Press release:

The Harlem Wizards are coming to Le Roy.

The world-famous Wizards will bring their brand of "Trick Hoops and Ally-Oops" to a fund-raising game against Le Roy school faculty and staff on Thursday, Jan. 30, at Le Roy Junior-Senior High School gymnasium. Proceeds will benefit students via the Le Roy Parent Teacher Service Organization.

Doors open at 6 p.m. The game will start at 7 p.m.

The Wizards have been delighting fans for more than 50 years with their magical display of tricks, coordinated ball handling, fancy passing and athleticism combined with high-energy comedy and audience participation. Throughout their history, the Wizards have played thousands of games across the United States and abroad, while helping raise millions of dollars for schools and non-profit organizations.

Proceeds from the Jan. 30 game will benefit the PTSO, which provides grants to support activities and projects that directly benefit all students at every grade level, pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade.

Refreshments and souvenirs will be sold at the game. A free autograph session will follow.

Student admission is $9 in advance and $10 at the gate. General admission is $10 in advance or $12 at the gate.

Tickets are available to the general public, and can be purchased in advance at the Junior-Senior High School main office, 9300 South Street Road, (585) 768-8131; or at the Wolcott Street School office, 2-6 Trigon Park, (585) 768-7115.

A one-car rollover accident is reported at 3319 Batavia-Oakfield Townline Road. There are injuries. The vehicle is down a small embankment and on its roof and the victims are outside now. Oakfield Fire Department and Mercy medics are responding. The location is halfway between Route 63 and South Pearl Road.

UPDATE 1:59 p.m.: The Oakfield assignment is back in service. The patients were sign-offs.

Press release:

Due to possible (bad) weather conditions, the SAT tests scheduled at Batavia High School on Saturday, Jan. 25th beginning at 8 a.m. have been canceled. Students scheduled to take this test will be contacted by College Board via e-mail. Make-up date is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 8th.

James R. Kosiorek, 21, of East Main Street, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny.  Kosiorek allegedly stole a Playstation 3, three controllers and 13 games from a location where he was residing on East Main Street and sold those items at a video game store in the city. Kosiorek is being held in the Genesee County Jail on a parole warrant.

Sath Paul Dhanda, 33, of Pearl Street, Batavia, is charged with trespass. Dhanda was arrested after allegedly showing up at T.F. Brown's and being informed that he was banned from the restaurant by management. Dhanda was reportedly informed by staff to leave the restaurant. Dhanda reportedly did leave, but returned a short time later and allegedly caused a disturbance. Dhanda was jailed on $500 bail.

Glenn E. McClurg, 46, of Summit Street Road, Le Roy, was arrested on a bench warrant out of City Court. McClurg posted bail and is scheduled to return to court Jan. 29.

Jerald Alfred Shuler III, 20, of Graham Street, Batavia, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and unsafe start. Shuler's vehicle was stopped at 2:45 a.m. Jan. 18 at Porter Avenue and Washington Avenue by Officer Peter Flanagan.

Michael P. Beedham, 55, of Prospect Avenue, Attica, is charged with assault, 3rd, and endangering the welfare of a child. Beedham was allegedly involved in a domestic incident in a vehicle that was parked on Lewiston Road, Batavia. Beedham allegedly punched a juvenile victim in the ribs causing sweling and bruising.

Joshua A. Musielak, 27, of Alden, is charged with trespass and criminal mischief, 4th. Musielak was arrested by State Police for an alleged incident reported at 5:54 a.m. Jan. 15 on Seven Springs Road, Batavia. No further details released.

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A car reportedly rear-ended a school bus at Lake and Mill streets, Le Roy, at about 6:50 a.m.

No injuries were reported.

There was air bag deployment on the passenger vehicle, but the driver claimed no injuries.

A Le Roy fire chief responded to the scene and determined that fire police could handle traffic and Le Roy's engine need not respond so traffic could be kept moving.

By 7:09 a.m., the vehicles were moved off the road and Le Roy fire was back in service.

Le Roy Ambulance reported no injuries to the school bus passengers either. A school official arrived on scene to take charge of the three passengers on the bus.

The city reports a water main break on Woodrow Road. Water service is currently interrupted on Woodrow between Main and West Avenue and on West Avenue between Woodrow and Union. Crews are on scene for repairs.

UPDATE: Water main repaired. Service restored at 9:30 a.m.

An estimated 220,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, and every 1 out of 8 women will be diagnosed in their lifetime.

Tonight Pembroke High School took a big step in helping to find a cure with its third annual Shoot for a Cure game against Oakfield-Alabama.

No admission was charged all evening, while all concession sales and donations were directly given to the Roswell Cancer Institute in Buffalo.

Not only were the gymnasium and hallways decked out in pink, but so were the Pembroke players, who wore all pink uniforms in honor of breast cancer awareness. They even played with a pink basketball.

Pembroke Head Coach Michael Wilson spearheaded the event after Athletic Director Ron Funke’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago. A few players suggested a “pink game” and it took off from there. Most importantly, several women in the Pembroke community and school district were honored at halftime for surviving their fight with the disease.

Between the junior varsity and varsity contests, several people even donated their hair for “Bald for Bucks.” The Buffalo Bisons also displayed their support as mascot Buster T. Bison attended the contest.

“These kids have been all over Rochester, Buffalo and Batavia promoting this event and collecting donations,” Wilson said. “I’ve got an incredibly compassionate group of kids and they love it. You could see that in the way they played tonight. They were definitely shooting for a cure.”

The Lady Dragons certainly played with a purpose, as they routed Oakfield-Alabama 52-18.

Pembroke pulled away in the second quarter and never looked back as they outscored the Hornets 14-1 in the frame.

Rylee Moser led the way, scoring a game-high 13 points, while Aralyse Johnson scored 11 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, and Breanna Johnson chipped in with 11 points, seven rebounds and three steals for Pembroke (10-3).

“Getting a win on the court means a lot, but tonight was about recognizing women in the district who are currently battling breast cancer or who have won their battle or those that we have lost,” Wilson said. “It’s more about these kids coming together, showing that they’re civic-minded and showing that they are compassionate.”

In total, the night yielded nearly $10,000 that will be donated directly to Roswell by the entire Pembroke girl’s basketball team.

Photos by Howard Owens.

Sherie Grande was among the local breast cancer survivors who received a rose from a Pembroke player at half time.

Charles Johnson

A convicted rapist slated to spend 18 years in prison has been charged with a new crime: criminal solicitation, 4th.

Charles Daniel Johnson Jr., 29, allegedly tried to convince another person to harm a Genesee County Jail corrections officer.

Sgt. Greg Walker said not a lot of information about the case is available  tonight. 

He said Johnson apparently made no offer of money or other compensation to the person he contacted, but he did try to get another person to hurt a corrections officer.

It's not known at this time how serious of an injury Johnson allegedly wanted to inflict on this officer or why the officer was targeted.

The corrections officer allegedly targeted has not been publicly identified.

Judge Robert C. Noonan sent Johnson to prison for 18 years Jan. 17 for the home-invasion rape of a woman in Le Roy.

Johnson has been incarcerated at the county jail pending the NYS Department of Corrections accepting him into the DOCS system.

To you, it probably just looks like a picture of a vacant lot with a piles of snow at the far end, but to Joseph Barclay Jr. it is -- or was -- a skate park.

Barclay asked on Facebook if The Batavian would look into why the city's skate park off Evans Street, behind the Falleti Ice Arena, disappeared.

Today, City Manager Jason Molino said the skate park had become a problem and it's future is uncertain.

"The park keeps getting vandalized and we were just putting good money after bad," Molino said.

In the fall, when city workers went to remove a couple of damaged ramps, they found drug paraphernalia and hypodermic instruments inside the equipment.

At that point, officials decided to remove the skate park all together. Molino said the city will decide what to do with it in the spring.

Barclay thinks he and his skating friends need a place to roll.

"I know all the BMXers, skateboarders and rollerbladers plan on using the streets again if the park isn't returned to us," Barclay said. "We should have a place where we can do our sports where we won't be in danger. Instead they take it away from us. It makes us use the streets again putting people and kids in danger of getting hit by cars."

Molino said he's aware there are a few users of the park, but Chief of Police Shawn Heubusch is concerned about the location on Evans, Molino said. Tucked behind the ice arena, it's not easily visible to people, which perhaps gives some visitors to the park the idea that it's a good place for illegal activity.

Vandalism in all of the city parks has become an increasing problem, Molino said. Water fountains, bathroom fixtures, tennis courts and nets, ball fields and basketball hoops have been regularly targeted by vandals, Molino said.

"It's a constant problem that we're trying to deal with in our parks," Molino said.

Shane M. Bell

Rather than accept a potential plea offer that could limit his prison term to two years, a 47-year-old Batavia resident would apparently rather take his chances with a Genesee County jury on a felony charge of assault in the second degree.

Shane M. Bell is accused of hitting and seriously injuring a fellow patron of The Harvester outside the bar on Harvester Avenue in August.

Scott Baker, 52, reportedly suffered a serious head injury in the incident.

If convicted by a jury, Noonan could potentially sentence Bell to seven years in prison.

District Attorney Lawrence Friedman said that an offer that would have capped Bell's prison term at four years was rejected, but in doing so defense attorney William Teford ask if Friedman would entertain the idea of a two-year sentence cap.

Friedman said he told Tedford to ask his Bell if he would accept such a plea deal, but never ever actually offered the plea deal.

After court, Friedman said he didn't make the offer because he didn't want to put Baker's family through a discussion about such a plea deal unless there was a chance Bell would accept it.

According to Tedford, Bell said he wouldn't agree to such an offer.

At Bell's pre-trial hearing five months ago, Tedford raised the possibility of a self-defense claim by Bell.

Earl Sprague

Earl Sprague, sentenced yesterday to 21 years in prison for child sexual abuse, will have a new attorney when he goes on trial -- possibly in March -- on a separate set of charges, including predatory sexual assault.

During an appearance today to set a trial date on the eight counts still pending against Sprague, attorney Fred Rarick told Judge Robert C. Noonan that it was apparent to him that Sprague no longer had confidence in him and that a new attorney should be appointed to represent the 42-year-old Alabama resident.

Noonan expressed some skepticism that Sprague really needed a new attorney, praising Rarick's ability as a criminal defense attorney.

"Mr. Rarick is one of the most experience criminal defense attorneys we have around here in handling very serious matters such as yours," Noonan told Sprague. "He worked very hard on this case. If there was a difference over strategy, that's not unusual."

Sprague told Noonan that he felt there was evidence that Rarick didn't bring out at trial that he thought should have been presented to the jury.

"I won't get into specifics, but there was a point in the trial where he said if we do this, they're (motioning toward the prosecution) is going to try and do something else," Sprague said. "We talked about it. I thought about it and then I said go ahead and he didn't go ahead and do it. None of it was brought up."

Noonan expressed concern that a change in attorney could delay the second trial, but after a little more conversation with Sprague and Rarick agreed to refer the case to the Public Defender's Office.

Sprague faces a 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.

Noonan set a trial date of March 24.

Sprague be back in court Jan. 30 to ensure a new attorney has been appointed and is working on the case and can be ready for trial on that date.

There are 100 new jobs in Genesee County compared to a year ago, but the jobs number remained unchanged from November to December, 2013, according to data released today by the Department of Labor.

There are 22,300 non-farm jobs in the county, according to the report.

The state is touting 10,400 new jobs statewide and a drop of the statewide unemployment rate to 7.1 percent.

The unemployment rate for Genesee County has not been released.

Wyoming County now has 13,500 jobs, up 100 from a year ago. There is no separate job data available for Livingston and Orleans counties.

Lauren K. Pellegrino, 32, of West Main Street, Batavia, is charged with abandonment of animal and failure ot provide sustenance for an animal. Officers James Defreze and Chad Richards were dispatched to 129 Jackson St., Batavia, at 6:44 a.m. Jan. 6 to check on the welfare of a reportedly malnourished dog that was found by Pellegrino's landlord. The officers found a boxer/pitbull mix inside the residence. The officers determined the dog was allegedly "extremely malnourished."  Pellegrino allegedly left the dog unattended in the residence while she went on a vacation to Florida. The dog was removed from the residence and is being nursed back to health at the Genesee County Animal Shelter. Pellegrino was issued an appearance ticket on the charges.

Rachel E. Rast, 26, of Barefoot Lane, Caledonia, is charged with harassment, obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest. Officers Darryle Streeter and Stephen Cromiller responded to a report of a disturbance at Batavia Gardens at 1:13 p.m. Rast allegedly resisted arrest and in the process struck an officer in the head.

Kristopher J. Staats, 23, of Montclair Avenue, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Staats allegedly stole $64.95 cents worth of steaks from Settler's Restaurant while employed by the restaurant.

Marc David Unger, 31, of East Main Street, Corfu, was arrested on a warrant for alleged violation of probation.

Brooke Lyn Blaszak, 22, of Summit Street, Batavia, is charged with grand larcney, 4th. Blaszak allegedly stole $1,400 worth of property from an acquaintance. Blaszak was jailed on $1,000 bail

With 2 to 4 inches of snow expected, and 20 to 30 mph winds, the National Weather Serivce has issued a winter weather advisory or tomorrow at 2 p.m. through 7 p.m., Saturday.

There is also a wind child advisory in place from 10 p.m. tonight through noon tomorrow.

Blowing snow could contribute to hazardous travel conditions.

Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy is touring the state to tout Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget plan and stopped today at Genesee Community College.

Here is an official statement from the governor's office on the budget.

Photo submitted by a member of Lt. Gov. Duffy's staff.

Once again, local law enforcement is reminding people to lock up their cars, because unlocked vehicles seem to act as an invitation to thieves to help themselves to whatever they find inside.

From Jan. 13 through Jan. 20, Batavia PD received reports of items stolen from 12 unlocked vehicles at various locations throughout the city.

The thief or thieves took cash, change, purses, wallets, GPS units and other electronic items.

The larcenies were reported on South Main Street, Pearl Street, Franklin Street, Brooklyn Avenue, Meadowcrest Drive, Trumbull Parkway, Elm Street and Swan Street.

"The larcenies are believed to have been committed by persons walking in the neighborhoods during the evening hours," according to a Batavia PD press release.

To report suspicious activity in your neighborhood, call (585) 343-5000.

Press release:

The Genesee County Legislature, working with its consulting attorneys for long-term care planning -- Bond, Schoeneck & King -- is continuing a process of due diligence regarding the future of the Genesee County Nursing Home. This review has been made necessary by changes made by New York State in the long-term care fiscal and programmatic environment. Most critically, New York State is mandating that long-term care facilities begin moving to a managed care model.

The legislature has established three committees to keep moving the analysis and option review process forward expeditiously. They are comprised of members of the County Legislature and select administrative and community stakeholders on an “as needed basis."

The Long Term Care Sustainability Committee will be comprised initially of Raymond Cianfrini, Robert Bausch and Marianne Clattenburg; the Operations/Redesign Committee includes Annie Lawrence, Edward DeJaneiro and Gregg Torrey; The Community Engagement/Education Committees core members are Rochelle Stein, Frank Ferrando and Andrew Young. The overall focus is on the future role of the County’s 240 bed facility/services and to preserve the continuity, quality and accessibility to long-term care in Genesee County.

With the advent of mandatory Managed Care, New York State Department of Health has imposed fiscal constraints on all long-term care providers across the State, including regional reimbursement-rate formulas and the predominance of Medicaid as the principle revenue source for most New York State-based nursing homes. Time is of the essence to develop and articulate a strategy in 2014 which the Genesee County Legislature is pursuing posthaste.

In announcing the appointments and the start of the committee process, newly elected Chairman of the Genesee County Legislature Raymond F. Cianfrini stated: “Once again, changes made in Albany dictate that our county government work diligently to protect our taxpayers while insuring the availability of critical services to our community. Our charge to these committees and our consultants is that we devise a plan to insure that quality long-term care continue to be available and accessible in our community.”

Edward Wood

The man accused of robbing the Sunoco station at West Main and Dellinger Avenue on Tuesday night reportedly told police after his arrest that he wrote out a note, put on a red hoodie and black ski mask and brandished an Airsoft gun in an attempt to obtain cash to support his daughter.

Edward Wood III, 21, of Vine Street, Batavia, is charged with robbery, 2nd, criminal possession of a weapon, 4th, petit larceny, menacing, 2nd, and criminal mischief, 4th.

In a sworn statement to police, Wood admits to the robbery and says, "I'm sorry for what I did. I would not have done this if I had money to support my daughter."

Even though Wood was allegedly carrying an Airsoft gun, the clerk in the station took the situation very seriously.

"When he walked in, he started pointing a gun at me," the clerk wrote in his statement. "It was a black handgun. It looked like a Glock to me. The gun was already drawn at me when I first saw him. ... He said, 'Give me the money, Bro. I'm not playing around.' Then he chambered a round in the gun and kept it pointed at me."

The clerk also said at one point, the robber slammed the gun down on the counter, breaking the glass.

"I was afraid he might shoot me," the clerk wrote. "I opened the cash drawer and started taking out all the bills. When I got to the singles, he said 'That's enough. That's good.' "

Wood's version of events differs slightly.

He said he borrowed the Airsoft pistol (a gas-fired pellet gun) from a friend and wrote out a note that said, "Empty the cash drawer, put the Newport cigarettes in bag."

"I told the guy at the counter to not be stupid and give me the money," Wood reportedly told investigators. "I had the Airsoft gun in my right hand. The guy froze at first. He then told me to take what I wanted, pointing at stuff around the store. I told him I did not want that. I banged the barrell of the gun on the counter and I told him I wanted money."

Wood told investigators he took the money and ran from the store, down Dellinger Avenue, discarding the sky mask and hoodie as he fled.

He said he made it to his uncle's house and started to walk up the front steps, but then changed his mind about stopping there.

As he started to continue on his way, two Batavia PD patrol cars arrived on scene.

Dispatchers reported the robbery to patrols at 9:50 p.m.. Officers James DeFreze and Jamie Givens had Wood in custody at 9:53 p.m.

Wood was jailed without bail.

Previously: Sunoco on West Main robbed, suspect already in custody

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