnival was crowded this evening when I stopped by.  It runs through Sunday.

The turn out was OK for a good weather night with the Carnival in town for the Chamber's Business Showcase. There was live music, ice cream and a couple dozen business booths.  Thanks to all who stopped by to say hi at The Batavian booth.

Jeff Gillard, above, was honored as the volunteer of the year for the Business Improvement District, and Kent Ewell, owner of O'Lacy's was given the "Spirit of Downtown" award at today's BID annual luncheon.