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For 12 years, Anne Marie Starowitiz has brought history alive for area children as coordinator for the History Heroes program at the Holland Land Office Museum.

Saturday, with the end of this summer session, was her last day in the role.

Starowitz said even though she's stepping away from the program, "I'm sure it will continue."

This summer the children learned all about living in the 50s.  

On Saturday, they delivered a program for their parents. They shared important historical dates and ended the program by singing a song from the 50s.  

During the week they created a lemonade stand and made more than $160 for the Genesee County Animal Shelter.  

Starowitz thanked Tompkins Financial, Adam Miller, WBTA, Photos by Sue Meier, Ficarella’s, T-Shirts Etc, and The Batavian for support of the program. 

Submitted photos. 

Nolan Sparks put in 6 1/3 strong innings in the Muckdog's first-round playoff game against Elmira on Sunday, and the offense brought the lumber, leading to a 12-3 victory for the hometown team.

Sparks (top and second photos), a U of R junior, K'd six, surrendered only one earned run and only four hits to pick up his sixth win of 2022 and lower his ERA to 0.38.

Daniel Burroway and Alex Torres each had two RBIs.

The Muckdogs entered post-season play atop the Western Division over Utica by 3.5 games with a 30-15 record.

Manager Joey Martinez attributes the team's success both to player recruitment and the maturity of his players.

"They are a bunch of professionals," Martinez said. "Though they are not professionals yet, I think these guys are. They go about their business every day. They don't get too high, don't get too low. They are very steady-eddy. That's the way we've been playing all year. They have been pretty much very consistent. That's how these guys are, they're super consistent in everything they do -- their work ethic, the way they approach the game."

And they all get along.

"They're a tighter team than last year. These guys really love each other. Every time you have a culture like that, it breeds success."

The Muckdogs play for the Western Division championship against Utica at Dwyer tonight at 7 p.m. 

Photos by Howard Owens To view more photos or purchase prints, click here.

Manager Joey Martinez.

A semi-truck and passenger vehicle collision is reported in the area of 9652 Alleghany Road, Darien, with minor injuries.

Darien Fire, Corfu Fire, and Mercy EMS dispatched.

About 30 people turned out Saturday afternoon at Batavia City Hall for a short protest against the ReAwaken America Tour coming to Batavia on Aug. 12 and 13.

Cornerstone Church, on Bank Street Road, will host the event.

Rev. Roula Alkhouri of First Presbyterian Church of Batavia, told the assembled group she objected to the event coming to Batavia because it mispresents the community, which she described as peaceful and neighborly, and misrepresents Christianity, replacing the gospel of love with a message of hate and violence.

"We're not accusing anybody of being hateful," Alkhouri said. "We’re just listening to their words. Listening to how they're speaking, how they’re expressing themselves."

She quoted one of the scheduled speakers, Scott Mckay, who reportedly told an interviewer: 

"This is war. It’s gonna get bloody, and I’m going to get ugly too; no less ugly than any 1776 preacher that dropped his Bible on the lectern, grabbed his muzzleloader or musket, and went out and put balls and bullets inside people and watched blood flow on a battlefield. That’s what they had to do. That’s the name of Christ ... 

"Any of the minions, including the doctors and nurses who were part of it—knowingly or unknowingly, that’s not for me to sort out—but they need to know what is coming next."

 

 

Alkhouri added, "this is not American. They do not stand for Christianity, but they are using the guise of religion, which really hurts us, people of faith who believe that faith is about expanding our horizons to love, and they’re using it to become more exclusive, using it to divide Americans."

Previously:

• Cornerstone to host Reawaken America Tour next month
• ReAwaken America? Not here, say local Christian leaders planning protest
• Protest at Cornerstone delivers peaceful appeal to love not hate
• Genesee County officials weigh in about ReAwaken tour: traffic biggest concern

It was a perfect day for 18 holes of golf yesterday at Terry Hills, which hosted the 27th Annual Genesee Cancer Assistance Golf Tournament.

Director Sue Underwood said the tournament last year raised $28,000 and this year they hoped to raise more than $30,000.

"We're hopeful we will be over 30, but we're thankful for whatever we make," she said.

The tournament is the non-profit's main fundraiser for the year. The funds are used to provide assistance to cancer patients.

This year 36 teams participated, and sponsorships increased from 52 a year ago to 62 this year.  There were more than 200 prizes, either door prizes or auction items, available to participants. 

Top photo: Ron Puccio stripes his ball down the middle of the fairway to get his tournament, and his team, off to a good start.  His team (next three photos) included Dan Voltura, Fred Hamilton, and Ed Priestley.

Photos by Howard Owens.

Bill Utter, in orange shirt, last year's 50-50 drawing winner, gets ready to draw the 2022 winner, while Sue Underwood and Chris Rumfola look on.

"I've got a firecracker feeling," sings Jocelyn Arndt, lead vocalist in the brother and sister duo, Jocelyn & Chris, headliners Saturday night at Jam at the Ridge, and she certainly does.

Jocelyn lit up the stage while Chris laid down some tight groves and slinky guitar riffs during a high-energy set on a clear summer evening.

The Arndts have been writing songs together since they were in middle school in their hometown of Fort Plain, about 30 minutes west of Albany.  Since then, they've built a solid career based on hook-laden pop-rock songs highlighting Jocelyn's high-energy dynamics and her Janice Joplin-like powerful, blues-inflected vocals.  They've appeared on Paste Studio, Jam in the Van, and The Today Show.

Jam at the Ridge co-owner David Luetticke-Archbell is certainly impressed with Jocelyn & Chris, and said he intends to bring them back in future concert seasons to help them build a local following.

Previously: Brother-sister duo from Upstate to headline Jam at the Ridge on Saturday

Photos by Howard Owens.

Le Roy Police Officer Emmalee Stawicki saved a life in the early morning hours of July 22 after responding to a report of a disturbance on Gilbert Street in the village.

Stawicki secured the scene and then observed an adult male with a severe cut on his arm.  His bleeding was uncontrolled, and he had significant blood loss.  Based on her training, she suspected the victim had sustained an arterial cut, which is potentially life-threatening.

Stawicki applied her department-issued tourniquet on the victim's arm, which controlled the bleeding. EMS also arrived to assist at the scene. The victim was transported by medics to the hospital for further treatment.

Based on an investigation, it was determined that the victim put his arm through a window during the disturbance which resulted in the arm laceration, according to a statement issued by Le Roy Police Chief Gregory Kellogg.

Kellogg said, "LeRoy Police Officers are trained to use a variety of life-saving measures such as the application of tourniquets, Automatic External Defibrillators (AED), administration of Narcan for opioid overdoses, First Aid and CPR."

Photos by Philip Casper.

The History Heroes summer program hosted by Holland Land Office Museum and led by Anne Marie Starowitz visited Adam Miller Toy & Bicycle and WBTA today, fitting into this year's theme of "History Rockin’ Around the Clock in the 1950s."

The theme gives the participating children a chance to glimpse into what it was like to live in 1950s America.

Photos by Howard Owens

Photo submitted by Jeff Maniace.

The Genesee County and Batavia youth bureaus hosted their annual Safe Summer Children’s Carnival at David M. McCarthy Ice Arena on Thursday.

The event featured entertainment and games that helped introduce the children to safety concepts.  Officers from Batavia PD along with City firefighters were on hand.  Multiple other local agencies also participated.

Photos by Howard Owens

Local artist Michelle Cryer is painting new murals on the fence at the south end of Oliver's Candies' parking lot.

Each mural is a reinterpretation of a classic work of art. 

"The idea is to take famous works of art and change the focus of the piece to be products from Oliver's," Cryer said. "So 'Jelly Belly Night' -- that's Vincent Van Gogh's "The Starry Night." This is Picasso's "Child with a Dog" and I'm painting "Child with a Sundae."

Among the other artists to be featured are Banksy, Frida Kahlo, and Keith Haring.

"This next one is going to be Palmer Hayden's "Dreamer," Cryer said. "He's an African American artist. Instead of 'Dreamer' it's gonna be 'Sweet Dreamer,' and it's going to have candy in the stream bubble."

The murals will also be educational, Cryer said.  She's going to add QR codes so people can pull up links to the original works of art and learn more about the painting and the artist.

More than 75 volunteers from City Church were on Watson Street in Batavia on Tuesday morning cleaning up the street and the yards of residents -- doing whatever they could to improve the upkeep of the yards, the street, and the sidewalk.

The visit was part of a ministry called Eight Days of Hope.

A lot of times, noted Ryan Macdonald, a pastor at City Church, people who don't make a lot of money find it a lot harder to do the simple things to maintain their property, and Eight Days of Hope offers assistance without any judgment.

"As an example of what we're speaking about -- trash bags," Macdonald said. "Trash bags aren't cheap any more. And so if you can't afford to buy a pack of trash bags that puts you in a tough spot with trash, and so what we've been working on today is some cleanup, some pickup, and not pointing a finger. Just helping."

Eight Days of Hope just finished a project in Buffalo, where the organization, which works nationally, helped more than 1,000 people.

"Their mission is to help people, to love on people, to bless people," Macdonald said. "They care for people. They care for the nation. They care for neighborhoods that need a little extra help, and they just want to bless people." 

Top photo: Ryan Macdonald. Photos by Howard Owens. 

Steven C. Sharpe, director of emergency communications for the Genesee County Sheriff's Office, has resigned his position effective Sept. 3, according to a memo Sheriff William Sheron sent to department personnel today.

In an email to The Batavian, Sheron confirmed Sharpe's resignation but did not address a question about why he resigned.

"Search for his replacement will begin shortly," Sheron said. "There will be no interruption to dispatch services."

The Batavian did not attempt to contact Sharpe until after hours.  This post will be updated with any response we receive.

Sharpe was instrumental in migrating the Emergency Dispatch Center to the Phase II P-25 TDMA system radio system installed by Harris RF in 2013.

In 2016, Sharpe, an Air Force veteran, was named PSAP (Public Safety Access Point) Finest Director of the Year award. The award was sponsored by emergency communications company NICE.

Every part of Upstate New York, including Genesee County, will benefit from his bill to spur development in computer chip and technology manufacturing, Sen. Charles Schumer said today during an online press conference with reporters from throughout New York.

Upstate has more shovel-ready business park sites than any other region in the nation, and WNY-STAMP is among those sites drawing interest from semiconductor manufacturers with the likely passage of this bill, Schumer said.

"There are a whole number of companies that were thinking of going overseas to Europe or to Asia, that with this bill have now said they're going to locate in the United States," Schumer said in response to a question from The Batavian. "We have some of the great sites including the STAMP site in Batavia and we're going to do everything we can to lure them. And remember, they depend on the Commerce Department to get some grants for this. These are large grants, and I am going to, as Majority Leader, I think, I'll have some say with the Commerce Department."

The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 creates $50 billion in funding designed to provide financial assistance to chip manufacturers and other technology companies to build factories in the United States.

The bill passed the Senate today and Schumer, who authored the bill and has doggedly pursued it for a long time, said it will easily pass in the House of Representatives.

Schumer pushed for passage, he said, because the U.S. must beat China in chip manufacturing and because he believes spurring innovative growth in high-tech will benefit all of New York, especially Upstate New York.

"I wrote this bill with the future of Upstate New York in mind," Schumer said. "The bill creates $50 billion in federal incentives to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the US. And guess what place in America is most suited to get these plants? Upstate New York. There are places in Albany and Syracuse and Western New York that have shovel-ready sites that the big tech companies are already looking at for new chip fabs."

So far, China has been winning the chip manufacturing war, Schumer said. He wants to shift the momentum back to the United States.

"It's time to build our future in Syracuse, not Shanghai; in Buffalo, not Beijing," he said.

He said the odds are high that semiconductor manufacturers are going to look to Upstate New York for their new plants, which will employ thousands of people in high-paying jobs.

"We're gonna go all out and we're going to beat China," Schumer said.

WNY STAMP, located in Alabama near the intersection of Route 77 and Judge Road, is more than 1,100 acres set aside for advanced manufacturing.  GCEDC has been pursuing tenants for the park for more than a decade, and after coming close with 1366 Technologies in 2015 (a project that failed, according to sources, because of then Rep. Chris Collins' unwillingness to support it), the IDA succeeded last year when Plug Power agreed to make a $232.7 million investment to build a new hydrogen fuel plant at the site.

Steve  Hyde, president and CEO of GCEDC, said the agency is pleased with the passage of the bill.

"Senate Majority Leader Schumer has long-championed upstate New York as the ideal region for critical growth of the domestic semiconductor manufacturing and R&D investments due to our university research and talent, our established and ever-growing semiconductor supply chain, along with our considerable capacity of renewable, reliable, and competitively priced electricity," Hyde said in a statement. "We applaud Senator Schumer for his leadership, and stewardship in getting Congress to pass the Chips and Science Bill, which will be the catalyst to growing the high-tech economy at the Western New York Science & Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park (STAMP) and all across upstate New York."

For all prior coverage of WNY Stamp, click here.

For a press release from Sen. Charles Schumer with more details about the bill, click here.

UPDATE:  The Hill is reporting that because of a deal between Sen. Joe Manchin and Sen. Charles Schumer on a reconciliation bill, Republican members of the House of Representatives will now, as of Wednesday evening, oppose the CHIPS bill.

Top photo: Sen. Charles Schumer in a screenshot of today's press conference.

Aerial photo courtesy GCEDC showing Plug Power under construction and the WNY STAMP acreage. 

Potatoes in the foreground off Route 5 in Pembroke being irrigated while the sunsets yesterday.

Photos by Joanne Meiser.

Raymond Stanley, Jr., 46, of Trigon Park, Le Roy, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .18 or greater, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, and leaving the scene of a property damage accident. Stanley was allegedly involved in a hit-and-run accident reported at 10:04 p.m. July 23, at 71 Wolcott St., Le Roy.  Stanley was arrested by Emmalee Stawicki.  He was released on traffic tickets.

Benjamin Rachow, 39, of Gilbert Street, Le Roy, is charged with harassment 2nd. Rachow was arrested by Le Roy PD Officer Emmalee Stawicki at Strong Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for an injury sustained in an alleged incident reported at 1:40 p.m. July 22, on Gilbert Street, Le Roy. He was arraigned in Town of Le Roy Court and released on his own recognizance. A stay-away order of protection was issued.

Jeffrey Ellinwood, 63, of Genesee Street, Le Roy, is charged with harassment 2nd. Ellinwood is accused of continuing to contact a person on July 24 after being told to cease all communications with the individual.  He was arrested by Officer Curtis Miller. He was arraigned in Town of Le Roy Court and released on his own recognizance.  An order of protection was issued.

Name redacted upon request, 29, of Dewey Avenue, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. xxxx is accused of shoplifting $76.84 in merchandise from a store on Veterans Memorial Drive, Batavia. xxxx was processed at the Genesee County Jail and released.

James Robert Cooper, 39, of Buell Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument 1st. Cooper is accused of passing a fraudulent $20 bill at a location at Harrington's Produce on Clinton Street Road, Batavia, at 12:29 p.m. Dec. 27. He was arrested on July 22. He was arraigned in Town of Batavia Court and released on his own recognizance.

Shannon Lee Guiste, 51, of West Main Street, Batavia, is charged with burglary 3rd and petit larceny.  Guiste is accused of skip-scanning items at Walmart at 4:21 p.m. July 21. In 2015, Guiste was reportedly banned from entering Walmart. Guiste was arraigned in Town of Batavia Court and released.  

Eric Charles Dockstader, 37, no address provided, is charged with strangulation 2nd. Dockstader was allegedly involved in a disturbance at 4:55 a.m. July 24 at a location on Council House Road, Alabama. He was arraigned in Town of Alabama Court and released under supervision.

Antionette A. Pierre, 24, of Nassau Bahamas, is charged with petit larceny. Piere is accused of stealing in the Town of Batavia at 2:27 p.m., July 23. She was arrested by State Police and released on an appearance ticket. No further information was released.

Joshua D. Quaintance, 33, of Byron, is charged with criminal trespass. Quaintance was arrested by State Police in connection with an incident reported at noon July 17 in the Town of Bergen.  No further details released.

At 2.8 percent, Genesee County's unemployment rate has remained at historically low levels.

June was the third straight month this year when the county's unemployment rate was below 3.0 percent and the fourth time since November 2021.

A year ago, the June rate was 4.4 percent, and in 2020, it was 8.3 percent.

The state's Labor Department reports that there are 29,800 people employed in the county, 900 registered as unemployed and a total labor force of 30,700 individuals.

A year ago, the total labor force was 29,400, and it was 29,500 in 2020.

The state's unemployment rate is 4.4 percent, down from 7.5 percent a year ago, according to the DOL.  The nation's is 3.8 percent, down from 6.1 percent. 

Storm clouds over Pembroke about an hour before sunset.

Photo by Patricia Morgan.

Joanne Meiser took this sunset picture from Indian Falls Cemetery looking across to the WNY National Cemetery.