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News Update: Accident on Dodgeson road; Bellavia won't run

By Howard B. Owens

WBTA reports this morning:

  • Officials believe an accident on Dodgeson Road went undiscovered for several hours. At about 5:30 this morning, a wrecked car was discovered with the driver inside, conscious but trapped.  Power tools were needed to open the car.
  • David Bellavia won't challenge a GOP-endorsed candidate for congress. UPDATE: Here's the Buffalo News coverage.

Listen to WBTA AM 1490 for news updates throughout the day.

WBTA gearing up for June 7 on-air auction

By Howard B. Owens

WBTA has posted several items available in it's June 7 "Father's Day" auction.

Interesting items include:

  • One night at Delta Toronto East
  • Four-pack to Martin's Fantasy Island
  • Birthday party blow out at the Gravel Pit

The auction will run from 9 a.m. to noon.

Dan Fischer just told me that he'll be posting more items this afternoon.

Merchants who still wish to participate have until tomorrow to contact WBTA.

Catching Up on the News -- Anthem winner and Pepsi Building

By Howard B. Owens

We're a little behind in our Daily News reading (with Philip on vacation).  From the Saturday/Sunday edition, however, there were some items of note.

  • Becky Wolford won a contest to sing the National Anthem prior to a Muckdogs game.  She's also survived a brain tumor.  The story by Joanne Beck details her diagnosis and  efforts to fight the disease, which included much prayer and multiple surgeries. It's a fine news feature, but fails to acknowledge WBTA's role in sponsoring the contest.
  • The Economic Development Center has approved a $36,000 mortgage and tax abatement to help Summit Lubricants move into the former Pepsi plant at 4-D Treadeasy Ave. Summit manufactures heavy lubricants and has been in Batavia since 1991 and its expansion will lead to 17 new jobs.
  • In Lifestyles, ag reporter Tom Rivers profiles Bob Welker, a herdsman at Stein Farms, where he helps deliver calves and tend to sick cows. "It takes a special person to be herdsman because not everyone can work with sick animals every day," co-owner Dale Stein told Rivers. "You have to e willing to do everything for the animals. Maybe one in a hundred cold do it -- maybe one in a thousand.

We recommend you pick up your copy of the Daily News at a local newsstand, or subscribe on the Daily News web site.

 

News roundup: No working smoke detectors in Byron apartment that burned

By Philip Anselmo

Check out WBTA for these and other stories:

• No working smoke detectors were found in the apartment complex in Byron that burned down Monday, according to the Genesee County Sheriff's Office. A family four died in the fire that looks to have started in their kitchen, possible near the stove.

• Smoked "Kuta Fish" and "Boney Fish" purchased from the African Caribbean Market on North Clinton may be tainted with botulism, according to the Department of Agriculture and Markets. No problems have yet been reported, but the fish should be thrown out.

• Local law enforcement will be holding a child safety seat inspection between 10:00am and 2:00pm — WBTA reports the date of the event as "next Saturday," which we assume to mean two days from now.

IRS placed a lien on a City Hall bank account

By Philip Anselmo

From WBTA earlier this afternoon (following reports that the City Council "hastily" met in an executive session this morning to deal with a "personnel issue"):

The Internal Revenue Service placed a lien on a Batavia City Hall bank account due to an error in a payroll tax report. The error, which occurred in the second quarter of last year, was recently discovered by city hall management and has now been corrected.

City Manager Jason Molino told WBTA that Deputy Director of Finance Shelly D'Alba "is no longer emplyed by the city," though there was no indication of whether D'Alba was fired or resigned his position. Also, though D'Alba was in charge of filing the payroll tax reports, Molino cautioned that "it would be wrong to link D'Alba's departure from City Hall to the payroll tax reporting error," writes Dan Fischer. The result of the lien was "human error," according to Molino, indicating that there were no criminal acts.

Get the full story at WBTA, plus an audio file of City Manager Jason Molino explaining the situation.

News roundup: "Secret" meetings at City Hall?

By Philip Anselmo

Check out WBTA for these and other stories:

• Dan Fischer writes:

"Personnel problems continue to plague Batavia City Hall. The city council held a hasty secret meeting this morning to deal with, "a personnel matter," City Manager Jason Molino said today. He declined further comment.

The executive session was called for last night and took place at 7 this morning. Just barely within the required time frame. The meeting lasted a little less than an hour.

In the last six months, three key city hall department heads have either quit or retired."

• School budgets in every Genesee County district were approved yesterday. Elba had the closest vote (144 to 109).

• Investigation into the Byron blaze that claimed the lives of four family members continues. The apartment building where the fire broke out has been demolished, and a "makeshift memorial" has been erected by the roadside.

News roundup: Family confirmed dead in Byron blaze

By Philip Anselmo

Check out WBTA for these and other stories:

• Investigation into the fire that killed four at a Byron apartment complex Monday continues today. Fifty-one-year-old Sherri Reis is confirmed dead, along with her three children: Timothy Reis, 17; Emily Reis, 19; and Virginia Reis, 21.

• Polls are open at Batavia city schools from noon to 9:00pm today for the school budget and school board votes.

News roundup: Byron blaze claims at least one life

By Philip Anselmo

Check out WBTA for these and other stories:

• Batavia, Bergen, Elba and LeRoy fire crews backed up Byron in a blaze at an apartment complex at 6964 Town Line Road in Byron this morning. At least one person is confirmed dead, and at least three others were reported trapped in the building that could not initially be accessed by fire personnel. No cause has yet been determined.

UPDATE: Byron Fire Chief John Durand confirmed that four people died in the blaze: possibly a mother, her teenage son and two college-aged daughters. Names were not released, pending identification by the Monroe County Medical Examiner.

• Meanwhile, the Batavia Fire Department was called to the Terry Hills Country Club restaurant on Clinton Street Road for report of a fire in the kitchen. Fire crews found that food left over in the oven had produced some smoke, and the restaurant was ventilated.

News roundup: Searching for chiefs

By Philip Anselmo

Check out WBTA for these and other stories:

• After ten interviews over the phone, four candidates for the position of city police chief will come in for personal interviews with City Manager Jason Molino, who told WBTA that he hoped to have the position filled within the next month. Meanwhile, an ad was posted this week for a new fire chief.

• "A Batavia couple has separate cells in county jail this morning," says Dan Fischer. Police say that 22-year-old Ryan Krupp took prescription drugs from his girlfriend's apartment.  She didn't like that he was arrested and got belligerent with police. Now, she's in jail, too. No mention of the charges.

News roundup: New airport hangar

By Philip Anselmo

Check out WBTA for this and other stories:

• A new hangar will go up at the Genesee County Airport, and it will cost some $695,000. The county legislature approved the contracts to two Rochester firms and another from Fishers. A state grant will cover $300,000. The hangar will have ten bays that the county will rent out for between $280 and $350 per month.

News roundup: Construction at the Medical Center

By Philip Anselmo

Check out WBTA for these and other stories:

• The United Memorial Medical Center could face a tough road ahead in getting its construction projects financed. "Organized labor," writes Dan Fischer, is blocking the state legislature's renewal of a law that allows non-profits to borrow from Industrial Development Agencies at low finance rates. The unions insist that the law include a provision that says projects funded through IDA financing must pay "prevailing union wages," which could put costs too high to manage. (This seems like a complex story. I would like to find out more about it. Such as: How can the labor unions block the law? And why wouldn't IDA-funded projects already be required to pay prevailing union wages?) UPDATE: Found more information here at the Buffalo News.

• A deck of playing cards illustrating 52 (unsolved) homicides and missing persons cases from around the state will be issued to prisoners across the state, including those at Genesee County Jail. Inmates may call a toll free number printed on the card if they have information.

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

News roundup: Promoting the home team

By Philip Anselmo

Check out WBTA for this and more stories:

• Muckdogs General Manager Dave Wellenzohn will stand atop a lift above the entrance to Dwyer Stadium starting this Friday morning and through to the premiere of his radio show — I presume on WBTA — at 8:15am Saturday morning. All in the name of promoting the team.

Monday morning news roundup

By Philip Anselmo

Check out WBTA for this and other stories:

• A 19-year-old Harvester Avenue resident was charged with menacing, city police said. Officers were responding to a report of an underage drinking party when the young man allegedly answered the door with a knife in his hand.

Friday morning news roundup

By Philip Anselmo

Check out WBTA for this and other stories:

• More than a few state grants have been awarded to Genesee County recently, including: $93,000 for the town and city to take a look at consolidating services, $250,000 to help with the law enforcement dispatch consolidation already underway and another $150,000 that will go to the city for sidewalk improvements.

Thursday morning news roundup

By Philip Anselmo

Check out WBTA for this and other stories:

• Iraq war veteran Mathew Hebell, 22, received full military honors at his funeral services held yesterday in Batavia. Hebell died recently after his car crashed into a pole on Richmond Avenue.

Tuesday morning news roundup

By Philip Anselmo

Check out WBTA for these and other stories:

• A Batavia man was charged with criminal trespass, criminal mischief and endangering the welfare of a child this morning. A resident of Columbia Avenue told police that the man refused to leave her home.

• Seventy-five sheep have gone missing from a Wyoming County pasture in the town of Arcade.

• Residents within the city of Batavia School District can vote on the Richmond Memorial Library budget today from noon to 9:00pm. The total budget is about $1.15 million — some $40,000 more than last year, or an additional $5 for a $100,000 home. Tracy Stokes is running unopposed for the only open seat on the library's board of directors.

• Speaking of budgets and what the public thinks of them — the Batavia City School District will hold a budget hearing at 7:00pm at Jackson School on South Jackson Street tonight.

Monday morning news roundup

By Philip Anselmo

Check out WBTA for these and other stories:

• Two Batvia men are in jail on charges of criminal trespass following separate incidents. Witnesses told police that Gregory Seppe, 49, was rummaging through a garage on East Avenue. Thomas Culver, 29, was arrested following an investigation into the unlawful entering of a home on State Street in April.

• The Charter Review Committee for the city of Batavia will meet tonight at 6:30pm in the Council Work Room of City Hall.

Friday morning news roundup

By Philip Anselmo

Check out WBTA for these and other stories:

• City police officer Ed Mileham was among four area lawmen from Genesee County honored at the Law Day Law Enforcement Awards, sponsored by the Batavia Kiwanis Club and the Genesee County Bar Association.

• A United Auto Workers strike in Detroit could have major repercussions in Western New York as a potential "solution" could mean closing an American Axle forge plant in Tonawanda. An article from the Associated Press on the happenings can be found here. It does not say how many workers would lose their jobs. Are there any Batavians who work at that plant? What do you think of this possible outcome? More of the same? Terrible and unexpected?

• Michael Merrill has been named interim Medical Director at United Memorial Medical Center. He "takes over for Louis Green, who died unexpectedly earlier this year."

Thursday morning news roundup

By Philip Anselmo

Check out WBTA for these and other news stories:

• Assemblyman Stephen Hawley announced his bid for re-election to represent the 139th District in the state Assembly.

• Batavia will receive nearly $400,000 in state grant funds. About $150,000 will be used to build a booking facility at the Genesee County Jail that would be shared by both county and city forces. Another $150,000 is slated for sidewalk improvements. And about $90,000 will cover the cost of a new ambulance for the city.

Wednesday morning news roundup

By Philip Anselmo

Check out WBTA for this and other news stories:

• A Bank Street resident was charged with identity theft for allegedly using someone else's name to purchase cellphone service.

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