Stafford

A caller reports smoke in her basement at 1073 Bethany Center Road.  She said she started her furnace just prior to the smoke appearing.

Stafford Fire and Bethany Fire being dispatched.

First responder reports: "Nothing showing."

UPDATE 11:43 a.m.: Crews and equipment being held in their halls while the situation is further investigated.

UPDATE 11: 47 a.m.: Stafford standing down.

UPDATE 12:25 p.m.: Bethany back in service.

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On the way back home from the fire on Roanoke Road, Stafford, yesterday, of course I stopped along the way to take some pictures.

Above is a series of barn and silo structures on Sweetland Road, Stafford.  Below, the back of the barn at Ellicott Street Road and Stafford-Batavia Townline Road, and under that a railroad mile marker along the railroad track next to Lehigh Road, Batavia.

BTW: If you like my photography, you might enjoy the photoblog I set up: Vufindr.com. Of course, many of the shots will have appeared on The Batavian, but I set up Vufindr.com to allow for larger format pictures.

In 1823, James Monroe was president, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were still alive, and it would be more than six decades before Thomas Edison would start the first electric company.

It was also the year a brick house was built at 9418 Roanoke Road.

Today, electricity sparked a fire, driven by high winds, that gutted the little red brick house.

"It's a nice old house," said Betty Smart, who lived on the former farm property for 40 years with husband Terry.

It first started when winds disconnected a electrical wire leading from the house to the barn. The live wire hit the metal roof over the kitchen igniting combustible material under the tin.

Once there were flames, wind gusts quickly fed the fire.

“It’s an abnormal condition that we normally wouldn’t see, but that wind got into the interior and just moved the fire right through the house," said Tim Yaeger, emergency management coordinator.

The Smarts called 9-1-1 as soon as they spotted the fire and immediately got out of the house. Nobody was injured in the fire, or in fighting it, and the Smart's three pets live outside and were not harmed.

Yaeger said beside the winds, water supplies were a challenge. Firefighters used two hydrants, but one of them was nearly 3/4 of a mile from the scene. Crews also trucked water in from a pond two miles away.

Assisting Stafford were fire departments from Pavilion, Bethany, Byron, Bergen, Le Roy, Town of Batavia, Caledonia, York, along with Le Roy's ambulance service and Mercy EMS.

More pictures after the jump:

High winds blew live electrical wires onto a roof at 9418 Roanoke Road in Stafford. It's smoking and the fire has spread to the kitchen. It's now a second-alarm fire.

Stafford, Bethany, Le Roy, Town of Batavia and Pavilion are responding to fight the fire and control traffic. National Grid has been notified.

The location is between Sweetland and Westacott roads. The homeowner is outside with fire personnel.

UPDATE (3:12 p.m.): All available manpower in the area is called to the scene. There are three areas on fire inside the home. More traffic control is called for.

UPDATE (3:28 p.m.): Wyoming County is asked to standby in their own quarters with a full crew in case they are needed. Tankers, pumpers, hydrants are all being used and at the ready to fight the fire. Countywide, more crews are called to stand in at the responders' stations. Caledonia is called to help out. National Grid is at the scene. Power inside the house is out. The fire has spread to the garage.

UPDATE (3:40 p.m.): This is now a three-alarm fire. Firefighters were ordered out of the garage, which was "buckling" due to fire damage. There are four fire sites inside the structure now. It has spread to the second floor.

UPDATE (3:46 p.m.): A thermal-imaging camera is requested at the scene. Fire is now in the attic, too.

UPDATE (3:53 p.m.): Inside fire crews are getting out of the structure. They will be fighting it now from the outside only.

UPDATE (4:48): Fresh crews have been called in to replace tired firefighters. The structure is still smoking. The Wyoming County Correctional Facility Fire Brigade is being contacted to aid with equipment, we believe additional lengths of fire hose. Refreshments for the firefighters are requested. The modest, brick home appears to be a total loss. It was built in 1823 and for the past 40 years it has been the home of Terry and Betty Smart.

UPDATE 7:33 p.m.: All units back in service.

The Stafford estate of Vaughn Hahn was auctioned off by Bontrager's this afternoon. More than 150 bidders registered, according to owner and auctioneer Todd Jantzi.

There was a wide range of items available, from Victorian-era couches, dressers, dishes, books and pictures, as well as a car and yard equipment.

Hahn died April 29 when he was hit by a car while standing beside the roadway across from his house, which had been in the family for generations. Hahn was 87.

Jantzi said there were rooms on the second floor that hadn't touched in years.

He said estates such as Hahn's only come along once a year or only every other year.

People came from as far as Palmyra and Toronto to particpate in the auction. Cars lined both sides of Route 5 for at least a 1/4 mile.

The building is 120 years old, and lately it's been showing its age. But the Odd Fellow's Hall building at four corners in Stafford -- the former location of the Stafford Trading Post -- is such a central part of the community that members of the Stafford Historical Society are fretting over its future.

Owner Terry Platt has set a Sept. 2 auction date to sell the parcel to the highest bidder over $20,000.

Members of the historical society are concerned a new owner might tear down the structure, which is on the National Historic Registry.

"A lot of people think that because it's a historic landmark, it can't be torn down," said Laura Giacchino. "That's not the case, at least not in this town."

"I realize it's a historic piece of property -- at least the awning part, the front of the structure -- I'm not sure about the whole building," said Platt. "But it's an investment for me. It always has been."

Stafford values its history. Giacchino said the community has always had a sense of continuity and there are many families in Stafford that have lived there for generations, 200 years or more.

"We've been here 25 years and we're considered newbies," Giacchino said.

And the Odd Fellow's Hall -- which Giacchino remembers as a post office and place that sold groceries and guns many years ago -- has been a community gathering spot and community store location as far back as anybody can remember.

But for Platt, who's owned the property for more than 20 years, it's just time to move on.

Platt said with the business vacancies, and particularly since the Stafford Trading Post moved to its new location, its time get the property out of his portfolio and use whatever proceeds come from a sale to reinvest in his other holdings.

He said, "I'm getting older," and he doesn't want to take the time or spend the money on needed repairs to the building.

And it likely needs some substantial repairs, acknowledged Giacchino.

"We know it needs a new roof, and there's likely water damage in the basement," she said.

Members of the historical society are very interested putting together a group of investors -- and Giacchino indicted there are people with money to invest who are interested -- to buy the property. But with all of the unknowns about the shape of the building and less than a week until the auction, there just isn't enough time to commit to buying the property.

Platt said he had the building up for sale for some time with no takers, but he's still open to making a deal.

"I'm still willing to hold the paper if the number is high enough," Platt said. "So if somebody wants to buy it, they can do what they want with it. If somebody wants to save it ... Is somebody going to buy it and tear it down? I don't know."

For more on the Stafford Village Historic District, click here.

The clouds yesterday and today have been fantastic. I've really wanted to get out into the countryside and look for interesting things to photograph, such as barns. Unfortunately, my time has been limited. I did manage to drive down Sanders Road in Stafford today and spotted this barn under a great sky and hiding a bit behind a cornfield.

It wasn't easy getting the new Stafford Trading Post location open.

Owner Michelle Macan-Mouery said she had to go through paperwork like you wouldn't believe, most of it dealing with the transfer of her liquor license.

Some applications needed to be filled out multiple times because the ABC was apparently not clear on what it wanted.

“Each application was $35, and I had to fill out three of them,” Macan-Mouery said, “the first one I didn’t fill out right, and the second application they sent me was the wrong one.”

She started filling out paperwork in October of 2009 and it took her until May of 2010 to get her liquor license back.

After 14 years running the Stafford Trading Post at a location in a historic building at the intersection of East Main Street Road and Morganville Road in Stafford, Macan-Mouery decided to move her business less than 50 feet, to a brand-new structure right next door.

Those few feet could have been a hundred miles as far as the state was concerned. The state scrutinized every detail of the liquor license transfer, and according to Macan-Mouery, didn't provide a lot of instruction on how to get it done.

"It was difficult because they didn't tell you exactly what they wanted."

Known to her longtime and loyal customers as "Shell," she opened the new location in February and couldn't sell beer for three months while working things out with the state.

“I lost a lot of business when I didn’t have my license."

Less of a problem, as it turned out, was her decision this summer to stop carrying tobacco products. She balked at paying a $1,000 hike in the license fee to sell cigarettes. But those goods have hardly been missed.

“It hasn’t been a problem, and most people go to the reservation to get cigarettes."

Overall, the move of the Stafford Trading Post, which has served Stafford under various owners for generations, has meant a big boost for the deli and convenience store, Macan-Mouery said.

The friendly atmosphere seems to have moved with the business, and expanded space and a seating area have helped boost food sales, but liquor sales remain half of what they were in the old location.

Macan-Mouery grew up in the Stafford area and worked at the Trading Post when she was 11.

She first decided to move because the building was old and needed many repairs and upgrades.

“This historic site keeps alive the nostalgia of the corner store and makes you feel like you should be purchasing pickles out of a barrel," she said.

But it was no longer meeting customers' needs.

“It wasn’t handicapped accessible and the interior needed a lot of work, and since it is a historic landmark we couldn't change the outside to make it handicapped accessible."

Macan-Mouery has some advice for people that are thinking about moving their business; “you need to know in a year advance that you want to move -- and be sure -- because in New York State you have to start from the beginning.”

A driver says a female passenger struck him in his arm while he was driving, causing him to lose control of his car Thursday evening, resulting in a one-vehicle rollover accident.

No one was injured. The accident occurred at 6:43 p.m. on Route 33 near Caswell Road, Stafford.

The 2008 Chevy sedan was driven by 27-year-old Romer M. Williams, of East Bethany-Le Roy Road, East Bethany.

Williams told Deputy Matthew Butler that when he was struck in his arm, he lost control of the car. He swerved to the right shoulder, tried to correct and the car went into a sideways skid across the roadway and onto the opposite shoulder, where it rolled onto its side.

His passengers were Yalawn J. Christin, 22, and Charles A. Small Jr., 26.

No citations were issued.

An Albion man was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital last night following a single-car accident on Fotch Road in Stafford that knocked down power lines and caused a car fire.

He's been charged with DWI and additional charges are possible, according to Chief Deputy Gordon Dibble.

Jeffrey A. Mooney, 57, of 4928 Quaker Hill Road, Albion, was reportedly driving his 1999 Ford Taurus on Fotch Road when his car left the road at the 90-degree turn.

Mooney got himself out of the car and passersby pulled him away from the car, which became fully engulfed in flames, and downed electrical wires.

Dibble said Mooney complained of internal pain.

The investigation is being conducted by Deputy Howard Carlson and is continuing.

(initial report)

A call has come in of a single-vehicle accident, car vs. pole, in the area of 7789 Fotch Road, Stafford.

The initial report is of a person down, in the roadway, with wires over him and the caller afraid to touch him. A car is on fire.

A first responder says the victim is on the side of the road, conscious but in pain.

Mercy Flight is is being dispatched.

Mercy EMS and Stafford Fire is on scene.

UPDATE 11:24 p.m.: Both high-voltage and low-voltage wires are damaged. National Grid has a 30 minute ETA to arrive on scene. Also a fiber optic cable belonging to the phone company has been completely burned through.

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A hedgerow fire has been reported in the area of 9163 Roanoke Road, Stafford.

Stafford Fire is responding.

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Michael L. Jackson (pictured), 29, of Seneca Avenue, Batavia, is charged with two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance, 3rd. Jackson is accused of selling prescription medication to an agent of the Local Drug Enforcement Task Force. Jackson was arrested Saturday and jailed without bail.

Jonathan Chad Sisk, 37, Chili-Riga Center Road, Riga, was arrested for alleged failure to appear on a petit larceny charge. Sisk was taken into custody by Monroe County Sheriff's deputies and turned over to Genesee County. Sisk was jailed on $500 bail.

Mitchell Edward Bryan, 18, of East Bethany-Le Roy Townline Road, Stafford, is charged with unlawful dealing with a child. Mitchell is accused of hosting an underage drinking party.

Craig Alan Tiberio-Shephard, 21, of Lathrop Avenue, Le Roy, is charged with DWI and speeding. Tiberio-Shephard was stopped 7:39 p.m., Saturday, on Route 33 near Colby Road in Darien by Sgt. Greg Walker. Walker responded to Route 33 following a complaint of an erratic driver. Tiberio-Shephard allegedly refused to submit to a breath test.

Kevin R. Eustice, 41, of 18 Church St., Le Roy, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Eustice is accused of pushing his ex-girlfriend. The alleged incident occurred at 11:50 p.m., Sunday.

Forrest F. Ansel III, 20, of 572 E. Main St., Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd, and criminal contempt. Ansel is accused of punching a family member at 2:35 p.m., Sunday. There is reportedly an order of protection in place involving Ansel and the family member. He was jailed on $1,000 bail.

Donald A. Stirk, 30, of 639 E. Main St., Batavia, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th. Stirk was charged after a Genesee County probation officer visited Stirk's residence and allegedly found crack cocaine residue on a pipe.

Candice J. Wells, 25, of 5280 Old Telephone Road, Bethany, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, and running a red light. Wells was stopped at 2:20 a.m., Saturday, on West Main Street, Batavia, by Officer Marc Lawrence.

(name redacted upon request) 18, of Hidden Meadow Drive, Marcy, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. xxxx was stopped in a car at 11:31 p.m., Aug. 5, on Route 5, Pembroke, by Deputy Patrick Reeves.

name redacted upon request, 18, of Walker Road, Deerfield, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. xxxx was reportedly located in a car parked on Route 5, Pembroke, at 11:31 p.m., Aug. 5, by Deputy Patrick Reeves. Reeves reported smelling the odor of marijuana. After checking the car, Reeves allegedly found marijuana and paraphernalia.

Eric J. Shultz, 30, of Main Street, Akron, is charged with DWAI (alcohol and drugs), and failure to comply with the lawful order of a flag person. Shultz reportedly exited the Tom Petty concert 11:58 p.m., Saturday, and nearly struck a flag person directing traffic.

Samuel Leonard Thomas, 51, of Lyell Avenue, Rochester, is charged with attempt to evade cigarette tax. Thomas was stopped for an alleged traffic violation at 2:08 p.m., Sunday, on Route 63 in Oakfield, by Deputy Loni Nati and allegedly found in possession of 32 cartons of untaxed cigarettes.

Rebecca Lee McCoy, 19, of Simonds Road, Darien, is charged with unlawful dealing with a child. McCoy is accused of hosting an underage drinking party Sunday morning.

Trevor Bent McGuckin, 19, of Johnson Road, Churchville, is charged with criminal possession of a hypodermic instrument, unlawful possession of marijuana and unlawful possession of fireworks. McGuckin was stopped at 1:04 a.m., Sunday, on West Main Street, Batavia, for an alleged traffic violation by Deputy Patrick Reeves.

Michael Anthony Amadori, 53, of West Tillen Road, Boston, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, speeding and failure to keep right. Amadori was stopped at 11:23 p.m., Saturday, on North Main Street in Corfu by Deputy Patrick Reeves.

Mark E. Beatty Jr., 31, of 46 Church St., Le Roy, is charged with petit larceny. Beatty allegedly tried to leave Tops Market with a shopping cart full of merchandise without paying for the items.

Aaron R. Bosse, 19, of 6971 Knowlesville Road, Alabama, is charged with unlawful dealing with a child. Bosse is accused of hosting an underage drinking party Friday night.

Kyle John Helak, 18, of Meadow Lane, Attica, is charged criminal possession of a controlled substance. Helak allegedly did not have a prescription for medication he possessed while at Darien Lake.

Investigators are piecing together the final hours of Deborah Maniace.

The body of 47-year-old Batavia resident was found early Saturday morning next to the train tracks under the CRX overpass on Clinton Street Road, Stafford.

Maniace had attended the Elba Onion Festival Friday and been out with her boyfriend. At 2 a.m., Maniace called her son and said she was walking home.

Chief Deputy Jerome Brewster said that a just-released medical examiner's report says her wounds were consistent with a fall from a bridge. There is no other sign of trauma -- not from a fight and not from a car hitting her, and she was not sexually assaulted.

There are no skid marks or other markings on the roadway at the bridge that would suggest she had to move quickly to get out of the way of a swerving car.

Brewster noted that the wall along the bridge roadway is pretty high. It would be hard for a 5' 2" person to just fall over.

There is no indication that Maniace was suicidal.

"We would love to talk with anybody who might have seen her walking on Route 33," Brewster said. "We would like to talk to anybody who drove that section of Route 33 between 2 and 3 a.m. and didn't see her -- we would like to know that, too."

To contact the Sheriff's Office, call 585-345-3000.

Friends and family of Deborah Maniace gathered on the Route 33 CRX overpass this evening to pay respects to Maniace, whose body was found early Saturday morning next to the railroad tracks. The cause of her death has yet to be determined.

Drive from Bergen to Batavia, southwest on Route 33, and just a mile or so from the Route 237 intersection, you will see a big red barn with "Oderkirk" in hand-painted big white letters on one end.

We've all seen it.

And this time of year, we've all noticed the sunflowers saturating the north side of the property, too.

The free sunflowers, it turns out, are just a ploy to get you to stop and buy vegetables from Richard Oderkirk.

The 69-year-old is a fifth generation farmer to operate the Oderkirk spread since 1877. But he's retired now and growing vegetables is both a hobby and a way to supplement his income.

"They're self-seeded," Oderkirk said about the sunflowers. "I try to exterminate a few more of them each year. They provide a lot of shade for my squash plants -- too much shade."

It's the winter squash that Oderkirk really hopes to sell each year -- it will be ready in a few more weeks, and when it is, even the cucumbers and tomatoes will be given away, so more people will stop and buy the squash.

And people do stop. Often with cameras in hand.

"I enjoy seeing people like the sunflowers," Oderkirk said. "I had an art student from GCC here 10 days ago taking pictures, and two girls yesterday. I'm happy seeing that."

The sixth and seventh generation of the Oderkirk family now live on the property. Once a dairy farm of 280 acres, it's now the 2.5-acre residence of Mary Thomas, her husband and daughter.

Asked what she thought of so many people driving by and admiring her property, Thomas said, "I’m surprised to hear somebody say that. I guess I didn’t think of the place like that. I see people stop to take pictures of the sunflowers. That’s nice. I get tickled when Dad gives them away for free."

Knowing that daughter Mary enjoys the sunflowers, Dad planted a small variety  -- the plants closer to the road are HUGE -- on the far side of the barn, and if she squints between barn structures, Mary can see from her kitchen window.

Good naturally, she turned to her dad while we were taking and said, "They aggravate you because they’re not produce, but I love them because they add beauty. Everybody likes them, Dad."

Everybody does, even Richard, even if he doesn't always admit it.

More photos after the jump:

The Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of a woman whose body was found early this morning under the Route 33 overpass next to the CSX tracks in the Town of Stafford.

A CSX engineer on a westbound train contacted Sheriff's Dispatch at 5:53 a.m. about spotting the body of a woman along the tracks.

The woman was identified as Deborah Maniace, 47, of Batavia.

Coroner Kristine Flanigan pronounced Maniace dead at the scene.

No cause of death has been determined. Her body was transported to the Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy.

The investigation by the Sheriff's Office is continuing.

Four teenage girls were taken to area hospitals following a single-car rollover accident off of Buckley Road in Stafford at 3:45 p.m., Sunday.

Taken by Mercy Flight to Strong Memorial Hospital was Chelsea M. Mutter, 17. Also injured were driver Jessi M. Heale, 19, (also transported to Strong), Alexis R. Kenyan, 16, and Alison M. Budd, 17. Kenyan and Budd were taken to UMMC.

Mutter is listed in guarded condition at Strong. Strong lists all patients in ICU as "guarded."

Healey was reportedly driving her 1998 Chevy sedan down a stone lane in the area of 8740 Buckley Road when the car went onto the south shoulder for some reason. Healey reportedly overcorrected and lost control of the car. It overturned and landed on all four wheels.

No citations were issued.

The accident was investigated by Deputy Chad Minuto.

(Initial Report)

A rollover accident has been reported in the area of Buckley Road and Route 5 in Le Roy.

A person is trapped and there is reportedly an injury.

The vehicle is reportedly well off the road.

The patient is unconscious.

UPDATE 3:51 p.m.: One person conscious, one unconscious in the vehicle. Mercy Flight out of Buffalo is on in-air standby. Stafford Fire requesting a second ambulance.

UPDATE 4:01 p.m.: Mercy Flight responding with a 17 minute ETA. (Unrelated, but Elba Fire is responding to a reported plane crash in Wilson.)

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