Summary:
It was 1988, and our youngest daughter came home from Batavia Middle School all excited about an author she had met as a guest speaker in her English class. She was telling us about a murder that happened not far from us. As a result, we got in the car and drove to Linden to see where this murder took place. She still has a copy of his book, Linden Murders: UNSOLVED, first published in 1984. This author inspired her to be excited about reading mysteries.
The first time I met the author, Bill Brown Jr., was when we were on the Holland Purchase Historical Society Board. After meeting him, I asked if he would be a guest speaker in my fourth-grade class. That began our friendship. He was an excellent addition to my classroom. He talked about being a writer and answered the children's questions. He then would return weekly to work with the children.
That year, when my class did their Famous Batavian Project, they chose Bill to be their class's famous Batavian. Part of their project was to draw a picture related to their person. The child, who was researching Mr. Brown, drew an image of the home he lived in with his family using an Opaque Projector. I just found out the picture hangs in the house of Bill's daughter, Betsy.
In 2000, I met someone very special to me, Ida Spiotta, a neighbor, and we would talk about what it was like to work on the muck. That gave me the idea to interview people and hear their stories. That was when I contacted Bill, and we worked together to write the book The Story of the Muck As Told by Those Who Worked There.
For those that have not heard of the muck, it was a part of Batavia's history that spanned from 1932 to 1952, when hundreds of men, women, and children worked on the muck, planting and nurturing crops and, months later, harvesting lettuce, spinach, onions, potatoes, and carrots. I presented my idea for a book to Bill, and he said, "You research it, I will write it." That was the beginning of a very special friendship with Bill Brown. I learned so much from him as we created this book together. The book was published in 2003.
These are the books Bill authored:
William F. Brown Jr. was born October 25, 1923, in Batavia, the son of William F. Brown Sr. and Monica Sellinger Brown. He graduated in 1941 from Batavia High School and graduated from Canisius College. He also studied at Yale and Fordham Universities. He served in WW II and worked for the Armed Forces Radio Service in Kokura, Japan.
He worked as public relations director for Batavia Downs and Buffalo Raceway for several years before becoming co-owner and manager of WBTA radio in 1968.
He won 16 statewide best editorial awards in his career from the New York State Broadcasters Association. He was a United States Harness Writer Association member for over 55 years, introduced into the Hall of Fame in 1991. He was the first chairman of the Board of Trustees for Notre Dame High School, a Saint Jerome trustee, and a board member of the Catholic Education Diocese of Buffalo. He was a lecturer and Eucharistic Minister at Resurrection Parish.
Mr. Brown married the former Elizabeth Farrell in Stamford, CT in 1947. She died in 1993. He was the father of four children, William F Brown III, survived by his wife Deborah, Elizabeth A. McGee (John), Robert F. Brown (Katie), and Bonny Peacock (Bob).
After a brief illness at 91, Bill passed away on Nov. 29, 2014.
Bill will be remembered by my daughter, my students, and myself as a very special friend. His involvement in many civic organizations, his awards, and the books he authored truly made him a famous Batavian.
By Angela Larmon of Batavia
“The enemy doesn’t come by boat; he arrives in a limousine.” These words feel especially relevant when considering the renewed push for the STAMP project.
If you grew up in Oakfield, like me, the term “STAMP Project” might stir faint memories from years past. But those memories never truly faded. Now, the project is ramping up again—despite a disastrous history of pipeline spills, covert dealings, and broken promises.
As adults, it’s our responsibility to ask tough questions of these polished businessmen who promise jobs and prosperity. And as we do, we must remember who has been consistently protecting the land—the Indigenous peoples. They are the guardians of 80% of the world’s biodiversity, including the sacred lands of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation, where their stewardship is critical.
When it comes to matters of land and environment, siding with the protectors of biodiversity is not just wise — it’s necessary for the well-being of future generations.
Let’s take a closer look at STAMP’s recent track record.
The STAMP Pipeline Spills
In August and September 2023, there were three ‘fracouts’ of hydraulic drilling fluid—a mixture of water and clay slurry—from the STAMP pipeline. These spills resulted in hundreds of gallons of fluid contaminating federally protected wetlands in the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge.Mark Masse, Vice President of Operations for the Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) tried to downplay this environmental fallout by dismissively referring to the spilled material as “mud.” This attempt to minimize the severity of the situation is a red-flag. Such language demonstrates a fundamental disconnect from the principles of environmental science and the reality of the harm caused by these spills. This tone fosters divisiveness and undermines the collaborative efforts needed to protect both our natural resources and our communities.
In response to the frac-out spill, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service revoked a critical permit for constructing the wastewater pipeline in September 2024, following months of pressure from the Tonawanda Seneca Nation and its allies. Adding to this, the DEC reprimanded the GCEDC and its contractors for failing to promptly notify the proper authorities about the spills. While the contractors informed DEC staff on the day of the incident, they neglected to alert the Bureau of Ecosystem Health immediately, leaving drilling fluids in the wetlands for over two weeks. Cleanup didn’t begin until September 22, and wasn’t fully completed until recently.
Given this, it’s astonishing that local leaders would even consider continuing to work with contractors who have already demonstrated incompetence at best—or reckless dishonesty at worst.
At least Orleans County has had enough. In September 2023, they took legal action and filed a lawsuit in the state Supreme Court against the Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC). They’re asking the court to stop the construction of the wastewater pipeline meant for the Science, Technology, and Advanced Manufacturing Park (STAMP).
The lawsuit claims that the GCEDC broke state law while trying to build the pipeline. It says that they created the Genesee Gateway Local Development Corp. (GGLDC) and STAMP Sewer Works in an illegal way. Orleans County also argues that the pipeline would seriously harm Oak Orchard Creek, which is important to the county’s fishing and tourism businesses.
The lawsuit further states that, because the GCEDC couldn’t get Orleans County’s permission to build the pipeline, it started illegally acquiring the necessary easements from property owners in Orleans County to build it.
“They started construction without having all their ducks in a row and did so at their own risk,” said Jennifer Persico, an attorney representing Orleans County. “This behavior is entirely consistent with their actions throughout this entire process.”
She’s right. The residents of Genesee County are supporting this pipeline at their own risk — risking the beautiful wetlands that are integral to the rural life we cherish here.
Are we really so desperate? So gullible?
The Fox Guarding the Henhouse
This brings us to an even larger issue: the Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) itself. Steve Hyde, the former head of the GCEDC, made a suspicious amount of money while priming the STAMP location and courting big businesses to the area. He retired recently, but it’s worth questioning the motives behind this entire operation.The real problem lies in the GCEDC’s unchecked power over this situation. The GCEDC has been allowed to act as the “lead agency” for all aspects of the state’s SEQR environmental review process. Think about that for a moment: the same organization profiting from pushing the STAMP project is also responsible for overseeing its environmental compliance. This is a bold case of the fox guarding the henhouse.
Unsurprisingly, the environmental review process under the GCEDC’s leadership has been sloppy at best and negligent at worst. An independent review revealed Hyde’s salary and bonuses increased significantly during periods when he aggressively lobbied businesses to consider the STAMP site. Their profit motive creates a glaring conflict of interest, especially when you factor in their lackluster oversight.
Are we really supposed to trust the judgment of an agency that cuts corners on environmental protections while padding its own bottom line?
The Hollow Promises of Jobs
Politicians love making promises, especially the enticing kind. They’re not fools— they know Western New York is struggling, just like much of the working class across the country.So, when businessmen roll into town claiming the STAMP project will create 9,000 jobs, it’s easy for folks to trade their common sense for a sliver of hope. Senator Chuck Schumer and Governor Kathy Hochul, heralded STAMP as a beacon of high-tech opportunity, even going so far as to pressure the regulators to issue permits necessary -- causing violations of federal law and a state policy.
That was then. Now, they’re pivoting. Instead of the promised 9,000 high-tech jobs, the site will likely employ just a few hundred people—and it won’t be in advanced manufacturing. Instead, the focus has shifted to data centers.
Why the change? Because the developers have failed to attract tenants in advanced manufacturing or semiconductor production. As a result, they’re pivoting to data centers, which bring far fewer jobs but come with immense environmental costs.
Data centers come with massive environmental footprints. They consume staggering amounts of energy and water, emit greenhouse gases, and generate disruptive noise, light, and air pollution. These facilities are notorious for being terrible neighbors, degrading quality of life while straining local resources like the power grid.
But, of course, the suits insist their data center will be different. They assure us they can be trusted.
Sure — just like we could trust the pipeline’s construction.
GCEDC has even described their current process of reviewing applications from three different data center investor groups as a “sweepstakes.” But let’s be honest—there are no winners here, not for local residents, not for the community, and certainly not for the local environment.
This is the same gamble they’ve been selling for years. And based on STAMP’s history, the odds aren’t in our favor. Is it really worth risking the land, your home, and your community for a vague promise of development and jobs? In the future, will the data center be sold to another company? Will jobs be downsized as more automation makes human workers irrelevant?
It seems the developers have failed to attract advanced manufacturing tenants and are instead offering us this pivot—one that benefits them more than it ever will us.
A Call to Action
It’s time for local residents to step up and demand accountability. Attend your Town Board meetings and ask the hard questions: Who is truly benefiting from this project? Why are we continuing to partner with organizations that have already proven to be careless and self-serving?For those looking to get involved, check out the work being done by the Allies of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation. They’ve been tracking the STAMP project closely and advocating for the protection of our region’s natural resources and quality of life.
In closing, I anticipate that the Genesee County Economic Development Center will dismiss any significant concerns as hysterical or misinformed — after all, their primary objective is to quell worries and push business forward.
One cannot claim to care about the environment while continuing to disregard and disrespect the rights of Indigenous peoples. They are on the frontlines, combating the disastrous industrialization and destruction that directly fuel the climate crisis we face today. Ignoring their warnings is a grave mistake — they have been fighting to protect this land far longer than any of us.
Thus, it should go without saying: when it comes to matters of environmental preservation and land sovereignty, ensure you stand with the true guardians of biodiversity—the people of the land.
Time is ticking. Spread the word by informing others — let us not have businessmen pull the wool over our eyes.
All babies, and my house plants, in Batavia city, protest the nocturnal sonic and vibratory disruptions of the ether caused by the helicopters on their training missions.
The babies and their parents,as well as my house plants, have nothing against military preparedness; it is the timing of the training.
Couldn't the Genesee County helicopters join their brother drones in the skies over New Jersey for their "training" in the dark of night?
Donald Weyer
Batavia, NY
Letter to the Editor by Karyn Winters is Director of the Genesee County Business Education Alliance and Angela Grouse is Director of Education to Employment with the Livingston County Area Chamber of Commerce. Both served as Co-Chair of this year’s event:
Thanks to the dedicated volunteers, vendors, and students from across Genesee, Livingston, Orleans, and Wyoming Counties, the 6th annual GLOW With Your Hands: Manufacturing was once again another successful demonstration of hands-on career exploration for local students.
This workforce development program is designed to educate the next generation of employees in the skilled trades, advanced manufacturing, agriculture, and food production workforces.
The 6th annual event on September 24 welcomed 1,100 students and chaperones from 30 school districts across the GLOW region who connected with 200 representatives from more than 70 agencies, trades groups and businesses in hands-on activities and demonstrations that provided an exploration into careers and pathways into them.
Launched in 2019 with 800 students, GLOW With Your Hands Manufacturing has grown into the premier workforce development program in the region and continues to grow. With the addition of GLOW With Your Hands: Healthcare, a hands-on medical careers program held annually in March, more than 5,000 students have participated in GLOW With Your Hands events since 2019.
With the mounting student debt, it is essential that we educate students on cost-effective pathways into careers.
GLOW With Your Hands introduces students to careers that can be entered immediately after high school, as well as economical ways to pursue careers that require post-secondary training and education.
We continue to witness a significant influx of private sector investment across the region, fostering growth and innovation that is bringing in-demand, economically rewarding careers right to our backyards. This surge not only creates jobs but also enhances local economies, encourages workforce development, and attracts talent, ensuring that our communities thrive in an increasingly competitive workforce landscape.
We have built a workforce development ecosystem that equips students with the necessary skills that connect them to desirable careers resulting from company relocation and expansion projects. That ecosystem is on display annually at GLOW With Your Hands Manufacturing and Healthcare events.
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our committee members, volunteers, and vendors, students interacted with local company representatives learning about careers and industries they may have never been aware of previously.
Our vendors are subject matter experts with on-the-job experience, and they were well-equipped and excited to answer students’ questions.
One of our participants highlighted the passion displayed by our company representatives “It is inspiring to see the number of businesses and representatives who are passionate about sharing their professional experience with us, a lot of students do not know what career they want to pursue, and this helped me get an idea of what companies are a part of the community.”
This is what GLOW With Your Hands is all about; there are so many great careers and companies available, and students deserve to learn what is possible right here in their own backyards as they move onto the next chapter of their lives.
The awareness and education that results from GLOW With Your Hands, has spurred an influx of increased enrollment in local apprenticeship and BOCES programs, where students can take their skillset to the next level, participating in earn-as-you-learn type programming.
We take pride in being the premier workforce development event in the region. Thank you to our platinum sponsors, National Grid, LandPro Equipment, and Rochester Davis-Fetch, and the dozens of other companies, unions, and agencies whose significant investment generated a successful event.
The third annual GLOW With Your Hands: Healthcare is just 5 months away from coming back to Genesee Community College where we welcome hundreds of GLOW region students to explore the opportunities available in the local healthcare industry.
Stay tuned for more details to come!
Letter to the editor from Joseph J. Zambon:
In her letter to "The Batavian," Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY24) wrote, "…the Biden-Harris administration and the Democratic party are trying to stifle American energy production, increasingly relying on imports from our adversaries”.
In reality, the U.S. has reduced its reliance on energy imports from adversaries due to increased domestic oil and natural gas production. Most energy imports come from friendly countries, with Canada accounting for the majority in 2022 and Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil.
Before the Ukraine invasion, Russia represented about 3% of U.S. crude oil imports, but those imports are now banned. While the U.S. imports oil from OPEC countries like Saudi Arabia and Iraq, it banned imports from adversaries like Iran since the late 1970s. Venezuelan imports have also plummeted due to sanctions against the Maduro regime.
Though the U.S. does not rely on China for oil or gas, it does depend on China for rare earth minerals essential for renewable energy and electronics, raising concerns about future supplies of these critical materials.
In summary, the U.S. has reduced, not increased, energy imports from adversaries.
By: Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-24)
The United States is the largest producer of petroleum, natural gas, and nuclear energy in the world, yet the Biden-Harris administration and the Democratic party are trying to stifle American energy production, increasingly relying on imports from our adversaries to keep our economy afloat. To continue leading the world in innovation and finding new, cost-effective, and efficient ways to harness our natural resources, we must diversify our energy production and consumption while ensuring consumers are not priced out by regulations or government overreach.
In 2019, under the Trump administration, our country became energy independent for the first time since the 1950s— a significant accomplishment for our nation's prosperity and national security. Yet, progressives in Washington and Albany have taken an anti-American approach todomestic energy production. Somehow, their unscientific Green New Deal agenda has pitted them against the expansion of nuclear power and domestic production of natural gas. American natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel produced in the world, and nuclear power yields the highest megawatt-per-hour output of any form of energy at zero carbon cost. Democrats' opposition to these two in the name of climate change is not only hypocritical but dangerous.
American carbon dioxide emissions are now lower than they were in 1990, almost entirely due to domestic natural gas and nuclear power. Meanwhile, China has been ramping up its use of coal and importing larger quantities of crude oil by the year. China is now by far the largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world, and the climate alarmists in Washington and Albany could seemingly care less. Maybe that’s because Governor Hochul employed a Chinese Spy? Instead, they continue to point fingers at Republicans trying to find realistic solutions to our nation’s energy needs.
The reality is that the fight against green policies has only ever been about one thing: control. From banning gas stoves to combustion engine vehicles, Democrats want to control every aspect of American's way of life through their Green New Deal agenda.
We do not have to choose between clean, affordable energy and protecting our environment. We can and must do both. In Congress, I am supporting a robust package of legislative initiatives to do just that—expand safe, clean, reliable American energy while continuing to be a good steward of our environment. Through common-sense conservation and pro-energy policies, we can do our part to preserve our planet's natural beauty for future generations while unleashing economic growth and prosperity.
Letter to the editor from Brittany Bozzer, Reality Check Youth Outreach Coordinator.
Every year on October 13, we observe Seen Enough Tobacco Day to raise awareness about the impact of tobacco marketing on youth and minorities. The day of action was established by members of Reality Check, a youth-based program in New York State.
Locally, Reality Check youth from Tobacco-Free Genesee, Orleans, and Wyoming (TF-GOW) used their creative talents to express startling statistics and health outcomes that will inspire their community to protect children like them from the billions of dollars of tobacco marketing in places where kids can see it.
The tobacco industry has spent decades avoiding the truth to sell their products. Juul Labs, an American e-cigarette company, recently settled a lawsuit that exposed its role in fueling the youth vaping epidemic. The company’s deceptive and misleading marketing glamorized vaping using fruity flavors that appealed to youth. They even claimed their products were safer than cigarettes.
To date, the FDA has authorized 34 tobacco and menthol-flavored e- cigarette products, yet more than 6,000 illegal, often fruit-flavored, vapes are still widely available online and in stores—many targeted at minors.
And menthol is more than just a flavor in tobacco products. It is used to addict young people by making nicotine easier to inhale and harder to quit. It’s no wonder that 22.5 percent of high school youth use e-cigarettes and over half of youth smokers between
12 and 17 use menthol cigarettes.There are resources to help teens quit. Programs like "Drop the Vape" provide free, 24/7 support through text messaging, proven to increase quit rates. In fact, adolescents with a history of vaping are 35 percent more likely to quit after using a text message-based program. To participate, teens can anonymously text "Drop The Vape" to 888709. The American Lung Association also offers essential tools to help break the addiction cycle at lung.org/quit-smoking.
I hope parents, teachers, schools, elected officials and all the members of our community will join me and our Reality Check youth in declaring that we’ve Seen Enough Tobacco and Vaping. By working together, we can build a tobacco-free generation -- on October 13 and every day.
Letter to the Diocese of Buffalo:
Where to begin? Angry? Disappointed? Heartbroken? No one word seems to sum it up. And I am not trying to describe how I feel about the decision to close Ascension, I am trying to describe how I feel about THE WAY the decision was handled. The fact that the only church I have known for my entire life, that my parents AND GRANDPARENTS have known is closing, yes that's sad, but it's a story that every parish has right? It's one that I am sure the Diocese of Buffalo has grown numb to. While this fact is still true and valid, that's not exactly the point. What is the most upsetting is how the Diocese communicated this decision to us -- they didn't. At no point did the Bishop or any front-facing Diocese person say the following, "We are PRAYERFULLY considering all counter proposals, if your parish wasn't on the initial list of closures, be ready because it may happen." You gave us NO warning at all that this would take place. Now yes, did everyone know that the counter proposals were being reviewed? But there was no transparency to our Parish regarding this closure, at least other parishes had time to absorb the fact that they were on the initial list and pray for a different outcome, we don't get such an opportunity.
I am not naive enough to pretend I don't understand. There is another Catholic church less than a mile away from us. Why are other parishes closing and those congretation members having to drive 20 minutes or more when we in Batavia don't have to? I get that side of it, I do. But our church is financially solvent and structurally sound thanks to it's congregation and previous leadership. We have never had boiler issues, foundation cracks, bats in the belfry or any other problems.
Letter to the Editor by Michelle Hadden, Assistant Executive Director of Program at the New York Council on Problem Gambling
“We Know Who They Are”, said New York Council on Problem Gambling, Executive Director, Jim Maney. “We know who is losing 120 million dollars in just two weeks in New York to Mobile Sports Betting. The question is how much do we care?”
If we had a registry of those who were struggling with opioid addiction in New York state, a clearly identified list of names with contact information, what would we do with it? Would we reach out with educational information for those who were just beginning to use it? Would we reach out with harm reduction and treatment tools for those who were showing signs of more frequent use?
Every Mobile Sport Betting licensee has this information. A list of account holders, how much they spend, their gambling activity and more. And yet we do little to address those New Yorkers who are losing 70 million in a week, 200 million in a month. Recent analysis of national data from the four largest US online operators shows that those aged 28-43 account for 60% of all players and money lost. The second largest group is those under 28 years old.
We are advertising and sending promotions, enticing people, vulnerable people, to participate in an activity that we know comes with the risk of addiction. For most of that second largest group of players, those under 28, their brains either aren’t fully or have just finished fully developing, making them at higher risk than the general population. On average the typical college student receives 25 credit card solicitations a semester. Twenty-five opportunities to stay “in action” placing bets with money they don’t have.
This downward spiral from fun and entertainment to problem gambling, to devastating financial and emotional consequences is heard in the voices of individuals, parents and spouses who reach out for help not knowing what to do next. It’s heard in the stories of those who’ve recovered, but never forget that their addiction brought them to the brink of family ruin, suicide, crime and despair.
If we care enough, New York will do what it takes to mitigate the impact of expanded gambling opportunities. This will take true partnership between the State and the gambling industry to find solutions to assist those players who are struggling. Because we DO know who they are, we know how to reach them, and we know how to offer assistance that puts them on the path to a healthy lifestyle free from gambling addiction.
Danielle Hausen - Member, Genesee County DSA
Today marks the two-year anniversary since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, changing how reproductive rights are viewed in our country. We carry the same passion we did two years ago, standing up for everyone’s right to safe reproductive healthcare, which includes the right to have an abortion. This issue remains crucial. Since the Supreme Court's decision, 14 states have made it extremely difficult to get an abortion, pushing individuals into situations where they can not receive abortions or must resort to dangerous alternatives.
Adding to this challenge are crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), institutions known for offering biased and incomplete information to discourage individuals from getting abortions. Despite appearing helpful, many CPCs have been criticized for providing misleading details and steering people away from abortion, even when it is medically warranted. It's vital for us to stay alert, ensuring that everyone has accurate information on reproductive health and can make informed decisions about their bodies and futures. You may be interested to know that there are several CPCs right here in the GLOW region.
The conservative majority in the Supreme Court has taken away our rights and raised concerns about the future of reproductive rights. Their lean towards conservatism has the potential to further endanger reproductive autonomy and limit access to crucial healthcare services nationwide. The Supreme Court, however, is not the be-all and end-all of the fight for reproductive justice; we know that actors like conservative politicians and crisis pregnancy centers are going to fight against our reproductive rights and bodily autonomy regardless of how the court rules. As we navigate this landscape, it's crucial to continue organizing for reproductive justice, ensuring that the rights and dignity of all individuals are protected and upheld.
We will not go back.
Lauren Berger - Member, Livingston County DSA
Well, here we are.
It has been two years since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Heath, when the Supreme Court ruled that Roe v. Wade, court-accepted guidance for 49 years (a fifth of the time that our country has existed), was unconstitutional. For two years, anti-abortion legislatures have ramped up the dictation over the lives of people who can bear children – a paternalistic and violating overreach for people seeking life-and-death medical care. For two years, a country that says we have no right to universal healthcare has also decreed that we have no rights to our own uteruses either.
People have had to flee their home states to seek abortion care – almost 172 thousand in 2023 alone, according to USA Today (and that’s just who made it onto the report). The people who couldn’t afford to travel, or couldn’t take time off work, or didn’t have a ride…those numbers aren’t captured.
For two years, Democrats have been promising they’ll protect abortion – if we stay under their thumbs where we belong. The problem is, they had nearly fifty years to enshrine Roe into federal legislation before 2022, and failed to do so. I know there’s a list of excuses (there always is), but the truth is that trusting “business as usual” politicians is exactly what led us here. I say that not to deflate the hope any of us might still have in our institutions, but to remind us that this is not the time to be complacent.
The Court’s protection for Mifepristone from the other day rings empty and hollow to those who see it realistically, analogous to placing a single band-aid on a collapsing dam. Our lives and our futures are being debated by not medical experts and researchers, but politicians and lobbyists whose foundation on medical knowledge is the King James Bible, the majority of whom haven’t had to consider a potential pregnancy since I’ve been alive. Anti-abortion advocates are not relenting, and neither should we.
How do we remain relentless? Turning out to events like this, give yourselves a round of applause. We relentlessly mobilize against Crisis Pregnancy Centers – the fake clinics like the Pregnancy Resource Center of the Valleys in Mt. Morris and All Babies Cherished here in Batavia that manipulate and guilt people seeking abortion even though do not provide genuine medical care.
We also relentlessly grow our networks and continue learning – look around, are there people here you don’t know yet? Are there resources we can share? The more we learn, the more we understand how our struggles – for abortion access, for racial equity, for disability justice – are all connected. Even today, I haven’t said the word “women” in reference to those who are affected by anti-abortion policies – because abortion restriction affects all genders. We are relentless in our compassion. Our struggles are connected – but so is our liberation. Together, we are stronger. Together, we win.
Letter to the Editor from Diane Armbruster, GLOW ARC Board of Directors and a parent
Since 1961, Arc GLOW has been serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in our region.
It started with the Arc of Livingston Wyoming in 1961, followed by the Genesee Arc in 1966 and Arc of Orleans County in 1970. In 2016, Genesee Arc and the Arc of Orleans County merged to form Arc of Genesee Orleans. In 2021, the Arcs of Livingston Wyoming and Genesee Orleans merged to create Arc GLOW, which we are known as today. Yet across all iterations, our mission has been the same; empowering and support people of all ages with a broad spectrum of emotional, intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Today we serve over 2,000 individuals with IDD across the GLOW region and employ over 1,100 staff dedicated to our mission to help our individuals in realizing their full potential and finding happiness and meaning in life through programs such as vocational, educational, residential, clinical, recreational, and day habilitation.
Yet in order to help individuals with IDD, we need you, the community’s support.
The best way you can do that is through membership, which is open to everyone over the age of 18. While any amount of donation for membership is welcome, the base cost is as little as $1 per person.
And this $1 goes a long way.
The higher membership we have, the more power we have in our advocacy at state and national levels, giving Arc GLOW and the families and individuals we serve a more influential voice in legislative matters. Your membership has a direct impact on our federal and state funding. Membership contributions also help to fund programs that government funding does not provide.
Investments in services over the past 10 years have increased only 10.5 percent in comparison to 30 percent inflation. This has caused a critical staffing shortage, especially considering that the Arc Direct Support Professional (DSP) staff receives a fraction of the salary of staff working in facilities operated by the state for the same work.
Finally, membership is a statement that you believe in the importance of what Arc GLOW does and you support our mission.
I am writing to you as a parent of a son who has lived in an Arc GLOW group home since 2006. I can honestly say how happy he is in his home as well as with the day program he attends.
We as parents are so very thankful for this as well as the sense of security it brings to us. I have also been a member of various Arc GLOW committees and then the Board of Directors for about 15 years now. I know how deeply members care about our individuals and spend a great deal of time to guarantee what is the best possible life for them in all respects.
Arc GLOW is truly a family to join, and you can do so by visiting our website at ArcGLOW.org and clicking our membership button. While you are there, please check everything we are doing between programs and events.
Letter to the Editor from Katelyn DiSalvo, Tri-County District Director, Catholic Charities
The need today is real and Catholic Charities is, as it has been for the last century, here to meet the challenge. HOPE is central to the work we do every day. HOPE for our neighbors when they are homeless, hungry, in need or troubled. Everything starts with HOPE, thanks to the generosity and support of those who give through the annual Appeal.
Now underway through June 30, Appeal 2024, the agency’s 100th campaign, helps fund many programs and services administered by Catholic Charities along with several ministries through the Fund for the Faith.
In just the past year, nearly 1,900 neighbors of all ages, faiths or no faith throughout Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties were given HOPE by the programs and services offered by Catholic Charities. These include basic emergency assistance such as support for food and finding housing resources, working with domestic violence offenders for systemic social change, and parents who want to reduce conflict and parent effectively for their children. In Genesee and Orleans counties, our home visitation and friendly phones programs bring a sense of connectivity and quality of life to homebound seniors.
Thank you for choosing to give HOPE by supporting this year’s Appeal. Please visit ccwny.org/donation.
And if you or someone you know needs HOPE in Genesee, Orleans or Wyoming counties, call us at 585-343-0614. We have offices in Batavia, Albion, and Perry.
Letter to the Editor from Donald Weyer:
Come one, come all, step right up! We have a gen-u-wine, er genuine three-ring circus setting up its big top in the confines bounded by Bank, State, Main Streets, and Washington Avenue! The center tent pole smacks dab in the Alva Place parking lot, the future home of the newly constructed Batavia Police Department Headquarters. I extend my three cheers and hip-hip-hoorays!
Me, not to be similarly bound by any gag order such as imposed by City Manager Tabelski on City Council members. Shame on you, Rachael; I intend to address every volubly dazzling and dancing performer in this carnival, which commenced April 21 at the above site and continues with its performances to date. So let me play "the adult in the room", figuratively in the circus tent, and aim to tame the lions and tigers fuelling the city's current uproar (those animals are charged to "roar", not grown people, but what can I say!)
- Ms. Kubiniec (owner of private business offices on the south side of Washington): you're rambling on about snowbanks and unplowed snowy and icy sidewalks, and your dearth of rent-profits, while the Spring birds are singing and the flowers are sprouting and the sun is shining in this prelude to the merry merry month of May. Please check your anachronisms and income shortage and stay on point!
- Geno Jankowski (respected president of Batavia City Council): Your statement of hurtful comments about you is melodramatically sentimental, disingenuous, and a bit ironic, to say the least. Man up, you're a retired police officer, an illustrious one at that, so put on your big-boy pants, a stiff upper lip, a straightened spine, and thick skin, all learned, instilled, and developed among the men in blue, as well in your position on Council, and demonstrate some real leadership and forget about your feelings being hurt. Take the bull by the horns, whistle while you do it, and wrest it to earth! Not in the mode of Alexander Haig's autocratic "I'm in control here, at the White House", but more in that of FDR's fireside chats and his democratic and confident, yet communal, "we have nothing to fear except fear itself", with the emphasis on "we".
- Dr. Mazurkiewicz (chiropractor with a private business office in Washington): You stated that your office was promised "one row of parking spaces along the north side of the construction site" for the new police station. O.K., that row is within, not without, the fences for the construction site. I suggest you issue hard hats to all your patients or give up that one row of parking. Safety rules are safety rules, period! I see no alternatives. Concerning your loss of profits, just think: once the new facility is completed, your net income, the bottom line, may multiply a hundredfold, considering the safe location your office occupies, police presence, and all. Stop whining! Anyway, I need your expertise to fix my ailing back and legs, nerve damage or other. Cease worrying about this issue of the police facility and apply your manipulation magic to my old bones. To keep me from whining!
- Dr. Canzoneri (foot doctor with private business office in State): Your inflammatory words that there will be "cost-overruns and disruption" with the new police headquarters: the construction is a done deal. Where were your protests when the project was proposed? And don't anticipate cost-overruns and disruption. Just wait and see! (As to your loss of profits, see my words directed to Mazurkiewicz above).
- Anyway, I need your expertise also, to fix my numb and painful toes and feet. They tingle, and feel swollen and hot, but are normal size and temperature to the touch. I believe you would find more success treating my feet, stopping my "dogs from barking", than the city bureaucracy treats you and your professional practice! What do you think?
- Ms. Tabelski (honorable Batavia City Manager): I previously mentioned your gag order. It sounds like you're trying to ensure that the city administration and representatives get and keep your story and theirs straight together. (Maybe it's time for your office to consider a public relations spokesman. They're good at spin and "spinning") if nothing else! Let all the administrators and representatives speak. They might have some important ideas for addressing the current "kerfuffle!" (That word compliments of the always-incisive staff of The Batavian detailing the circus on display). Additionally, you state that the city doesn't have an employee to drive the bus to conduct the clients of the private businesses in Washington via shuttle bus to their appointed destinations. The city employees and representatives who have been gagged could use the time freed up by not speaking to drive the bus. Alternatively, it's not the time to "call out the National Guard" to solve your self-imposed problems of this donnybrook! Sufficient planning and communication were possible prophylactics, but it's apparently too late for those preventive actions. It's in your lap, now, and I don't envy you or your position.
I would write, or say, or sing at this point in my account of this curious and convoluted and current-day circus that it's time to "send in the clowns, isn't it bliss?......don't you love farce?......quick, send in the clowns" (all credit to Judy Collins). But I won't. Why? No, because "don't bother, they're here" (again, Collins).
Letter to the Editor from Donald Weyer:
Everybody has their very own special interest, their little sphere of influence. I'm sure each and every one of them has a claim to legitimacy, an intrinsic value, which we should honor and respect.
All constituencies aim to perform in concert, even though each constituency serves a different master. Don't believe the foregoing? Just look at the eruption of passion that flared up and reached critical mass in Batavia on 4/22/24 when fences sprung up surrounding the construction site for the new City of Batavia Police Department headquarters at that tiny plot of land, late a not very good actually, parking lot bounded by Alva Place, Washington Avenue, and Bank and State Streets!
Alan Iverson, late of the NBA, responded while he was still playing professional basketball to accusations of not giving his all with the words, "I mean practice, that's what it was, practice, really. Not a game. Not the game. We talking about practice, man". Likewise, I counter to this current civil conflagration: "We're talking about fences, and patches of grass, and parking spaces, really, when we're putting up a grand brand new police headquarters?"
I'm no civil engineer, but I think the current problem can be broken down into 3 themes that no one else seems to be thinking about:
Incidentally, I'm all for private business, private business customers, the police, the City Manager, the City Council, and new construction. I guess fences, loss of patches of grass, and parking spaces are the costs, the price, of modern progress that we must pay, grin and bear.
Letter to the Editor from Donald Weyer:
Act one. My, my, wasn't it quite recent that a senior citizen's price of admission to a theatre play at Batavia's amateur Main Street 56 Theater, formerly Harvester 56 playhouse, came to $16.00? And presently, it is $20.00 (even more if one pays with a credit card, and who doesn't). According to my basic arithmetic, that's a stratospheric 25% increase in one fell swoop! In my theatre-critic opinion, a fine bit of stagecraft, or should that be a review, in deference to the shades of Vincent Canby and Brooks Atkinson? Or is the additional premium just another humdrum iteration of inflation, as I'm sure its defenders will aver? (I believe the regular price of entry, for those humans, neither senior citizens nor students, skyrocketed from $18 to $22, only a little less whopping increase of 22.2222%. And foolish me, here I understood that general inflation in the past year or about was in the 5-10% range)! So it seems it's an equal opportunity soaking of the theatre-going cohort, young and middle-aged and old, all rolled into one.
Act two. And yet. And yet. Don't get me wrong. I'm all for theater, literature, culture in general, and the salutary impact of each on the average citizen, including me (a frequent ticket-buyer and goer to Buffalo's Studio Arena Theater in its heyday of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as an enthusiastic reader of Shakespeare's works).
Act three. By the by. Also, didn't I just read in the local media of April 13 that the theater management is blithely sweeping and theatrically sashaying across the boards to the U.S. Treasury Department, accompanied by the writs of various city of Batavia government officials, a coterie of sorts of supporting actors and actresses in the cause, exeunt stage-door left, not right, politically speaking, with top-hat in white-gloved hand, seeking $95,000 in public assistance in this current matinee-playing piece of a classically-conceived tragicomedy? (It's always all about the dollars and cents for all your characters in the world of entertainment, isn't it)? May I also suggest tap dancing to a pow-wow with the painted-on and primped-up poohbah of state politics, none other than Kathy Hochul, wearing the mask of, masquerading as, playing the part of, take your pick, what we call the Governor? She always seems to have a lot of cash to fling hither and yon. Hi ho, hi ho, off we go to two capitols, Washington and Albany, in a simulacrum of a Broadway musical conga line!
Act four. And yet. And yet. The audience is calling out for an encore, or maybe I should write a surprise appearance. And who will join them to meet the actress supreme (Hochul) in Albany? None other than that old thespian, the original song and dance man, now performing in the role of first supporting actor, seemingly conjured, as if by a genie, from the bright stage-lights of some Catskills venue or other, still slurping from a bowl of borscht, U.S. Senator from N.Y., the hoofer, er honorable, Charles Schumer! Never a shy stranger to the circling white spotlight of celebrity fame.
So now we have the entire array of performers in this 4-act stage piece (I didn't even insert an intermission for your benefit), ready to take their bows: there's Erik Fix, understudy to Rachel Tabelski from Batavia's City Manager Office; various incognito and mysterious apparatchiks of Batavia's Downtown Revitalization Initiative materializing from the wings, for those of you not in the know, the DRI (incidentally, wasn't it from this acronym that the theater received most of its original funding? And that money came from the state [Kathy], not from the federal [Chucky]? So, are we currently seeing an instance of playing both sides of the street or pitting one side of the street against the other? Just saying.); of course, Hochul and Schumer, holding hands, and being presented bouquets of roses in congratulation for their tax-dollars largesse with the audience's monies, mine and yours; and last, but certainly not least, the vaunted impresario, as well as artistic director and playwright, sine qua non, of Main Street 56, Patrick Burk, who makes a nice Sol Hurok-like impression on us all! Let's hear some hands! What more can I add to this scary, yet stunning, performance? What's going on here with our long-revered and highly-respected local theatre, its funding, and its pricing? Please don't enunciate to me that community theatre in Batavia is well worth it, the question of any and all price of admission be damned!
Epilogue. And please don't come after me with that old chestnut of the Philistine versus the arts intelligentsia. I'm ready for you. I'm trying to impress upon my readers that theater, as we know it in Batavia, is coming dangerously close to "pricing out" its audience and supporters!
The Batavian is among more than 150 local news organizations supporting the passage of the Local Journalism Sustainability Act.
We are all part of the Empire State Local News Coalition.
The work of the coalition has raised awareness of the importance of local journalism and the challenges facing the local news industry. (New York has lost half of its newsrooms since 2004.)
In just the past month, the coalition rallied in Westchester, where residents were stunned by the abrupt closure of three community newspapers. We went directly to Albany to appeal to lawmakers and rallied with elected officials from the Senate and Assembly. Numerous localities have adopted resolutions expressing their support for legislation that would support local journalism, and more municipal resolutions are in the pipeline. Even unconventional allies like Microsoft have joined our calls to save local news.
Thanks to these collective efforts, the Local Journalism Sustainability Act – which would provide tax credits to local news organizations for retaining and creating newsroom jobs – was included in the State Senate’s recent budget proposal for fiscal year 2025. This is a key step for inclusion in the state's final budget, which is currently being negotiated by the Senate, Assembly and Governor Hochul.
However, there is a lot of work to be done over the next few days, when the final budget will likely be announced, to ensure the bill is actually included in the state's final budget. It is crucial that the Local Journalism Sustainability Act is included; otherwise, communities throughout the state risk thousands of newsroom jobs being lost and even more important stories going untold.
The Local Journalism Sustainability Act is sponsored by NYS Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal with the bipartisan support of Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner and more than 70 co-sponsors. As newspapers shutter and layoffs roil the industry, the bill is necessary for incentivizing job creation, returning reporters to many of the state's emptying newsrooms. The bill is content-neutral and designed to ensure that truly local news outlets will receive this assistance. The leadership of the Legislature’s Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Caucus has also endorsed our bill, which is a major testament to the fact that this bill will improve access to news for all communities.
New Yorkers are standing with local news, and now lawmakers must answer the people’s call to save community journalism. To get the Local Journalism Sustainability Act across the finish line, lawmakers must hear from you about why our newspaper matters and why this bill is meaningful to you and your family.
So, if keeping local news alive in our state is important to you, please contact Governor Hochul and your local representatives to let them know you support local news. Budget negotiations are wrapping up imminently—the time to act is now!
Letter to the Editor from Donald Weyer:
I got a kick out of Joanne Beck's report in The Batavian of March 26, "City property owners to receive updated assessments," accompanied by Assistant City Manager Fix's ecstatically (probably in anticipation of the whopping increase in city revenues due to increased assessments), yet maddeningly (probably because, as my mother used to say, he "knows exactly what he's doing" to the city property owners), grinning face.
Joanne, "You go, girl," and The Batavian, "You rock"!
"Gettin' down to brass tacks", I'm ecstatic too, "I'm singing like a bird, dancing like a fool, you make me smile", as Uncle Kracker sings, as I read the article on The Batavian. Why? Unlike Batavia city government management officials, Ms. Beck and The Batavian know simple arithmetic. City property owners aren't interested in tax rates per $1,000 of assessed property value, percentage increases in city expenses, interest rates on mortgages, 100% equalization, or even increases in property values or assessed values, except when we're ready to sell (and anyway, where would we go or live, or how could we possibly move all our junk).
What are we property owners interested in? And Ms. Beck gets this right: the "bottom line," "cash on the barrel-head," what will our tax bill be this year, how does it compare to last year's tax bill, and how will it potentially compare to next year's bill?
My good man, Mr. Fix, we property owners don't pay tax rates, assessments, equalization, or percentage increases in property values. We pay dollars and cents, and I trust you do, too. So stop all your foolish gibberish, gobbledygook "putting lipstick on a pig," or any of your confounding nonsense and make-believe!
Simple as can be: assessment goes up, tax dollars paid go up, not down (we property owners like "down", but we'll bite for "stay the same", as I'm sure you too would agree!). All the factors that I listed above, the "mish-mash", the pleasing words camouflaging the ugliness lying in their meanings, you know, the ones that city property owners don't care about, are just smoke and mirrors used by city government officials to confuse property owners, change the subject, and otherwise obfuscate the clear fact that you, city property owners, are about to get whacked and walloped, yet again, with a bigger tax bill, just how much bigger, you've yet to find out
Letter to the Editor from Donald Weyer:
Batavia's public school system, the board, and the superintendent are wringing their collective hands and educated minds over the construction of a new school budget and how to leap over, or fill up, or hopefully not fall into and be buried, a looming budget gap in the near future. As a stakeholder, I offer the following, if not solutions, maybe just some simple thoughts:
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