New York Times: Arizona Bill Allowing Refusal of Service to Gays Stirred Alarm in the G.O.P.

Here are a few pictures from my travels today.

Above, taken from Black Street Road, Le Roy.

A pony on Bernd Road, Le Roy.

Route 5 coming into Batavia from the East. It was not long after sunset so there was a bit of color, but I decided I liked the mood better as a black and white.

From this afternoon on Ellicott Street.

Genesee County's only hospital will become a fully integrated affiliate of Rochester General Hospital, according to an announcement issued today.

RGH said it has reached an agreement to formalize "a comprehensive partnership."

“Even given our sound financial position today, changes in health care will continue to negatively impact independent rural health care providers,” stated Mark Schoell, CEO, United Memorial Medical Center. “The leadership of United Memorial remains committed to providing the best for our patients, and this expanded relationship will strengthen the future of health care in Genesee County.”

Here's the rest of the press release:

The hospital’s affiliation with RGHS will lead to a continued expansion of health care services in Batavia and on-site at United Memorial, and over time will result in fewer Genesee County residents needing to leave their community for vital health care. United Memorial will maintain its name and a local board, and will continue its longstanding tradition of providing a full range of medical and acute care services in Batavia after the affiliation is formalized.

The announcement today mirrors a trend among successful hospitals and health care systems nationwide. Community hospitals continue to be impacted by changes in the business of health care, and few have the size and scale necessary to support wide breadth of specialized services and technology required today. System affiliations address the economic realities that community hospitals face with health care reform, while ensuring patients have immediate and convenient access to a full range of primary and secondary services locally and a gateway to the best clinical care available when more highly specialized care and technology – like cardiac surgery, stroke services, neurosurgery, and other complex services – are required.

“Progressive and forward-thinking rural hospital management teams and boards like United Memorial’s continue to recognize the value in partnering with larger systems, to ensure their patients have access to a full range of highly specialized technology and physician expertise,” said Mark C. Clement, president and CEO of RGHS. “This partnership will enable the residents of Genesee County to continue to have access to and receive world-class care, right at home here at United Memorial.”

The two health care institutions are no strangers to each other, having collaborated in the areas of Cardiology, Pathology, Surgery, Urology and Gastroenterology since 2008, and most recently partnered to open a Cancer & Infusion Center at United Memorial. Rochester General and United Memorial have served residents in their respective communities for more than a century.

In making its decision to affiliate with RGHS, the United Memorial board cited the system’s longstanding focus on high-quality patient care and safety, its expertise in clinical integration, its comprehensive medical and surgical specialties that will enhance existing services available in the Batavia community, and its successful track record of collaboration with smaller acute care hospitals and physicians.

“We are creating a health care system that will serve as the future model that helps communities get healthy and stay healthy” Clement said. “We’re creating true alignment of processes and providing full access to life-saving services and exceptional patient care, no matter where you live or through which system-wide door you enter. We are committed to expanding services at United Memorial, which will serve as the western hub for all of Rochester General Health System’s services.”

RGHS operates the Sands-Constellation Heart Institute, recognized as the best in cardiac care in New York for four consecutive years by Delta CareChex quality rating group, and is the only area health system to be nationally rated by SDI – a premier health care analytics firm – as a TOP 100 Integrated Health Network each year since 2007. Integrated care networks are consistently recognized for delivering higher levels of quality, service, patient safety and efficiency. These are important factors, made even more so, as the government and insurers increasingly tie reimbursement to quality, safety, efficiency and the health of a defined patient population.

Leadership teams from both organizations will work closely together to create a formal affiliation and integration plan and to complete the required regulatory approval process, which is expected to take three to six months.

This affiliation with United Memorial aligns with and is complementary to RGHS’ current merger plans with Unity Health System. United Memorial would bring another high-quality, integrated hospital into the planned new system, enabling it to offer convenient access to exceptional, high-value care to more than a million patients throughout Monroe, Genesee, Ontario and Wayne counties.

It's probably the outcome Section V officials predicted when they moved Notre Dame girls up three classes and Bishop Kearney up one to put both teams in Class B2.

The two private Catholic schools will face each other Saturday in the B2 Section V Championship. One team will eliminate the other and Section V officials can rest assured only one private-school squad gets to advance toward a possible State Championship.

The Fighting Irish enter the Section V Championship game with a 19-1 record after a close-call, overtime win against Bath-Haverling, 50-49. Bishop Kearney is 17-2 after having a much easier time of it against Le Roy last night, winning 75-47.

For ND last night, the Lady Rams, who entered the game with five losses, proved to be a handful.

"We knew they were a very good team," said ND Head Coach Dave Pero. "The thing we didn't know coming into the game is how quick they were. We had trouble defensively getting stops. We missed a few easy baskets underneath, but I think the thing that helped is that they (the ND girls) had the will to finish."

Bath's Mackenzie Smith proved a challenging opponent. She's tall, fast and can shoot. It was Laurie Call's job to defend her.

"Laurie had a tough time of it in her match-up with number three," Pero said. "Number three probably had six inches on Laurie and I think we finally found a girl that is almost as quick as Laurie and that's dangerous."

It turned out, the Lady Rams were a lot harder to play than they looked on film, said senior guard Mel Taylor.

"We knew three was going to be athletic, but I didn't think she was going to be jumping three foot higher than what we were playing defense on," Taylor said. "It was intimidating, it was adjusting to what we're not used to playing in regular season, but we did pretty well."

Smith scored 20 points, snagged 10 rebounds and had five assists.

Call, who typically doesn't get into foul trouble, was tagged with four.

"It was physical game," Call said. "It was really physical at both ends of the court. I caught myself reaching and so did the refs."

Taylor scored 14 points to lead the Irish. Emma Francis, nine, Rebecca Krenzer, eight, Shea Norton, seven, and Call, six.

Helping Smith out on offense for the Rams was Angelo Binkowski with 15 points, including two threes.

One of the side stories of the game was how quickly the refs, particularly one of them, were to call jump balls. A jump ball is supposed to be called when two players share possession of the ball, but often it looked like a player had possession while an opponent was merely reaching.

One such called came in the final 15 seconds of regulation when Norton grabbed an offensive rebound and Bath's Brooke Buckley was reaching in while Norton was trying to shoot. Rather than a shooting foul, it was called a jump ball.

A shooting foul there, with the scored knotted at 41, could have ended the game in regulation.

The Section V refs have reportedly been instructed to be quicker on the jump ball calls to cut down on foul calls.

Pero said them are the breaks of game.

"It did seem a little quick, but they see what they see and they're not going to change their minds," Pero said. "You've got to live with it. I learned a long time ago if you want to argue with them (the refs), you're going to lose. They've got the final say and overall the officials do a great job. They're the officials and the coaches are the coaches and we're supposed to coach and they're supposed to officiate. Sometimes you do get those calls."

In the night cap at Honeoye Falls-Lima, Bishop Kearney dominated Le Roy, but with a 10-8 record.

Kearney and Notre Dame could match up well. Both teams have five players who scored at least 100 points on the season and could match up on height.

Both teams are coming off State Championship seasons so they both have big game experience.

"All of our big games in past, all of our big elba games, this game today, it gets you ready for the big stage," Call said.

Before we knew for sure Kearney would be Saturday's opponent, Call said she was ready to face whoever came out on top of the semi-final game.

"Saturday's another basketball game," Call said. "It's senior year, so it's pretty emotional., but we're just going to play. it's a faceless opponent. Hopefully we come out with a patch."

To purchase prints, click here.

A two-car accident with injuries is reported on westbound Thruway at mile marker 380.7. Le Roy fire and ambulance are responding. A crew from Pavilion is staging in Le Roy's fire hall.

UPDATE 1:27 p.m.: The Thruway Authority says there is reportedly another accident along the same stretch of roadway at mile marker 388.7 and the Town of Batavia was called to respond. "It may be one and the same accident. ... It is unfounded at this point," says the dispatcher.

UPDATE 1:40 p.m.: Le Roy and Pavilion are back in service.

A house is reportedly filling with smoke at 6912 Macomber Road, Alabama. The location is between Judge and Ham roads. Alabama Fire Department is responding. Dispatch says it is possibly a chimney or wood stove problem.

A two-car head-on collision with minor injuries is reported at 1630 Lewiston Road, east of Route 77. Alabama Fire Department and Mercy medics are responding.

UPDATE: Photo submitted by Bruce Webber, who said he was in the area working on his truck and saw the crash. The silver car, he said, went off the north side of the road and the driver appeared to over correct and hit a Honda almost head on. "I was a couple of feet away," Webber said. "Parts and pieces everywhere."

At about 10 a.m., the snow was coming down pretty heavy in the Village of Oakfield.

A short, but heavy snow storm is expected this morning, with visibility reduced to a quarter mile or less.

As much as an inch to an inch-and-a-half of snow fall per hour is possible. A total of three inches of snow is possible.

Strong winds will create blowing snow, contributing to the low visibility.

Colder temperatures, in the single digits, will follow the snowstorm, and combined with winds, will create a dangerously low wind-chill factor. The temperature could be as low as 20 degrees below zero.

New York Times: The Mammoth Cometh

A structure fire CO detector is activated at 9259 Route 19, in the area of Robbins Road, Le Roy. Le Roy Fire Department and Ambulance Service responding, with mutual aid from Pavilion standing by in quarters.

UPDATE 9:54 p.m.: This was a CO detector call, not a structure fire.

UPDATE 9:56 p.m.: Pavilion standing down.

Former County Legislator Richard M. Rudolph of District #3 was seriously injured in a two-vehicle accident this afternoon in Warsaw which left another person dead.

State Police responded to the accident, which occurred on Route 98 just south of the intersection with Lindsey Road in the Town of Attica, at about 2:30. They determined a vehicle operated by Terry J. O'Neill, 54, of Varysburg, was southbound, rounding a curve in the highway. The roadway was partially covered with windblown snow.

She lost control of her 1998 Buick LeSabre and went broadside, crossing into the northbound lane. A second vehicle operated by 88-year-old Rudolph, now of Akron, was northbound and could not take evasive action in time before striking O'Neill's vehicle directly broadside on the passenger side.

Both vehicles continued off the highway and came to rest in a field on the east shoulder.

Rudolph was transported by Mercy Flight to Erie County Medical Center for treatment of chest abrasions and pain, but his injuries appear do not appear life threatening. O'Neill was transported to Wyoming County Community Hospital in Warsaw by Attica Ambulance, suffering from severe head trauma and she succumbed to her injuries at approximately 4 p.m.

Troop A Collision Reconstruction Unit responded to assist with the investigation, which is continuing. Troopers were assisted by Attica and Varysburg Fire and Rescue personnel, Wyoming County Medic 80 and the Wyoming County Sheriff’s Office.

A trial date has been set for Craig Malcolm Lawson, the 34-year-old Canadian citizen accused of throwing a single punch following a Kid Rock concert at Darien Lake and seriously injuring a former WNY man.

Jury selection is set to begin at 10 a.m., June 23 for an anticipated four-day trial.

Lawson is accused of punching Jason McNeil, of Tuscaloosa, Ala. McNeil reportedly hit his head on the pavement. He was in a coma following the incident and sources say he will never fully recover.

He is charged with assault in the second degree.

It remains possible Lawson will accept a plea offer. He has until April 24 to decide, Judge Robert C. Noonan said.

Lawson did not appear in court today and the last time he appeared -- for an evidence hearing -- he was 45 minutes late.

Noonan asked his attorney today why Lawson had a hard time crossing the border that day and the attorney said INS agents would not initially let him cross because of the pending felony charge. The attorney said he will provide his client with a letter to present at the border before his April 24 appearance.

It may not have gone off without a hitch -- some users had a learning curve -- but the new emergency communication system in Genesee County is fully functional.

There were rumors of technical problems with the new system, including problems with the Pavilion tower, but trusted sources along with Sheriff Gary Maha said the Harris system has performed as it should since the switch over shortly after 7 a.m.

The $10.8 million system -- paid for largely with federal grants and a local bond -- is technically identical to the communication system all police and fire units across the United States are converting to, which will help improve inter-agency communications in regional and national emergencies.

"We've been using the system all day and handled a number of calls -- accidents, shoplifters, calls for service -- and so far so good," Maha said. "It's gone as smooth as could be expected."

Owners of the new Uniden P-25-compatiable scanners locally are reporting spotty success in picking up fire and police transmission. The scanners do work, but reception is not always reliable.

Here at The Batavian, we don't have our new scanner fully programmed yet, so can't report on how it's working out for us.

The Sheriff's Office also switched to a new digital phone system. That transition didn't go as smoothly, Maha admitted, but the phones appear to be working properly now.

Batavia Downs Gaming invites you to watch the Oscars this Sunday night in style! Grandstands Bar & Grille will be hosting a Movie Awards Viewing Party from 5:30 p.m. until the show ends.

• $25 in Free Play
• Dinner including carving station with tenderloin, pasta station, shrimp cocktails
• Hand Passed hors d'oeuvres
• Rent One/Get One coupon from Family Video
• Chocolate from Oliver's
• Vodka tasting from Grey Goose
• Access to our dessert station with a chocolate fountain!

County Highway Superintendent Tim Hens is about to fill a role occupied by two of his predecessors -- NYS County Highway Superintendents Association.

What's unique, perhaps, is that Laura Mullen, a principle financial clerk with the highway department since 1957, has work for both of the previous presidents from Genesee County.

That would be Joe Amedick, who served in 1987 and Bob Carrier, who served in 1959.

Now part-time, Hens finds Mullen indispensable.

"She knows where thr vendor files are from ions ago," Hens said. "She knows where bridge files are, road files are. Any bit of information I need, she knows exactly what box it is in in the storeroom."

When Hens started his job 16 years ago, there were no computers. He said he couldn't work like that, so his computer was the first in the department. 

Mullen, already with more than 30 years on the job, jumped right in with automation and took classes at Genesee Community College on her own time, at her own expense, to learn Microsoft Office.

Hens said Mullen will fill in wherever she's needed.

He has his own kind of seniority going. At 16 years on the job, he's the fourth or fifth most senior county highway superintendent among the 57 counties in the state.

The association, he said, serves an important role in helping the state's highway departments and public works departments share information and best practices as well as lobbying Albany to maintain funding for roads and bridges.

If a member has a question, they jump online, ask it, and might get 30 answers.

"You learn something from other counties or something that somebody has already done and that saves you a lot of time and a lot of hassle," Hens said.

There will not be a second trial for convicted child molester Earl Sprague, who has already been sentenced following his first trial to 21 years in prison.

District Attorney Lawrence Friedman made a motion this morning, which was granted by County Court Judge Robert Noonan, to dismiss the remaining charges against Sprague.

The 42-year-old Sprague was facing a possible trial on eight felony counts, including two counts of burglary, 1st, sexual abuse, 1st, criminal sexual act, 1st, aggravated sexual abuse, 1st, two counts predatory sexual assault, a Class II-A felony, and one count of assault, 1st.

Friedman said he could not discuss the reason for the motion to drop the charges.

"We made a determination we couldn't really proceed with the remaining charges," Friedman said. "That's all I can really say."

The former Alabama resident was convicted by a jury on 28 counts of sexual abuse.

Memo to Brian Miller, head coach of the Geneva Panthers: If you want to beat Batavia in Sunday's Section V Class A2 Finals, you better figure out how to stop Justice Fagan and Jeff Redband.

Good luck with that.

Teams have been trying all year and stopping the Blue Devil's two standouts just gets harder and harder.

The Newark Reds tried Tuesday night at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester and found themselves on the losing end of Fagan's biggest game of the year.

The senior captain scored 28 points as the Blue Devils punched their ticket for the finals with a 45-41 win over the #2 seed.

And by all accounts, Redband had an off night, with defenders constantly in his face, but he still managed 15 points.

"That's been happening all year (tight defensive coverage)," Redband said. "I didn't do the best with it this game. We had plays to get me the ball, I just wasn't making shots. I'll make them other games. We rode Justice because he was having the greatest game of his season tonight."

Fagan just took the game over in the closing minutes and with under two minutes left, the Blue Devils grabbed the lead and the Reds' fate seemed sealed.

As important as Fagan's big game was, it was really Batavia's defense that secured the victory.

Head Coach Buddy Brasky teaches his players, hold the opponent to less than 52 points and you will always have a chance to win.

The Blue Devils opened sectional play with a 56-37 win over Honeoye Falls-Lima three days ago, and against a Reds team that has put at least 60 points on the board nine times this season, Batavia pinned Newark down at only 41, holding them to 13 in the second half.

Brasky's team switched to a 3-2 zone defense and the Reds never got a handle on how to penetrate it.

"We've hardly played a 3-2 all year," Brasky said. "They (the Blue Devils) just picked it up on the fly and executed it well."

With the Reds left with few inside scoring opportunities, it also meant there were fewer opportunities for Batavia to draw fouls.

In the closing minute and a half, Batavia was shooting bonus free throws and had only committed four second-half fouls themselves. 

"We went to the zone and they didn't attacked it," Brasky said. "There was a lot of pass on the perimeter. They stopped going to the basket, so there wasn't a lot of opportunity for us to foul. They took a lot of outside shots. That's what the zone forced them to do. Justice started attacking. Jeff started attacking. We were going to the basket where they stopped going to the basket. That's the foul differential right there."

Redband went to the line twice and hit all four shots, while neither late-game foul by Batavia resulted in free throws for the Reds and Fagan made a crucial free throw to take away any hope of a three-pointer to tie the game.

"Jeff and Justice are 70-, 80-percent foul shooters," Brasky said. "They come to the school every morning before class and shoot 50 free throws. Every morning. When we've got them at the foul line at the end of games, I'm very confident."

The foul differential was a huge strategic advantage, especially when Batavia could afford another foul with 4.5 seconds left. In that situation, a quick three-pointer would have given Newark a slim hope for a steal and another score. Instead, two seconds were lost and Newark had to inbound the ball again. A desperation three missed the basket wide and short by three feet and went out of bounds with 0.8 seconds left. A simple Batavia inbound and the game was over.

Brasky said Fagan's confidence has been soaring since a big game against Lockport on Senior Night, and Tuesday night, he just took the team on his back and carried it to victory.

Fagan said that's his job.

"I'm the senior captain," Fagan said. "I didn't want this to be my last game of the year, or ever, actually. I just wanted to win this game. I kind of figured I needed to take over a little bit through the game because we were struggling a little bit offensively. Somebody's got to take over."

The only other Blue Devil to score against the Reds (who don't wear red, but maroon) was Jerret Lasket, who had two points.

A low-scoring affair is exactly the kind of game the Blue Devils like to play -- battle for 30 minutes and close it out at the end.

"In our games, we never do get down by a lot, usually, because we play good defense," Brasky said. "We've been in close games all year, so they have confidence in close games."

For Newark, Jaymee Rosser had 17 points. Tyler Collins, an outside shooting threat, tried, but was 1-6 from beyond the arc and was held to 10 points. Rosser was the top rebounder for the game with nine.

For Redband, Tuesday's visit to Blue Cross was his first since a season ago when he sent his team to the State's Final Four with a three-point buzzer beater.

The junior guard walked out to the same spot during warm ups and admitted taking a moment to reflect on the shot and later hit a practice shot from the same spot. He said he likes playing in the big gym.

"I'm comfortable playing here," Redband said. "With a lot of the new people, I just said it's a normal game. It doesn't matter that it's in this big stadium. You've just got to play basketball."

He also wasn't surprised his team is about to play for the Class A2 championship. The Blue Devils are where they're supposed to be.

"We've beat good teams all year so we knew all year we could be right here at sectionals in the finals," Redband said.

Game time Sunday at Blue Cross is 5 p.m.

To purchase prints, click here.

It has been a long time since Pembroke was a factor in Section V girls basketball.

The Lady Dragons can now say that they are, as they punched their ticket to the Class C2 finals for the first time since 1987 after defeating Clyde-Savannah, 45-39.

“We’ve put in a lot of time these last four years,” said Pembroke Head Coach Mike Wilson. “We’ve spent a lot of long hours in the gym. For a group of kids to step up and play the way they are playing right now is extremely special.”

One of the biggest reasons for Pembroke’s success is senior Breanna Johnson, the school’s all-time leader in points, rebounds, assists and steals.

Johnson came out fast, scoring 16 of the Lady Dragons’ 23 points in the first half for a seven-point lead at the break.

However, Clyde-Savannah threw a wrench into the plan, as they switched from a man-to-man defense to a zone in the second half, causing Pembroke to go cold in the third quarter.

Pembroke would only manage to connect on one shot from the field in the frame, and the Lady Eagles would hold Johnson without a point in the third.

“We didn’t really move the ball as much as we should have,” Johnson said. “We weren’t cutting and we weren’t getting to the basket.”

While Johnson was unable to get anything going, Clyde-Savannah was taking it to the Dragons on the glass, out-rebounding them 38-25 for the game.

In particular, Ally Fenton had a monster game for the Lady Eagles taking advantage of Pembroke’s 2-3 zone, scoring 17 points and grabbing 15 rebounds (six offensive).

“We wanted to keep our girls out of foul trouble,” Wilson said. “We tend to play too aggressive in man-to-man and zone preserves our players.”

Leading just 27-24 going into the fourth quarter, Johnson came back to life. She made her first basket of the second half with on a three-pointer with just 1:58 left in the game.

In total, she scored 12 points in the last frame, racking up nine from the foul line to guarantee the victory.

“To have a kid like [her] play as well as she is,” continued Wilson. “Mel Taylor and Kelsey Bezon get a lot of press in the league, and they deserve it, but tonight Breanna Johnson showed that she deserves to be in the conversation. She does everything she can to help the team.”

Clyde-Savannah (12-6) was unable to answer the call, and the Lady Dragons escaped with the win.

Pembroke (15-5) already garnered their first sectional win since 2007, and now they return to the sectional finals for the first time in 27 years. The school has never won a sectional championship in girls basketball.

The Lady Dragons will take on top-seeded Lyons on Saturday at Rush-Henrietta High School. Tip-off will be 5 p.m.

We had a couple of unexpected visitors to our place last weekend. Being February and given the sort of winter we've had, it was more than a bit of a surprise to see a pair of bluebirds come calling last Saturday morning.            

A male and female alit in the apple tree and I never thought they'd sit tight with the powerful wind gusts whipping the branches about. But sit they did and I was able to get several shots of the male while the female was obscured by branches.

A female cardinal seems to be shrieking with delight, perhaps celebrating the sunshine and blue sky

This cardinal seems content to sample a snow-capped frozen apple.

A chickadee sticks close to brushy cover.......

while another helps itself to sunflower seed and millet.

Pileated woodpeckers have shown up quite regularly this winter......we often hear their raucous call long before they come into view.

How did this gray squirrel get a snow hat?

He and some friends were digging for the walnuts I had tossed into the briars last autumn. I knew the squirrels would find them, but I never thought they would wait till there were several inches of snow on the ground before doing so.

This guy, meanwhile, appears to be rubbing his paws in anticipation while eyeballing the bird feeder. 

Prior to last weekend, the last bluebird I saw was just before Thanksgiving. Winter set in on us right after that. I've never seen one this early in the year. I've heard or read somewhere that bluebirds sometimes winter here, it all depends on the weather and availability of food. Regardless, I know we've got some single-digit lows coming later this week, but I've always felt Mother Nature was pretty good at predicting the weather.....here's hoping!