Attica's Derek Wolfley dominated Genesee Region League competition last season and finished as the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,474 points. He also had 932 career rebounds.

He landed a Division I basketball scholarship at Iona College and the Gaels open up the season on Friday with a home game against Hampton University.

Wolfley's college career is getting off to a tough start after the 6-foot-7, 230-pound forward has been fighting mono. Here is what coach Kevin Willard said in his blog about Wolfley.

"Derek has had the toughest time adjusting because he is just getting over mono and is trying to get back into shape. He had the worst first practice of any freshman I have ever seen – even worse than Rashon Dwight last year. But he has come back strong and is starting to play very well. He is a great passer and has a very good 17 foot jump shot. Derek’s new best friend is Khyl Farrison our strength coach. I feel bad for Derek."

Iona went 2-28 last season, but signed eight talented freshman for this season.

Here is some video of Wolfley playing at Attica.

From the Batavia Business Improvement District:

This is a contest for children, twelve years and younger, to make a holiday ornament and enter it into this contest. The ornaments will be displayed on a Christmas tree in the Batavia City Centre. The winners will be announced on Friday, December 5th. Winners will be announced at Christmas in the City, at 6:45pm, on the Main Stage in Batavia City Centre.

The Ornament Committee is looking to have prizes to give out to the various children whose ornament(s) win in the different categories.

If you are interested in donating a prize to this contest please contact Loretta Delpriore at 344-1283 by Wednesday, November 19th or fax the form below to: 815-4310. She will provide you with contest forms and other information.

Click here to download the donation form.

Last week, The Batavian reported that Pontillo's Pizzeria owed in excess of $112,000 in state taxes. That report came on the heels of an article in the Daily News in which Sam Pontillo claimed that he closed the restaurant in order to make renovations and officially purchase the property. A second article appeared in the Daily a couple days after our post that further confounded an already ambiguous story. Since then, more information has become available that may help us to ask some better questions in the hopes of getting some better answers.

On October 31, a civil suit was filed in Genesee County in which all three Pontillo brothers were named. That suit was brought by Buffalo attorneys Amigone, Sanchez, Mattrey & Marshall LLP on behalf of the plaintiff: John Pontillo. Listed as defendants in that case are: Sam, Paul and Salvatore Pontillo. No other details of the case were available at the Office of the Genesee County Clerk, and we have so far been unable to contact any of the brothers. We had left messages for Sam Pontillo last week that were never returned.

A week later, on November 7, a mechanic's lien was filed with the county by Roy H. Turnbull Inc. againt the estate of Elizabeth Pontillo and Pontillo's Batavia Pizzeria Inc. in the amount of $1,181.29. No specifics were listed in the record.

Those are the most recent facts. A search earlier today revealed no new filings with the county. Let us now take a moment to review the news as it was reported in the Daily. We feel that there are some contradictions and ambiguities that may help to shed some light on the situation.

From the first article, which appeared on November 4:

(Sam) Pontillo was advised that it would be better to just close the shop down and then re-open under new ownership. He regrets that he had to cancel a pre-election night party ... But he had no choice, Pontillo said. He was told that renovations were to happen now.

Firstly, who "advised" Sam Pontillo to close and "told" him that renovations had to "happen now"? In the same article, Beck writes that: "Sam has been on site running the Batavia and Le Roy operations the last several years." So if he's running the place, who is telling him to close it? Secondly, what are these renovations that they cannot be postponed even a single day so that the restaurant could cater a local party?

What's most confusing, however, is that in this first article, Sam Pontillo claims responsibility for both operations, in Le Roy and in Batavia. He would have to be running the place in order to make the decision to close it down, right? But in the article that appeared in the Daily on November 7—after The Batavian broke the news that the Batavia restaurant owed some $112,000 in unpaid taxes to the state—Sam Pontillo is quoted as saying: "I was locked out of the whole operation. John and Paul worked there (in Batavia). John was operations manager." Doesn't that contradict the claim in the previous article that Sam has been running the place for "years"?

Joanne Beck writes:

It was only after (Sam Pontillo) started the paperwork to buy the city property that Sam Pontillo became fully aware of the tax situation, he said. He doesn't dispute that tax warrants have been filed by the state Finance Department and Genesee County Clerk's office against the family business, which includes Pontillo's Batavia Pizzeria, Inc. and Sam's Tomato Pies, Inc.

But he doesn't claim them as his, either. The business is still owned by his mother and was not run by Sam, he said.

What!? Does Sam Pontillo run the business or not? What does it mean to be "fully aware"? Could he have been "partially" aware? What would that have signified? How can Sam not claim the tax warrants filed against Sam's Tomato Pies?

It is also reported in the most recent Daily News article that: "Genesee County records did not show any outstanding tax warrants on the Le Roy Pontillo's." That's true. As Sam Pontillo himself says of the Le Roy location: "I don't owe one cent for this place."

But Pontillo's Le Roy Pizzeria Inc. has been named in a civil suit filed by the Workers' Compensation Board of the State of New York that was filed on October 20. The Board also filed a money judgement in the amount of $1,250 against the Le Roy operation. As for any outstanding tax warrants, there are none. Pontillo's Le Roy Pizzeria Inc. was, however, served with a tax warrant by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance in the amount of $700.63 in November, 2007. That was paid.

All in all, there are more questions than answers at this point, and I have yet to see a single car parked at the Batavia Pontillo's, which is supposed to be undergoing renovations right now. I guess we ought to take Sam Pontillo at his word when he says: "The remodeling won't be an obvious change that patrons will notice."

Two new paid employees and a volunteer have joined the staff at the Salvation Army in Batavia for the holiday season, according to the Daily News. Joan Stevens, Suzanne Wheeler and Mike Morasco bring diverse experience to the crew. Check out the article by Virginia Kropf for more on the new hires.

In other news, the Alzheimer's Foundation of America will host free memory screenings from 9:00am to 1:00pm on Tuesday at Kmart, 8363 Lewiston Road, in Batavia.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

A pair of Pavilion high school students face drug and alcohol charges following a K-9 search in the school's parking lot last week, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said. Mason Dumbleton, 17, of Pavilion, was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Sarah Freeman, 17, of Wyoming, was charged with unlawful possession of an alcoholic beverage.

Cameron P. Sitarek, 18, of Darien, was charged with driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a property damage accident Saturday, deputies said. Sitarek allegedly caused damage with his vehicle at a residence on Tinkham Road in Darien. He was also ticketed with moving from the lane unsafely.

Jared Brannan, 24, of Churchville, was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal use of drug paraphernalia Tuesday, deputies said. Brannan was allegedly found in possession of crack cocaine following a traffic stop on Route 5 in Stafford.

The fantastic season of the Notre Dame Boys Cross Country Team wrapped up with a third place finish at the New York State Cross Country Championships at Sunken Meadow State Park in Long Island.  Beaver River was the winning team with 57 points and Barker squeaked ahead of ND by one point.  Junior Kevin Pawlak was the top Irish harrier, finishing in 18th place in 18:05.  Freshman Quin O'Connor, ND's #1 man, was injured on the first downhill of the race after the mile mark, but fought through the final two miles to finish in 24th place in 18:15 (it was discovered yesterday that he fractured his heel in the race.  He will be back on his feet in late December).  Senior Eric Shormann had another great race and finished 40th, with Seniors Matt Jackson 44th, and Taylor Alexander 55th.  Junior Nate Flumerfeldt came in 71st and Freshman Marshall Argenta was 109th. 

The Pembroke team ran to a seventh place finish with 156 points.  Newark Valley won a one point decision with 62.  Colin Bartholomew taking 24th place.  Matt Seward was 48th, Adam Mahaney 69th, Kyle Mauer 70th, Mark Riegel 91st, Ben Farley 103rd, and Ethan Burns 108th. 

Other area racers included:  Class C Girls: Kristina Martin of Holley placed 21st, Katie Piechowiak of Attica placed 60th.  Class D Girls:  Kim Mills of Oakfield placed 7th, Liz Valento of Pavilion placed 10th.  Class B Girls:  Angela Jarvela of Batavia finished in 23rd place.  Class C Boys:  Frank Johnson of Letchworth placed 14th, Jaked Krautweist of Leroy placed 34th and Jack Bennett of LeRoy placed 51st.  Class D Boys:  Kevin Grazioplene placed 8th, Justin Richardson of Pavilion placed 17th, and Craig Cicero of Perry finished 25th.

Congrats to all the Cross Country runners from the area on a great season!

A pair of articles in the Buffalo News this morning has bleak and bleaker pronouncements to make on the upstate economy as we head into the holiday season. While economists have yet to declare the big 'R' word at the national level, researchers at one local university have no trouble making such a statement about our own home turf. From one article: "University at Buffalo researchers are declaring a recession in New York."

Not only have we taken off with a head start, but it looks like we'll be huffing and puffing out on the track field of troubled economies even after the nation has made its laps and gone:

“Given that the current decline has been precipitated by the implosion of the real estate bubble that created a serious financial crisis for major Wall Street investment banks and insurance companies, New York state’s economy is again likely to be hit harder than the national economy,” said Isaac Ehrlich, a UB economist. Wall Street accounts for about 20 percent of the state’s tax revenues.

In another article, picked up from the Associated Press, holiday job seekers are found to be too many for too few open slots.

The odds of landing a part-time job at department store operator Bealls Outlet Stores this holiday season are slimmer than getting into Harvard University: It’s one out of every 45.

It's much the same across the nation. In California, one 7-Eleven received more than 100 applicants in a week for a position that pays $8.50 per hour.

The national trends are being borne out locally as department store, convenience chain and call center managers who only a year ago had to scramble to fill holiday jobs are seeing a surge in the number of seasoned applicants — many of them laid off in other sectors and desperate for a way to pay the bills.

That was the case with Tracey Gibbs, a Buffalo resident who landed seasonal work at keepsake store Things Remembered in the Boulevard Mall. She said last month that she accepted a seasonal job because full-time positions were scarce.

What have you seen here locally? A few weeks back, the Daily News published a handful of stories on the economy that all sounded the note of cautious optimism. Since then, it seems things have only gotten worse. We've heard about troubles with several downtown businesses, and whether that's linked to the general economic downturn or not, it doesn't bode well. Are you a local retailer? Have you seen more applicants than usual looking for a part-time holiday gig? Have you cut back your positions?

Efforts by the Mancuso Business Development Group to redevelop aging industrial plants and turn them into business centers for new and fledgling firms is featured in a piece in the D&C this morning.

Mancuso projects include the High Falls facility in Rochester, a 475,000-square-foot business center in Lockport, and another large development center in Geneva, as well as the Harvester Center in Batavia.

For the four local business incubators, Mancuso Development acts as the managing agent, collecting rent and paying the bills, and as leasing agent. The firm also oversees building rehabilitation work at the Lockport and Geneva sites, B. Thomas Mancuso said.

The company particularly focuses on landing small-business tenants of fewer than 10 workers, Mancuso said. And even in the current economic contraction going on nationally, he said, there is constantly demand for affordable space for businesses of that size.

The last flu shot clinic of the season will be held by the Genesee County Health Department between 4:00 and 7:00pm at County Building Two on West Main Street Road, Batavia.

The Genesee County Legislature will meet tonight at 7:00pm in the Old County Courthouse.

Notre Dame and Batavia High alums will be getting together to play some basketball and raise money for a good cause on Saturday, November 29 at Notre Dame.

The Hometown Hoops for Hope game will feature Batavia and Notre Dame grads battling each other on the court.

The game is going to be held to raise money for the Michael Napoleone Memorial Foundation, which is set up in honor of Michael Napoleone, who passed away from Burkitt's Lymphoma/Leukemia.

Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. and admission is just $2 at the door.

This past July, we paid a visit to Rigoni Farms in Pavilion. Steve Rigoni was a dairy farmer his whole life, and his father and his father's father before him. Not long ago, however, Steve made the switch to cash crops and began experimenting with alternative sources of energy. When we visited him in July, Steve showed us the tank in which he planned to burn switchgrass to heat the air to dry his corn crop—bushels of dried switchgrass would replace propane as the fuel source. He told us about how he manufactured the device and a little about his reasons. Please, be sure to go back and watch that video.

Well, we got a message from Steve last week asking us to come back out and see his invention in action. Long story short: it's a success. There are some things that need to be tweaked, as there are always things that need tweaking. But all in all, it works great. We put together another video to show you the burner and hear a little bit more from Steve about how it works. You can check that out below.

Before you watch it, however, let me say one thing. This video does not quite capture the marvel that I felt—and that I would hope some of you would feel—when I saw up close what Steve had built. This burner was made by hand, by Steve from whatever he could find to piece it together. He welded, he fanagled, he improvised. He manufactured a heat exchanger out of metal sheets and pipes. It's a thing of beauty, really. And that's before you consider that he now grows his own fuel and saves some 1,000 gallons of propane per day, every time he uses the dryer.

On a few instances this morning and afternoon, I looked out the window of our Main Street office and spied an "Oversize Load" getting hauled through the city, heading east on Route 5. About an hour ago, I was in my car and spotted another such load. This time, I chased the sucker down, whipped out my camera and got a photo—and please forgive the quality: it was taken from inside my car while I was driving, er, stopped at a traffic light.

Now why would anybody take a photograph of some big... uhh, something... traveling down the street on the back of a hundred-foot flatbed? Well, mostly because I couldn't for the life of me guess what that something was. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm often intrigued by the unknown, especially when it's that large and in my face and unabashedly downtown.

Here's a shot:

This was taken near the intersection of Route 5 and Route 33 as the object in question was headed east toward the town of Stafford. What do you think it is? It looked like it could have been some part of a high-tech flying machine. Or maybe some billionaire mad scientist is constructing an underground lair.

From the Batavia Muckdogs:

Today, Red Wings Management, LLC announced that Travis Sick and Casey Freeman will accept new positions as general managers of the NY-Penn League champion Batavia Muckdogs’ front office.  Mr. Sick and Mr. Freeman were both instrumental in running the operation throughout the 2008 season.

Freeman, 31, joined the Muckdogs in May as the Director of Food and Beverage.  In that capacity, he was responsible for the significant upgrade to the food service operation at Dwyer Stadium.  Freeman’s background is in food and facility management.  He studied Hotel Resort Management at Finger Lakes Community College and earned a B.S. in Sport Studies at St. John Fisher College.  He performed an internship with the Red Wings organization in 2003.  Freeman will become the General Manager of Stadium Operations, effective November 11th.

Sick, 23, spent the 2008 season as Director of Ticket Operations for the Muckdogs, after joining the team in April.  Travis was born in Wayland, New York and attended Wayland-Cohocton Central School. He graduated from St. John Fisher College with a B.S. in both Sport Management and Business Management.  Travis was an intern with the Rochester Red Wings organization in 2007, working in the Group Sales and Promotions departments. He will become the General Manager of Baseball Operations November 11th.

In their new capacities, both gentlemen will sell group tickets and advertising, with Sick’s additional focus being on marketing, public relations and baseball matters , and Freeman’s on concessions, merchandise, website and stadium management.

“I am excited about the opportunity that we’ve been given,” said Travis Sick.  “We’re both very eager to get out there and start doing the job we know we can do for this franchise.  We’ve spent a season getting to know Batavia and its people, and I am confident we will do a job that will make the community proud.   This is a great time to be with an organization - coming off a championship season.  I can’t imagine it being any better.”

Casey Freeman added “We’ve learned a lot this past year, and will continue to learn.  But this is a job that we are both well prepared for and looking forward to.  We understand that there will be challenges in turning this into a high functioning franchise, but we like the enthusiasm we see in this town. I just returned from a New York Penn League meeting, and my goal is to bring this franchise up to the level of some of the other successful franchises in our league.  The other teams are very supportive of our efforts and they promise they will do all they can to share insight into their success. With that and the support of the Red Wings, we certainly have a great start.”

“We are very pleased to be able to retain these two fine young baseball executives within our organization”, stated Naomi Silver, Chairman of the Board of Red Wings Management and the Rochester Red Wings, its parent company.  “They did an outstanding job for us this past season and we are confident that they will be effective in their respective areas of responsibility.  These are two individuals who have a good working knowledge of how a baseball organization should run, and they each have a genuine interest in providing the fans and sponsors of Muckdogs baseball with a quality experience.  They will do what is necessary to grow this franchise.”

Both men will continue to work closely with Red Wings’ General Manager, Dan Mason.  “I see real talent in these two gentlemen.  They both know that it takes a lot of heart and a lot of hard work to make an organization a success.  They have skills and a work ethic that is critical to our line of work, and they love their jobs.  I think they both have very bright futures, and I am very pleased to be able to keep them both on our staff”, said Mason.

The Muckdogs front office will be launching a significant sales initiative this month in anticipation of a very positive public response following the capture of the New York Penn League Championship.  Mr. Mason stated “An organization can wait years for the kind of success we had on the field in our first year running this team.  The fan response has been really great.  It is an exciting time in this franchise’s history, and that of this community.  To have gone from the team almost disappearing to being the best in the League is incredible. Experience tells us that the year following a championship is always a big year and Travis and Casey are ready for that job.”

You can now count the Daily News among those of us trying to get information from officials at Victorian Manor, where construction ground to a halt earlier this year amid rumors that the Main Street senior living complex would soon close down altogether. Any attempt to find out what was going on has been met with stalwart silence on the part of Marcia Noonan, the complex manager, and it turns out we weren't the only ones getting stonewalled.

Reporter Joanne Beck called up the complex on Monday and got nowhere. Nevertheless, she put together an interesting piece that mostly rehashes what was reported on The Batavian nearly a month ago by our diligent and undaunted readers. She did, however, have some other information that we have not yet seen that helps paint a bit more of a detailed picture.

A resident, who asked not to be identified, has also said the site's emergency system has not been working since this summer. The system involves pull cords in each resident's bed and bath rooms. It was touted as part of the security for an apartment that costs some $2,000 a month plus utilities.

The Batavian also received an anonymous tip on this same topic, but since we were unable to verify the individual's identity, we were unable to publish what was alleged.

Most of Beck's article, as mentioned, is made up of information that Kelly Hansen has been posting on The Batavian over the past three weeks. So, rather than report what we already reported, we will direct you to that earlier post.

Beck raises one point that is particularly confusing and possibly incorrect. She reports that KDA Construction Inc., a subsidiary of Sunwest Management, "filed a mechanic's lien for nearly $164,000 against Victorian Manor for lack of payment." Why would KDA, which is owned by Sunwest, file a lien against Victorian Manor, which is also owned by Sunwest? Wouldn't that amount to the company filing a lien against itself?

Our own research at the Genesee County Clerk's Office found that KDA Construction and Victorian Manor were both named as debtors in the mechanic's lien filed on September 17 by On It Inc., a Rochester-based company that claims $163,480.62 in unpaid labor and material costs. We telephoned On It earler today to see if we could get some more details. Unfortunately, the phone rang indefinitely. No answer. No voice mail. In the notice of the lien filed by On it, the labor and material costs were related to the installation of "HVAC equipment, duct work and piping."

Further, KDA Construction is named as a debtor in a dozen other liens filed over the past three months, totalling more than $1.54 million. The first, for $194,032, was filed on August 29; the most recent, for $22,382, was filed on October 29. In most of those, Batavia Senior Living LLC, the legal name for Victorian Manor, is also named as a debtor. Callea Electric Inc. is named as the creditor in the lien for $339,783.45—the most costly—filed on September 15.

Beck also spoke with a former employee of Victorian Manor who said that while she was employed there, "she was shorted money in her paycheck a number of times and had a couple of company checks bounce for insufficient funds." Ouch! Beck continues:

An investigation by the state Labor Department involved at least two employees who had complained about getting paychecks that did not include all the hours they had worked and about bouncing checks. Noonan had told Labor Standards Investigator Mary Confer that "she was aware checks had bounced" because management firm Sunwest Management had changed banks. However, the time period for bounced checks was from December 2006 to at least until April 2007, records state.

The Batavian called and left another message for Marcia Noonan earlier today. We have not yet received a call back. If we do, you can be sure we will let you know.

Batavia's City Council approved the acceptance of a $90,000 grant to be used for the purchase of a new ambulance by the city's emergency crew, according to the Daily News. At that same meeting, the council approved another grant for $23,980 that will be used for "record management." City Attorney George Van Nest told the group that a lawsuit against the city has been dismissed. A construction worker was suing the city after being injured while on duty. "There was no trial," said Van Nest.

In other news, a brief blurb in the local section claims that Oakfield-Alabama School Principal Scott Read is "not at work due to personal issues." No one knows if or when Read will return, according to Susan Conrad, who spoke with Superintendent Chris Todd.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

Click here to download the agenda for the upcoming Bethany Town Board meeting.

HAPPY VETERANS DAY -- THANK-YOU ALL VETERANS

Charges are pending for a Batavia man who was ejected from his vehicle after he collided with a tree early this morning, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said. Brett T. Patterson, 20, of 8778 Alexander Road, was waiting for admittance into the emergency room at Strong Memorial Hopsital this morning. Deputies said that Patterson failed to negotiate a curve on Route 98 in the town of Batavia, then veered off the road, struck a Sunoco station pipeline marker, before the vehicle overturned and struck a tree. A passenger in the vehicle was not injured. Patterson was ejected.

Andrew W. Taylor, 21, of Albion, was charged with criminal impersonation and resisting arrest early this morning, city police said. Taylor is accused of giving police a false name in the midst of an investigation. Police then discovered an outstanding warrant issued for Taylor's arrest. Taylor allegedly attempted to flee and resisted arrest, struggling with the officers. He was sent to Genesee County Jail in lieu of $2,500 bail.

As a result of the same investigation, Nicholas G. Mcadoo, 20, of Knowlesville, was charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of unlawful possession of marijuana. Police allegedly found Mcadoo in possession of a stun gun, a gravity knife and marijuana. He was sent to Genesee County Jail in lieu of $1,000 bail.

Norman D. Ball, 62, of Le Roy, was charged with driving while intoxicated Saturday evening, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said. Ball was picked up by deputies following an investigation into a minor motor vehicle accident in the Kwik Fill gas station parking lot in Le Roy.

Brian P. Calmes, 23, of Pavilion, was charged with driving while intoxicated Saturday, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said. Calmes was located by deputies in the Yellow Goose parking lot on Route 20 in Pavilion following reported complaints of an erratic driver on Route 63.

Bill Kauffman's latest column for The American Conservative magazine is about the annual reading of John Gardner's works at the Pok-A-Dot, or as he spells it, the Pokadot (The Batavian may need to change its stylebook).

The piece is titled Gardening at Night (registration required for PDF version).

Our literary-culinary venue is the Pokadot, Gardner’s favorite diner, the unselfconsciously funky eatery at the epicenter of the Italian-Polish southside. (Gardner, a Welsh Presbyterian, frequently teased his people for their anti-Italian-Catholic prejudices while sharing them: a neat way to have your tortaand eat it too.)

...

Pokadot readers have included Gardner’s family and friends and people mentioned in his books, but most of us—teachers, a dairy salesman, our independent bookseller, and my wife, daughter, and I—know him only through the stories he wrote and the stories that are told about him still. (My dad, a few years behind him in school, said that Gardner was “weird.”)

A few regulars sit at the counter and sip coffee, bemused by the proceedings —maybe even edified, I like to kid myself.

Darrick Coleman covered this year's reading for The Batavian. His post and video are here.

While on the topic of Bill Kauffman, we recently found a video of a lecture he gave two years ago on Restoring American Regionalism. On the same site is a more recent lecture on Wendell Berry on War and Peace.

 New York State Assemblyman Steve Hawley paid a visit to the Batavia Lions Club Monday night at the weekly meeting at St. Nicks Club to announce a state donation to the City of Batavia.

Hawley helped get a grant passed to help Batavia decorate the city for Christmas, with much of the money going to the lighting on Main St.

Hawley gave a speech about the current state of government in New York State and told a great story about taking some veterans to Washington, D.C. recently for a visit. 

Hawley, a Batavia republican, has served on the Genesee County Legislature in the past and has been an assemblyman for three years.