A hay fire was reported inside a barn at 10216 Alexander Road, Alexander, at 1:18 a.m. on Friday, and the barn was quickly fully involved.
Alexander Fire responded along with Elba, Town of Batavia, City of Batavia FAST Team, Corfu, Attica, East Pembroke, Le Roy, Oakfield, Bethany, Darien, and the Office of Emergency Management. Barre was on standby for Elba. Wyoming County Correctional assisted at the scene.
The cause and origin of the fire are under investigation, according to Alexander Deputy Chief Nathan Fix.
No animals were involved and no injuries were reported.
The location is Blumer Dairy.
Alexander cleared the scene at 9:10 a.m.
Photos submitted by Deputy Chief Nathan Fix/Alexander Fire.
Bonnie Woodward, owner of the Alabama Hotel, and Joe Bradt, general manager. Photo by Howard Owens.
NOTE: This week, The Batavian is highlighting the annual Chamber of Commerce Award winners with a story daily through Friday. The awards dinner is Saturday evening at Batavia Downs. This is the final story in the series.
Bonnie Woodward has owned the Alabama Hotel for a relatively short time, but big news events have twice already taken center stage in the restaurant's business operations.
She bought the restaurant and bar from another Woodward, Danny, in 2019, and a few months later, COVID-19 forced her to close the tavern in the town of Alabama.
Then Winter Storm Elliott on Christmas Eve 2022 brought unexpected challenges that she and manager Joe Bradt met with such cheerful charity they made national news.
"(The attention) definitely shocked me," Bradt said. "In the days afterward, all the media attention and the phone calls and the messages from people shocked me."
The attention, Woodward said, warmed her heart.
"It really does," she said. "So many people were thankful for such a simple thing that anybody should have done, you know, just open up your home to people and take care of them while they're in trouble."
What Bradt did, with Woodward's blessing and support, was let stranded travelers stay in the restaurant, providing shelter, warmth and food while the blizzard made travel conditions potentially deadly. For those 48 hours, he was the sole member of the Alabama Hotel staff on-site to take care of more than 100 stranded travelers. He prepared meals (with guests and a local resident and neighboring business owner helping) and kept guests comfortable while the storm raged around them.
The Alabama Hotel -- along with hundreds of first responders, other generous residents in Genesee County, and countless other government workers and residents -- are the reason nobody died during the storm.
That dramatic role the restaurant played during the storm, along with its long history of providing charitable support to the community, is why the Alabama Hotel is the 2023 Business of the Year for Genesee County.
Winter Storm Elliott Events started on Dec. 24 as Elliott rolled into Western New York and the Thruway Authority, with no apparent plan to ensure traveler safety, closed the I-90, forcing travelers unfamiliar with the area onto snow-covered, wind-swept two-lane roads during whiteout conditions. When travelers realized they wouldn't get far, they looked for shelter, and Google told them about the Alabama Hotel at the crossroads of Route 77 and Route 63. A hotel would be a good place to go, right?
The restaurant didn't open on Christmas Eve as planned to keep employees at home and safe during the storm. Bradt spent the morning getting things in order since the restaurant wouldn't reopen until Jan. 4.
When he was done, "I loaded up the Jeep with my Christmas dinner and Bonnie's Christmas dinner, which I was going to drop off at her house, and left here about 12:30. I didn't get a quarter mile up the road, and there was no visibility. The roads were completely covered, and there was already an accident right here," Bradt told The Batavian the day after the storm ended.
"I immediately turned around and said the safest place I can be is here for now. You know, I'll just wait it out here. No sooner did I put the key in the back door and unlock the back door than people were knocking on the front door. That didn't stop for two days."
The weather outside was vicious. Heavy, lake-effect snow blown around by 35 mph winds with 70 mph gusts. The roads were nowhere for anybody in any vehicle, let alone people unfamiliar with the area in sedans, minivans and luxury SUVs.
People came looking for a hotel. They found a friendly place with no proper guest rooms, not entirely prepared for this level of hospitality, but willing to provide shelter from the storm.
Once first responders learned the Alabama Hotel provided a warming shelter, they started shuttling stranded motorists there.
As many as 140 people passed through the restaurant over two days, with 120 staying the night on Christmas Eve.
Was it stressful?
"I don't know if stressful is the word for it," Bradt said. "I think, at times, it was overwhelming. You know, I spent some time at the bottom of the basement stairs, whether on the phone with Bonnie or with my wife or chef Swimline, getting advice from him and just crying it out, you know. I'm gonna take a few minutes for myself to figure it out. Where are we at? what's our next step? What are we doing now? You know? It wasn't just a blizzard, right? It was a blizzard in the middle of Christmas."
History The Alabama Hotel was once a key stagecoach stop between Buffalo and Rochester. It was built in 1844, and at one time, the second floor was an actual hotel. It was always a place that served meals and libations, but Woodward doesn't know when the hotel ceased being a hotel.
It has always been a community hub in the town of Alabama. At one time, it was the main meeting hall and the courthouse, as well as a venue for weddings. It's still a place where locals gather for drinks and camaraderie, even while the restaurant attracts patrons from throughout WNY.
"It's like Cheers," Woodward said. "They're really friendly, and when strangers come, they'll bring them into their fold, and they'll talk to them, and they feel comfortable. People like that."
Earl Woodward purchased the Alabama Hotel in 1956. His wife was Agness, known to friends and family as Bunny.
Earl had cancer and wanted to make sure he left behind something that could provide for and shelter his family. After he passed, Bunny, her children, and her mother, Nannie, lived upstairs in the former hotel and Bunny and Nannie ran the business.
Earl and Bunny's son Mike -- Bonnie's husband, who passed away in July -- ran the business next. Patrick Woodward ran the business from 1990 until he passed away in 2000. Danny, his son and Bonnie's nephew, ran the hotel for the next 29 years.
Bonnie bought the restaurant in 2019 to keep it in the Woodward family, though her experience didn't extend much past washing dishes in the kitchen as a youngster.
"Most of the employees are employees I inherited with the restaurant," Woodward said. "They took me under their wing and taught me the business."
Shortly after she took over, Josh Swimline approached her about a job. He already had a successful food truck but was looking for a chef's job as well.
"He's done a marvelous job in the kitchen," Woodward said.
The other thing that happened shortly after she took over the business, besides the storm, was COVID-19. Without the community's support and people buying take-out meals, the restaurant might not have survived the shutdown.
Then she hired Bradt as her general manager, just months before Winter Storm Elliott. They had known each other for years because both have been frequent volunteers in the community -- youth sports, the Lion's Club, and just about any volunteer effort in the community, they would both be there helping out.
"We both had the same goal all the time," Bradt said. "Who can we help? How can we help? So deciding to come here and work with Bonnie was easy."
To the uninitiated, the location of the Alabama Hotel might seem rather isolated for a restaurant to be as popular and as successful as it has been for all these years. Bradt said it comes down to the food.
"I'm surprised by the amount of people, with the amount of good food in Buffalo, who come this way," Bradt said. "I'm surprised at the number of people that come this way versus going that way."
Woodward said the restaurant's fame has mostly spread by word of mouth.
"People say, 'We've always heard about this place, and I wanted to just stop and see what it was like,'" Woodward said. "During the summer, a lot of people would walk the refuge (the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge) and birdwatch and all that other stuff, and then they would stop here for lunch or dinner."
Good Food and Friendly Ambiance The restaurant is also a popular destination for bikers in the summer and snowmobilers (when there is snow) in the winter.
The Alabama Hotel has always been known for its fish fries, chicken and biscuits, and it's also taken on a reputation far and wide for its salad bar, Wednesday night pizza night, prime rib on Thursdays, and the swamp burger, which is a hamburger with cajun seasoning, mushrooms, onions, and American cheese.
The fish fry, Bradt said, remains something special and also illustrates the care they put into meal preparation.
"We've have half a dozen suppliers, Bradt said. "We will stop at no end to find the best quality fish and the rest of the ingredients. We've tried different things, and we go with quality. Quality might cost us a little bit more, but quality is our number one goal."
The publicity from Winter Storm Elliott has helped business, too. Woodward said business is up more than 60 percent since the storm. Bradt said he gets stopped by customers in the restaurant regularly to let him know they heard about what he and the restaurant did to help out travelers.
And on Saturday comes one of the county's most prestigious honors, Business of the Year from the Chamber of Commerce, and Woodward and Bradt are both a little surprised by it. They're also honored because, to them, it doesn't just represent that single 48-hour event. It represents what the Alabama Hotel has meant to the community for so many decades and that through turmoil and change, it's still a popular place for food and friendship.
Because of the awards ceremony at Batavia Downs, the restaurant will be closed on Saturday. Bonnie Woodward booked six tables so 48 people could attend, including nearly all of the employees and "diehard" customers, as well as members of the Woodward family.
"It's really important to us to make sure that the employees feel included in this," Bradt said. "It's more than just the blizzard, you know. Without our employees and our staff and the people who continue to come through those doors every day, whether it's to grab a quick burger or have a drink, the doors wouldn't be open."
Chris Stangler, pictured with Brian Kemp, won the annual Table Top Art Competition, collecting a $200 cash prize. Photo by Howard Owens.
Nearly 100 artists -- 99 to be exact -- entered 264 works of art to the annual Table Top Art Competition, which honors winners with cash prizes and reproductions of their work on placemats that will be on table tops at local restaurants in March.
From that wealth of creativity, 20 finalists were selected and unveiled at Eli Fish on Tuesday night.
There were five honorable mentions and 15 winners, with each of the 15 works of art being reproduced on placemats and the top three winners receiving cash prizes of $200, $100, $50, and a People's Choice winner receiving $100.
The top three winners were Chris Stangler, Vanessa Loftus, and Debra Meier. Shauna Blake won the People's Choice voting.
There are 34 area restaurants participating in the art show.
Vanessa Loftus, second place, with Brian Kemp. Photo by Howard Owens.
Debra Meier, third place, with Brian Kemp. Photo by Howard Owens.
Photo by Howard Owens.
Photo by Howard Owens.
Photo by Howard Owens.
Photo by Howard Owens.
People's Choice Winner Shauna Blake. Photo by Howard Owens.
A car has reportedly hit a house at 304 Akron Road, Pembroke.
Dispatchers are checking on the availability of Mercy Flight.
Entrapment is reported.
Pembroke Fire and Indian Falls Fire along with Mercy EMS dispatched.
UPDATE 10:20 p.m.: The Indian Falls chief on scene reports the house WAS NOT struck. A fence was struck away from the house. He is checking for entrapment.
UPDATE 10:21 p.m.: The chief reports the driver says he is not injured. Firefighters will need to get the door open.
UPDATE 10:25 p.m.: The driver is out of the vehicle.
Pembroke beat East Rochester on Tuesday, 54-36, to advance to the Class C1 championship game on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Blue Cross Arena.
Tyson Totten scored 22 points for the Dragons. Avery Ferreira scored 17 points.
"One of the staples of our program has always been defense, and when you play games this late in the season against quality teams, sometimes that is what you have to hang your hat on, and that is precisely what we did tonight," said Coach Matt Shay. "I was very pleased with our effort tonight and how we battled on that end."
The #3 seed Dragons take on #1 seed Lyons on Saturday.
The Alexander Trojans, seeded #2 in Class C2 is heading to Blue Cross Arena on Saturday to via for a sectional championship after beating Bolivar-Richburg on Tuesday 52-49.
Notre Dame earned a trip to Blue Cross Arena this Saturday with a 73-65 win over Fillmore on Tuesday in the Class C3 semifinal.
The Fighting Irish will play Arkport-Canaseraga for the championship at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
ND came into the game seeded #4 and went on to upset #1 seed Fillmore behind 23 points for Jaden Sherwood and 21 points for Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Jay Antinore scored 11 points and Chase Antinore scored nine.
Sherwood also had eight rebounds.
Jay Antinore was assigned Fillmore's leading scorer, Zach Sission, on defense and held him scoreless from the field. Sission's five points in the game came on free throws. Antinore had six steals.
The rivalry was once among the most legendary in Section V - Caledonia-Mumford vs. the Oatkan Knights of Le Roy.
The rivalry waned when leagues were realigned a few years ago, and starting next season, the once fierce fighters on the field will be brothers on the gridiron.
Both school districts have approved, pending Section V approval, a merger of the two football programs. The merger will affect all levels of football in both communities.
The Knights are coming off a 2023 campaign in which the team won its record-setting 16th Section V title.
The Le Roy Central School District said in a statement on Tuesday evening:
Please know that this decision was made with the best interests of our students and our school district in mind and keeps the mission of our shared services committee central to our decision-making. The decision to merge football teams with the Caledonia-Mumford CSD reflects the collaborative spirit and commitment to providing exceptional opportunities for our student-athletes.
The statement acknowledged the rich football history in both communities and said the merger would strengthen football opportunities for all age groups and help both districts sustain 11 main football programs.
The district said there would be future announcements about the plan to carry out the merger, practice and game schedules and locations, and a selection of a head coach and additional coaching staff.
"The team name, mascot, and colors will also be determined by student-athletes in partnership with our athletic directors and coaching staff at a later date," the statement read.
It concluded, "We are excited about this merger and the future of the Caledonia-Mumford and Le Roy football program."
Over the past few seasons, Cal-Mum has been merged with Byron-Bergen for football and cheerleading. On Tuesday evening, Athletic Director Rich Hannan and Superintendent Pat McGee issued the following statement.
We are writing to update everyone on a developing situation with our football and fall cheer program here at Byron-Bergen. Last week we were made aware that Cal-Mum is exploring a new partnership for their football and fall cheer squad that does not include Byron-Bergen. While we did not initiate this change, we are already actively exploring possibilities for our student-athletes to continue competing in their chosen fall sports.
Several Downtown businesses were packed on Saturday evening with a parade of beer tasters who signed up for the Business Improvement District's annual FeBREWary events.
Giovanni Morant, lead singer of LoVeSeXy, a Tribute to Prince. Submitted photo.
Prince is a rare form of rock star, according to Chris Botelho, drummer and leader of the LoVeSeXy, which plays at Batavia Downs on March 9.
He was admired by peers and fans alike in his lifetime, and his legend has only grown since his untimely death at 57 in 2016.
LoVeSexy was formed in 2008 as a Tribute to Prince, who is ranked #27 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Artists of All-Time, and Botelho has seen firsthand how Prince continues to attract new fans and old fans who hunger to hear his music performed live.
"He's pretty much a real rock star when there's not a lot of those types of people around any more," Botelho said. "He was someone who was real special, like just the type of person who would walk in the room and everyone would just stop and be quiet and kind of like be like, 'Can I talk and I say hello.’ Like they would be that afraid to even speak. You don't get that from other people, even other stars. And that was with everyone, not just regular people but movie stars and top musicians."
There are several quality Prince tribute acts, Botelho noted, a level of reference that is seemingly missing from the legacy of other dead megastars of the era, such as David Bowie and Michael Jackson.
"Michael Jackson, I would think, would have big tributes, and there are some tribute shows, but there's really not as much talk about him as much as you would think. It's weird. But Prince, if you go online and search 'Prince,' there are fan sites, Facebook pages, and media coverage like this. There are so many fans all over the world, so many people still, every day, posting and talking and sharing his music. It's kind of amazing."
Prince was born Prince Rogers Nelson, the son of a father who was a jazz pianist and composer and a mother who was a jazz singer. He grew up in Minneapolis, Minn., and never did forsake his hometown, maintaining Minneapolis as his base and where he recorded most of his music until he died of an accidental fentanyl overdose.
Signed by Warner Brothers when he was only 19, Prince released 40 studio albums during his life -- playing all of the instruments on some -- covering a range of musical genres, from funk, R&B, new wave, soul, jazz, blues, and hip hop. He sold more than 100 million records. His biggest hit singles included “When Doves Cry,” “Let's Go Crazy,” “Purple Rain,” “Raspberry Beret,” “Little Red Corvette,” and “Kiss,” among his 19 Top 10 hits.
For a time, Prince was known by a symbol, or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, or just The Artist (because of a contract dispute with Warner Brothers), and it is said that he has enough unreleased material in his vault that his estate could continue releasing new albums of new material for the next 100 years.
That means there's a lot of material for a Prince tribute act to pick from, and for the 90-minute set at Batavia Downs, LoVeSeXy will concentrate on the hits, but if needed, LoVeSeXy can dig deep into the Prince catalog -- deep enough to cover two 90-minutes sets if needed, Botelho said.
"We've played shows that are, you know, entirely Purple Rain (the album) or 1999, but there's so much more to him in just that era that we feel like people already know what is there, so we like pushing out other stuff to them that maybe they've never heard before," Botelho said. "It's kind of bring the music of Prince for Prince. It's one little thing to kind of keep his memory and music alive."
And the music is the thing to LoVeSeXy, Botelho said. There are a lot of Prince tributes that concentrate on the showmanship and the craft of creating a Prince concert. For LoVeSexy, the goal is to bring the music alive. The entire six-piece band is comprised of top-tier musicians, Botelho said, and they all get their moment in the spotlight.
"It's a team sort of situation," Botelho said. "It's not about just the lead singer and a bunch of players behind. It's like the six of us together, creating and making the sound of the band. We have four lead singers in the band, so the vocals are extremely strong."
It's not that showmanship isn't there -- the primary lead singer does look like Prince, after all -- but Botelho said the band really wants to put on a show that lives up to Prince's musical legacy (if you haven't seen it, check Prince's lead guitar on this performance of While My Guitar Gently Weeps (at about 3:30 into the song.)
"His live shows, I think, was a big part of why a lot of people really feel that he was above the rest as far as a performer," Bothelo said.
The LoVeSeXy lineup is:
Giovanni Morant, Lead Vocals, Guitar, Keys & Trumpet
Anthony C. Grant, Sax, Keyboards, Flute, Vocals & Percussion
Jodee Frawlee, Lead Guitar & Vocals
Brian Eggleston, Keyboards & Vocals
Jeffrey Gilman, Bass & Vocals
Chris Botelho, Drums & Samples
It's amazing, Botelho said, to see how much love the world had for Prince when he died and how that love and appreciation has just continued to grow.
"It is a testament to how strong it was around the world when he passed," Botelho said. "All the celebrations, the purple lights that were put on all the buildings around the world. It was kind of unbelievable, really, after all these years since 2016 that now the audiences are getting bigger and bigger for all of the Prince tributes."
LoVeSeXy performs at Batavia Downs on March 9. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. For more information and tickets, click here.
The Byron-Bergen Bees advanced on Saturday in the Section V Class C2 tournament with a 69-37 quarterfinal win over Eugenio Maria de Houstos.
Braedyn Chambry scored 26 points for the Bees. Brendan Pimm scored 15, and Brody Baubie and Colin Martin scored nine each.
Byron-Bergen is the #1 seed in Class C2 and will face the #4 seed, York, on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Cal-Mum.
Also in Boys Basketball:
Also in Class C2, Alexander beat Cuba-Rushford 71-44. Alexander is the #2 seed, led by first-year coach Jalen Smith. Alexander plays a semifinal game against Bolivar-Richburg at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Letchworth.
In Class C1, Pembroke beat Warsaw 69-52. Tyson Totten scored 40 points and had 10 rebounds. Pembroke Plays East Rochester in the semifinal on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Pittsford Sutherland.
In Class C3, Notre Dame beat C.G. Finney 87-73. Notre Dame's semifinal is against Filmore at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Letchworth.
In Class D, Elba beat Jasper-Troupsburg 53-44. Elba plays Andover-Whitesville on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Wayland-Cohocton.
In Class B2, Le Roy beat Attica, 64-49. Merritt Holly, 26 points and 17 rebounds, Matthew Hockey, 18 points, and Jake Higgins, 11 points. Le Roy, at #5, plays #1 seed Avon at 6 p.m. on Monday at Haverling.
Elba beat Notre Dame on Friday in the Class D Girls Basketball Quarterfinal, 55-47.
Sydney Reilly and Lydia Ross both scored 20 points for the Lancers.
Emma Sisson scored 20 points for Notre Dame, and she had 12 rebounds. Lucia Fiorentino contributed 12 points and 5 rebounds. Sofia Falleti had 7 points and 14 rebounds.
"We had a tremendous season with many accomplishments," said Notre Dame Coach Vinny Falleti. "With two seniors and underclassmen, this team came together and worked so hard this season. Even though it wasn’t the ending we had hoped for, I am so proud of this team. Irish Proud!”
Elba plays in the Class D semifinal on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Mount Morris against Avoca-Pratssburgh.
First and foremost, says Jim DeLooze, it's about joy.
Namely, the joy of Christmas, the joy of magic, the joy of wonder.
And then what he's planning in conjunction with St. Mark's Church in Le Roy will also help local businesses by, hopefully, bringing more visitors downtown during the Christmas season.
DeLooze is heading up what he's calling The Joy Project, a plan to bring diorama to St. Mark's based on the old-time holiday radio show, "The Cinnamon Bear," and well as set up displays that recall wonderland that was once Sibley's Department Store in Rochester.
"Step one, is just put people in the Christmas spirit," DeLooze said, "make them happy and really wanting to see it. Number two is that it will be a draw. I plan on drawing people from anywhere between Rochester and Buffalo here to Le Roy. Business is a numbers game. If you own a restaurant, and you've got an additional 1,000 people who come into town, in a community, that's 4,000, that's gonna help your business."
He presented the plan to Le Roy's village trustees at their regular meeting on Wednesday, not to ask for the assistance of the village but to inform the community of the project. He is hoping for volunteers to step forward to help and for residents to make donations.
There are two main components to the project. First is the diorama based on "The Cinnamon Bear."
"The Cinnamon Bear" is an old-time radio show, a serial that was launched in 1937 by a Los Angeles-based marketing company to help department stores attract more of a Christmas crowd.
In an era before corporations owned nearly all of the nation's radio stations, many programs were syndicated to independently owned and operated radio stations. The Cinnamon Bear was picked up by stations in every state, with 26 episodes, each with a cliffhanger ending, airing each evening between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The program is the story of Judy and Jimmy Barton, who travel to the world of Maybeland in search of their missing Silver Star tree ornament. They are helped along their way through various adventures by The Cinnamon Bear, an assistant to Santa Claus.
The story has proven enduring. There are still radio stations that carry the show each year, and now, of course, it can be streamed online.
"Tony is the son of the person that built it," DeLooze said. "He said he and his mother were very impressed with my knowledge of old-time radio and the fact they thought it was a lot better going to a home here where people would be able to come in and see it free of charge rather than having to pay in an amusement park to see it."
To go along with the diorama, DeLooze is moving one of his other hobbies out of his basement -- his annual Christmas build of a display meant to model the Christmas presentation of the old Sibley's Department Store in Rochester.
For decades, area residents flocked to Sibley's during the Christmas season to take in Toyland and the Magic Corridor and see that animatronic elf along with Santa and Mrs. Claus.
For years, DeLooze has been building his own train set to create a miniature version of what Silbey's offered, and in recent years, he has been posting photos and videos on social media to show his progress and the completed project.
He's always gotten positive feedback for the video, including from a friend in California who once told him, "'Jim,' he goes, 'I gotta tell you, I was in a bad mood when I clicked on this,' he says, 'but literally halfway through, I was smiling and in the Christmas spirit.'"
And that was exactly what Jim said he likes to hear. He wants to know he's helping to spread joy. And that is what he hopes to do this year and for many years to come with The Cinnamon Bear and the Sibley's display.
"Our church was really looking for a way to participate in Winterfest," DeLooze said. "Hopefully, this will continue year after year. It will become a Christmas tradition that parents and grandparents will look forward to bringing their children to see, and that's why I've actually wanted to do this project since the early 1980s. That is just about the time that Sibley stopped doing it. My son got to see it. My daughter never got to see it. And I just wanted to be able to bring something like this back so my kids and grandkids can enjoy this."
To pull off all this joy, DeLooze said he and the folks at his small church will need additional help from the community, such as volunteers from community groups as well as community donations. He said the project will cost from $7,000 to $9,000 and that $3,000 has already been raised. He has a list of items for people to donate and what volunteers can do to help. For more information, email Jim DeLooze, jim@delooze.com.
The District Attorney's Office will not appeal the dismissal of a DWI charge against a Bethany resident over a procedural error by prosecutors, Assistant District Attorney William Zickl says.
The case was dismissed on appeal by County Court Judge Melissa Lightcap Cianfrini, upholding an earlier ruling by City Court Judge Durin R. Rogers that a defendant's right to a speedy trial was violated because of the procedural error.
Zickl told The Batavian in a statement that filing an appeal would require the DA's office to convince judges at the appellate level that a question of law -- not facts -- was in dispute. A state appeals court taking on such a case is rare and far from automatic, Zickl said, so the DA's office would need to make a compelling case that the law was improperly applied in dismissing the charge.
"I believe there is a substantial threshold issue presented in this case regarding whether such a pure question of law exists to allow the Court of Appeals to entertain the matter," Zickl said. "Based upon the foregoing procedural backdrop and the fact that this decision will not have broad application due to its highly unusual fact pattern, we have decided not to attempt to gain leave to appeal the decision of the County Court to the Court of Appeals."
Rogers dismissed the case, according to a court document, because the DA's office was not ready for trial more than a year after the arrest of the defendant. The Sixth Amendment guarantees those accused of a crime the right to a speedy trial.
Background On July 3, 2021, Gregory R. Solomonidis was arrested in the city of Batavia following a traffic stop on East Main Street. Solomonidis was accused of driving with a BAC of .08 or greater.
On Aug. 26, 2021, at a City Court hearing on the case, ADA Joseph Robinson filed with the court what is known as a Certificate of Compliance, which is a document that informs the court and the defense that all material in possession of the prosecution that the defendant has a right to review has been turned over to the defense. The defense has a right to review all material relevant to the charges, including material that might aid the accused.
On Sept. 17, the defense filed a motion seeking dismissal because the prosecution did not provide a copy of the dispatch center recording of police transmissions relevant to the arrest of Solomonidis. The prosecution countered that the discovery material included notice that the recording existed with instructions on acquiring a copy of the recording if the defense wished to listen to it.
According to court documents, ADA Jenna Bauer, who took over the case at this time, argued in court that as a former dispatcher, she understood the difficulty in retrieving recordings given the limitations of the communication system in the dispatch center and that retrieving recordings took considerable time for a dispatcher.
On Nov. 30, 2021, the court held a hearing to examine the evidence in the case and the arresting officer was called to the stand. During cross-examination, the officer was asked about his prior employment as a part-time police officer in the village of Perry. The officer testified that he had left the job because he believed he had violated the department's social media policy with a post or posts on Snapchat. In court documents, this is called "the Snapchat incident."
The officer said the department did not discipline him due to this incident. Batavia PD subsequently hired him, and he remains a Batavia police officer.
Even so, the defense argued that this incident, which was apparently not discussed in detail during the hearing, constituted "50-a" material, or material in an officer's personnel file that could conceivably impeach the officer's credibility.
The court gave the prosecution -- in keeping the existing case law -- more time to comply with the discovery requirements.
At a hearing on March 1, 2022, Bauer informed that no effort had been made to obtain information on the "Snapchat incident." On March 17, she requested more time to obtain the information.
"I have started my inquiry with the Perry Police Department," she told the court.
On March 28, the DA's office received a letter from the village of Perry clerk regarding the incident, and that letter was provided to the defense.
A month later, Rogers dismissed the charge against Solomonidis.
Appeal to County Court In her ruling, Cianfrini overturned Rogers on the issue of the dispatch center recording. She determined the DA's office had complied with discovery rules by informing the defense the recording existed and providing instructions on how to obtain it and that once the defense made a request in court, the DA's office produced the recording within two days.
Cianfrini did find, however, that prosecutors failed to exercise "due diligence" in trying to acquire documents from the Perry Police Department regarding the "Snapchat incident."
Cianfrini compared prosecutors' actions with a ruling in another case, People vs. Godfred, where a prosecutor provided extensive details on how she tried to obtain discovery material but could not. The documentation provided to the court in that case demonstrated "due diligence" and "reasonable effort" as required by the law.
"... the Appellant's Brief is absolutely silent as to the steps the various prosecutors assigned to this case took to ensure that it had ascertained the existence of all discoverable information as it relates to impeachment materials, most notably the "Snapchat incident," Cianfrini wrote. "There is no explanation as to why the People were unaware of these potential impeachment materials. It is nearly impossible for this Court to gauge how obvious the missing materials would have been, given the dearth of information provided by the People. Moreover, the People provided a letter from the Perry Village Clerk. No letter was received from the PPD itself."
And she continues, "Unlike the prosecutor in Godfred, no clear record was made by any of the prosecutors assigned to this case as to specifically whom at the PPD was contacted to obtain the information (such as the police chief or supervising officer), method(s) of contact and attempted contact, or if they even spoke with the Officer himself about the violation after learning about it."
Cianfrini is a former first district attorney in Genesee County and noted in a footnote that the lack of due diligence could result from multiple ADAs handling the case, which led to the procedural issue being overlooked.
"Given the lack of record of the efforts taken to ascertain the existence of the Snapchat incident, this Court is constrained to find that the prosecutors did not exercise due diligence or make reasonable inquiries to discover the existence of the same," Cianfrini ruled. "Thus, the initial COC and any subsequently filed COC were illusory, and the People were not ready for trial."
The COC is the Certificate of Compliance that all discovery has been turned over. If evidence is missing, the legal term for the defect is "illusory."
The lack of readiness for trial denied Solomonidis his right to a speedy trial, Cianfrini ruled. Thus, she upheld the dismissal of the DWI charge.
Batavia Police Chief Shawn Heubusch expressed dismay at the case's outcome, saying that the officer in question is a valued law enforcement officer. He issued the following statement:
A recent ruling by a Genesee County Court dismissed a DWI charge made by a Batavia Police Department officer because of a prosecutorial error.
The Court determined that the prosecution did not disclose that the arresting officer resigned from his position as a part-time officer with the Village of Perry Police Department over a social media matter. The officer resigned and subsequently joined the Batavia Police Department.
Our officer fully disclosed this matter during his interview with us. The Batavia Police Department fully supports our officer, and he has an exemplary service record.
Now as governor, Hochul has assigned state department heads to deliver the budget message in Genesee County.
On Tuesday, state Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon told a couple of dozen people attending the briefing that the governor's proposed 2024-25 state budget will not add a fiscal burden to New Yorkers, and that the budget is balanced while increasing spending on fighting crime, ensuring New York's economic competitiveness, fixing broken infrastructure, fighting climate change, supporting education, addressing the migrant crisis, making advancements on housing, and improving access to mental health care.
The total spending plan is $233 billion, a 4 percent, or $6 billion, increase over the current budget.
The budget "does not increase income taxes and comes without cuts to services," Reardon said.
"Fighting crime remains a top priority in this budget," Reardon said. "The governor is proposing to make record investments and improvements in the justice system. The endgame here is to make New York a safer place to live, work and visit. Her plan allocates $40 million to crack down on retail theft, a recent issue that has impacted small businesses everywhere. The governor is also committing $40 million dollars to address domestic violence and $35 million to combat hate crimes across our great state."
The governor also wants to significantly increase spending on mental health issues. This will undo the wrongs of the past, Reardon suggested.
"We will rebuild our mental health system from top to bottom, which is needed after decades of underinvestment," Reardon said. "The governor's proposal earmarks $4.8 billion to overhaul the state's mental health continuum of care, and that is a 45 percent increase from 2022. Investments include $24 million for criminal justice-related programs, $37 million to help members of our homeless population who are struggling with mental health issues, and $43 million for supportive housing. This is a complex problem that requires a multi-pronged approach. The governor wants to devote $55 million to create 200 new inpatient psychiatric beds so New Yorkers can receive the care that they need. And we know that mental health also has a very significant impact on our youth, which is why she wants to commit $45 million to support services specifically for young New Yorkers. That funding will power school-based services and peer-to-peer counseling."
Reardon also said Hochul is proposing $35 billion in total school aid, which Reardon said is a $125 million increase from the prior fiscal year.
"In this region, school aid is increasing by $26 million to a total of more than $2.6 billion in funding," Reardon said.
What about creating jobs? Prior to her talk, The Batavian was given an opportunity for a short, exclusive interview with the labor commissioner, so we asked how the state budget would help New York businesses hire more workers.
"As you know, the governor is really focused like a hawk on upstate economic development," Reardon said. "There are a lot of measures in the budget to help. There's the on-ramp program that ESD (Economic State Development) is running. There will be training centers along the I-90 corridor in support of the chip fab industry and advanced manufacturing. Also, she's got money in the budget for Geneseo and Brockport for the colleges. And obviously, there's a lot of infrastructure money for bridges, highways, potholes, all of that stuff. She's really focused on that."
The Department of Labor, Reardon noted, is really focused on helping people find careers "that they love."
"That is really one of the best things about the Department of Labor," Reardon said. "We do it every day. She's a huge supporter. She always has been and we work together very closely. She's working on targeted industries, but we help everybody. If you want to go to work in a chip fab or advanced manufacturing, we'll help you do that. But if you also want to work locally and stay here, we'll help you do that, you know, whatever your need is, we connect workers to training to employers to wraparound services if they need it. This is a really big priority for the governor."
As a follow-up question, we asked if we could expect any additional spending to assist business parks in Genesee County, such as WNY STAMP or the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park. As Reardon said that was something she would need to look into and get the information to The Batavian, a staff member gave a head shake of, "No."
