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The Daily News has posted the first of a two-part FAQ on the ambulance service controversy.

It's well done and should be pretty informative to anybody (is there anybody?) who hasn't been following the issue.

There's been much discussion on The Batavian over an allegation that the city transferred money from ambulance funds to the city treasury. City Manager addresses the question:

In past years, money has been transferred from the ambulance fund to meet personnel costs associated with running the city ambulance service. Eliminating the ambulance service allows the city to cut those positions, which will end the city's need to take money from another fund.

On the issue of "scare tactics," as City Council President Charlie Mallow has characterized the union's lobbying effort, Mallow and union president Greg Ireland each get their say.

Mallow:

"The union's literature, signs and words imply that the city will somehow not have ambulance service after Sept. 1 and that no one will come to help when you call 911," Mallow said. "The county has made it clear that they have a process in place ... there is no reason to believe the hysteria being asserted by the union that there will be no one to provide ambulance service after Sept. 1."

Ireland:

"Our campaign is in NO way negative," Ireland said. "We simply want the public to be aware of the decision that council has made to eliminate their ambulance service, and City Council has no definitive plan for the future needs of their citizens. Passing the buck to someone else is not a responsible way to govern the people that elected you, and I am one of them."

Read the whole thing.

The Genesee County Assisted Living Center posted a sign on its front door yesterday informing patrons that the facility closed "until further notice."

Paster Charlie Piscitello, chairman of the board of directors, said the center has not received from Albany more than $53,000 needed to cover operational expenses for the first quarter. The state also owes more than $40,000 for the final quarter of 2008.

"Our funds were frozen that we need to keep the doors open," Piscitello said. "It got to the point where with no money you can't pay anybody. You can't even pay their health insurance."

The center employs 11 people and serves more than 1,100 clients.

"This is a money crunch in Albany," Piscitello said. "This isn't a case of mismanagement."

Piscitello said the center expects its funding by Tuesday, but WBTA quotes the executive director as saying the center won't open again until a week from Monday.

Meanwhile, the center's employees are on furlough.

Assemblyman Steve Hawley told WBTA that some paperwork had not been completed and that he's working with the Albany agency taking care of the reimbursements. Listen his audio quote from WBTA.

WBTA will report on its 12:30 newscast that Lapp Industries Corp. in LeRoy is concerned about a proposed environmental clean up, which VP and COO Robert Johnson tells WBTA would cost more than it should.

If forced to pay for a $3.4 million price tag for the proposed clean up on the 80=acre site, the survival of the company would be put in jeopardy.

Johnson says 140 local jobs could be lost. He maintains the job can be done just as well for $1.4 million, which the company can afford and is willing to pay.

WBTA reports this morning:

• Unemployment hit 9.1 percent in Genesee County, up from 6.7 percent a year ago.
• A knife-wielding suspect threatened two Batavia police officers this morning. Ryan Shumway, 29, was taken into custody after the confrontation, in which Shumway was told several times to drop the knife before he did.

Tune into WBTA 1490-AM for these and other stories throughout the day.

Dustin R. Cleveland, 23, of Byron, was arrested Thursday, for reportedly playing music too loud in his residence. He was charged with disorderly conduct. The Sheriff's office reported numerous complaints about the loud music. In report does not include the time of the incident.

Joseph Julyan, 44, of Oakfield, was arrested Thursday. He is accused of aggravated DWI with a prior conviction. He is also charged with improper use of restricted lane. He was taken into custody at 11 Jefferson St, Batavia. No other details were released.

Morgan L. Cox, 17, of Corfu, was injured when he was thrown from an ATV while jumping snow banks behind a residence on Main Street in Batavia, the Democrat and Chronicle reports.

Cox was taken to United Memorial. There is no word of the nature of his injuries nor his condition.

I'm really not a fan of the New York State Thruway. I don't like paying the toll, and it too quickly zips you past some of WNY's beautiful scenery. When I do drive it, I can't help but feel I'm being jettisoned down a pneumatic tube. There's not much to the right of me, and even less on the left. Just zoom, zoom past guard rails and weeds to my destination.

When my wife and I needed to drive to Massachusetts for a wedding last spring, we traversed nothing but New York's "back roads." Avoiding the Thruway added two hours to our trip both ways, but it was worth it.  We saw every rustic village along the way and ate in some nice locally owned restaurants, rather than cookie-cutter chains at Thurway rest stops.

As we drove along the 5 & 20, I thought what a great route -- the businesses should band together along the 5 & 20 to promote tourism. When I got home, I found this 5 & 20 Web site.

Kelly Rapone, over at the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce, is involved in a 5 & 20 promotional project and asked that I pass along a link to a survey the group is doing. If you take the survey you will be entered into a chance to win a $100 gas card.

So, take the survey, drive the 5 & 20, and support local and regional businesses.

Following the news that the prospects of funding for a high-speed passenger rail line between Albany and Buffalo seem good, I sent an e-mail to Congressman Chris Lee's office asking for a fuller statement about the project.

I asked specifically if Lee would work to ensure Batavia had a train station along the route.

Spokeswoman Andrea Bozek wrote back, "Chris is certainly reviewing Batavia's infrastructural capacity as part of this effort."

She also sent along this statement from Congressman Lee:

High-speed rail presents a great opportunity for advancing the long-term economic development of Western New York. Yesterday (ed. now day before yesterday), we had an excellent meeting between members of the upstate congressional delegation and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. We came to a consensus on the need to move this project forward with the goal to use the existing rail corridor and hit initial top speeds of 110 miles per hour. That will cut two hours off of current travel times. Transportation experts who have analyzed the plan believe the first segment of service can be open in two-to-three years, with its full opening in three-to-five years. The delegation will continue to closely work with the Secretary and New York state transportation officials as the planning turns to stops along the corridor.

The Batavia City Council meets Monday at 7 p.m.

For the Conference Meeting, Councilman Bob Bialkowski, requested a discussion of the Falleti Ice Arena and non-union wage increases.  Councilman Bill Cox requested a discussion of the Walnut Street construction project.

For the business meeting, the council is scheduled to vote on whether to grant a 2.8 percent wage increase for non-union employees.

Daniel Brusie, 33, of Medina, is accused of entering a back yard on Pratt Road in Pembroke, and stealing a riding lawn mower (described as a Poulan 21 HP 42-inch cut hydrostatic riding lawn mower).  Brusie is being held without bail and scheduled for arraignment this evening.

Christopher I. Shippers, 20, of Bergen, is accused of DWI and refusal to take a breath test. He was arrested Tuesday in connection with accident involving a train and the truck Shippers was reportedly driving.  Shippers vehicle reportedly became stuck on the track and all four occupants exited the vehicle. A train then came along, striking the truck and totalling it. Sheriff's deputies say after a subsequent investigation, they suspected Shippers fo driving while intoxicated.

Patrick Wolff, 18, of Batavia, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of unlawful possession of marijuana. Wolff was allegedly found to have marajuna in his possession following a fire alarm investigation.

Joseph Barsuk, 50, of Batavia, is accused of trespass. According to the Sheriff's release, Wal-Mart personnel said Barsuk entered and remained on Wal-Mart property "without license due to a prior restriction from the property" on Jan. 3, 2009.

Supporters of keeping an ambulance service in Batavia set up BataviaAmbulance.com to rally public support for their cause.

Judging by their own online poll, the strategy isn't working.

On the site, the current poll asks: "Do you think eliminating the City Fire-Based Ambulance service is safe?" The possible answers are, "NO!" and "Sure, I'll risk it."

Of the first 203 answers, 65 percent of those taking this very unscientific of polls indicate they're willing to forgo a city-backed ambulance service.

LOCKPORT, N.Y. -- A Lockport man apparently thought he found a clever way to supplement his income.

John J. Taylor, 54, of Lockport, was arrested Feb. 3 for allegedly walking into supermarkets and claiming that employees spilled milk on him, and then receiving money and gift cards to reimburse him for his cleaning bills.

He has been charged with scheme to defraud in the second degree and released on a ticket to appear in court March 16.

Among the locations he is accused of attempting his scheme is the rest stop market in Pembroke. Other reported locations: Lockport, Clarence, Williamsville, Attica, Silver Creek and Seneca Falls.

State police said, "The investigation revealed that Taylor has contacted numerous supermarkets, restaurants, retail stores and convenience stores in the past several years attempting to obtain money or gift cards for fraudulent complaints."

An interesting new Web site passed over my desk today -- Front Porch Republic.

The site promotes the kind of localist, libertarian, decentralist philosophy that appeals to me.

It was a pleasant surprise to find that Batavia's resident (well, Elba, now, really) historical writer Bill Kauffman is a contributing editor.

Chief among the founders is Bill's friend Jeremy Beer, whom I met at a Muckdog's game last year. He lives in Phoenix, Arizona.

"The site doesn't really hit the left or right straight jacket," Bill told me today. "It's about exploring alternatives to empire and biggness."

He described the site's contributors as people of various backgrounds interested in localism, decentralization and "restoring human scale."

I asked him if this meant he's now blogging, knowing he hates the word.

"Technology people have given us such great words," he said. "Blog sounds like some unpleasant body function."

Blogging or not, it's always a treat to find another outlet to read Bill's vivid and insightful writing.

We just received a press release from United Memorial Medical Center stating that 14 employees were laid off in Januray, and previously 16 vacant positions were eliminated, in response to the economic downturn.

For the past three months, United Memorial has been working to take pro-active steps in positioning the organization to effectively cope with the impact of reduced reimbursements from governmental payers and the effects of the declining stock market. To remain financially viable and protect the high level of service provided to our patients, we have applied organizational changes.

United Memorial began implementing several cost saving strategies in January which included limiting expenses unrelated to patient care, restricting the travel and education budgets and re-evaluating projects and capital purchases. All contracts for supplies, utilities and services were re-examined for cost savings. The Cardiac Rehab program was altered to increase class size and allow fewer days of operation. The Process Improvement Department was restructured under Quality Management and the employee shuttle service was outsourced.

As a part of this process, 16 vacant open positions with the equivalent hours of 12 full time employees were eliminated and since January, 14 employees were let go. While the 14 individuals affected by this action account for less than 2% of our 770 person workforce, they were our colleagues, co-workers and friends. Each possessed admirable work ethics and they have collectively provided the Hospital with decades of respected service. Those that were eligible were offered severance packages and where appropriate, options to extend their healthcare coverage.

The eliminated positions include three in management and 27 support staff.

The Surgical Expansion and Affordable Senior Housing Projects will continue as planned. The Hospital leadership team has worked conscientiously to make decisions that will allow United Memorial to continue to grow and provide quality services that meet the healthcare needs of our community.