batavia

(Jennifer Ray, left, and Cathryn Colby)

U.S. Jaycees President Jennifer Ray visited Genesee County this past week and attended meetings with local officials. The organization is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Ray is a civil engineer from “a little bit of everywhere,” but currently calls Baltimore her home. She says she moved to Maryland for a job after graduating from college and she only knew one person in the area. That person encouraged her to join the Jaycees and after two years of coaxing, she decided to become a member. That was in 2001. It was through the Jaycees that she met her husband, became connected to the community, and the reason she now lives in Baltimore.

The Jaycees provide an opportunity to be part of a global network and do projects that make an impact and to then raise awareness through social media, she said.

Dating back to 1915, the Jaycees was started by Colonel H.N. Micgran, a prominent citizen from St. Louis who approached Henry Geissenbier, who was the leader of the Herculaneum Dance Club, and asked they become involved in civic issues. Geissenbier and his young men friends formed the young men’s progressive association (YMPCA), which then became the Junior Citizens, called the JC’s … thus, the name “Jaycees.” The whole concept started in St. Louis but grew from there.

The Jaycees were originally an all men’s club that had a woman’s auxiliary and in 1984, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of allowing females as members. This decision prompted other organizations to allow women in as members. With Ray serving as the national president, and Cathy Colby as the New York State President for the Jaycees, it's obvious females not only joined the ranks, but have taken on leadership roles.

The Jaycees have more than 200,000 members and are always looking for civic-minded people from the ages of 18-41 to join the various chapters. Each one seeks solutions to local problems to create a "sustainable global impact." In meeting with local representatives, Ray addressed problems regarding local socioeconomic issues, citing the number of students eligible for free and reduced lunches. By meeting with different chapters, the Jaycees can share community and global resources to hopefully find solutions to an issue such as this.

On a global level, the Jaycees have assisted with numerous projects and in June, they have a National Summit in Washington, D.C., which brings together the Jaycees and various organizations to discuss national and global issues. Then they write resolutions and meet with legislators on Capitol Hill before returning to their local chapters to look at opportunities and ways to resolve issues. Ray mentioned the “Nothingbutnets” Project, which supports President Obama’s Malaria Initiative, and provides insecticide laced bed nets that prevent malaria in African countries. This is one of the many global projects the Jaycees work on. For more information on these projects, go to www.jci.cc

New York State Jaycees President Colby can be contacted at 716-474-3343 for anyone interested in learning more about the Jaycees and how to get involved in the local chapter. Her mantra is “choose your tomorrow” – encouraging the youth in the community to get out and make a difference in their communities.

President Ray said “young people are the movers and shakers. ... it is important to become active in the community by not only identifying problems, but acting on them… and that is what we do."

Three 17-year-olds and Samuel M. Smith, 18, of Rochester, are charged with criminal trespass, 3rd. One 17-year-old is also charged with possession of burglary tools. Smith is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. The four teens were allegedly caught trying to break into the Jell-O Factory on North Street. They were discovered after village police investigated a complaint of people with flashlights in the area.

Kamalpreet Sembhi, 24, of Bergen, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, unlawful possession of marijuana and crossing a road hazard marking. Sembhi was stopped by State Police on Oatka Trail, Le Roy. A trooper allegedly detected a strong odor of marijuana from the vehicle. Upon investigation, the trooper allegedly found a plastic baggie containing 2.4 grams of marijuana and a glassine bag containing 0.1 grams of cocaine and one blue metal pipe containing cocaine residue. 

Annette M. Mazur, 54, of Harvester Avenue, Batavia, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, failure to use designated lane and refusal of breath screening test. Mazur was stopped at 1:56 a.m. on West Main Street, Batavia, by Deputy Jason Saile.

Deavin L. Herman, 20, of Ridge Road, Gaines, was arrested on a warrant. The underlying charge of the warrant was not released. Herman was jailed on $2,500 bail.

Dylan J. Perry, 23, of Olyn Avenue, Batavia, is charged with grand larceny, 4th, and possession of a forged instrument. Perry allegedly stole a check, forged it and cashed it. He also allegedly stole several pieces of jewelry and pawned them. Perry was jailed on no bail.

Matthew D. Derrick, 30, of Bank Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt, 1st. Derrick allegedly threatened another individual. He allegedly has a prior criminal of contempt conviction.

Robert S. Flad, 47, of Center Road, Kendal, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and failure to use designated lane. Flad was stopped at 12:28 p.m. May 8 on West Main Street, Batavia, by Officer Darryle Streeter.

Andrew M. Budlong, 19, of North Spruce Street, Batavia, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, failure to keep right and failure to use turn signal. Budlong was stopped at 2:16 a.m. Sunday on Ross Street, Batavia, by Officer Mitchell Cowen.

Molly Ann Chatley, 18, of West Main Street Road, Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt, 1st, criminal obstruction of breathing and petit larceny. Chatley allegedly applied pressure to another woman's neck. She allegedly violated an order of protection. She allegedly stole $150 from the victim. She was jailed on $1,000 bail.

Lori Doeringer is the chairperson of the GO ART! Appraisal Fair, which is this Saturday, with her own interest in getting a couple of items appraised by one of the eight experts who will be on hand to provide those who bring antiques and items of value that need appraised to the fair.

The fair will be held at Seymour Place, 201 E. Main St., Batavia, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Appointments are encouraged. Call (585) 343-9313.

The event is a fundraiser for GO ART! The first item is $20 and a second item is $10. GO ART! members can get a third item appraised for free.

Yasses Construction did some work this morning repaving a portion of the Valu Plaza parking lot -- the section right in front of El Burrito Loco and Deep Blue Pool and Spa.

Earlier today, antenna maintenance taking place at County Building #2 on West Main Street Road, Batavia.

This morning, scores of local residents gathered at Dwyer Stadium before fanning out around the community to provide volunteer labor to several organizations for spring cleanup and restoration projects as part of the 2015 United Way Day of Caring. We have pictures from the YMCA, Centennial Park, Peace Garden and Genesee ARC.

Bottom photo of the group at Dwyer is a submitted photo.

The Police Facilities Committee has narrowed the possible locations it might recommend for a new Batavia PD headquarters to three locations:

• Alva Place and Bank Street, in the parking lot at that location;
• Swan Street, at the site of the now demolished Wiard Plow factory building;
• Jackson Street, the current location of the Salvation Army.

Committee members pretty much arrived at the three locations through a process of elimination and largely by consensus. Using a spreadsheet that allowed them to rank each location based on a number of factors, including cost, potential configuration, proximity to the center of the city, and other criteria, these sites scored the highest.

The lowest-scoring locations were the two options for remodeling the current headquarters -- the Brisbane Mansion -- and a co-location of sorts with the Sheriff's Office on Park Road.

The committee will visit each of the remaining sites under consideration May 28, re-score them and then meet again at a later date to hopefully hash out an agreed-upon recommendation for City Council.

Each potential site, committee members acknowledged, has its pluses and minuses.

"There's really no ideal spot," said Jim Jacobs.

Still, the committee will try to come up with one single recommendation for City Council to consider. Committee members agreed that it was their job to present one location as its recommendation, with its rationale in a report, and let the council decide yes or no on that recommendation, rather than bog down a council debate with two or three recommendations.

Both the Alva Place location and Swan Street were not part of the original seven alternatives presented to the committee, but emerged as potential sites through the process of the committee's discussions and review of the geography and topography of the city.

There are committee members with strong feelings about each location, and each has at least one member with strong feelings about its lack of suitability.

Alva Place: Committee members love it for its high visibility downtown, central location to downtown and addition of density to downtown. It's also the lowest cost option, coming in at at least $800,000 less than the Salvation Army location. The location's critics are concerned about traffic congestion on Bank Street and at Main and Bank, the loss of parking in the area and potential conflicts with pedestrian traffic going to and from the YMCA and Senior Center.

Chief Shawn Heubusch was among those expressing concern about traffic congestion. He is very concerned, he said, about the potential for patrols responding to calls getting hung up in traffic at Main and Bank. A committee member countered that typically patrols are not at the office when they are dispatched to calls, which Heubusch agreed with, but if they are responding from the office, traffic could be a problem, likewise in big incidents when patrols and detectives are all rolling from the office.

Marc Staley is particularly concerned about losing parking and the impact that could have on the movie theaters, JCPenney and the doctors' offices on Washington Avenue.

"We could end up with a bunch of vacant buildings on Washington," Staley said. "We don't want to poke JCPenney in the nose and have them go out to where Radio Shack is or leave the city. I don't think we want to be pennywise and pound foolish."

Ashley Bateman initially scored Alva Place high, but after listening to the discussion, expressed some reservations.

"I don't think Alva is really functional as much as I would like to see something there," Bateman said.

Pete Garlock stuck to his guns, however, insisting it's the most suitable location citing its centralness to the city, ease of access, high visibility and lower cost.

Swan Street: There wasn't as much discussion about Swan Street. Everybody kind of likes the location, except it would have much less public visibility. It would be reasonably accessible to Main and Ellicott streets and cost less than Jackson Street. The property is privately owned and would need to be acquired. The property would come off the tax roles, but it only generates less than $2,000 a year in municipal tax now. A police station in that location might also help spur other economic development activity in the neighborhood.

Jackson Street: The main concern is cost. The property is in the floodplain and mitigating that fact drives up the cost. It's also property that while owned by a tax-exempt nonprofit would still need to be purchased.

Garlock expressed concern about kicking a good organization out of its location, but McGinnis argued that the Salvation Army Thrift Store is struggling in that location in part because of the age and condition of the building, its size and the addition of new competition from Goodwill and Volunteers of America.

"That would be my number-one location if not for the floodplain," Staley said.

With this post, we catch up with a couple of sports-related submissions that we hadn't gotten to yet.

Above, the Batavia JV softball team after its victory in the Pembroke JV softball tournament. The team beat Notre Dame 8-4 and Pembroke 10-6.

The team: Liz Piedmont, Emma Dunn, Nataleigh Rivera Ellis, Alexis Merriam, Maiya Reinhart, Gabz Havens, Assistant Coach Rick Smith, Stephanie Hoy, Courtney Biegasiewicz, Cheyenne Richardson, Shelby Weis, Katie Ange, Coach Jim Fazio, and Stephanie Shultz. Also on the team are Jasmine Barber and Nashalie Vasquez-Vega.

Submitted by Jim Fazio.

Earlier this week, Jeff Redband advanced to the boys varsity tennis state qualifier tournament in singles for the fourth consecutive year by finishing third in the Class B sectionals. Also Samir Jain and Jon McMaster (not pictured) advanced by finishing third in the doubles tournament.

Submitted by Scott Lawniczak.

Oliver's Candies is more than a Batavia landmark, it is a destination for many on the holidays. It is a cherished tradition. The business has grown quite a bit since 1932 and the sign that had served the store for about 65 years was retired today. Don’t panic! The old sign will be placed into storage and preserved.

The new sign is chocolate brown and matches the motif of the Swiss chalet that was formed around the wood-framed house that was the original store. The sign will be wired and turned on Wednesday. 

Jeremy Liles, VP of Oliver’s, stands next to the new sign.

A three-car collision with injuries is reported at Pearl Street Road (Route 33) and River Street. City Engine 11 is on scene and Mercy medics are responding.

Press release:

John Borrelli, Board of Trustees president, announced that Mr. Wade Bianco has been named the new principal of Notre Dame High School of Batavia effective July 1, 2015. After an extensive search process that included several committees of highly respected faculty, administration, staff, students, parents, board members and community members; three rounds of highly qualified candidate interviews, Mr. Wade Bianco emerged as the overwhelming choice to lead Notre Dame High School.

“We are excited to welcome Wade to our administrative team. His experience in education is extensive and includes instructional leadership at the high school level. He comes with a wealth of knowledge not only in academics, but also in co-curricular activities and athletics,” Borrelli stated. “Wade is a creative and effective communicator and listener and is a very insightful and knowledgeable leader. His high expectations and genuine caring for students, staff, and families will serve the Notre Dame community well,” added Borrelli.

Mr. Bianco demonstrated the attributes the Notre Dame High School family sought for its Catholic co-educational school including outstanding leadership abilities with a dedication to the concept and practice of positive school culture and core values. His understanding of the value parents as partners bring to the educational experience, expertise as an instructional leader and deep understanding of the current standards and assessment processes made him the clear choice for the position.

Wade is replacing long-time, beloved Principal Dr. Joe Scanlan, who is retiring at the end of this school year after 43 years in education, which includes 15 years at Byron-Bergen, 17 years at York and the last 11 years serving at his alma mater as principal of Notre Dame High School.

Opportunities for faculty, staff, parents and members of the community to meet and welcome Mr. Wade Bianco to the Notre Dame family will be announced in the near future. 

CrossFit is more than just an effective way to workout and get in shape. It is a way of living life to be your best. This includes training your body mentally and physically, as well as eating appropriately to sustain an active lifestyle. The founder of CrossFit, Greg Glassman, used this definition to define CrossFit: “CrossFit is an effective fitness program consisting of constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity."

So, what is CrossFit? It is a combination of a few components:
Functional Movements: This includes any type of human movement you may see in everyday life such as squatting, running, jumping, lifting/carrying objects, climbing, throwing, etc. These types and patterns of movements have been ingrained in our DNA as human beings and are often neglected in todayʼs society. In life and in sport the body must work together as a unit to complete a task. In CrossFit, we use compound functional movements to train our body to work together as a whole to better ourselves in sport and in lifeʼs tasks.
Constant Variation: In CrossFit, our specialty is not specializing. We strive to be competent in any possible task or challenge that could come our way. Each day, every workout is different and will challenge you in a different aspect of fitness. Workouts can range from ­5-50 minutes and will vary in movements, loads, rep schemes, etc. The only purpose for doing the same workout twice is to track progress over time.
High Intensity: Intensity, of course, is relative to ones fitness level, but everyone can benefit from it. Simply put: Intensity = Power output during a workout. Power output can be measured by: (Force x Distance)/Time. The more power output you can develop during a workout, the more fit you can become.

Who Is CrossFit For? 
The best part about CrossFit is that it is designed to be universally scaleable. This makes CrossFit the perfect fitness program for any committed individual regardless of experience. We scale load and intensity; we donʼt change programs. The needs of Olympic athletes and our grandparents differ by degree not kind. Every person needs some sort of physical capacity, whether it be to compete in sports, to serve and protect, or to carry groceries into the house. Our soldiers, skiers, mountain bike riders and housewives have found their best fitness from the same regimen. 

Still skeptical? Well don’t knock it till you try it, at CrossFit Silver Fox we offer two Free Foundations Classes. They are on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 p.m. and it is a requirement to attend both classes before you sign up for regular classes. For those of you who are curious and would like to know the movements we cover in foundations here is a layout of the two days.

Movements: Day 1:

• Air Squat (Body weight Squat)
• Push­up
• Burpees
• Sit­ups
• Kettlebell Swings
• Sumo Deadlift High Pull
• Box Jumps
• Press (Military Press)
• Push Press
• Workout with some of the movements we covered

Day 2: 

• Deadlift
• Overhead Squat
• Snatch
• Front Squat
• Clean
• Wall Ball
• Toes 2 Ball
• Pull­-ups
• Workout with some of the movements we covered

Website: CrossFitSilverFox.com • Like us on Facebook • Contact Info: E-mail: CrossFitSilverFox@Gmail.com • Phone: 585­-813­-9281 
Video URL: https://youtu.be/mlVrkiCoKkg 

The city's effort to come up with a strategy for dealing with stray cats, aka, "community cats," will now move to a committee phase with the inclusion of representatives from county government.

Assistant City Manager Gretchen Difante told Council on Monday night that she's met with County Manager Jay Gsell, which led to a meeting with Public Health Director Paul Pettit, who agreed to assign a staff member to the committee. The committee will also include a representative of the Animal Shelter.

Difante said the committee is nearly in place, but she's still trying to find a local veterinarian to serve on the committee.

The job of the committee will be to review all the research, explore what's going on in the community now related to feral and stray cats, and come up with a comprehensive plan for how to deal with the issue.

People care passionately about the issue, Difante said, and she and others in the city have gotten a tremendous amount of feedback from local residents since she first presented potential solutions to the problem in March. The range of suggestions from residents include doing nothing up to poisoning them all.

Difante's original presentation included three members of a pro bono legal team out of Buffalo that specializes in this matter and a lengthy written report detailing the pros and cons of every potential option for dealing with stray cats with the recommendation that communities follow a practice known as TNVR (Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate and Return).

That program, since first proposed, has generated some opposition, including from some on Council.

Councilman Eugene Jankowski expressed some interest in alternatives including getting captured cats adopted or euthanized. 

But TNVR doesn't exclude those options, Difante said. 

"There's a lot of pieces of TVNR that we're not talking about," Difante said. "It's a very comprehensive piece."

Part of the job of the committee will be to explore ways to bring into the process those people in the community, either as inviduals or as part of groups, who are already dealing with stray cats, either through their own mini-TVNR effort or simply by feeding and sheltering stray cats.

"People who take care of feral cats, of community cats, are not likely to stop, no matter what you do, so best practice TVNR says make those people part of the solution; bring them in, give them training," Difante said.

After the meeting, Difante said she thinks the committee approach is the next best step.

"When we're all on the same page and putting all of our effort into targeting them in one approach and we're all bought into that, we're going to have a lot more positive impact that we could ever have when we're scattered," Difante said.

While a great deal of fact-based research backing TNVR has been presented to Council, the committee will present an opportunity for a more local approach.

"It was a solid research piece, but getting people involved in the community in the research is what Council needs to hear," Difante said.

The inclusion of the county, the wider geographic area, is going help the city secure grants to fund any sort of TVNR program, Difante said.

"I believe that if we don't try to have this be a citizen, community effort and explore every opportunity to be able to work with existing nonprofits who can help us with access to grants, then we're doing a disservice," Difante said. "That's where we need to start because trying to figure out how to get money from taxpayers to fund this is not the way to start."

Since this is an issue a lot of people are passionate about, whatever the final determination is, there will be detractors, Difante said.

"We need to acknowledge the fact that we're not going to please everybody," Difante said. "There's no way we're going to come up with something where everybody is going to be happy about. We have to decide what we're going to do and then march towards that."

Residents of Vernon Avenue are organizing opposition to a proposed new Arby's Restaurant on West Main Street, at the end of Vernon.

In a petition presented to City Council Monday night, residents say the proposed development -- which would replace three existing residential buildings -- would create more noise, result in 24-hour lighting, destroy trees, increase traffic congestion at the intersection and on Vernon, and decrease property values.

Residents David Steele and John McCauley spoke up during public comments at Monday's meeting and Steele presented the Council with a petition signed by almost every resident of Vernon Avenue (City Manager Jason Molino lives there but didn't sign it, Steele said, citing a conflict of interest).

"Many residents, especially those at the southern end of Vernon Avenue, have said if this development goes through as presented to the Planning and Development Committee, they will list their homes for sale," Steele said. If many residents do that, there will be a housing glut on that street with supply and demand decreasing property values."

McCauley (top photo) said he purchased his home about a year ago, moving here with his wife from Buffalo, expecting to live on a quiet street. If the Arby's is built, he said, then he'd likely move.

"We were sad to hear that (an Arby's was going in)," McCauley said. "If they were going to do something like that, it would probably force us to put our house up for sale."

The proposed development will be on Thursday's agenda for the County Planning Board and at a future meeting of the city's Planning and Development Committee. Steele said residents plan to be at both of those meetings.

The planning committee operates independently and the Council has no real input on what development gets approved or denied.

The man on Jackson Street who was the center of local law enforcement attention for four hours Sunday afternoon has been charged with two counts of second-degree harassment and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Glenn H. Quintern, 56, of 102 Jackson St., rear upper apt., is being held on $20,000 bail or $40,000 bond.

Quintern allegedly threatened to shoot children who were playing near his apartment.

Batavia PD responded to the complaint and tried to talk Quintern out of the apartment. Because it couldn't be determined whether he actually had a weapon and the level of threat he posed, backup patrols, including deputies and troopers, were called in and eventually the Emergency Response Team was deployed.

Following a 40-minute negotiation with police, using a phone that had been tossed into the apartment, Quintern surrendered and was taken into custody without further incident.

A subsequent search of his apartment did not turn up a weapon.

Additional charges are possible, according to police.

Also assisting at the scene were the Office of Emergency Management and Batavia FD.

Chad A. Allen, 36, of Oak Street, Batavia, is charged with burglary, 2nd, and criminal mischief, 3rd. Batavia PD observed Allen allegedly inside a vacant residence on Oak Street, Batavia. He allegedly damaged copper pipe inside the residence. He was ordered held without bail.

A 17-year-old resident of Walnut Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal mischief, 3rd, and criminal contempt, 1st. The youth is accused of causing more than $250 in damage to the property of another person. That person was also the subject of a protective order. The youth was jailed without bail. Name withheld by Batavia PD.

Robert M. Freeman, 23, of Pearl Street, Batavia, was arrested on warrants related to several charges and for alleged failure to abide by terms of a drug treatment program. Freeman's charges include forgery, 2nd, and two counts each of criminal contempt, 2nd, and petit larceny. Freeman was located during a traffic stop on West Main Street, Batavia. He was order held without bail.

Matthew S. Williams, 27, of Ellicott Street, Batavia, is charged with aggravated unlicensed operation and uninspected motor vehicle. Williams was stopped at 11:29 a.m. Thursday on Ellicott Street by Officer Frank Klimjack for allegedly operating an uninspected motor vehicle. A license check revealed an alleged five previous license suspensions. Williams was jailed on $1,000 bail.

Samual R. Smith, 28, of Columbia Avenue, Batavia, was arrested on a warrant for alleged failure to appear on an overnight parking ticket. The ticket was issued in March 2014. Smith posted $100 cash bail.

Ralph A. Golding III, 50, of Buell Street, Akron, was arrested on a warrant for alleged failure to appear on a petit larceny charge. Golding was arrested by Akron PD and turned over to Batavia PD. He was jailed on $2,500 bail or $5,000 bond.

Nicholas J. Elmore, 26, of Liberty Street, Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Elmore allegedly sent several threatening text messages to another person.

Dixie Lee Smith, 49, of Kriger Road, Attica, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, moving from lane unsafely and failure to keep right. Smith was involved in a property damage accident at 3:48 p.m. Sunday on Day Road, Alexander. The accident was investigated by Deputy Michael Lute.

Larry William Toal, 60, South Main Street Road, Batavia, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, reckless driving, speeding and driving left of pavement markings. Toal was allegedly operating a motorcycle on Route 5, Batavia, at 6:35 p.m. Sunday while intoxicated when stopped by Deputy Joseph Corona.

Aaron Paul Soloman, 38, of Liverpool Heights, Chili, is charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs, speeding and unlawful possession of marijuana. Soloman was stopped at 12:30 a.m., Sunday, on Lewiston Road, Batavia, by Sgt. Thomas Sanfratello.

Thomas Edward Murtagh, 57, of Parkview Drive, Bergen, is charged with driving while ability impaired by alcohol, refusal to take breath test and drinking in a motor vehicle. Murtagh was located in his vehicle parked on Townline Road, Alabama, at 10:30 p.m. Saturday by Deputy Michael Lute.

Tyler Austin Stoddard, 20, of Meiser Road, Alabama, is charged with aggravated harassment, 2nd. Stoddard is accused of continuing to contact and leave messages for another person that were harassing in nature to that person.

Ferguson. Los Angeles. Chicago. Cleveland. Brooklyn. Baltimore. The national media has reported several examples of aggressive police conduct in these cities in the past few months that ended in violence.

In those same months. Batavia PD has dealt with at least three incidents, including one today, that easily could have gotten bloody but ended quietly.

Chief Shawn Heubusch said it's by design.

"Our number-one goal is to resolve every situation we run into as peacefully as possible," Heubusch said. "We want to use as little force as possible."

Today's incident began with a report of a man at 102 Jackson threatening to shoot children in the head for causing a ruckus near his residence.

Police weren't certain he had a gun, but it was a distinct possibility, so they proceeded with caution -- calling in extra back-up, eventually deploying the Emergency Response Team and even positioning two State Police sharpshooters on the roof of the Salvation Army with a clear line of sight into the man's second-floor window.

They also interrupted the relaxing Mother's Day that Officer James DeFreze was enjoying with his family.

Defreze is a trained negotiator. ERT members tossed a special, wired phone into the man's apartment. DeFreze and the man talked.

"The broad procedure we try to follow is to build rapport and be empathetic and try to understand what people are going through," DeFreze said. "We try to get them to open up and then see what we can do to help them. They're really just looking for help."

The negotiation took 30 to 45 minutes, Defreze said. The entire time, police officers, troopers and deputies remained in positions with long guns trained at the suspect's second-story window.

In the end, no shots were fired. The man walked out of his apartment and surrendered to a police officer.

Officer Marc Lawrence said the investigation is ongoing, but charges likely against the suspect, whose name has not yet been released.

There were high fives among a couple of the officers, pats on the back for DeFreze and a crowded gathered at Central and Jackson applauded the effort by police to resolve the potentially deadly situation peacefully.

"I did hear them applauding," DeFreze said. "It was nice. At first it seemed like they weren't paying attention, having a little bit of fun over there, but it was nice that they appreciated us and our work in the end."

About a month ago, DeFreze and a deputy who is also trained in negotiation helped talk a woman into surrendering and in March, a knife-wielding man on Central Avenue came at officers and threatened them, but the officers involved were able to defuse the situation and take the man into custody without incident.

"Our number-one goal is to make sure everybody goes home safe, the suspect included," Heubusch said.

Some passersby yelled out suggestions for police, of the type that veered toward a more violent, quick-resolution response.  

"Let me have a gun," one man said. "I'll end this."

Others wanted to see tear gas lobbed into the building and ERT members swarm the apartment.

Unless it's a hostage situation, the best response is a slow, methodical approach, Heubusch said.  The suspect isn't going anywhere, is a minimal threat and can probably be talked out of any drastic actions.

"We would rather take the time to ensure that everybody involved is safe and avoid anything that could cause harm to anybody, including the suspect himself," Heubusch said. "There's nothing wrong with slowing it down."

Heubusch said a good rapport with the community helps officers take their time to resolve conflicts.

He said he can't speak for what goes on in other communities. Of course, he and his officers pay attention to news accounts of violent confrontations involving other police officers, but since he isn't involved and doesn't have all the facts, he doesn't want to compare what happens in Batavia with what happens elsewhere.

"We're constantly evaluating and constantly changing tactics as needed," Heubusch said. "Back in the '80s or '90s, for example, if the SWAT Team showed up for a call out, guess what, they were going in the door. We have new techniques now. If there's no danger, we've learned it's better to sit and wait."

Today's incident lasted more than four hours, but in the end, the patience of trained and skilled police officers proved the perfect response.

Officer James DeFreze on the right.

Batavia police have their weapons drawn and a house surrounded on Jackson Street by the Salvation Army and railroad tracks. Unknown situation. A caller earlier reported being downstairs and hearing doors slamming upstairs, although no one should be upstairs. The street is blocked off.

UPDATE 3:08 p.m.: The occupants who were downstairs are out of the building.

UPDATE 3:32 p.m.: Howard at the scene says a neighbor there told him that a man who lives in the two-story tan-colored house was bothered by children making noise and distrubing the peace and he threatened to shoot them if they didn't stop the ruckus.

UPDATE 5:09 p.m.: The county's Emergency Response Team now has the house surrounded.

UPDATE 6:18 p.m.: Statement from Batavia PD Officer Marc Lawrence: "This afternoon around 2:15 we got an initial report of a tenant upstairs threatening harm to his neighbors. Patrols responded to speak the male subject in his approximate 60s, white male; male would not answer the door for patrols. Patrols attempted communication. During the initial contact, patrols had reason to believe that the male may have access to weapsons. That at this point is unconfirmed. We are taking all precautionary measures at this time. Neighboring residents have been evacuated and officers have established a perimeter, attempting to make with subject. Emergency Response Team was notified and responded. We are being assisted by New York State Police, the Genesee County Sheriff's Office, and the Genesee County Emergency Management coordinating agency. We will be updating the situation as it progresses. At this point the incident is still under investigation. Charges will be filed as appropriate. We are urging all residents to stay inside and refrain from travelling the area as much as possible."

In response to a question from WTBA, Lawrence said the subject is known to police.

Howard asked if at some point authorities will take action, or will they just wait it out, and Officer Lawrence said: "We are looking to take action, but at this point if we can get in to have any communication, we will wait it out. We are trying to keep this as minimal as possible. We don't want anyone injured."

Lawrence said they did communicate with the man briefly. At one point, the SWAT team moved further away from the house. When asked why, Lawrence said it was because "they were looking to have a negotiator talk, but then all negotiations fell through and they moved that room back to a safe distance."

"...It is our expectation we are going to be here a little while. It could stop now; it could stop three hours from now."

He added that police believe he does have a gun, but they have not confirmed that.

UPDATE 7:04 p.m.: The suspect has been arrested.

UPDATE 7:05 p.m.: About 20 minutes prior to the arrest, a reverse 9-1-1 call went out to residents within at least a quarter-mile of the scene, telling them to shelter in place. The fire department was called in. Crowds which had gathered along Ellicott Street to watch the goings-on where told to move back. An object was seen being thrown up to a window, and Officer Marc Lawrence said that it was a portable phone.