A car/deer accident with injuries is reported at 4189 Drake Street Road. Mercy medics and Elba fire are responding.

UPDATE 7:41 p.m.: The Mercy medic on scene reports to Elba command that the patient is a sign-off. Elba is back in service.

The Genesee Symphony Orchestra opens its 2014 season at 4 p.m. tomorrow at St. James Episcopal Church, Batavia.

Raffaele Ponti will conduct the orchestra for a program titled "Reformation Symphony." The guest artist is organist Ann Emmans. Pieces include Felix Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 5, and Camille Saint-Saens, Symphony No. 3.

Tickets are $15 each and available at the door.

The GSO will also debut its 2014 fundraiser, a raffle for a pair of 1/4-carat each diamond stud earrings created by Lambert's Design Jewelers in Batavia.Tickets are 1 for $5 and 3 for $10.

Drawing will be at the April concert.

These photos are from today's rehearsal.

Press release:

The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce Annual Awards Committee has announced the 2014 Annual Award Ceremony will be held on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015 at the Clarion Hotel, Park Road, Batavia. This is the County’s premier event that honors businesses and individuals for their achievements in business, community service and volunteerism.

Please note that a brief write up will qualify your nominee for consideration. Nominations are now being accepted for Business of the Year, Entrepreneurial Business of the Year, Agricultural Business of the Year, Innovative Enterprise of the Year, Special Service Recognition & Geneseeans of the Year.

Business Nominees must be a Chamber Member (If unsure of your nominee, call the Chamber to verify).

Nomination forms are available at the Chamber of Commerce office, 210 E. Main St., Batavia, and can also be down loaded from the Chamber Web site at www.geneseeny.com. 

Nominations MUST BE RECEIVED BY November 7, 2014 to be eligible for consideration.

If you would like more information, feel free to call Kelly J. Bermingham, director of Membership & Special Events at the Chamber office, 343-7440, ext. 26.

The Holland Land Office Museum is hosting a Fall Family Festival tomorrow from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Willow Bend Inn on West Main Street Road, Batavia.

There will be live music from Red Creek (pictured) along with children's games, period dress, musket firing, basket raffle and food. Admission is $5 for adults. Children are free. 

Proceeds benefit HLOM.

Publisher's Note: This should have been published yesterday, but the afternoon got unbelievably busy and I wasn't able to get to it. Apologies to Paul.

Batavia 49, Bath-Haverling 30. It was a seesaw battle through three quarters, and then Batavia put the game away with 14 unanswered points to close out the game. It was a big night for Anthony Gallo, who posted 265 all-purpose yards and scored five touchdowns. Malachi Chenault had four receptions for 128 yards and a TD. Jarrett Lasket had seven receptions for 94 yards, including a two-point conversion catch. Dominick Mogavero had 12 carries for 65 yards and a TD. Greg Mruczek was 18-27, 306 yards and two touchdowns. Trevor Rittersback had 10 tackles; James Cryer -- seven; Adonis Davis -- seven; and Noah Dobbertin had a sack and an interception. Bath came into the game undefeated.

Attica 49, Oakfield-Alabama 32. Alan Chatt was 21 for 52 passing for 316 yards and three touchdowns. He had one interception. Reice Woodward had seven receptions for 134 yards; Sal Schwable, seven for 68 yards and a TD; Ryan Emery four for 15 yards and a TD; and Trent Stack, three for 34 yards and a TD. Jon Harris had eight tackles and Jake Valletta and Devin Schroeder had six each.

Pembroke, Notre Dame, Elba/Byron-Bergen and Alexander all play this afternoon.

For coverage of the Le Roy game and Coach Brian Moran's 200th win, click here.

Coach Brian Moran will tell you, he feels fortunate to run a football program in a place like Le Roy, where the kids are tough, the community cares and parents understand he always has the best interest of their children at heart, even when he's trying to instill in them the discipline necessary to win at football and win at life.

He doesn't take credit for his career milestone of 200 wins. He shares it.

"It really is just a credit to our coaching staff," Moran said, after an emotional meeting with his team near the western end zone of the Perry football field following Le Roy's 45-6 win over the Yellowjackets. "I'm proud of everybody who's worked with us, our community, our school. You know, you don't get to 200 by yourself. We had great people along they way and I really appreciate what they've done for our program."

Moran is the fourth coach in Section V history to reach 200 wins, and only the second to get all 200 wins with the same school.

Gene MastIn, who retired after the 2012 season, is the Section V record holder at 236, and all his wins came at Hornell. Earlier this year, Fairport's Dave Whitcomb, who has coached five different teams, got his 200th win. Rounding out the 200 win club is Don SantIni, with 206 victories, including 50 notched in the years he coached Le Roy.

Moran's milestone victory was helped along Friday night by some of the same names who have carried the team all year. Mike McMullen, Ryan McQuillen, Tom Kelso, Nick Egeling and Jon Pierce, who all had big nights to help propel Le Roy to a rout of a young, but talented Perry team.

McMullen, who went over 3,000 yards passing for his career and set a new school record, said he was proud to be part of Moran's milestone victory.

"It feels great," McMullen said. "I've been with him four years. I can't put it in words right now. It's just awesome. I know it means a lot to him. It means a lot to everyone around here. Le Roy football. Coach Moran. You know, everyone knows who we are because of coach."

The Yellowjackets are a team with a couple of quick strike weapons in QB Andrew Hollister and RB Wisezear Pries, both juniors, so Moran came into the game knowing the Oatkan Knights couldn't afford to let Perry score early. (Hollister ended the season with more than 1,000 yards rushing.)

On Perry's first drive, a fumble on the Perry side of the field helped bat away that concern early. Two plays after Egeling recovered the fumble on defense, he was back to carry the ball 14 yards for a touchdown, giving Le Roy a quick 7-0 lead.

It was all Le Roy the rest of the half and the Knights built up a 42-0 lead by intermission. The scoring bonanza included a pair of TD passes from McMullen to the speedy McQuillen of 40 yards and 62 yards.

McMullen finished 5 for 5 passing for 138 yards and three TD.  

Through seven regular season games, McMullen did not throw a single interception and Le Roy has lost only one fumble all season, for a +16 turnover ratio.

Moran said he's proud of how McMullen has developed as a team leader.

"Obviously, from where he was three years ago to where he is today, I believe at the start of the season, he was 16-4, so add it up, put another 7 on that, so I think that's pretty good," Moran said. "That says a lot about him as a leader of our program."

Kelso had 11 carries for 74 yards. Kelso also had two catches for 23 yards. Pierce carried the ball twice for 72 yards and a TD. Egling, three carries for 32 yards and a TD, plus a 13-yard reception for a touchdown. 

Le Roy is the top-ranked Class C team in the state, but needed some help to go into sectional play as the #1 seed, which they got from the Batavia Blue Devils, who beat Bath in Bath 49-30.

While a lot of folks on the sideline were keeping up with the score in Batavia's seesaw battle with Bath, Moran downplayed the importance of seeding after the game. He said a team has to focus on the opponent ahead of it, whoever that might be.

"You get yourself focused and you really have to be ready to play next Friday night, because if you don't play well, you go home," Moran said. "I think that's something we'll really work on all week and get ourselves ready that way."

Pierce scores in the third quarter.

Hollister on his run that put him over 1,000 yards for the season.

To purchase prints, click here.

With Le Roy's 45 to 6 win over Perry minutes ago, Brian Moran became the fourth head coach in Section V history to notch 200 victories in his career.

Rather than celebrate the milestone in Perry, the players and coach are heading back to Hartwood Park to commemorate the accomplishment.

The entire community is invited to the celebration.

UPDATE: Photo added of Coach Moran back at Hartwood Park being honored for his 200th win.  

An "incendiary facility" on the grounds of Genesee Valley Farms is on fire, according to a caller to emergency dispatch. The address is 3520 S. Main Street Road, East Pembroke. Everyone is out of the structure. East Pembroke fire is responding along with mutual aid from Town of Batavia, Oakfield, Darien, and Alexander. Pembroke and Indian Falls are to stand by. The location is between Wortendyke Road and Lovers Lane Road.

UPDATE 4:48 p.m.: Howard at the scene reports there is a moderate amount of smoke showing but no flames. The incendiary facility is inside a small out building. Smoke appears to be coming from the eaves.

UPDATE 5:57 p.m.: Fire is knocked down. Some crews are picking up and preparing to leave.

The Farm, the Nashville-based band featuring Krista Marie, from Alexander, released a new single and video today, "Mud." I think we can be pretty sure it wasn't shot in Bethany.

A single complaint of popping sounds, possible gun fire, prompted police patrols to check the Austin Park area last night around 10 p.m., but after a "vigorous check" nothing was found to substantiate the complaint, said Chief of Police Shawn Heubusch.

The caller reported a rapid succession of pops, at least 10 of them, coming from the area of the park.

Police patrols responded and after an extensive search of the area, found no evidence of gun fire.

Heubusch said several people in the area of Austin Park were interviewed and no information was uncovered to substantiate the report.

There were no other callers reporting any sounds coming from Austin Park.

At the same time, there was a report of a loud noise on Walnut Street and a check of the area uncovered nothing significant.

Shelly Ann Fox, 33, of Fisher Park, Batavia, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and driving with driver's view obstructed. Fox was arrested following the investigation by Deputy Andrew Hale at 11:35 p.m., Wednesday, into a report of an intoxicated driver in the parking lot of Tops.

Ryan Phillip Clarke, 25, of Meigs Street, Rochester, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Clarke is accused of sending text messages to a protected party, in violation of a court order.

Misty Rose Bogan, 18, of Mill Street, Binghamton, is charged with criminal contempt, 1st, and harassment, 2nd. Bogan was arrested on a warrant and released under supervision of Genesee Justice.

Aaron C. Lyons, 18, of East Main Road, Le Roy, and Anthony M. Paladino, 19, of Clay Street, Le Roy, are charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Lyons and Paladino were arrested after police were called to investigate a suspecious vehicle parked in the Machpelah Cemetery.

It was just after 9 a.m. and Claudia and I were working our way between an already growing crowd of vendors and onlookers when we spotted Batavia Police officer Frank Klimjack. He was standing in a roped off area at the base of Bristol Mountain with several men in kilts -- some bearded, some bald and all of them about the size of NFL linemen. 

They are known as the Buffalo Heavies, so-called not so much for their size but rather for the physical contests they engage in. Officially they are the Buffalo Heavies Kilted Throwers Club. traditional Celtic athletes from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Canada. Their forte is throwing and heaving weighted objects around: they throw for height, distance and, in the case of the caber (pictured above), it's not so much the distance but accuracy -- pitching the caber forward as straight as possible.  

Frank Klimjack preparing to toss the sheaf, a straw-filled burlap bag weighing 16-18 lbs.

On this day Frank and his fellow Heavies were competing in the Bristol Mountain Fall Festival and Highland Games. The Highland Games are a series of athletic contests that originated in Scotland in the 11th Century. The events are the hammer throw, sheaf toss, caber toss, weight for distance, weight for height and weight over the bar, Braemer stone and open stone. The difference between the latter two is technique and stone weight.   

In one swift motion the sheaf is pitched upward....

and over the bar. After each round the bar is raised higher. It's kind of a last man standing deal.

Frank's interest in the Highland Games began a few years ago. "I was at Olcott Beach watching members of the Niagara Athletic Club competing when their athletic director said to me, 'you look big enough -- why don't you come out and give it a try?' A couple of weeks later at another competition they lent me a kilt and I was on my way." He fared pretty well on that first outing. "About middle of the pack," he said, "at least I wasn't at the bottom."

Frank Klimjack has moved up quite nicely since that initial outing. On this day he took second place overall. Competing in only his third full season, he is currently ranked #5 in North America in the Highland Games 45 to 49 age group.

A former paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne, he did a stint with the New York State Park Police before finding his niche with the Batavia PD, where he has served for the last 15 years.

Kellie Klimjack, left, watching her husband's efforts.

Nick Kahanic, Klimjack's friend and fellow "Heavy," is a world-record holder in the Braemar stone and Open stone.

Here's Nick competing in the Weight for Distance. He sent the 56-pound weight 87 feet on this try.

Bagpipers and drummers paying tribute to disabled vets. Whenever the Buffalo Heavies compete, all proceeds raised go to OASIS (Outdoor Adventures for Sacrifice in Service) a volunteer organiziation that provides sporting experiences to disabled veterans and their families free of charge. OASIS currently offers skiing, fishing, sailing, archery, ice skating, horsemanship, golf and rowing. This day's competition raised $4,500 -- awfully good considering admission was free.

This is Lou Iannone and I would venture to guess he's the sparkplug of the Buffalo Heavies. This was our first exposure to the Highland Games and we found the camaraderie between competitors evident and the athletes engaging the crowd with friendly banter as well as answering any questions onlookers may have had.

The atmosphere was festive, the scenery fantastic and with the chair lift taking an endless number of visitors leaf-peeping to the top of the mountain, the crowd was estimated at over 7,000.

The athletes were impressive, entertaining and outgoing. It was for sure a fun outing and Claudia and I look forward to attending the Highland Games again.

Should mobile phone makers be barred from selling fully encrypted smartphones?

New York Times: F.B.I. Director Hints at Action as Cellphone Data Is Locked

A car has hit a pole on Bloomingdale Road near Tesnow Road, Alabama.

The driver has reportedly fled.

Wires are down, either on the ground or very low hanging. The pole is snapped.

No injuries are reported.

Law enforcement is in route.

Alabama fire is dispatched.

UPDATE 8:51 p.m.: Indian Falls Fire Police are asked to shut down traffic Bloomingdale Road Tesnow Road.

Little "Rascal" has been on the lam since about 4:30 p.m. yesterday. The pup was last seen near Terry Hills Golf Course on Clinton Street in Batavia. He has dark fur and eyes, as seen in this photo with his smart red "Petco" kerchief. The owner is Destiny Henning. If found, please contact her friend Jessica Hayes at jessicahayes2001@yahoo.com

A car is reported in front of Wendy's on Main Street, Batavia.

City fire responding.

Mayor Greg Rogers is taking responsibility for an alleged illegal paving of a privately owned road that connects Robbins Road with the Presidential Acres subdivision in the Village of Le Roy.

At the beginning of the month the village received a letter from Amy Kendall, an attorney representing some of the residents of Presidential Acres, notifying trustees that in the attorney's view, the village has illegally spent at least $48,000 on paving and maintaining a road owned by local developer and businessman Pete McQuillen.

At Wednesday's village board meeting, Rogers said he supported the project to go forward because he thought the village already owned the land that extended Fillmore Road to Robbins Road.

That is apparently not the case, though a village attorney is researching it further.

"This has been a very confusing, very cloudy track for the whole time, for the whole thing," Rogers said. "I did a lot of research and talked with a lot of people. We're not going to throw anybody under the bus here, except myself, because this is my bus and if it happens on my shift, it's my responsibility."

He then called on former mayor Sid Horgan to share what he recalled about the ownership of that part of Fillmore Road, and Horgan said he remembered the village board passing a resolution accepting ownership of the roadway.

"I never went out and measured it," Horgan said. "I relied on other people."

Roger Lander, who was public works director in 1991 for the village, said it was his understanding then that the roadway was planned as an eventual village road. The sewer and water connections were put in. Two houses on the corner were originally built to have their front entrance on Fillmore Road rather than Robbins Road.

The village paid to have Fillmore paved, and curbs put in, a year ago.  The village has been maintaining the road, including plowing in the winter.

Kendall calls these expenditures an unconstitutional gift of taxpayer funds to a private party. She said if the village doesn't recover the expenditures from McQuillen, then the trustees would be individually liable, under state law, for the funds.

McQuillen has built duplexes off Fillmore Road, and those duplexes are now occupied.

The attorney's letter suggests those duplexes were built illegally because Fillmore wasn't a village-owned, dedicated road.

Presidential Acres residents are already embroiled in a lawsuit against McQuillen and the village over construction of the duplexes.

While Rogers said he didn't know the land was privately owned, the attorney's letter says that Presidential Acres resident David Boyce spoke with village officials about it Oct. 23, 2013. 

The letter also states that at a May 15, 2012 planning board meeting, McQuillen said that it was "the developer's responsibility to finish the street and that's my intent," and that it was his intent "to put curbs and pavement in there this year." The letter states, "Therefore, both the developer and the village were on notice that McQuillen owned the roads and was responsible for paving them prior to dedication."

Rogers said it's his intention to make the situation right.

"By all means, I'm taking full responsibility for the whole thing," Rogers said. "My plan is to go forward and seek reimbursement from the developer. We have two houses on the street. There are people there who are citizens of Le Roy and they deserve all the services of the village. We'll try to work out some kind of negotiations with the developer to recoup what we may have put in for the road and in turn finish the road so the street can be dedicated and we can provide the residents with snow plowing and emergency services and all the things they deserve."

   

Elijah Coombs, left, and Mark McNutt

Press release:

Two arrests were made Oct. 15 by the Genesee County Local Drug Enforcement Task Force, which is comprised of members from the Sheriff's Office, Batavia Police NET, and Le Roy Village PD.

Elijah R. L. Coombs, 20, of Orchard Street, Oakfield, is charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance, 3rd, a Class B felony, and criminal possession of a controlled substance, 3rd, also a Class B felony.

Mark A. McNutt, 20, of Spencer Court, Batavia, is charged with: criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th, a Class A misdemeanor; criminal possession of a hypodermic instrument, also a Class A misdemeanor; and unlawful possession of marijuana.

The Drug Task Force, along with uniformed Sheriff's deputies, intercepted a heroin sale that was in progress Wednesday in the parking lot of a business on Lewiston Road, Batavia. Deputies conducted a traffic stop on the vehicles involved and located additional drugs inside and on the occupants.

Coombs allegedly sold heroin. He was arraigned in Town of Batavia Court and jailed on $10,000 bail.

McNutt allegedly possessed marijuana, a hypodermic instrument, and tramadol, a controlled substance. A quantity of U.S. currency was also seized. He issued an appearance ticket to be in Town of Oakfield Court on Oct. 27, then released to the Eric County Sheriff's Department for an outstanding warrant.