About two dozen people donned skimpy swimsuits and rode snowmobiles before a crowd of onlookers on a sunny but frigid Saturday in Oakfield for the 8th Annual Bikini Rally sponsored by the Genesee Sno Packers.
The event raised $19,205 for the Pink Fund, a breast cancer financial assistance program.
About 450 people attended, according to Jane Chaddock, one of the event organizers.
Photos by Kristin Smith. For more, click here.
Press release:
The City of Batavia Water Department will be repairing a water main break on Oak Street, in the southbound lane in the area of Noonan Drive on Monday, February 7, 2022. There is the potential that the water may need to be shut off on Oak Street, from Union Street heading north to the City line. In addition, the water shut-off would also impact all of Noonan Drive.
The length of time the water will be off is unknown.
Traffic will also be impacted in the area of Oak Street and Noonan Drive in the form of lane closures or lane shifts while the repairs are being made.
As always, when the water is restored it may be discolored. Please refrain from doing any laundry until the water runs clear.
We apologize for any inconvenience and the public’s patience is greatly appreciated.
Oakfield-Alabama beat Alexander in girls basketball on Thursday night, 55-49.
For the Hornets:
For the Trojans:
"This was an incredibly well played high school game, said O-A head coach Jeff Schlagenhauf. "Both teams played at a very high level. This was a great win for our kids. Marcia's teams are extremely well coached and they play hard from start to finish. I think the largest lead tonight was 6 points."
Photos by Kristin Smith. For more, click here.
Christine Loranty shared these photos of cardinals and a blue jay in her backyard yesterday in Alexander.
A four-vehicle accident, believed to be with minor injuries, is reported in the area of 9441 Alexander Road, Alexander.
Alexander Fire and ambulance, along with Mercy EMS responding.
City Fire is responding to 541 East Main St., Batavia, where there is an alarm of fire along with a report of smoke coming from an apartment.
A first responder reports nothing showing. The apartment complex is being evacuated.
UPDATE 4:29 a.m.: Smoke is due to somebody cooking. No fire.
A house fire is reported at 31 Walnut Street, Batavia.
Dispatchers report multiple calls.
UPDATE 3:22 a.m.: City Fire on scene reporting light smoke out of second-story window. A patrol officer first on scene reported the fire may have originated in a downstairs kitchen and extended upstates.
UPDATE 3:23 a.m.: All platoons recalled to headquarters.
UPDATE 3:48 a.m.: All occupants were out of the two residences safely. The fire is out and firefighters are conducting overhaul and checking for extensions.
UPDATE Friday morning:
Press release:
On Friday, February 4, 2022, at 3:16 a.m., the City of Batavia Fire Department responded to a reported house fire at 31 Walnut St. in the City of Batavia. Initial fire units arrived to find smoke emanating from a two-and-a-half-story, two-family home. Fire crews entered the home to find a fire in the kitchen that was quickly extinguished. Three occupants were home at the time of the fire and escaped unharmed prior to the fire department's arrival. Residents are being assisted by the American Red Cross.
No civilian or firefighter injuries were reported.
The cause of the fire was determined to be accidental by City of Batavia Fire Department fire investigators.
The City of Batavia Fire Department was assisted by the City of Batavia Police and Water Departments, Genesee County Emergency Dispatch Center, the American Red Cross, National Grid and National Fuel.
These closings and cancellations have been announced for Friday, Feb 4, 2022:
Send closings and cancellations to news@thebatavian.com.
Porfirio Gabriel has worked for Torrey Farms in Elba for 13 years and helps the Torreys recruit workers from Mexico, specifically Comachuen, to obtain H2A temporary visas and work planting onions and harvesting squash, cabbage, and beans each year.
These workers, Gabriel told NPR for a recent story about money sent from workers back to Mexico to help support local economies, have helped Comachuen families receive as much as $5 million over three years, by far the town's largest source of income.
These funds sent to Mexico, called remittances, may have exceeded $50 billion for the first time last year, according to the story.
Travis Torrey sent the link to the NPR story to The Batavian noting that as regulators try to limit the number of hours farmer workers can labor each week they're really hurting the people they say they're trying to help.
"I think you can see that coming to WNY to work is their version of the ‘American dream,’" Torrey said. "Everyone that has come here has bettered themselves and families. The inhumanity is denying them the opportunity.
"Without the farmworkers, there would be no farms," he added. "The same can be said if there are no farms there are no farmworkers."
A week ago, the state's Farm Labor Board, on a 2-1 vote, recommended the overtime threshold for farmworkers be lowered from 60 hours a week to 40 hours a week.
Both farmer-owners and farmworkers have repeatedly spoken out against the rule change over the past few years saying that workers will seek jobs in states that don't restrict potential earnings.
Torrey notes the rule change will hurt workers like Gabriel when they get their hours cut.
From the NPR story:
Gabriel is resigned to working in the United States as long as he can. He sends home about $7,500 each year from what he earns working the fields. That money is largely used to fund his children's education, paying private college fees so his eldest son can be a registered nurse.
His hope is that his children will get university degrees and not have to emigrate. "I am paying for their studies, so that they don't have to do what we had to do," Gabriel says.
Richard Lewis Conte, 29, of Central Avenue, Batavia, is charged with DWI, refusal to take a breath test, reckless driving, failure to keep right, and avoiding traffic device or intersection light. Conte was stopped at 10:50 p.m., Jan. 26, on Route 33 in Byron by Deputy Kenneth Quackenbush.
John Laurence Lyons, 53, of HIlltop Drive, Le Roy, is charged with criminal obstruction of breathing. Lyons is accused of obstructing the breathing of another person at 11:45 p.m., Nov. 24, at a location on Hilltop Drive, Le Roy. He was arrested by Le Roy PD and issued an appearance ticket.
Gary David Doctor, 39, of Main Street, Akron, is charged with DWI, driving while ability impaired by drugs, aggravated unlicensed operation 3rd, and operating a vehicle with a suspended registration. Doctor was arrested by Deputy Kevin McCarthy after dispatchers received a report at 10:56 a.m., Nov. 24, of a male passed out behind the wheel on West Main Street Road, Batavia. Doctor was issued an appearance ticket.
A one-vehicle accident with the driver possibly slumped over in the driver's seat is reported on the I-490 in Bergen in the area of mile marker 1.6.
The vehicle is off the roadway of the westbound lane.
Bergen Fire and Le Roy Fire along with Mercy EMS dispatched.
UPDATE 4:16 p.m.: The vehicle was apparently unoccupied. Mercy EMS is back in service with no patient to transport.
UPDATE 4:17 p.m.: Law enforcement is checking on multiple vehicles that are off the road.
Press release:
Leadership Genesee welcomed 19 individuals from all walks of life representing our community’s public and private organizations, on January 26 and 27 for the 2-day Opening Retreat, held at Terry Hills.
First-time organizations include M & T Bank and Warrior House of WNY. The class represents a broad cross-section of the community, including education, finance, manufacturing, healthcare, service industry, not for profits and the public sector.
Leadership Genesee Director Peggy Marone said, “Today’s world must have leaders who embrace inclusion, listen generously and understand that it takes little or no effort to allow others to have their feelings and opinions. This kind of respect is missing in many conversations, it’s up to each of us to bring that respect back to our relationships.” She continues, “Leadership Genesee believes we owe it to future generations to provide a community with people who are knowledgeable, able to have civil conversations about both sides of an issue and create trusting and respectful relationships!”
The retreat was sponsored by Leadership Genesee Alumni and Terry Hills and was facilitated by Skip Helfrich of Human Energies. Leadership Genesee is a program of CCE Genesee County, an employer and educator recognized for valuing AA/EEO, protecting veterans, and individuals with disabilities, and providing equal program and employment opportunities.
For more information, visit LG’s website at http://genesee.cce.cornell.edu/leadership-genesee; “like” LG on Facebook at www.facebook.com/leadershipgenesee; or contact Director Peggy Marone at (585) 343-3040, ext. 118 or mem77@cornell.edu. Up next for the Class of 2022: Our Business, Our Economics on February 23.
And now they're 15-0.
Oakfield-Alabama's flawless season in boys basketball rolled forward on Wednesday with a 69-39 win over Holley.
Stats:
Also on Wednesday in boys basketball:
In girls basketball, Le Roy beat Letchworth, 51-30
Photos by Kristin Smith. For more click here.
A tractor trailer is off the road report of the overturned at Route 33 and Old State Road in Byron.
There was reportedly air deployment, and the initial report said there was injury that a first responder on scene says there are no entries.
The truck reportedly jackknifed.
Byron and South Byron along with Mercy EMS responding. Crews can respond nonemergency.
All 13 school district superintendents in Genesee and Orleans counties have signed a joint letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul asking that local control over public health protocols be fully restored to school districts.
The letter was written in response to a request from superintendents from Saratoga Springs for the NYS Health Department to develop a "Pathway to Normalcy" so that schools have an "exit strategy" from universal masking.
The letter states that local superintendents support the request but suggest it doesn't go far enough.
"We believe the pathway should come in the form of guidance that school districts, working closely with their local health departments, can use to develop plans that work best for their respective communities," the letter states. "With that in mind, local control should be fully restored to all school districts in New York State because the needs of each region differ, and we are fully capable of navigating the remainder of the school year with input from our local DOHs, as needed."
The letter notes that over the past two school years, the state has implemented "one-size-fits-all mandates" that caused unnecessary challenges for the predominately rural districts in Genesee and Orleans counties.
"As the pandemic transitions to become endemic, those unnecessary challenges are becoming more acute," the letter states.
To read the full letter, click here (pdf).
Freshman Olivia Breeden scored a career-high 21 points to help lead the Pembroke Dragons over Albion, 59-38, in girls basketball on Monday.
Breeden also had two steals.
Karli Houseknecht scored 11 points and had five steals, while Sydney Johnson scored nine points, had four assists, three steals and a blocked shot. Izzy Breeden scored seven points and had four rebounds.
Photos by Howard Owens
Press release:
Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia), a former farmer and member of the Assembly Committee on Agriculture, has written a pair of letters to Gov. Kathy Hochul and Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon urging them to stop the implementation of a reduction in the farm labor overtime threshold from 60 to 40 hours.
Last Friday, the Farm Laborers Wage Board voted 2-1 to lower the threshold. Power now rests with Gov. Hochul and Commissioner Reardon to enact the overtime threshold reduction.
“Farmers from all corners of our state have spoken about how dangerous this policy would be for them, for their families, and for their communities alike. The time has come for Gov. Hochul and Commissioner Reardon to decide whether they stand with farmers or the special interests who’ve worked behind the scenes to advance this proposal,” said Hawley. “As the consequences of this decision have clearly been laid out for them, I sincerely hope they’ll recognize how disastrous this decision would be for farming as we know it in New York and take action to prevent its implementation.”
Dispatchers have received at least two calls about a car striking a pedestrian, including a call from the driver of the car, in the area of 306 West Main St., Batavia.
The location is at Lyon Street.
City Fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.
UPDATE 4:38 p.m.: Sgt. Mitch Cowen said it appeared the pedestrian, a male, was not in a crosswalk and crossing "against traffic." An eastbound vehicle apparently stopped him to cross blocking him from the view of another eastbound vehicle in the other lane. The pedestrian sustained a non-life-threatening head injury and was conscious. He is being transported to UMMC for evaluation and treatment.
The Hornets continued their unbeaten ways -- now 14-0 on the season -- with a convincing win over Pavilion on Monday night, 87-31.
Scoring for Oakfield-Alabama:
Also in boys' basketball on Monday:
Photos by Kristin Smith. For more photos, click here.
Some sort of vehicle passing through Oakfield heading toward Batavia has taken down power lines across Main Street in Oakfield.
The roadway is being closed in the area of Dollar General.
Oakfield Fire is responding.
UPDATE 12:25 p.m.: A National Grid crew, apparently not the assigned crew, is on scene: "happened to be in the area and is going to check it out."
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