Matthew Kota

Submitted photos and press release:

Giving back and saving lives 10 years later. Jason and Nancy Kota lost their son, Matthew, 10 years ago but they continue to honor his memory by giving back to the community and by helping save lives with the American Red Cross.

The Kota Family will be hosting the 10^th Annual Matthew Kota Memorial Blood Drive on Saturday, Feb. 3, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Notre Dame High School in Batavia. It is located at 73 Union St.

Due to blood drives canceled due to winter weather and illnesses such as the seasonal flu, there is a critical need for blood donations. Eligible donors are urged to give now. Walk-ins are welcome, but appointments are encouraged.

Visit www.redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS to make an appointment. Presenting donors will receive a $5 Dunkin Donuts card.

From left: Sara Kota, Jason Kota, Nancy Kota, Sean Kota, Chuck Marra and Tyler Kota.

Press release:

Have you ever thought about the role of a school board? Have you considered running for a seat on your school board? The Genesee Valley School Boards Association (GVSBA) will host two informational meetings for community members to learn more about the roles, responsibilities and election process.

These meetings will be held on March 7 at the Charles G. May Center, 27 Lackawanna Ave. in Mount Morris, and March 14 at the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership, 80 Munson St. in Le Roy. Registration is required; please sign up with your school district board clerk by Feb. 16. Both sessions will run from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Pizza will be provided.

It is important for prospective members to understand that, while the board elections are held in May there are timelines regarding filing petitions that must be met. Details regarding this election process will be explained.

GVSBA Executive Director Tom Cox will present this program based on information provided by the New York State School Board Association. It is vital that prospective members understand the roles and responsibilities and expectations of the position of a board member. There are ample resources provided through various sources to help board members learn and grow.

Taking on the responsibility of a school board member is a tremendous way to serve the students and adults of your community. The time commitment is something that will also be outlined in these workshops.

For more information please contact Tom Cox, GVSBA executive director, at tcox@gvboces.org or Sandra Lee James at sljames@gvboces.org

The results are in for the 2017 Genesee County Comprehensive Housing Needs Assessment and Market Analysis. LaBella Associates will be sharing these results with the public at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 7, at the Old Courthouse, Third Floor, 7 Main St., Batavia.

No reservations necessary.

Attendance may qualify for 1 hour of training credit for planning and zoning board members.

Questions may be directed to Felipe A. Oltramari, director, GC Department of Planning, 815-7901, Felipe.Oltramari@co.genesee.ny.us

Press release:

Please plan to join us for an evening of famous St. James desserts! The church’s Outreach Committee is hosting the first “Just Desserts” event: an evening of sweets and treats to raise funds in support of Community Health and Education for Rural Africa foundation (CHERA).

This project will encourage self-sufficiency through the development of a community maize milling cooperative. 

Shannon L. Klinkbell-Hayday, 41, of Liberty Street, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny and falsifying business records. Klinkbell-Hayday allegedly made fraudulent return refunds at a business where she was working and then kept the return money.

Devin P. Hofert, 22, of Hutchins Street, Batavia, was arrested on a warrant. Police came into contact with Hofert during an investigation into a domestic incident. He was also allegedly found with a hypodermic instrument. He was jailed on $5,000 bail.

John A. Snook, 29, of Oak Orchard, Albion, is charged with first-degree criminal contempt. Snook allegedly violated a stay away order of protection by going to the home of the protected person. He was jailed without bail.

Freddie L. Cunningham Jr., 56, of Ellicott Street, Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Cunningham allegedly threatened harm to another person during an incident reported at 3:14 p.m. Tuesday.

Christopher Lynn Allison, 23, of Gaines Waterport Road, Albion, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th, criminal use of drug paraphernalia, 2nd, and unlawful possession of marijuana. Allison was arrested after Deputy Ryan Delong responded to a report at 3:20 p.m. Wednesday to the 7-Eleven in Oakfield of a male unconscious in a vehicle.

A tractor-trailer rollover accident is reported in the area of 1074 Lewiston Road, Alabama.

The driver is out and appears uninjured. The road is blocked.

The product the truck is carrying is "all over the road." The product is alcohol.

Alabama fire responding.

UPDATE(S) (By Billie) 12:47 p.m.: The semi-truck was caught by a gust of wind and the passenger side wheels went off the roadway. The driver over-corrected, causing the rig to flip on its side. The roof then came off, spilling the cargo of $60,000 worth of liquor and wine. No injuries. More pictures will be posted later.

UPDATE 3:31 p.m.: The roadway is clear. All Alabama units are back in service.

Press release:

“New York state’s paradigm of pampering those who break the law or are here illegally never ceases to amaze me. The average middle-class taxpayer must scrape and save to afford a luxury such as a computer tablet, and now the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) is allowing them to be given out like candy to hardened criminals.

“If it’s this easy to encourage vendors to provide free tablets to inmates, why aren’t they being provided to our students in disadvantaged school districts or to libraries across the state as a community resource? I suppose crime does pay, especially if you live in New York.”

Mason McFollins and Antwan Odom scored 19 points each to lead Batavia High School to a 73-55 victory at home Wednesday night over Charter School for Applied Technologies, a Section VI team.

Steve Gilebarto scored 16 points and Jonathan Liciaga scored 11.

McFollins hit five three-point shots.

For C-SAT, Jayden Galleage scored 24 points.

Reason Magazine: Trump Promotes 'Right to Try' Experimental Treatments for Terminally Ill Patients in SOTU Address

They direct doctors how to determine the schedule loss of use percentage, or award, that an injured worker is due for a permanent injury to an extremity.

The Board was tasked with the job of updating these guidelines by the NYS legislature in early 2017. The intention was for the guidelines to be updated to reflect medical advances since the guidelines were first written, decades ago.

Unfortunately, the Board’s first revision to the guidelines went well beyond what anyone expected, or what could be justified simply based upon medical advancements. The Board’s proposal significantly slashed awards and changed how doctors were directed to evaluate schedule loss of use with little to no justification for these changes.

For these reasons, Dolce, Panepinto and other concerned parties, started a campaign to resist these changes. Among other things, we instituted a mass postcard campaign to let the Board know that injured workers would not stand for these changes.

Due to the support of many of you, we were successful in putting a stop to the Board’s first proposed revision to the guidelines. The new guidelines, that were recently adopted by the Board, are vastly different from the first rewrite.

While the newly adopted guidelines may result in some changes to how doctors assess schedule loss of use, they will not result in the across the board substantial reductions in permanency awards that the first revision intended.

We want to thank our clients, family and friends who assisted us in the post card campaign and in other ways. This amazing result could not have been achieved without your help.

The Sheriff's Office is investigating a pair of attempted break-ins to residences in Bergen, one in the Village and one in the Town, that occurred the night of Jan. 23.

In both cases, the would-be intruder or intruders failed to make entry into the homes.

One was an apartment on Gibson Place, the other a house on Creamery Road.

Investigator Andrew Hale said he believes the two attempted break-ins are related.

They happened within hours of each other.

There's little evidence at this point to identify a suspect.

What stopped the possible burglary on Gibson was a security chain on the kitchen door of the apartment. Whoever tried to break in got the door open but couldn't open it further because of the chain, Hale said. 

On Creamery Road, several windows were tried but none successfully opened.

Residents in the area are reminded to lock their doors and windows and be on the lookout for suspicious activity.

Anybody with information that may assist the investigation may call the Sheriff's Office at (585) 353-5000 and ask for extension 3570.

Three dozen volunteers turned out Tuesday night for a meeting at the Masonic Hall in Le Roy to learn about a new organization being formed by the Le Roy Rotary Club to help provide nutritious meals to members of the community.

Since Grace's Kitchen shut down in the Fall fo 2016, those with the financial or social need for free community meals haven't had a place to go, and Rotary members realized if there was going to be another community kitchen, they might need to be the ones to step up and make it happen.

"We felt there was a need in the community and that's what we do," said Tracy Ford. "Our motto is service above self."

Grace's Kitchen closed after Selby Davis left town. Davis operated Grace's Kitchen with oversight by the Le Roy Christian Community Project (LCCP). From 2011 to 2016, Grace's Kitchen served 100 to 125 people meals regularly, and 70 percent of those individual helped were elderly.

Meanwhile, there has been an increase in students participating in the LCCP's Backpack Club, which provides students with food bags to help them not go hungry between the time school gets out on Friday and begins again on Monday. About 35 percent of the students at Le Roy CSD are enrolled in the school's free or reduced-price meal program.

All of this, Ford said, points to an ongoing need for a meal program in the community.

To start, the Rotary Club, assisted by Foodlink, the Masons, local churches, the Boy Scouts, and other community groups, will serve a meal every other week at the Masonic Hall on Bank Street.

The first meal is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 27.

To facilitate the sustainability of the program, the Rotary members formed a nonprofit corporation.

The directors are: Christine Gephart, president; James Ellison, VP; Tracy Ford, secretary; Benjamin Dragon, treasurer; and board members Samantha Vagg Lawrence Boylan, Joan Ellison, Lynda Lowe and Collen O'Connor.

Much of the food will be provided by Foodlink. Ford said local restaurants said they will assist with meals.  

Ford said there should be plenty of food donated to help keep the program going so the main thing the organization needs from community members who want to help is to show up and offer helping hands.

"Manpower is the one big need," she said.

Randy J. Heslor, 24 of 3991 Pearl Street Road, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Heslor is accused of eating a deli sandwich in a store on West Main Street, Le Roy, and leaving without paying for it.

Robert T. Hoffman, 38, 45 Gilbert St., Le Roy, is charged with criminal mischief, 4th, and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Hoffman allegedly pushed another person and stopped that person from calling police. He was jailed on an unspecified amount of bail. 

Aaron Maurice Jackson Jr., 27, of Andrews Avenue, Binghamton, is charged with aggravated unlicensed operation, 3rd, and speeding. Jackson was stopped at 1:14 a.m. Monday on Boardway Road, Bethany, by Deputy Jeremy McClellan.

Grand Jury Report: 

Foster M. Brandt is indicted on counts of felony DWI. Brandt was stopped Sept. 23 on Route 5 in the Town of Le Roy. He was convicted in 2013 on a charge of driving while ability impaired by drugs.

Press release:

“President Trump had a record-setting first year of his Presidency,”Congressman Chris Collins said. “The United States was suffering under the failed policies of President Obama, which resulted in high unemployment, slow economic growth, burdensome regulations on businesses, and a lax approach to trade around the world.”

In 2017 alone, the Trump Administration eliminated 22 regulations for everyone one new regulatory action, created 2.1 million new jobs, lowered taxes for American families, and saw an average of 2.5 percent GDP growth. Due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, hundreds of businesses have given wage increases and bonuses to more than 3 million workers across America. Under President Trump, we have seen significant progress overseas and are winning the war against ISIS.

The President talked about his $1 trillion plan to rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, which would create jobs across America. A key factor will be streamlining the permitting process to take less than two years, in comparison to the sometimes seven- to 10-year process it currently takes to get approval to build things like roads, bridges and highways.

Additionally, President Trump is committed to fixing the problems created from President Obama’s executive order on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which he implemented unilaterally instead of working with Congress. Trump emphasized the need for Congress to pair any DACA solution with increased border security, elimination of the visa lottery, and ending chain migration to make sure we are not faced with similar problems years down the road.

Trump also discussed pursuing trade deals that treat the United States fairly and protect American workers. And in a world of growing threats, Trump has committed to rebuilding our military and strengthening efforts to combat terrorism.

Collins added: “I am confident that President Trump will lead us to greater opportunities as we build a safe, strong, and proud America. As we look back on this past year, I applaud the Trump Administration’s success and look forward to continuing our work to Make America Great Again.”

Ben Hayes, commissioner of the New York-Penn League, bristles at the idea that has persisted for 10 or more years that he, and the league, want to take professional baseball away from Batavia.

That simply isn't true, he said, during a press conference at the Quality Inn & Suites, Batavia, yesterday, where he introduced Dave Chase as the new general manager of the ballclub.

When asked with a question premised on the idea that Hayes or the league is looking to move the club, Hayes shot back, "It always starts with the assumption that the league wants to move the club. That is the part that I have a hard time with. Is the community supporting the club to the extent that it can? Can it make it on its own? That is really the question.

"This is going to be a really important year. Let's see if we strip it down and we go back to the basics, can Batavia support this ballclub? And if it can, fantastic."

In Dave Chase, the league is bringing in a baseball man through-and-through, with more than 40 years experience both in running organizations and in running the media operations that keep an eye on how baseball organizations operate. He's also been a commission of a college baseball league. He loves baseball and its history.

"Just for the record, guys, the only sport I recognize is baseball," he said. "The other ones just fill up the calendar."

And the baseball played outside of the major markets is the baseball that defines the sport and the nation, he said.

"I don't know if it's still there but at one time when you walked into the gallery Hall of Fame there was a quote above the entrance that said, 'To understand America, study,' and it says, 'baseball.' They left out a piece of the quote. It's 'to understand America study small-town baseball,' and that's what minor league baseball is. So when we talk about the national pastime being baseball, and I do recognize it as the national pastime, it's minor league baseball. I think don't think we're talking about Major League Baseball."

Both Hayes and Chase said repeatedly they hope the fans in and around Batavia embrace the Muckdogs and that Chase will do everything he can to ensure a quality fan experience.

As GM of a minor league team, Chase said he has many constituencies to serve. First is the Miami Marlin farmhands. There are also the fans, league officials, other franchises in the league, and corporate sponsors. He wants all of them to be happy with the team on the field and the experience in the ballpark.

For the Marlins, the priority is getting the field into shape and improve the clubhouses.

Chase and Hayes took a look at the field yesterday morning and they walked the outfield. They're not happy with the condition, they said.

"It looks like some of the maintenance that had been done in recent months or year were not done correctly," Chase said. "As a result, the playing surface of the infield is really rough. I would not want to put my son on it to field a ball and I wouldn't charge a baseball in the outfield either."

Work can't begin 'til spring and Chase indicated he's going to need to have some conversations with the baseball coaches at Genesee Community Collete, Notre Dame, Batavia High School, about field availability this year so that there is time to get the field ready for opening day June 18.

And he wants to meet with the coaches anyway, just as members of the local baseball community.

"I want to hear from other folks who are engaged in baseball," Chase said. "I want to hear from them because what is good for a part of baseball is good for baseball in the long run."

He also wants to hear from the fans.

"I want to hear what they like and do not like," he said. "I'm a one-man show at the moment so I may not be able to respond to them right away but my goal is to talk to them and for them to come and see me. Once we get the office cleaned up a little bit, we will invite people to come out and just talk baseball."

Some of the improvements needed at the ballpark -- cleaning up the office, new infield lights, new equipment in the concession stand -- is an expense the league will need to initially shoulder, Hayes acknowledged. He understands that the city may not have the funds available for infield lighting, but the current lighting doesn't meet league standards. 

Hayes said he has various options to fund upgrades and operations for the Muckdogs in 2018, to make up for any revenue shortfall, but in the long run, if the team ever is sold, those deficits will be covered out of the share of sale proceeds that will go to the Genesee County Baseball Club.

The club, a community nonprofit, has owned the franchise for decades, but after the NYPL declined to allow the Rochester Red Wings an extension on its 10-year operating agreement, the league took over operations of the franchise. The Red Wings are entitled to 50 percent of the sale price; the league would get 10 percent; and the Club 40 percent. But Hayes said costs above revenue will be charged to the Club.

The amount of money the Club gets will play a role in the Club's ability to help recruit and retain a team in one of the region's college summer leagues. 

Chase, who ran such a league, is mindful that is an option for local baseball fans.

"When you run out the New York-Penn, which is a quality short-season Class A league, we think Batavia has a good chance of supporting that, but if they can't, then some other baseball would have the option of coming in here," Chase said, and that option would be a college summer league.

When it comes to the quality of baseball, fans, he said, wouldn't know the difference.

"The young men who play the game, play as hard as ever and the fans get their summer fix of baseball," Chase said. "That that would be the next step. But we're not there yet. I think if the league was there that would have happened already."

It's been more than a dozen years since there has been an off-season without a Hot Stove League dinner, a favorite event with core Muckdogs fans, and when asked about it, both Chase and Hayes perked up and said they had just been discussing such an event at lunch. It may happen yet this off-season, Chase said.

Hayes said he picked Chase to run the club because of his experience and expertise.

"David has been in the business for four decades," Hayes said. "He's operated clubs from the low end to the high end and he knows what the values of professional baseball are and what the important things are."

There are two ways to look at Hayes hiring somebody like Chase. One is, the league wants to improve the financial position of the Muckdogs so the team can stay in Batavia. The other is to improve its curb appeal to help attract a new owner.

"There is a third option, too, and that is can we make this a stable market and can we keep it here," Hayes said. "And I don't think that that question has been completely vetted."

Surprisingly, Hayes said the first priority isn't to make the Muckdogs profitable. He said it was to get the fans more engaged with the team

"Financial viability really is not what I would say the number one," Hayes said, "It is very close to number one, but my closest number one is to make sure that as this situation stabilizes."

When it was suggested that there was a subtext to comments by Hayes that there was a dissatisfaction with how the Red Wing ran the ball club for the past 10 years, Hayes said that isn't the case at all.

"I think that they handled it and they did the job they did," Hayes said. "We've got to take a look at it and see if we can do the same thing if not better. If we can, great, and if we can't then the proof is in the pudding. Two people tried and we brought in two people who can operate a club properly. If neither one of them can do it, then maybe the market can't support it. Maybe that question will answer itself. This is a year for the city to show itself."

No injuries are reported in an accident in the area of 5588 Ellicott Street Road, Bethany, but extrication is needed.

Bethany fire, Stafford fire, and Mercy EMS dispatched.

UPDATE 10:26 a.m.: Manpower needed. The person who needs to be extricated is in a wheelchair. she is not insured. A first responder said it will be difficult to get her out but that she is probably just going to be a sign-off.