Barbara Hale, executive director of the YWCA, receives a City Council Resolution from Councilwoman Marianne Clattenburg. Hale and the YWCA were honored for the Y's work on behalf of victims of domestic violence. The Y's program has been in place for 15 years and is the only local provider of domestic violence services such as counseling and advocacy.
Well, I guess we could all see this coming, and within the past couple of months it seemed pretty inevitable as work crews stripped the building of pretty much all equipment and furniture, but the former Mother's Chicken-N-Fish location is for sale.
It's too bad. At one time, it was a great place to eat.
A bicyclist has reportedly been injured -- no word on how seriously -- after being struck by a car at Summit and North streets.
Mercy EMS and Batavia PD are in route.
Food safety has been in the news recently, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee, has a plan to improve food inspections, recall response and public education.
Gillibrand said she is calling for:
“In America, in 2009, it is unconscionable that food is still going straight to our kitchens, school cafeterias and restaurants without being properly tested to ensure its safety,” Sen. Gillibrand said. “It’s spreading too many diseases and costing too many lives. We need to do a better job of catching contaminated food before it ever comes close to a kitchen table. My plan addresses the gaps in the inspection process and improves recalls and public education, so parents have access to the information to keep their families safe.”
The New York Times recently ran an interesting investigative piece about ongoing issues with E. coli in ground beef.
Full press release after the jump:
Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, the first New York senator to sit on the Senate Agriculture Committee in nearly 40 years, today announced a comprehensive plan to overhaul the nation’s food safety laws by improving inspection, recall response, and public education. A cornerstone of Senator Gillibrand’s plan is new legislation to mandate E. coli inspections of ground beef.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), every year an estimated 87 million Americans are sickened by contaminated food, 371,000 are hospitalized with food-borne illness, and 5,700 die from food-related disease. While the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has made some progress improving food safety regulations, the nation’s food safety laws have not been significantly overhauled in more than a century, according to the Congressional Research Service.
“In America, in 2009, it is unconscionable that food is still going straight to our kitchens, school cafeterias and restaurants without being properly tested to ensure its safety,” Senator Gillibrand said. “It’s spreading too many diseases and costing too many lives. We need to do a better job of catching contaminated food before it ever comes close to a kitchen table. My plan addresses the gaps in the inspection process and improves recalls and public education, so parents have access to the information to keep their families safe.”
Across New York State, approximately 5 million people are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year.
· In New York City, an estimate of nearly 2.1 million are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year;
· In Western New York, an estimate of nearly 360,000 are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year;
· In the Rochester-Finger Lakes Region, an estimate of over 310,000 are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year;
· In Central New York, an estimate of over 250,000 are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year;
· In the Southern Tier, an estimate of nearly 170,000 are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year;
· In the Capital Region, an estimate of over 280,000 are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year;
· In the North Country, an estimate of nearly 125,000 are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year;
· In the Hudson Valley, an estimate of an estimate of over 570,000 are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year;
· On Long Island, an estimate of over 715,000 are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year.
Salmonella is the most common food-borne illness – causing over 1 million illnesses each year in the U.S., according to the CDC. Another 70,000 in America fall victim to E. coli each year. From meat and poultry to peanut butter, fruits and vegetables, almost every type of food we eat each day has the potential for contamination because of outdated, insufficient safeguards and testing processes.
Responsibility for enforcing America’s food safety measures is shared by 15 federal agencies – with the FDA and USDA responsible for the bulk of the oversight. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is often limited to reactive regulations once outbreaks have already begun instead of preventing contaminations from spreading, and risking the safety of our food and the health of millions.
Senator Gillibrand’s plan to improve food safety will streamline and strengthen regulations at the USDA and FDA. Senator Gillibrand’s efforts will also alter the fundamental approach to food safety by focusing on prevention to catch food-borne illnesses, and more quickly preventing further illness when an outbreak is detected.
STRENGTHEN INSPECTION AND SURVEILLANCE
Improve Testing of Ground Beef
During a 2008 industry-wide sampling of all ground beef produced, the CDC found that nearly 1 in every 200 samples of ground beef was contaminated with E. coli. Ground beef is especially vulnerable to E. coli because its source material is not from a single cut of meat, rather, from a compilation of trimmings from many parts, including fat that lies near the surface of possibly contaminated hide. While some grinders that process ground beef voluntarily test the meat before and after grinding, there is currently no federal requirement for grinders to test their ingredients for E. coli.
To reduce the risk of E. coli ending up in the hamburgers and other food we eat, Senator Gillibrand is authoring the E. Coli Eradication Act – new legislation that would require all plants that process ground beef to test their products regularly before it is ground and again before it is combined with other beef or ingredients, such as spices, and packaged. If ground beef is found to be contaminated, the bill requires the company to properly dispose of the contaminated batch, or cook the meat to a temperature that destroys the E. coli. Senator Gillibrand’s legislation will include appropriate penalties for companies that fail to implement testing mechanisms at their facilities.
Improve Regulation of All Other Food
Ground beef isn’t the only food infecting people with E. coli and salmonella. Fruits and vegetables can also be contaminated. Senator Gillibrand is co-sponsoring the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act – legislation authored by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) that would make comprehensive improvements to the safety of fruits and vegetables, and help prevent outbreaks before they start.
· Focus on Prevention, requiring all facilities to establish preventive plans to address hazards upfront, prevent adulteration, and give the FDA access to all of these plans and procedures.
· Expand Access to Records, giving the FDA access to the records of all food processing facilities.
· Establish Oversight of High Quality Testing Laboratories, by granting the FDA authority to check the credibility of the laboratories testing the safety of food, requiring the labs to report all of their findings to the FDA, and certify that foreign food facilities comply with U.S. food safety standards.
· Improve Detection, by increasing inspections at all food facilities, including annual inspections of high-risk facilities, and inspections of all facilities once every four years; enhancing food-borne illness surveillance systems to improve the collection, analysis, reporting, and usefulness of data on food-borne illnesses; and creating a pilot project to test and evaluate new methods to quickly and accurately track and trace fruits and vegetables in the event of a food-borne illness outbreak.
· Enhance U.S. Food Defense Capabilities by helping food companies protect their products from intentional contamination, and commence a national strategy to protect our food supply from terrorist threats, and rapidly respond to food emergencies.
· Increase FDA Resources, increasing federal investments to give the FDA all the resources it needs to implement comprehensive food safety improvements.
Improve Safety of Imported Food
15 percent of America’s overall food supply is imported from overseas, including 60 percent of fruits and vegetables and 80 percent of seafood.
America imports $5.2 billion worth of food from China alone – including 10 percent of our shrimp. In 2007, the FDA issued important alerts for five kinds of farm-raised fish and shrimp from China due to unsafe additives, inadequate labeling and poor manufacturer registrations, as well as potentially harmful veterinary drug residues in farm-raised fish and shrimp.
To ensure the safety of food we import matches the standards of food grown and processed in America, Senator Gillibrand is calling on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to prioritize the hiring of inspectors to protect consumers from contaminated imported food.
In 2003, when the DHS took over the inspection of agricultural products on the border, the position of “agriculture specialists” was created. While the number of people in this position has been slowly increasing, we are still one-third short of the number of specialists needed to test the ever increasing array of agricultural products coming into the country.
The overall agricultural inspection rate for cargo has declined from nearly 70 percent in 2001 to about 40 percent in 2008 and down to 13 percent for passenger inspections. Better inspections will not only protect humans from pathogens, but will protect American farms from agricultural pests and disease.
Additionally, Senator Gillibrand will work to require importers to verify the safety of foreign suppliers and imported food by allowing the FDA to require certification for high-risk foods, and deny entry to a food that lacks certification, or that is from a foreign facility that has refused U.S. inspections.
IMPROVE RECALL RESPONSE
Recall Contaminated Food in School Lunches
Last month, in response to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report <http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09649.pdf> that revealed federal agencies are not adequately alerting schools about recalls, Senator Gillibrand introduced the Safe Food for Schools Act – legislation that would protect the 31 million schoolchildren who participate in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs by requiring federal agencies to issue proper alerts to schools.
Make Recalls of Contaminated Food Mandatory
For additional improvements to our food recall processes, Senator Gillibrand will work with her colleagues to give the FDA the authority to order a mandatory recall of a food product when a company fails to voluntarily recall the produce upon FDA’s request. Right now, recalls are only voluntary.
IMPROVE PUBLIC EDUCATION
To make sure information about food-borne illnesses and recalls is distributed accurately and efficiently, Senator Gillibrand is authoring the Consumer Recall Notification Act – legislation that would direct the Secretaries of the Department of Health and Human Services and the USDA, as well as the Commissioner of the FDA to improve communication among states, state and local health departments, food distributors and vendors to provide consumers with faster and more complete information.
Specifically, the legislation would:
· Provide information to health professionals to improve diagnosis and treatment of food-related illness;
· Develop a procedure to distribute regional and national advisories concerning food safety;
· Allow the FDA to share trade secrets, and commercial or financial information, and its list of registered facilities with other federal, state, local and foreign agencies – provided those agencies can assure confidentially of the information;
· Allow the FDA to share confidential information with the public when necessary to protect public health;
· Develop standardized formats for written and broadcast advisories;
· Mandate on-site notification of a recalled product by posting notification in the freezer case or shelving unit where the product is, or has been sold.
Herbly Wonderful, 3701 Pearl St., Batavia, NY: Winter teas, spices and fall colors for your home in stunning floral arrangements and seasonal wreaths are now available at Herbly Wonderful. We have a $25 gift certificate for $11.
South Main Country Gifts, 3356 Main St. Road, Batavia, NY: Handcrafted items, gifts with a regional flair, candles, teas and spices -- South Main has a wide selection to please most any interest. We have a $20 gift certificate for $9.
Matty's Pizzeria, 4152 W. Main St., Batavia, NY: Matty's is another Batavia favorite for pizza and wings. We have a $20 gift certificate for $10.
Settler's Restaurant, 353 W. Main St., Batavia, NY: Settler's has a 25-year history of serving great, affordable breakfasts, lunches and dinners to Batavians. We have a $20 gift certificate for $10.
Adam Miller Toy & Bicycles, 8 Center St., Batavia, NY: Feel like a kid in a toy store again, or treat your kids to the greatest toy store they will ever see. We have a $25 gift certificate for $12.50.
T.F. Brown's, at 214 E. Main St., Batavia, NY: T.F. Brown's is a great place for a good meal, good friends and to catch up on what's going on in the sports world. "If it happens in sports, it happens at Brown's." We have a $20 gift card for $10.
Clor's Meat Market, 4169 W. Main St. Road, Batavia, NY: For the best, most flavorful, juiciest chicken or hamburger in town, hands down, stop by Clor's. Oh, and the steaks are great, too. And the sausage. Clor's also serves lunch and dinners from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. We have a $15 gift card for $7.50.
NOTE: If you've never bought Deal of the Day before, or are otherwise unfamiliar with the rules and process, click here.
SOLD OUT
There's no executive session scheduled for tonight's City Council meeting.
That's not usually noteworthy, except the last time the council met, several members were upset. A citizen complaint about City Manager Jason Molino, including a copy of the letter and the citizen's name, had been leaked to the Daily News.
The leaker has not yet been identified, and some council members have expressed a reluctance to meet in closed session so long as one of their own appears to be untrustworthy.
So, we emailed City Council President Charlie Mallow, who previously vowed "no closed sessions during the remainder of his term" and asked him where he stood on closed sessions now, and the status of the complaint issue.
Here's his response:
I will deal privately with the letter, the review and the citizen complaint. The issue will be closed out by the end of the week. I will not be issuing a press release or discussing this issue further.
As I have stated before, a majority of Council is unwilling to speak about these issues in a group setting. Individual Council people have the right to speak to the city manager at any time and I have asked them to do so privately about any matter they wish. If we have need for an executive session about another issue, it will be scheduled. If there are updates in the future of a sensitive nature, that can be done one-on-one. There are no votes that take place in executive session; all decisions are made in public.
Here's what's on the council agenda tonight at 7 o'clock in City Hall:
A dog was hit by a car yesterday at 1:30 p.m. and Deputy Brian Thompson, a K-9 officer, and Animal Control Officer Bill Taylor responded to the scene.
The accident occurred at Route 77 and Reynolds Road, where a stray boxer-mix darted into the road, according to Deputy Chief Gordon Dibble.
The dog was struck by a car driven by a person from Florida.
Thompson and Taylor first took the dog to an animal hospital, which recommended treatment at Corfu Vet Clinic, so Taylor and Thompson transported it there.
From what I heard on the scanner, the dog didn't sound seriously injured. Dibble said there's no information on how the pooch did after being transported.
I spoke with Shannon at the vet, who was off that day, and she said the dog was transferred to another facility, although she doesn't know where.
But it was good to hear on the scanner Monday about the extra effort Thompson and Taylor went to to care for the stricken animal.
Manuel Zuniga Perez, 28, of 10248 Brookville Road, Alexander, is charged with DWI, unlicensed operation of a vehicle, and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Perez was stopped in the City of Batavia by Officer Chris Camp after a domestic dispute was reported at his home in Alexander. Perez reportedly had two children in the car with him at the time he was stopped. He was jailed on $2,000 bail.
After a long weekend off, Deputy Chief Jerome Brewster got back to us on some questions we had about the arrest of Nick A. Hawkins for allegedly robbing the Five Star Bank branch in Pavilion.
He referred most of the questions to the district attorney's office, but did say: "...the jacket did not play as significant (a) role as we thought it would. "
The bank robber wore a light blue and black jacket with "Husqvarna" lettering on the left sleeve.
Brewster said, "The arrest was the culmination of a thorough, cooperative investigation conducted by the Sheriff's Office and State Police."
He also provided this mug shot of Hawkins.
Previously:
Brian M. Raphael, 21, of 4 Noonan Drive, Batavia, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and criminal possession of a weapon. Police Officer E.E. Bolles reports that he found Raphael sleeping in his car with the engine running Saturday at 3:10 a.m. at 419 E. Main St., Batavia. Upon his arrest, Raphael was allegedly found in possession of a collapsible billy club.
Michael D. Snyder, 37, of 679 E. Main St., Apt. 4a, is accused of criminal contempt and harassment. Snyder allegedly violated the terms of an order of protection by shoving his girlfriend. He was jailed without bail.
Timothy P. Tucker, 35, of 12 Ellicott St., is charged with DWI, refusal to take breath test, failure to stop for a stop sign, speed not reasonable and prudent, improper turn and leaving the scene of an injury accident. On Sunday at 1:48 a.m., Tucker allegedly ran a stop sign from northbound Union Street at Oak Street. His vehicle reportedly continued through the intersection until it hit a tree. Officer Dan Coffey reports that Tucker allegedly fled the scene on foot. His female passenger suffered minor injuries in the accident. Tucker was found a short time later at his residence, according to Officer Coffey.
James Frank Webb, 27, of 10215 Colby Road, Darien, is charged with criminal contempt and harassment. Webb is accused of violating an order of protection that barred him from contacting a particular person. He allegedly called that person on the phone.
Shaundalee M. Hill, 20, of 81 Lyncourt Park, Greece, is charged with DWI and driving with a BAC of .08 or greater. Hill was arrested by Deputy Tim Wescott after Hill was reportedly involved in a one-car accident Fisher Road in Oakfield at 6:46 p.m. on Friday. Hill was also charged with unlicensed operation of a vehicle and having an open container.
Adam M. Ganzhorn, 25, of Town of Batavia, is charged with obstruction of governmental administration and filing a false report of an incident. He was arrested at 4346 Batavia-Elba Townline Road by State Police and jailed on $2,000 bail. No further details available.
Christopher A. Saddler, 25, of Albion, is charged with petit larceny. Saddler was arrested in the Town of Batavia by State Police. No further details available.
A garage fire that destroyed a car, a truck, a lawn tractor and an ATV last night was sparked by a short in an electrical outlet, according to a Sheriff's Office investigation.
The fire was first reported at 12:47 a.m. at 8880 Allegheny Road in Corfu and well before the first fire units could arrive, the garage was fully engulfed in flames.
No residents of the Swiatowy home were injured, nor were any firefighter injuries reported.
The garage was unoccupied at the time.
Destroyed were a 1984 Olds Delta 88, a 2003 Ford F150 pickup truck, an ATV and a lawn tractor. A tractor parked outside of the garage was also damaged.
The home is insured.
Sgt. Brian Frieday investigated the incident.
UPDATE 10:29 p.m.: Above is a reader-submitted photo of the fire we received a little while ago.
Previously: Garage fire reported in Corfu
An electrical extension cord running through a basement window to a detached garage is the likely cause of a fire this morning at 2320 Judge Road, Alabama.
All five family members at the home escaped safely, and firefighters rescued the family's dog and cat.
Emergency Management Coordinator Tim Yaeger called the use of the extension cord "improper."
The fire caused $60,000 to $70,000 damage to the structure and contents of the home.
The extension cord ignited the window frame, and the fire climbed up the outside wall, crawling into second-floor bedroom, into the eaves and eventually into the attic. It also was just beginning to ignite a first-floor living room couch when the fire was suppressed.
It took units from Alabama and Oakfield an hour to fight the fire.
The home, owned by Jim Venzey and rented by Dave Kinney, was insured, Yaeger said.
Previously: House fire reported on Judge Road in Alabama
It's been a rough couple of months for the Hawkins family of Le Roy.
Lori Hawkins, after 32 years working for area dairy farmers hasn't been unable to find a job. On Sept. 5, her second-oldest son, Mike Burrs, died at age 31 after a lifetime battle with a congenital heart disorder.
Now her 25-year-old son, Nick A. Hawkins, is charged with robbery, accused of handing a demand note to the cashier at the Five Star Bank branch in Pavilion last Monday. He is in Genesee County jail being held on $25,000 bail.
We first met Lori Hawkins at a dairy rally at Dale Stein's farm organized by Assemblyman Steve Hawley. She showed up with a cardboard sandwich sign that read "Exp. milker 4-hire. Unemployment benefits denied. Labor dept. not much help. Can you afford to hire me? I want to work!"
So far, Hawkin's efforts to land a job haven't panned out.
Hawkins said she knows how to milk cows, care for calves, administer medication and do any of the tasks associated with being a dairy farm hand. But her experience doesn't seem to matter much these days.
"Now they're hiring Mexicans," Hawkins said. "I'm 50 years old. They look at me and I think they think I'm too old. I don't know what they are thinking."
Hawkins is the mother of four children, but she said Nick is always the one she had trouble with. School counselors advised her when he was young that Nick might be borderline ADD (Attention-deficit disordered). She said he's never been properly checked out, but wonders if he might be bipolar or have obsessive-compulsive disorder.
"When he was younger, he would always act out and then regret it later," Hawkins said.
Nick Hawkins has a criminal history that Lori said started when he was a teenager. At 14 or 15, he he was accused of stealing a bike.
She said Nick was on probation from 2002 to 2007 for stealing a four-wheeler, plus she's heard of various petty crimes.
"I'm sure he's done stuff that I don't even know about," she said.
Lori said she last saw her son one evening last week and they watched TV together.
"It (news of the bank robbery) was a shock to me," she said. "I didn't even know about it."
She said Nick has no stable work history. He learned welding at BOCES and has some dairy farm experience ("I taught him how to milk cows," she said), but he never seems to be able to hold a job.
"I don't know if he develops an attitude problem or what," she said.
The death of Mike Burrs has been hard on the entire family, Hawkins said, and there's been some dispute over what to do with Mike's belongings, which includes a snowmobile and a dirt bike. Nick didn't want his grandmother to sell those items, Lori said, and the issue upset him.
"Since his brother died five weeks ago, I've been telling him he should go to counseling," Lori said. "But he's 25 years old. He's not going to listen to what his mother tells him to do."
We saw a couple of busts this summer of people accused of growing pot, and of course the State Police flew its helicopter around looking for marijuana fields, but it turns out, increased domestic production maybe putting more hurt on Mexican drug cartels than years of "the war on drugs."
American pot growers now produce half of all the weed sold in the United States.
Contrary to traditional images of rural pot farming, small-scale production and indoor farming may have played a large role in the increased production. "While the trafficking of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine is the main focus of U.S. law enforcement, it is marijuana that has long provided most of the revenue for Mexican drug cartels," the reporters write.
And like Starbuck adjusting its brand to meet increased local competition, the drug cartels are changing the way they do business.
Mexican cartels are improving their product and streamlining delivery to compete with increased U.S. production, they report. The National Drug Intelligence Center says cartels are increasingly growing pot on public lands in the U.S. to move closer to the market.
Of course, state treasuries aren't seeing a dime of benefit from all of this commerce.
A house fire has been reported at 2320 Judge Road, and a second alarm has been reported.
The caller reports heavy smoke, flames and glass breaking.
Alabama, a full response from Oakfield and an Elba pumper have been requested.
UPDATE: First responder reports, nobody is in the house.
UPDATE 9:54 a.m.: A crew inside reports there was a fire in a bedroom. The fire is knocked down a this time and the crew is checking for extensions.
Belladessa's Pizzeria/Jackson St. Grill, 9 Jackson St., Batavia, NY: Here's a deal -- half off on a Family Meal Deal from Belladessa's, which is a large 1 topping pizza, 24 wings and 2-liter bottle of soda. It's a $25 value for $12.50.
South Main Country Gifts, 3356 Main St. Road, Batavia, NY: Handcrafted items, gifts with a regional flair, candles, teas and spices -- South Main has a wide selection to please most any interest. We have a $20 gift certificate for $9.
Alex's Place, 8322 Park Road, Batavia, NY: People come from all over the region for a fine dining experience at Alex's. It's best known for its ribs, of course, but Alex's seafood is also a favorite of the restaurant's diners. We have a $25 gift certificate for $12.50.
Center Street Smoke House, 20 Center St., Batavia, NY: Ribs, brisket, steak, prime rib -- Center Street is a meat lover's paradise. We have a $25 gift card for $12.50.
Matty's Pizzeria, 4152 W. Main St., Batavia, NY: Matty's is another Batavia favorite for pizza and wings. We have a $20 gift certificate for $10.
Settler's Restaurant, 353 W. Main St., Batavia, NY: Settler's has a 25-year history of serving great, affordable breakfasts, lunches and dinners to Batavians. We have a $20 gift certificate for $10.
Great Kutz, in the Valu Plaza, 4152 W. Main St. Road, Batavia, NY: Men, enjoy a $5 haircut again with this offer exclusive to The Batavian. (gift card can be applied toward other services, but not products).
NOTE: If you've never bought Deal of the Day before, or are otherwise unfamiliar with the rules and process, click here.
Press Release:
Batavia, NY --- It was billed as Super Saturday night (Oct. 10) at Batavia Downs Casino, with the biggest trot and pace of the year, a retirement ceremony for one of the most popular horses to ever race at the Downs, a check presentation for charity and a t-shirt giveaway.
The pacing event was the track’s showcase event of the season, the seventh annual $40,000 Robert J. Kane Memorial. On Super Saturday, two super horses finished one-two.
Taking complete advantage of his rail post draw, the classy pacer Foiled Again went wire-to-wire to win the Kane Memorial.
With Matt Kakaley in the bike for trainer Ron Burke, Foiled Again fired out of the starting gate, seated his main rival Special Report heading into the first turn and put up all the numbers en route to a 3-1/2 length score in 1:52.3. Special Report with Larry Stalbaum finished second best while Eagle Real One (Gareth Dowse) was farther back in third.
“I won the Battle of Lake Erie with him (Foiled Again); he’s perfect on a half,” Kakaley said. “Once I got the front end and a second quarter breather I knew it was over.”
The victory put Foiled Again (Dragon Again-In A Safe Place) over the $550,000 mark in seasonal earnings for owners Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi and JJK Stables.
The third annual $10,000 Brian Schroeder Memorial Trot was contested earlier on the card and it was Scorpion Moon who took home the lion’s share of the purse money for driver Jack Rice and trainer Tracy Brainard. Scorpion Moon overtook the front running Baby Boy Grin (Larry Stalbaum) at the three-quarters and went on to a 4-3/4 length win in 1:58.2. The much improved Fessup Fred (Jimmy Whisman) trotted up to be second while Baby Boy Grin held on for third.
Scorpion Moon (Armbro Scorpion-Angies Nugget) was able to turn the tables on Baby Boy Grin, who defeated him four days earlier at Pocono Downs. The win was his fourth of the 2009 campaign for owners Tracy Brainard and Andrew Herzog.
Racing fans were able to say goodbye to Rockysbreezybuddy with a special winner's circle ceremony. The 2003 Kane Memorial winner earned $230,000 in his career and will be retired to trainer Peter Arrigenna’s farm in Piffard, New York.
Batavia Downs presented Mercy Flight with a check for $15,634.35, thanks to sponsorship of races, a silent auction and a golf tournament. Doug Baker, the president of Mercy Flight of Western New York, was trackside for the presentation.
Racing resumes on Tuesday night, Oct. 13. Post time is 7:05 p.m. The summer-fall meet continues through December 5.
Todd Haight
Promotional Marketing Specialist
Batavia Downs Casino
A detached garage at 8880 Alleghany Road is fully engulfed in flames.
Fire units from Corfu and East Pembroke have responded.
Fire police have been dispatched to shut down traffic at routes 5 and 77 as well as routes 33 and 77.
Oakfield Fire is responding to an alarm at 40 Garibaldi Ave..
UPDATE 10:43 p.m.: Some time ago, I heard something about a smoking engine. Not sure if it was this call, but the chief just requested a full engine company response.
UPDATE 10:46 p.m.: "There's a hot spot in one of the bathrooms. We're trying to get access to the attic."
UPDATE 1:49 a.m.: Not all crews have cleared the scene, but units are being put back in service.
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