Oakfield

It's become harder to recruit and retain emergency medical technicians and the manpower shortage has led the Oakfield Fire Department's board to the difficult decision to discontinue its ambulance service.

Department President Mike Ognibene said it would take at least 10 EMTs to run a service that could dependably respond to calls and the department has only three volunteer EMTs now.

Out of about 15 calls for service a month, Ognibene said, the ambulance might roll on one or two calls. He said, as a driver, there are many times he shows up at the fire hall and waits for an EMT who never arrives.

After a couple of minutes of waiting, the call is turned over to Mercy EMS.

“Mercy EMS has done a great job since they’ve taken over (ambulance service in the county)," Ognibene said. "They’ve done a great job of responding, so it benefits us more to be there to help them, which we can do with our rescue truck. Since we don’t have to have an EMT, we can get there fast to assist them with the rescue truck.”

Truck 70 will go out of service at midnight, Dec. 31.

There is a bit of cost savings that goes with discontinuing the ambulance service, and that money can be rolled over into support of the firefighting service, but the biggest issue is manpower.

"My fear all along has been that we start having manpower shortages and that some agencies would discontinue EMS service," said Tim Yaeger, emergency management coordinator for Genesee County.

Losing Oakfield's ambulance, he said, means there's one less rig to roll in any kind of major event where multiple people are hurt.

That's why Genesee County Emergency Services embarked on a recruitment and retention drive earlier this year. The campaign includes media ads, hiring a recruiter and producing marketing products to attract people to volunteer services in firefighting and medical response.

"If anyone has ever thought about becoming a firefighter or EMS volunteer, now is the time to act," Yaeger said.

For an EMT, state mandated training takes close to 200 hours to complete. Ognibene said his department has had a few people sign up for training but not complete it.

It hasn't always been that way said longtime department member Robert Hilchey. 

Oakfield started its ambulance service in 1974, at a time when the only ambulances in the county were owned by St. Jerome's and Genesee Memorial hospitals.

"Some in the department thought we should have an ambulance out in this part of the county, so Oakfield was the first (fire company) to provide ambulance service," Hilchey said.

There was a time when Oakfield had enough EMTs to assign nightly rotation to responders. One crew would be on call from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Monday, another on Tuesday and so on.

Hilchey said members of the department just don't think they can get back to that level of service.

Recruiting new EMTs. however, is critical, Yaeger said, to maintaining levels of service throughout the county.

There are ambulances in Bethany, Le Roy, Byron, Bergen, Darien and Alexander. Those services are important to their communities, but also provide fill-in capabilities in those rare times when all of Mercy's rigs are tied up, and would be essential in a mass casualty type of situation.

With the loss of Oakfield's ambulance, however, neither Ognibene nor Yaeger anticipate any less service availability on a routine basis for the citizens of Oakfield.

Typically, Mercy EMS can roll to Oakfield quickly and, as Ognibene noted, the department still has medic-trained personnel to provide first-aid and basic life support and volunteers can respond to any emergency with the rescue truck.

Hilchey agreed.

"I'm very confident that Mercy EMS has taken over our responsibility and our residents and our taxpayers in the village will not be short changed in any way," Hilchey said.

To learn more about volunteer opportunities in Oakfield and the rest of the county, visit Ready Genesee.

A bit of the Bonduelle food processing property in Oakfield, off Pearl Street, this afternoon, just before the rain started.

Families in need can stop by the Oakfield Community Bible Church, 80 North Main St., Oakfield, on Tuesday's from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. for free bread, and perhaps other food items when available.

The free-food ministry is supervised by Carol Lowe (who wasn't able to be at the church today) and has been ongoing for three or four months now.

Families can receive up to three loaves of bread and when available canned and boxed food items such as tuna, vegetables, mac and cheese and peanut butter and jelly.

"When we can we try to provide a meal," said Jacquie Lindke, (right in the photo).

Availability depends on what has come in from donors.

All of the food is free, no questions asked.

Pictured with Lindke is Tom Petter. Both are residents of Basom.

From 10 to 2 p.m., Dec. 8, the church will be giving away clothes to anybody who needs clothing items, including coats, boots, hats and gloves for men, women and children.

When I left Le Roy, there was a long line of children waiting to talk with Santa and fill his ear with their Christmas dreams. I drove straight to Oakfield, and by the time I arrived, Santa was already there. It's amazing how that guy gets around.

Above, Santa with Mrs. Claus and their 5-week-old grandson.

Oakfield held a new Christmas event for the village today. It included the annual Christmas tree display, but moved this year to the memorial park between South Main and Pearl. The event included wagon rides, cookie decorating, games and the Genesee Model Train Engineers held an open house.

Organizers expect the event to become an annual celebration of Christmas in Oakfield that will get a little bigger each year.

As near as investigators can conclude, 25-year-old Quayshawn D. Smith was tired, drunk and driving a car with broken suspension April 22 when his 1997 white Buick Century crossed the center yellow line on Lewiston Road and smashed head-on into a minivan driven by a 74-year-old Oakfield resident.

Both Smith, of Mill Street, Medina, and Rosemary Calla, of South Main Street, were dead before the first emergency responders arrived.

While Sheriff's Office investigators draw no conclusions in a recently completed final report on the accident, the three proximate probable causes for the accident are contained in witness statements, observations by investigators and a medical examiner's report.

The ME's report took many months to complete, which is why the investigation wasn't closed until a week or so ago.

According to the Monroe County ME, Smith's BAC was between .08 and .12 (depending on whether the urine or blood sample is used) at the time of the crash. He also had marijuana in his system.

Two people from Geneseo told investigators that they had been with Smith the night before the accident drinking, first at local bars and later at an after-hours party at a residence.

Before going to the house party, Smith gave his car keys to a friend so he wouldn't drive, according to a statement. 

Another more recent acquaintance in his statement said he obtained the keys prior to the party, but when he thought he was going to walk home, gave them to Smith's friend.

Smith's friend denied having the keys at the party.

The acquaintance ended up staying at the party and then got a ride home from Smith. Smith's friend was also a passenger in the car.

According to the acquaintance's statement, Smith was weaving while driving the two passengers back to the friend's house, but he attributed the weaving to Smith being tired, not drunk.

Back at the house, the three men were going to get something to eat, but nothing in the house appealed to them, so Smith decided to leave. Smith's friend offered him a place to sleep, but Smith declined and said he was OK to drive.

The friend said he didn't consider Smith drunk, just tired.

At 6:10 a.m., another Geneseo resident who was driving to Clarence reportedly saw a white sedan pulled over on Route 63 south of the Peoria Curve. The driver observed a man in dark clothing with a hoodie pulled over the side of his head and walking back toward the driver's side door as the witness passed.

There's no evidence this was the same white sedan driven by Smith, however, the Geneseo resident said the white sedan eventually caught up with him (he said he was driving 55 mph) and was weaving in the roadway, sometimes acting as if he wanted to pass, even over a double-yellow line, and the swerving back into the shoulder of the road.

At Route 20 and Route 63, the two cars went separate ways, with the white sedan continuing northbound on Route 63. The Geneseo resident said he intentionally delayed his left turn onto Route 20 so he could observe the driver of the white sedan, whom he described as a black male.

The Geneseo resident never called police until after he learned of a white sedan being invovlved in a double-fatal accident on Route 63.

The accident was reported at 6;46 a.m. in the area of 7936 Lewiston Road, Batavia.

Smith's car crossed the double-yellow line and the two cars hit head-on with the impact area being about 3/4 of the front of each vehicle.

The black box (EDR, for electronic data recorder) in the Buick indicated that Smith wasn't wearing a seat belt, but emergency responders all reported finding Smith strapped in by both a lap belt and shoulder harness. Sgt. William Scott who prepared the reported concluded the EDR reading was in error on that point.

The EDR recorded the Buick's speed at 52 mph just prior to impact.

Scott could not recover the data from the 2002 Mazda minivan driven by Calla because its software was incompatible with the software used by both the Sheriff's Office and State Police.

Using mathematical calculations, Scott concluded Calla's speed just prior to impact was 39.93 mph.

"It is possible that the driver's age or a recognition of an impending collision could have allowed the driver of the Mazda to reduce speed just prior to impact," Scott wrote in his report.

While Smith was over the legal limit for blood alcohol content at the time of the crash, and had been up all night, according to witnesses, the suspension on his car was also damaged.

It had a broken left rear trailing arm. It's the piece that connects the axle to the frame and keeps the axle from moving forward and backward.

Rust on the part indicates it had been broken many months, or longer, prior to the accident and that Smith had been driving the Buick in that condition for some time.

It was probably moving backward and forward two to three inches, according to Scott's report.

"This would have been enough to give the feeling that the vehicle's rear end was steering the car to one side or the other," Scott wrote.

Investigator William Ferrando obtained Smith's mobile phone from the vehicle and concluded Smith had been neither making a phone call nor texting prior to the accident.

The phone proved crucial to making a notification to a member of Smith's family.

While Smith was living in Medina at the time of the crash, not long before he lived in Brooklyn and his neighbors didn't know how to contact his family.

Ferrando was able to call Smith's aunt using Smith's contact list on the phone. The aunt at first didn't believe Ferrando was with law enforcement because Smith had once pulled a similar prank on her. The aunt told Ferrando that Smith's mother was deceased and she didn't know how to contact his father.

Smith had been enrolled in a carpentry program in Medina, but was employed at Brunner International at the time of the accident.

One of Calla's daughters was notified of her mother's passing that Sunday morning shortly after the accident by a uniformed deputy who went to her house in Oakfield.

A brown out, or partial power outage, is reported in Northwest Genesee County. The cause is unknown at this point but we are seeking more information. National Grid was notified by the Emergency Dispatch Center about 20 minutes ago, and now a power company rep(s) is heading into the area to check it out.

Most of the Village of Oakfield is affected, a "good portion" of the Town of Oakfield, and half of south Alabama.

This has prompted numerous calls about the power outage and, in some cases, smoke alarms and CO detectors have gone off and there have been reports of the smell of smoke at some locations.

Fire crews in both communities are responding.

UPDATE 8:17 p.m.: We just received this e-mail from Stephen F. Brady,  media relations manager for National Grid:

"The cause isn't known yet, but we have a crew at the substation and they're working to restore and close in the breakers. I was told 30-45 minutes to restoration. Number of customers affected is around 500. Our Web page is likely showing more than that, but that too is being corrected. It could be morning before the exact cause (is known)."

UPDATE 9:24 p.m.: According to National Grid's Web site, power has been restored.

A pet sitter has been arrested by the Sheriff's Office and accused of stealing antiques from a residence in Batavia and selling them to a collectibles store in Cheektowaga.

Jodi Coe, 36, of Batavia-Oakfield Townline Road, Oakfield, is charged with burglary, 2nd, and grand larceny, 3rd.

Investigator William Ferrando arrested Coe for allegedly stealing antique items from a home where she was taking care of pets in September.

Some of the items allegedly stolen have been recovered.

Coe was arraigned in Town of Batavia Court and released on her own recognizance.

Local law enforcement have been in the Village of Oakfield, particularly in the Farnsworth Avenue area, this morning investigating several acts of criminal mischief.

There are reports of cars being spray painted and at least one vehicle had all four of its tires slashed.

Jason Micheal Kone, 31, of Townline Road, Byron, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, violation of probation, aggravated unlicensed operation, 2nd, operating with a suspended registration and operating without insurance. Kone was stopped at 1:51 p.m., Sunday, on Townline Road, Byron, by Deputy Chris Parker. At the time of the stop Kone was allegedly found in possession of a pipe containing marijuana. Kone was also arrested on a warrant out of Monroe County for alleged violation of probation and turned over to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

Christina J. Larsen, 37, of 6024 Fisher Road, Oakfield, is charged with felony DWI, felony aggravated DWI, improper left turn, uninspected motor vehicle and unregistered motor vehicle. Larson was stopped at 7:21 p.m. Sunday on West Main Street, Batavia, by Officer Jamie Givens.

Nicholas C. Klippel, 28, of 80 Walden Creek Drive, Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Klippel is accused of threatening to "murder" another person.

Steven A. Earl, 27, of 8017 Bank Street Road, Batavia, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and failure to yield right of way. Earl was stopped at 2:02 a.m. Sunday on South Swan Street, Batavia, by Officer Marc Lawrence.

Richard L Coughlin, 59, of 17 Fisher Park, Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt, 1st, and menacing, 3rd. Coughlin is accused of putting another person in fear of physical injury by yelling and screaming while in close proximity to that person and raising clenched fists. Coughlin is accused of violating an order of protection issued by Family Court.

Michael L. Valle, 31, of 146 Bank St., Batavia, is charged with attempted burglary, 2nd, criminal contempt, 2nd, and criminal mischief, 4th. Valle is accused of attempting to break into the residence of a person protected by a court order causing damage to a window screen and exterior light. Valle was jailed on $20,000 bail or $40,000 bond.

Brian D. Stotts, 35, of East Main Road, Le Roy, is charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs, unlawful possession of marijuana and running a red light. Stotts was stopped Saturday in Le Roy by a Le Roy police officer.

Bobbie Jo Hudson, 28, of Banks Road, Churchville, is charged with DWI, aggravated unlicensed operation, driving on a suspected registration, consumption of alcohol in a motor vehicle, failure to keep right, and uninspected motor vehicle. Hudson was stopped at 2:25 a.m. Friday on Route 19, Bergen, by Deputy Eric Seppala.

Lucas G. Yauchzee, 23, of West Bergen Road, Bergen, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th, and unlawful possession of marijuana. Yauchzee's arrest stems from the investigation of an alleged domestic incident Oct. 20. He was allegedly found in possession of LSD and marijuana. The case was investigated by Deputy Brian Thompson and Trooper J.J. Pitz.

Richard G. Medwid, 27, of Alexander Road, Alexander, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and unreasonable speed. Medwid was reportedly involved in a one-vehicle accident on Route 98, Town of Batavia, at 12:55 a.m., Sept. 15.

A 40-year-old man turned himself in to Batavia PD following a complaint that the man sexually abused a child under age 11.

John W. Eastridge, 40, of 7058 N. Pearl St., Oakfield, was charged with sexual abuse, 1st. Following arraignment he was released under supervision of Genesee Justice.

Eastridge allegedly subjected a child to sexual contact in September 2009 in Batavia.

Assisting Det. Charles Dudek on the investigation were Chris Erion and John Dehm of the Sheriff's Office.

A disabled woman in a wheelchair got stuck in the basement at the School House Manor Apartments in Oakfield after the elevator malfunctioned.

Oakfield fire and rescue is at the scene trying to get her to the main floor and a service company has been called. The address is 1 N. Pearl St.

UPDATE 1:08 p.m.: The woman has been removed from the basement and placed safely on the first floor. Oakfield is back in service.

A driver said he swerved to try and avoid a deer in the roadway, causing his car to strike a tree on Lewiston Road, in Oakfield, at 10:47 p.m., Sunday.

Rodney L. McKenzie, 48, of Lewston Road, Basom, was transported to Strong Memorial Hospital by Mercy EMS with minor injuries.

McKenzie was westbound on Lewiston near Bliss Road, driving a 2010 Toyota sedan, when he said he spotted a deer in the roadway.

There were no passengers in his vehicle and no other cars were involved.

The accident was investigated by Deputy James Diehl, who issued McKenzie a citation for allegedly not wearing a seat belt.

Holly Lindsey submitted this photo of four generations of Roy Joseph Muntz. Roy Sr., left, is 81. Roy Jr., is 55, Roy III, is 31 and holding Roy IV. The Muntz family lives in Oakfield and Batavia.

We just received this message from Mary Pentycofe:

ATTENTION!!!!!! All people in or around the Oakfield area. Please be on the look out for our lost African Grey Parrot. Answers to "Benny." Is known to whistle the Indiana Jones Theme song and "Hi-ho" when prompted. He went missing about 7 p.m. Thursday night 10-25-12 from 7 Coe Ave. in Oakfield, NY. If found, there is a $50 reward. Please help us find our bird. This is not a joke, we are all heartbroken.

If found or seen please call  585-307-1116.

UPDATE: Benny has been located. Mary said he's home safe. She thanked all who helped, including the Oakfied Fire Department.

Students at Oakfield-Alabama High School got a little firsthand experience today at trying to drive while distracted and State Police and Nationwide Insurance hope they get the message: Don't do it.

The insurance company, in conjunction with the State Police, brought in a computer simulator that allows students to put their hands on a steering wheel and drive through a neighborhood while dealing with multiple distractions.

There's the friend they're giving a ride home who won't wear her seat belt, talks incessantly and wants them to drive faster so she can get home sooner.

She also asks them to try phoning her brother and then sending him a text message. The phone pops up on the screen allowing them to finger-tap in numbers while keeping one hand on the steering wheel.

Meanwhile, deer and skateboarders cross their path, they must stop for a stop sign in front of a cop, pull on a freeway and merge into traffic.

"Distractions take away the focus of being in that car and driving, and when you take away that focus, that's when accidents happen," said Trooper Jeffrey Bebak.

Bebak said for teens, distracted driving can be a particularly deadly combination.

"They all feel they’re invincible," Bebak said. "In a general health perspective, they’re young, they feel great, they feel like they can do multiple things at once, including driving.

"You couple that with just their basic inexperience behind the wheel and you add the texting or use of a mobile device, it’s a bad combination. Too often that’s when accidents happen because of that feeling that I’m invincible."

Michael Granica, a financial specialist with Nationwide, said he's been involved in the simulation presentation before and he believes the simulator is making a difference.

"We had several students come back to us after the program and tell us that they thought about putting their phones down and they haven’t used them since," Granica said. "So if we’re able to change the habits of one person while they’re driving, everything we’ve done to promote safe driving has been worth it."

Damon Bradford, 18, of Scottsvile Mumford Road, Scottsville, is charged with criminal impersonation, 2nd. Bradford is accused of impersonating a parent and defrauding Elba High School.

Jeremy D. Lyons, 27, of Oakfield, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Lyons is accused of violating an order of protection. Lyons was arrested by State Police and jailed on cash bail. No further details released.

Josue Garcia-Basilio, 28, of no permanent address, was arrested by State Police on an unspecified federal felony. Garcia-Basilio was jailed on a bail bond. No further details released.

Suzanne Dizak is indicted on counts of criminal possession of stolen property, 4th, and criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th. Dizak is accused of possessing jewelry stolen from Target on April 1 when she allegedly knew the property was stolen. The total value of the jewelry was reportedly $1,171.58. On that same date, Dizak is accused of possessing heroin.

Brian P. Griffen is indicted on counts of burglary, 3rd, and grand larceny, 4th. Griffen is accused of breaking into a building on Fisher Road, Oakfield, sometime between June 12 and June 26 and stealing a dune buggy, Yamaha Kodiak 4-wheeler and a Honda dirt bike.

Luis Ramos Perez is indicted on felony counts of aggravated DWI and aggravated driving with a BAC of .08 or greater. Perez is accused of driving drunk May 6 on Route 262, Byron, with a child under age 15 in the car.

Jessica L. Connolly, 34, of Batavia, is charged with DWI, driving while impaired by drugs and unlawful possession of marijuana. Connolly was stopped by State Police at 4:15 p.m., Saturday, on Route 98 in Alexander.

Timothy Billingsley, 21, is charged with criminal mischief, 4th, and harassment, 2nd. Billingsley was arrested by State Police for an alleged incident reported at 12:27 p.m., Friday.

Justin Marc Wotherspoon, 26, of Gibson Street, Oakfield, was arrested on a warrant out of Town of Batavia Court. He was jailed on $200 bail.

Ajia R. Hasenauer, 19, of 73 S. Main St., Batavia, is charged with grand larceny, 4th, and 16 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument, 2nd. Hasenauer is accused of cashing 16 checks from a closed bank account. Hasenauer was jailed without bail.

Cynthia H. Owens, 37, of 28 Buell St., Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Owens was taken into custody on a warrant and jailed on $1,000 bail.

Derek G. Thomas, 36, no permanent address, is charged with criminal contempt, 1st. Thomas is charged with a felony for allegedly violating an order of protection by being at the residence of a protected party. He is also accused of a parole violation. Thomas was jailed without bail.

Dajuandrick C. Gardner, 35, of 212 State St., Batavia, is charged with assault, 3rd, obstructing governmental administration, 2nd, and unlawful possession of marijuana. Gardner was charged in connection to an alleged incident at his residence at 5:35 a.m., Tuesday. Gardner was jailed on $10,000 bail.

Five people were charged with possession or consumption of alcohol under age 21 at 11:51 p.m., Saturday, at College Village. Charged were Kiera Monet Smoot, 19, Trevlyn Caljic Hentry, 19, Brendaliz DeJesus, 19, Ilkia Solana, 19, Drema Ramona Bautista, 19.

Kara Brooke Sass, 18, is charged with criminal trespass. Sass is accused of being at Residence Hall at College Village at 11:21 p.m., Oct. 6, after being barred from the property.

Jeffrey Michael Johnson, 24, of Forest Avenue, Oakfield, is charged with appearing in public under the influence of a narcotic or drug other than alcohol. Johnson was jailed on $300 bail.

Summer Ogden, 36, no permanent address, is charged with criminal trespass, 2nd. Ogden is accused of trespassing on Batavia Housing Authority property.