A car vs. motorcycle accident is reported in the area 8266 Lewiston Road, near Veterans Memorial Drive, Batavia.

Injuries are reported.

Town of Batavia fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.

New York used to be the largest grower of beets in the nation, participants in today's Decision Makers Agricultural Tour, learned while visiting a processing facility in Byron.

Now we're number two behind Michigan, but most of the beets grown in the state that puts us in that position are grown in Genesee County.

As part of the tour, Mark Dewey, of Dewey Farms, talked about his company's processing facility and the beet industry.

The facility processes beets from 600 acres of farmland in the area, on five farms in Genesee County and two in Livingston County. There are no beets grown in New York outside of those counties.

This was the 28th annual ag tour sponsored by the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce.

Most of the beets processed in Byron are handled for a U.K.-based company called Love Beets. 

Love Beets initially started selling beets in the United States by shipping them from Europe to a processing plant in New Jersey. When they learned about the Byron plant, which meets their mission-critical need for sorting by size, the company contracted with Dewey.

The plant processes beets year around. When the local growing season end here in the fall, beets are trucked in from the south through the winter. Dewey said they're working on getting more beets from Mexico for the spring and summer months.

Beets are pickled or canned or turned into juice. Some beets are organic. Others meet the dietary demands of Kosher.

Visitors were able to sample a variety of beet products, including a beet lemonade (really, it's good) that's sold at Tops.

The tour also included a stop by Oxbo International in Byron, where farm equipment is manufactured, and Vegetal, which grows sedum, a cactus-like plant that can be grown on roofs to help reduce energy costs (prior coverage).

NOTE: Oxbo asked that we not publish photos from inside the facility. First three photos are of Dewey Farms and below those is one of Christian Yunker, from CY Farms, which hosts Vegetal, at the Vegetal facility on Bank Street Road, Batavia.

UPDATE: Last photo is of John Easton, Oxbo employee, conducting a tour of the plant. Published with permission.

Press release:

In recognition of her academic perseverance and successful accomplishments, Batavia High student Julieth Caceres was presented with an Outstanding Student Award by Board of Education President Patrick Burk at the Board meeting on September 19.

She was nominated by Courtney Turcer, a teacher of English to speakers of other languages, who wrote, “Julieth sat for both the Global and Earth Science Regents on the same June day, for a total of 12 hours, from 8:30 a.m. to nearly 9 p.m. Unfortunately, she failed both exams. Despite the grueling day, she decided to try both exams again in August when they would be given on consecutive days rather than the same day. This time, she walked in with confidence and a positive attitude and she passed both Regents!

"While this is a great accomplishment for any student, for Juli, this is huge. She moved here three years ago from Colombia and did not speak a word of English. There are not many students who would persevere for 12 hours through two Regents exams in the same day – and then, as Juli did, continue to be positive and return to try again. She is truly worthy of recognition.”

In recognition of her valuable contribution to the staff and students, Middle School teacher Michelle Woodward was presented with an Outstanding Staff Award by Board of Education President Patrick Burk at the Board meeting on September 19.

She was nominated by Mrs. Lindsey Heassler, sixth-grade social studies and reading teacher, who wrote, “Mrs. Woodward is an extremely hard-working, motivated, and dedicated sixth grade teacher who goes above and beyond her normal obligations for students. She works with students after school on a daily basis and runs various student clubs.

"For many years, she has served as the sixth grade coordinator at the Middle School. In this role, she organizes fundraisers, field trips, and handles grade level finances. This is an extremely large undertaking, and she shoulders the responsibilities with accuracy and expertise. Colleagues would not be able to do many of the extracurricular activities with their students without Mrs. Woodward’s valuable contribution of time and skill.”

In recognition of her valuable contribution to the staff and students at John Kennedy, teacher aide Michelle Nanni was presented with an Outstanding Staff Award by Board of Education President Patrick Burk at the Board meeting on September 19.

She was nominated by special education teacher, Mrs. Neumann, who wrote, “Ms. Nanni is flexible and willing to support the special education teacher and team of professionals who strives to meet the needs of all John Kennedy students. She has a positive demeanor, and is genuine and kind to all whom she encounters.”

Photos by Kathie Scott, Batavia City Schools.

Victims of domestic violence, community-based domestic violence experts, representatives from nonprofit organizations, and members of the community gathered Tuesday night at the YWCA to raise questions and address concerns.

The regional event was hosted by Assemblyman Steve Hawley and included members of the New York State Assembly Minority Steering Committee.

“There is one overwhelming thing we all agree on, whether we’re from Downstate, Long Island, the city, North Country or Western New York,” Assemblyman Hawley said. “We all agree that there is a huge issue that used to be hidden, but is no longer hidden. It’s domestic violence.”

Assemblyman Al Graf showed the attendees a stack of “really stupid bills” that they had for domestic abuse, one of which included having victims wear an ankle bracelet monitor to track the victims.

Graf said they are hoping to continue to use technology to their advantage to come up with a better solution than an ankle bracelet monitor for victims.

“An alert button that would notify the police that a domestic violence alert button was sounded and here is the location,” Graf said. “That’s one of the things we’re looking at.”

Most panic buttons are inside homes, which won’t help, if the victim is not in their home, Graf said.

Assemblyman Joseph Giglio asked an attendee and survivor of domestic violence, “How would we protect you when your abuser gets out of jail?”

“The panic button alert system is something I would be comfortable with,” she said. “A name change, anything, so that I don’t exist anymore.”

Some communities use Justice Centers, which has everything that would be needed under one roof, providing services to get families back on their feet after the trauma. Graf said it would provide a one-stop shop.

Jeanne Walton, the executive director of the YWCA of Genesee County in Batavia, said they serve 30-40 individuals with domestic violence issues annually and what they could do with more resources for people would be unbelievable.

“If you gave us $75,000 tomorrow, we could set up a justice center right now in this room,” Walton said.

Walton said there needs to be a unified front for domestic abuse issues. Having counseling, education, and other services all under one roof is a start.

Diane Watts, of Shelby, spoke about her personal experiences and beliefs that there should be education in schools to stop it before it starts.

Watts shot and killed her abuser in 2002, after being a victim of domestic abuse for years. She was later found not guilty by reason of justification. She said the family of her abuser is into the sixth generation of abusers.

“You’ve got to find some way to stop that cycle,” Watts said. “We need to get it into the schools, we need to get it into the churches, and we need to get it anywhere we can to stop that cycle.”

Walton said the YWCA has been in the schools for the last two years, speaking to students during Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

“We went to every school in the county except one last year, and just about all of them the year before,” Walton said. “It was groundbreaking, the effect it had on people. Dedicating funding for that would be tremendous.”

Assemblyman Steve Hawley, left, and Assemblyman Al Graf with some "really stupid bills" from his filing cabinet.

ALL POINTS BULLETIN --

Kristen Fluet hopes readers of The Batavian can find her missing dog, "Coco."

She's a blond chihuahua mix with longer hair.

Coco is wearing a pink collar with white polka dots.

She was lost last night, but has been seen twice today on Ross Street (near Bank).

"She's very skittish, so don't chase her."

Call Jen at 585-781-0198.

The family "is just heartbroken," pining for their tiny doe-eyed minx.

UPDATE 4:25 p.m.: Coco is home safe.

Batavia City Schools continue to exceed state averages for the graduation rates for children with special needs.

Trisha Finnigan, director of special education and alternative education, updated the school board on special education in the district during Tuesday night's board meeting.

For 2015-16, the state average graduation rate of 55.39 percent. The City Schools rate was 60.9 percent.

That's consistent with prior years, going back to 2005-06 when the state was 37 percent and the local rate was 46.4 percent. In 2014-15, the state rate was 50.48 percent and the local rate was 57 percent.

Also, Finnigan said, the district is having some success with students that state doesn't count as "graduated," though she thinks they should be counted.

"The truth is, and I've talked about this before, is that, for example, some of our students that have some pretty significant cognitive limitations and can't earn a Regent's diploma. They now earn what's called a skills and achievement commencement credential. It's evidence that we've prepared them for, ideally, employment or work toward a realistic postsecondary plan. We don't get credit for those in our graduation rate and it actually counts against us. It's something that any time I can give feedback to the state about, I do."

Students also have until their 21st birthday to graduate, but when a student needs more time, the state doesn't count those eventual successful graduations in the district's graduation rate for special education.

"I think many of you had pleasure last year to meet a young lady who needed until January after her senior year to graduate, but she did it," Finnigan said. "That counts against us."

In other measures, 80 percent or more of special education students in Batavia are spending at least 66 percent of their time inside of regular classrooms. That exceeds the state standard of 58.2 percent. 

Owners of an East Main Street welding business made a compelling argument before the City Planning & Development Committee Tuesday night and, as a result, are one step away from achieving their goal to convert a former auto repair shop into a storage facility.

“Absolutely,” said PDC Chairperson Duane Preston, when asked if Daniel and Joyce Mattice, owners of Tri-County Welding at 649 E. Main St., had a strong case for a proposal to transform five of the six bays of the former Mazur’s Auto Repair into retail storage units.

“Since he has the right to put a junkyard in there, this is definitely the softer of all choices,” Preston said. “Now it will be an enclosed building, cleaned up, with no dust, no junk and little traffic.”

The Mattices purchased the Mazur building at 643-645 E. Main St. through foreclosure last year and have put around $40,000 into upgrading it, while renting out the front of the building – office space -- to Anything Your Heart Desires floral shop.

They said they unsuccessfully tried to get someone to rent the auto repair shop before coming up with the idea of storage units. City zoning laws, however, do not permit storage units in an Industrial-1 zone, meaning that the Mattices had to seek an area variance.

Their request was recommended for disapproval by the Genesee County Planning Board last week, but their presentation last night – buoyed by statements from attorney Michael Del Plato – convinced the PDC that their plan could work.

“This is an opportunity to protect your property, and they should be able to take advantage of it,” Del Plato said, noting that there are many businesses in that area. “We can’t legislate through City Council every potential use; the local boards have to help us out here.”

Del Plato called the variance request “minimal” in scope with “much less density” than the building’s previous use, and noted that the business is in an “Industrial zone surrounded by commercial uses.”

Joyce Mattice said she had signed statements from the surrounding business owners in support of their venture, ensuring the PDC that there would be no hazardous materials or tires on site.

The PDC voted unanimously to approve the variance. The request now goes in front of the City Zoning Board of Appeals on Sept. 28, needing four out of five “yes” votes for final approval.

Preston said the Mattices’ request comes at a “transitional period” (in relation to zoning) in that the updated Comprehensive Plan is nearly finalized and will be addressed by City Council.

“In this case, we took into account the particular area and the makeup of the neighborhood,” he said.

In other action, the committee:

-- Approved a site plan for a proposed 2,700-square-foot addition at Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse campus on East Main Street, which would be used as a methadone clinic to treat people with opioid addictions.

This action comes on the heels of a similar recommendation by the Genesee County Planning Board.

GCASA Executive Director John Bennett and project architect Raymond Murphy presented the plan last night, reiterating the immediate need for such a facility in light of what Bennett terms a “national epidemic.”

The new clinic, with an April 2018 opening target date, will be funded by an $820,000 grant from the state Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services, Bennett said.

Plans are for it to be open in the morning from Monday through Saturday for people to take their prescription and head off to their daily tasks.

The addition will result in an increase of 38 parking spaces on the campus, raising the total parking capacity to 72 spaces.

-- Recommended approval of a 20,075-square-foot, one-story addition to an industrial use building at O-At-Ka Milk Products on Cedar Street.

The $2.5 million addition would be placed adjacent to the existing warehouse space to the west and south on the property. Work is expected to start in less than a month.

As of this morning, Dennis Kenney is the new interim principal at Batavia High School.

Kenney fills the vacancy left when Scott Wilson accepted a position in Churchville.

The school district reviewed several candidates to replace Wilson on a permanent basis but has decided to extend the search.

Kenney will serve as principal until Dec. 22.  

The school board approved his contract in executive session at the start of last night's meeting.

A resident of Warsaw, Kenney has 40 years in education and recently retired as a principal at Iroquois Central Schools, where he worked for 12 years.

His first 18 years in education was with the New York State Division Youth, which is now Child and Family Services, working in residential facilities with kids who had serious emotional issues and learning disabilities.

He's also been a principal at Barker, an assistant in Albion and Canandaigua and served for two-and-a-half years as superintended in Perry.

He has three sons and was on vacation in Virginia Beach with eight of his grandchildren when he got the call from Superintendent Chris Dailey asking if he would be interested in interviewing for the interim position.

"They'll find me a very visible high school principal and very approachable," Kenney said. "I'd like the parents to know that my door is always open, and staff, to come and see me on anything. The students, too. I think we have a great school district here and the high school has a great faculty, good assistant principals, and we're going to work together and keep moving forward."

When district officials asked voters to approve a $27 million capital improvement project they promised the tax levy would go up "0.00 percent" and with the approval of the annual tax warrants tonight, Batavia School District trustees kept the promise.

In fact, because assessed values have gone up about 3 percent for properties in the school district, the 2017-18 tax rate for property owners will go down 79 cents, or 3.54 percent.

The new rate will be $21.46 per thousand of assessed value, Business Manager Scott Rozanski told the board.

It's the second year in a row the district has lowered the tax rate by more than 3 percent.

In six of the past 10 years, the school district property tax rate has gone down from the previous year. Accounting for those years the rate has gone up, the average annual increase is .07 .70 percent.

UPDATE: Scott Rozanski provided these PDFs:

• The 15-year history of the tax levy.
• The 15-year history of the tax rate.

He also told us:

The only thing in the District's control is the levy.  The tax rate is determined by a number of factors outside our control (assessments, equalization rate and county adjustments from prior year such as omitted taxes and exemption removals) 
Also, this will be the fourth consecutive year that taxpayers will receive a rebate check from NYS as a result of our compliance with controlling the taxes (tax freeze).

Just one clarification, the ten-year tax levy increase is 0.70 percent (not 0.07 percent) - as written online.

Genesee County is leading the state in shared services among municipalities, Highway Superintendent Tim Hens told members of the County Legislature on Monday.

As an example, he pointed to paving work on South Main Street Road this week.

Hauling in asphalt are trucks from Pavilion, Byron, Elba (two), Batavia (three), Stafford (two), Alexander and Bergen.

The crews will also resurface Byron Road this week.  

The $570,000 project is paid for by a state grant.

The South Main project is 3.8 miles and Byron is 4.5 miles.

"It seems things like just keep getting better and better," Hens said. "We have a great mix of (town) superintendents."

She is scheduled for surgery at 5 p.m. at Strong Memorial Hospital, according to Kurt Fisher.

Carrie Fisher has been at Strong since August on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine. Fisher developed cardiomyopathy during her second pregnancy with her son, Trevor, whom she delivered on July 11. Her heart was weakened and could no longer sustain her.

The whole family and the community have pulled together to help Carrie, Andrew, and their children get through the difficult time.

"We would like to let everybody know (that the transplant is taking place) who have helped us out," Kurt Fisher said. "Thank you."

Submitted photo.

Press release:

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today announced $500,000 in federal funding for the Town of Batavia in Genesee County. The federal funding was allocated through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development program. Specifically, the Town of Batavia will use the funding to create a new Southwest Water District. The new water district will bring public water service to 40 residential users who do not currently have access to safe drinking water.

“This federal investment is great news for the Town of Batavia,” Senator Schumer said. “With support from the USDA’s Rural Development program, Batavia will be able to create a vital new water district bringing public water service to dozens of residents. I am proud to announce this federal investment and will continue to fight to make sure that rural communities have the tools they need to grow and prosper.”

“This investment ... will help facilitate a critical project that will bring safe and reliable water to dozens of residents in the Town of Batavia,” Senator Gillibrand said. “These funds will provide the necessary resources to build a brand new water district, which will help deliver clean water and enhance residents' quality of life, and protect public health in the area.”

“We are so grateful and excited to receive this funding that will allow us to make a vital resource available to the community," said Greg Post, Batavia Town Supervisor. "Access to clean water will both enhance the personal health of many individuals and spur development in this area.

"Senators Schumer and Gillibrand have long supported us and we express extraordinary gratitude to all elected officials, the USDA, and stewards at every level who have made it possible for us to receive funding for an initiative that will so greatly benefit our community.”

USDA Rural Development's mission is to increase economic opportunity and improve the quality of life for rural residents. The Rural Development agency is committed to improving economies and lives in rural America, through loans, grants and loan guarantees. They support local businesses, individuals, and communities by promoting economic development, offering loans and providing technical assistance.

A delay in securing financing through the New Market Tax Credit program for developer Savarino Companies has held up the state of the Ellicott Station project, which is the $18 million redevelopment of the former Della Penna property on Ellicott Street in Batavia.

Julie Pacatte, economic development coordinator for the Batavia Development Corp., said today that Savarino expects to close financing on the project in November.

The original target date was August. (For an explanation of financing for the project, click here.)

This week, survey crews are on site so preliminary engineering work can begin. The surveys will help with floodplain-related design work.

Once financing is done, environmental remediation work can begin. 

"Hopefully, we'll get some favorable days and favorable weather during the winter," Pacatte said. "There's also some work to do inside on Resurgence Brewery. By spring, we should be in full construction mode."

There will also be a workforce recruitment project beginning in the fall, in cooperation with PUSH Buffalo and the Genesee County Work Center aimed at finding jobs for hard-to-place workers.

Savarino, Pacatte​ said, is also inviting local contractors to bid on subcontracts. Bid specs will be available on the Savarino website once the purchase of the property is completed.

Press release:

The local Zonta Club of Batavia-Genesee County is seeking donations for their project assemblying personal care bags for victims of domestic violence.

Zonta Club of Batavia will be assembling the packages in late October and working with the local YWCA to distribute them.

Items needed for the care packages are: Toothpaste, floss, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, hair brush & accessories, razors, shaving cream, feminine products, deodorant, journals, pens, Q-Tips, socks, loofahs, nail polish.

All donations need to be regular-size bottles, please no travel size. All donations can be dropped off to Beth Kemp at T-Shirts Etc, 37 Center St., Batavia.

You may also choose to donate monetarily to assist with purchasing the items needed.

All checks should be made out to: Zonta Club of Batavia-Genesee County and mailed to Zonta Domestic Care Project, 3977 W. Main Street Road, Batavia, NY 14020.

Press release:

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced today that the 2017-18 Western New York trapping season for fox, raccoon, coyote and other upland furbearing animals opens on Oct. 25 and closes on Feb. 15.

The start of upland trapping will be delayed until Nov. 1 at the John White Wildlife Management Area (WMA), and the trapping season for mink, muskrat and beaver at this WMA will run from Nov. 25 until Feb. 15.

The start of muskrat and mink trapping at the Oak Orchard and Tonawanda WMAs will run from Dec. 2 to Feb. 15.

Beginning Oct. 2, trapping permits will be issued for the Oak Orchard, Tonawanda, and John White WMAs for the 2017-2018 license year.

Permit applications can be obtained weekdays from Oct. 2 to Nov. 30, by appearing in person at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge Office on Casey Road between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., or by writing to the DEC, Bureau of Wildlife, 1101 Casey Road, Box B, Basom, NY 14013.

Trappers who obtain a permit will be required to report their harvest and trapping efforts on each area.

After last year’s extreme drought, water levels on these areas are back to normal conditions this year, but there are new areas of dense vegetation in several marshes. Wetland muskrat and mink trapping maybe limited to dike trapping in a number of marshes to allow the muskrat population to continue to recover from the drought, especially in marshes where increased muskrat numbers will benefit marsh habitat conditions. Full access for trapping will be permitted in the remaining marshes.

Additional information will be available by Oct. 2, and when trapping permits are issued.

The maximum number of traps a trapper can set for muskrat and mink in water on the three areas is 25. To accomplish this, DEC issues 25 numbered tags to each trapper that obtains a permit. A tag must be attached to each trap used on the areas. Any trap that does not have one of these tags attached is an illegal trap.

In addition, an individual trapper can only operate traps that contain tags with their assigned numbers. Traps set for upland trapping and beaver will not require numbered tags and will not be considered in the trap limit. The trap limit provides a more equitable distribution of the harvest and prevents trappers from monopolizing the better trapping areas.

Management of the muskrat population promotes prime emergent marsh habitats used by waterfowl and uncommon marsh birds such as the black tern and least bittern. The trap limit and possible additional trapping restrictions allow DEC’s Bureau of Wildlife personnel to better regulate the muskrat harvest according to water availability, habitat needs and population.

DEC reminds hunters and trappers that gas and electric motorboats are prohibited on Oak Orchard or Tonawanda WMAs.

The City of Batavia Republican Committee will be hosting a Chiavetta’s Chicken BBQ from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m on Sunday, Oct. 1, at the Town of Batavia Fire Hall, 8382 Lewiston Road.

Dinners are take out only and include 1/2 chicken, potato salad, cole slaw, roll and butter.

Tickets are $10 each and can be purchased from any committee member or at the event.

Now that the cupola atop the Old County Courthouse can be lit in any color in the spectrum, County Manager Jay Gsell is proposing the County Legislature adopt a policy on how and when it can be lit for special causes and occasions.

"What we're trying to do is establish a fairly general policy so it doesn't all the sudden become a free for all," Gsell told members of the Public Service Committee during Monday's meeting.

The policy would reserve county, state, and national holidays as well as days designated for "long-established causes" that county is associated with, such as domestic violence awareness, breast cancer awareness, and STOP DWI.

Otherwise, other groups can submit a written request, using a newly created county form, to request to light the cupola in appropriate colors for the specified event or cause.

Whether to grant the request will be at the discretion of the county manager or his designee.

The lighting for the cupola, which is controlled by a computer on the third floor of the courthouse, was donated by Batavia-based Lighting Design Innovations earlier this year.

It was lit -- in red, white, and blue -- for the first time in May.

The committee recommended approval of the resolution by the full Legislature.