Press release:
The City of Batavia Fire Department will be flushing fire hydrants on Wednesday Sept. 24 from approximately 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the general area north of East Main Street and east of Bank Street. Homes and businesses nearby will be affected. These tests may result in a temporary discoloration of water in that area. As in the past, please do not attempt to wash any clothing if your water appears discolored.
Over the weekend, firefighters from seven counties in New York, including departments in Genesee County, were in Le Roy for a training class on rescusing people from accidents involving large vehicles.
The Heavy Metal Extrication Class was organized by Tim Hogle, an assistant chief with the Le Roy Fire Department.
"As you can see from some of the scenarios, if something tips over, they're learning what they need to do and what they need to use to get people out of the cars," Hogle said.
On Friday, participants sat through a full day of classroom instruction. On Saturday and Sunday, they were on site at Ron Coniber's shop on Randall Road dealing with rescue situations involving tractor-trailers, box cars, dump trucks, tow trucks and buses.
Locally, firefighters from Stafford, Le Roy, Town of Batavia and City of Batavia participated. Other firefighters came from as far away as Ithaca and Watertown.
"With all the highways that come thorugh Genesee County, from the Thruway to Route 19 to the 490, all of them, we have a lot of commercial traffic coming through here and sooner or later we're going have an accident," Hogle said. "We're going to need to be able to work together throughout the county, using the resources each department has, for a rescue."
If this sort of thing interests you, become a volunteer firefighter. Visit ReadyGenesee.com.
Jane Read and Anne Marie Starowitz were at Holland Land Office Museum on Saturday morning setting up a new exhibition about the history of local shoemaker p.w. minor.
The grand opening of the display is Oct. 2.
Employees and retirees of p.w. minor are invited to a preview at 3 p.m. The public is invited to a ribbon cutting at 6:30 p.m.
Many of the items in the display were provided on loan from The new p.w. minor.
The Landmark Society of Genesee County gathered at GO ART! in Batavia on Saturday night to hand out its annual awards.
Winners:
Photos by Amanda Earl.
For the sixth consecutive year, Mike Richenberg won the ARC 5K in Elba on Saturday. He finished with a time of 19:06. Claire Skowronski, 12, finished the race in 22:08.
Richenberg overcame a nagging calf injury to notch the win.
Lindsey Coniber, 13, and Laura Neumann, 12 participated in the race.
A car vs. pole accident is reported on West Main Street, across from Tops Market.
Unknown injuries.
City fire and Mercy EMS responding.
UPDATE 6:48 p.m.: Photo submitted by Greg Rada. We've not heard any further transmissions related to this accident.
Johnny Bench was just a 19-year-old kid from a town of 600 people in Oklahoma when he arrived in Buffalo 47 years ago.
"I didn't venture much beyond the Kenmore District and North Tonawanda," Bench said during an interview Saturday at Batavia Downs when asked if this was his first visit to Batavia. "I was still trying to figure out who I was and who I was supposed to be."
His 98 games as a Buffalo Bison in 1967 helped answer some of those questions.
"I matured (in Buffalo)," Bench said. "I had older players I played with. They gave me a lot of guidance, worked with me, helped me along. It was a great stepping stone, more importantly for the Dom Zannis, the Jim Duffalos, the Steve Boroses, the Duke Carmels, the Frank Obregons and the Gordy Colemans, and there was Dick Stigman, a pitcher, too, and Rollie Sheldon. It was a maturation process. These guys had pitched before. I kept calling games and learning stuff and doing stuff and you had to get the most out them. I felt like I could paint the picture, but I had to pull it all out of them. That was the secret and the thing I learned the most and enjoyed the most here."
That list of former Bisons -- who, unless you were a Bisons' fan in 1967, you probably never heard of -- were all 30 years old or older. Bench was the youngest player on the team, and one of only six players who hadn't yet turned 23.
But through the years, Buffalo stayed with Johnny Bench. All those names, easily recalled. He turned a question about his legacy into remembrance of a time before he became rookie of the year, an MVP, won two home run crowns, 10 gold gloves and played on two world championship teams.
"We played at the old War Memorial Stadium, but then they had the riots," Bench said. "We had to go over to Niagara Falls and play on the old football field with the temporary snow fence. The yardage lines were still there on the infield."
Arguably -- and some of us would say it's beyond dispute -- Johnny Bench was the greatest catcher in baseball history.
We can talk about his 389 career home runs, his 1,376 RBI, his 3,644 total bases, as well as two home run titles and three RBI titles, but suggest he's best remembered as an offensive catcher and he's quick to rebuff the audacity of dwelling on how he swung a bat.
"The 10 gold gloves didn't hurt," says the man whom base runners feared and pitchers counted on to do a very basic thing time after time: catch the ball.
"That was my main job, getting a win for the pitcher," Bench said. "I took great pride in the fact that I wanted to get that pitcher a win and if we got a win for him, we got a win for the team. Individually, I could throw runners out, I could block the plate, I could get hits, I could call a great game, but calling a great game was the most important."
And it was guys in Buffalo, like Zanni, Duffalo, Obregon, Stigman and Sheldon, who taught him to call a great game.
Bench was in town for a memorabilia show at the Downs. So were Pete Rose, Tony Perez and George Foster, along with other sports stars.
It's worth noting, perhaps, that Bench, Rose, Perez, Foster, and the other stars were signing autographs for a fee. Bench and Rose commanded the highest price, especially on a jersey or bat, but they all got paid.
On the other side of the proverbial coin, of course, is that fact that as players, none of them were enriched the way today's stars are lavished with cash. Bench never earned as much as $500,000 in a season and Rose never made it to the million-dollar mark until his final year as a player-manager with the Reds.
So it's not surprising, perhaps, that these heros of so many youths so many years ago would travel to America's small towns, sit under bright lights on folding chairs at plastic tables and sign their names for fans and speculators for a fee.
While Bench was affable and at times chatty with patrons who came through his line about an hour after Rose had finished, Rose seemed detached from the parade of people pushing baseballs, bats, jerseys, baseball cards and 8x10s onto the table in front of him.
An assistant sternly rebuffed a fan who asked if Rose would pose for a picture. No, she said, but he could kneel in front of the table while somebody snapped a keepsake.
Rose didn't even look at the camera.
Rather than a smile, Rose wore the look of a man who seems beaten down by a decades-long wrestling match with the Lords of Baseball over his legacy.
In contrast, there sat a youthful, smiling Johnny Bench, with his Hall of Fame ring secure on his left hand, scanning the field and letting nothing go unnoticed.
"That's my jersey," he says to a woman with a camera standing off to the side waiting to snap a picture of a friend who will get an autograph.
As a man tries to get a picture of his friend with Bench as Bench signs a picture, Bench tells him to wait. "I'm not looking up," he says.
When the same photographer seems to move the camera before the shutter snaps, Bench says, "that one's not going to turn out," but the quick-release snapper has moved on without noticing.
Without being asked, he poses for another photographer with a bat at the ready.
When he meets a Batavia Muckdogs season ticket holder, he says as he signs, "I don't even know what a Muckdog's baseball hat looks like. I'd like to see one."
The 66-year-old Johnny Bench smiled and signed and kept chatting even in the face of a line dozens of people long. His massive hands -- hands that make grizzly bears stand up and take notice -- etched a beautiful cursive on whatever he was asked to sign.
Johnny Bench is always the team player.
"Winning an MVP award or rookie of the year, it's a fantastic honor, but there is nothing like the feeling though when I walked into the clubhouse after game seven of the '75 World Series and we were World Champions," Bench said. "That's when I knew what it was all about, because every player was a world champion. Every player, every owner, every sponsor, every equipment manager, and all the fans were world champions. That's when you can really share and realize the importance of what team sport is about."
Bench isn't without some pride over his individual accomplishments. When asked to sign a 1972 San Diego Padres game program with Nate Colbert on the cover, Bench smiled, "Old Nate," he said. "I hit five homers in the last week of the season to beat him for a home run title."
In 1972, Colbert had 38 dingers. Bench had 40.
To enjoy a career like Johnny Bench, that's one in a billion, but just getting the chance to go pro for today's young athlete is nearly impossible.
Bench, who went straight from high school to the Reds instructional league team at age 17 in 1965, said today's young athlete should take advantage of the wealth of college scholarship opportunities.
"When I played, only one in every 500,000 kids who played Little League baseball ever signed a contract," Bench said. "I don't know if they want to go up against the numbers, but the fact that there's so many scholarships out there available, I'll still push education every chance I get. Be a good student, study various things, find something you love and be prepared in case athletics doesn't work out."
If you do want to be an athlete, Bench said, work hard, practice, study the sport, prepare, understand the game. Watch the great ones to figure out what they do and how they do it.
"I think Ozzie Smith is a guy who taught kids how to play shortstop," Bench said. "I taught kids how to catch better."
Which brings us to Johnny Bench's final word of advice: Catch every ball.
"My theory in life is, 'catch every ball.' Somebody says, 'my kid wants to be a catcher, what do I tell him?' and I say, 'catch every ball.' If you learn to catch everything that comes your way, then people say, 'wow, you're a great catcher,' or 'you're a great shortstop,' or 'you're a great first baseman,' or 'you're a great businessman.' If they throw stuff at you and you have the answers, they're going to say, 'this guy really knows what he's doing.' People are going to rely on you and they're going to trust you and more things will come your way."
Pete Rose
Tony Perez
Lou Piniella
After the show, Pete Rose stopped at Larry's Steakhouse for dinner. Pictured with Sandy Mullen and Brenden Mullen. Photo submitted by Steve Mullen.
One team enters the game 2-0, the other is 0-2. Who do you think is going to win?
It's fair to say, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish upset the Elba/Byron-Bergen Lancers on Saturday with a 15-8 win at home.
The Irish struggled in the first two weeks of the season against Oakfield-Alabama and Alexander. It was looking like it might be a long season for Head Coach Rick Mancuso and his squad.
Meanwhile, the Lancers crushed Pembroke and Holley.
But as Elba's Mike Cintorino said after beating Holley last week, when it comes to matches between the Lancers and Notre Dame in any sport, you can throw the win-loss records out the window. These teams grapple no matter what the expectations.
Mancuso downplayed the rivalry after the win, however. A win is a win, and Notre Dame very much needed a win.
"This is more about us coming together as a team and playing the game and getting our first victory," Mancuso said. "That's really what it was about."
Mancuso credited a defense that held Elba/BB to 148 yards total offense, but what made the difference was an offense that showed it could move the ball effectively.
Take away a couple of turnovers and some mental error penalties and the final score might have been more lopsided than a victory just eked out.
The big difference, Mancuso said, was the offensive line.
"We've got a lot of young guys along the line," Mancuso said. "They may be juniors, but they don't have a lot of varsity experience. I really think they're starting to understand it. They're starting to click. They're working really, really hard. We saw it in practice this week. It started coming together. We're happy with where we're at, but we've got a lot of work to do."
Joe Zickl replaced and injured Connor Logsdon at QB and was six for 10 passing for 67 yards and a TD. Josh Johnson caught that TD pass (top photo) to give the Irish the lead in the third quarter.
Peter Daversa rushed for 84 yards and a TD on 15 carries.
Johnson had three receptions for 32 yards. Jack Sutherland carried the ball nine times for 33 yards.
For the Lancers, Garrett Chapell was 11 for 23 passing for 75 yards. Steele Truax rushed for 70 yards and a TD on 16 attempts. Mike Shanley had three catches for 23 yards and John Hochmuth gained 20 yards on three receptions.
Jack Sutherland had 10.5 tackles for Notre Dame. Johnson had six and Casey Midwick had five.
Hunter Taylor and Truax each had five tackles for the Lancers. Taylor also had a sack.
Someday, your sons are going to be all grown up and you're going to wish you had some quality photos of them on the gridiron. To purchase prints, click here. Proceeds help improve The Batavian's photography.
A person is reportedly trapped in a hay baler at 10850 Alexander Road. Alexander fire and Mercy medics are responding.
UPDATE 10:45 p.m.: A farm worker died in this accident. According to investigators at the scene a farmer and his crew were using a tractor with an attached hay baler and they noticed the baler was not releasing. The farmer and workers attempted to correct the problem and a male became caught in the baler as they were attempting to fix it. It was a newer model baler, investigators said. The accident remains under investigation by the Sheriff's Office and more information is expected to be released later. (Report courtesy Alecia Kaus/Video News Service).
UPDATE 3:36 a.m.: The victim is identified as Scott R. Booth Jr., 23, of 34 Market St., Attica.
Press release:
Community Action of Orleans & Genesee will hold a free "Poverty Simulation" the afternoon of Friday, Oct. 3 at the Batavia First United Methodist Church, located at 8221 Lewiston Road (Route 63) in Batavia. It will take place from 1 to 3:30 p.m.
Space is limited. Please RSVP by Wednesday, Sept. 24, by contacting Nathan Varland, director of Housing and Support Services at 589-5605 or e-mail: nvarland@caoginc.org
Citizens, decision makers and leaders are urged to attend.
(This is a separate event from the organization's Poverty Awareness Dinner at Batavia Downs, also on Oct. 3, in the evening.)
How would you face a month in poverty? Could you survive?
Well over 44 million Americans, 15 million of whom are children under the age of 18, live in poverty every day. In Genesee and Orleans counties alone, more than 12,700 people (including more than 4,000 children) live below the poverty line.
There are many more who have incomes above the poverty line, but their incomes are still low enough to qualify for programs like Food Stamps and Medicaid. Since the economic downturn, full-time employment is harder to find and the use of emergency food pantries has increased.
It is difficult for those of us who have enough to truly understand the situations that families living in poverty experience every day – the decisions they have to make, and the fears and frustrations they feel.
We are eager to enhance our community conversation about poverty as we begin our 50th year. We are inviting you to "walk a mile" in the shoes of those facing poverty by participating in a Community Action Poverty Simulation.
The Simulation provides participants with the opportunity to assume the role of a low-income family member living on a limited budget. The experience is divided into four 15-minute sessions, each representing one week in which you must provide for your family and maintain your home.
As one participant commented, "This poverty simulation dramatically demonstrates how much time and energy many families have to give just to survive from day to day. It quickly dispels the myth that people would do fine if they would only go out and get a job!"
Community Action of Orleans & Genesee invites the public to a Poverty Awareness Event to mark its 50th year of community service. It will be held Friday evening, Oct. 3, at Batavia Downs.
Reservations are requested by Sept. 24.
There will be a reception, cash bar and basket raffle beginning at 5 p.m., with dinner at 6 featuring chicken, pulled pork and more. Then at 7 there will be a presentation about Community Action's impact on helping people and changing lives, including stories about living in poverty.
At 8 p.m., it's Community Action at the Races!
Tickets are $25 each. (If you can't attend, please consider making a donation.)
If paying with a check, make it out to Community Action of Orleans & Genesee. MasterCard, Visa, or Discover can also be used.
***If paying by credit card, you may RSVP by e-mail: info@caoginc.org
Or by phoning 589-5605.
Press release:
Drum and bugle corps legends come together to perform and hear their very own Kenny Peterson starting at 7 p.m. on Saturday Sept. 27 at The City Church.
The Musical Memories show will feature some of the most exciting performers and performances that you are ever going to experience. These musical greats along with their supporting cast of more than 100 musicians are here to entertain you and your families, and hear the legendary Kenny “Ace” Peterson himself.
The show is being held to raise money for Crossroads House, a comfort home for the
terminally ill.
Tickets are $5 for general admission and $10 for preferred seating.
Performing will be:
Kenny Peterson -- St. Joe’s of Batavia Brass Ensemble
David Martin — Rochester Hitmen
Steve Cooley -- Hamburg Kingsmen Drum & Bugle Corps
Jeff Gibbens & Prime Time Brass
*** Very Special Guest Appearance by Joey Pero, an original member of Genesee Quest and Batavia High grad now home preparing for his New York City Broadway show.
"His toe is trapped in a bicycle chain," says a dispatcher about a call for aid. City fire and Mercy medics are responding.
Smoke is reported in the basement at 2462 Pratt Road. It smells as if something electrical is burning. Pembroke Fire Department is responding.
Attica 21, Alexander 9. Alexander played a tough game, but fell to GR rivals Attica, 21-9. The Trojans are now 1-2 on the season and Attica is 3-0. QB Jared Browne was five fo 12 for 113 yards. Samuel Brown was one for two passing for 58 yards and a TD, which was caught by Jacob Riggs. The Trojans were held to 34 yards on the ground on 26 carries. Zack Shilvock made a 45-yard field goal. Ty Laird had seven tackles and Rick Amico, Tristan Aldinger and Riggs all notched six each.
Batavia 41, Hornell 21. The Blue Devils had 350 total yards on the ground. Dominick Mogavero had three touchdowns.
Photos by Rick Franclemont.
Le Roy scored on its first six possessions Friday night in Letchworth to build a 41-0 lead on its way to the team's third dominating victory of the season, winning 61-12.
Mike McMullen connected on seven of his eight passes for 154 yards and three touchdowns.
Ryan McQuillen caught two of those passes for 85 yards and two TDs.
Also on offense, Jon Pierce, five carries for 24 yards and two TDs; Nick Egeling, five rushes 70 yards, two TDs; Nate Flint, six carries for 38 yards and a TD; Tom Kelso hauled in three passes for 30 yards and a touchdown.
On defense, Kody Lamkin had seven tackles, a sack and a blocked punt. Brian Hodges had five tackles. Luke Hogle recorded a sack. McMullen had an interception.
Le Roy had 385 total yards and held Letchworth to 183.
Photos by David Boyce. For more photos, click here.
A chimney fire is reported at Baskin Livestock on Creek Road, Bethany.
Bethany fire along with Alexander and Town of Batavia dispatched.
UPDATE 10:56 a.m.: Alexander was going to respond from this fire to an alarm of fire in its own district, but the alarm company confirmed false alarm. Alexander is back in service. Town of Batavia also has an alarm at College Village. Batavia's Ladder 25 is on scene at the chimney fire.
To whatever degree the Pembroke Dragons might have had a chance against the Oakfield-Alabama Hornets on Friday night, too many scoring opportunities were snuffed out by turnovers.
Most of the Dragon's possessions ended with a fumble or interception.
"We're always emphasizing creating turnovers," said O-A Head Coach Brian Palone after the Hornet's 33-6 win on their home field. "We work on it a lot. So I was happy to see that we were able to execute."
The Hornets are now 2-1 and Pembroke falls to 0-3.
On offense, the Hornets were pretty much able to have their way.
QB Alan Chatt was 16 for 19 passing and 199 yards. He tossed touchdown completions of 55, 17 and two yards. He also rushed for 85 yards and a TD on eight carries.
Ryan Emery rushed for 33 yards and a TD on eight carries and Jon Harris gained 47 yards on five carries.
Receiver Reice Woodward had a big night with two touchdowns on four receptions for 85 yards.
Defensively, Pat Caprio had six tackles, Harris, five, Jake Valletta and Tyler Hamm, four each, Chatt had two interceptions, Casey Arnold, two sacks, Trent Stack, an interception and Emery had a sack.
Collin Scheiber was one for three on point after attempts. His make was the first of his kicking career.
"I'm very proud of way we finished the game," Palone said. "We talked all week about finishing, especially after last week. We weren't able to finish and we let it get away from us, but tonight they were really focused for four quarters of football. They really finished. I'm proud of the way they executed at the end."
Next up for O-A, Elba/Byron-Bergen, who takes a 2-0 record into today's match up with Notre Dame (0-2).
Pembroke will host Notre Dame next week.
Top photo: Alan Chatt picks a Mitch Lewter pass in the first quarter. The pass was intended for Dakota Swimline.
Pembroke receiver Zack VonKramer with a reception in the first quarter.
Pembroke's Cal Neurohr was hard to bring down on a run play in the 4th quarter.
Mitch Lewter sacked in the 4th quarter.
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