Pushing through adversity and not giving up on your goals are keys to success, said Brittany Salmon, Batavia native and one of the top-ranked speed skaters in the nation, while speaking this afternoon to students in the Girls on the Run program at Batavia Middle School.

Salmon always dreamed of being an Olympian, starting as an 8-year-old hockey player with the Batavia Ramparts. And though she went on to play Division I hockey at Princeton, she found she wasn't quite good enough make the Olympic hockey team. More as a chance to compete and have fun, she took up speed skating after college and a coach encouraged her to take a shot at making the U.S. Hockey Team.

She moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, and started training with the team, but then she suffered a series of injuries. She had two knee surgeries, a broken back and various tears and sprains of muscles and tendons. That kept her from physical training for two years.

She admitted to feeling discouraged, even depressed, and she thought about giving up speed skating.

"It's hard to keep motivated and keep pushing through when you can't do something that you love," she said.

Then she had a realization. If she couldn't prepare to compete physically, she could still prepare to compete mentally. She started reading books on competition and training, and mental preparation, and nutrition ,and started visualizing exercises.

"So, all the sudden, even though I'm injured, I'm still working towards my goal," Salmon said. "Even when roadblocks come up, there are ways to work around them. Even though you're injured now, maybe you can do sit ups. There's always a way around a roadblock."

By the time she returned to competition, she jumped from a top 16 skater, she said, to maybe a top six.

"After all that hard work of reading and visualizing, I got back on the ice," Salmon said. "I made Olympic trials. I didn't make the Olympic team. I'm bummed about that, but I made our World Cup Team and I earned my USA suit and I got to skate with all the Olympians and I got to race against all of the Olympians. I got my butt kicked, because they're so good. That was my first international race, but it was super cool and I'm so happy that pushed I through it and kept working toward my goals and didn't give up at all."

Press release:

Kevin Carlson from the Warsaw Kiwanis Club presents a $1,000 check to Jeanne Walton, president of the Kiwanis Club of Batavia. The check is a donation the Warsaw club is making to  the JFCAC (Justice for Children Advocacy Center) Glow Foundation as part of the 5th Annual Bidding on a Brighter Future Auction and Gala which was hosted by the Kiwanis Club of Batavia on Sept. 19th.

The event was part of a long-term effort by the Kiwanis Club of Batavia to raise the funds necessary to acquire a permanent home for the Justice for Children Advocacy Center in Batavia. The Kiwanis Club of Batavia would like to thank the Warsaw Kiwanis Club as well as everyone else who donated money and volunteered their time for another successful gala.

Hundreds of high school students from throughout the GLOW region particpated today in Genesee Community College's Fourth Annual Harvest Festival and Farmer's Market, which culiminated in a "Campus Crunch," with participants all simultaniously taking a big bite out of a locally grown apple.

The day's events included samplings of local products and presentations by local farmers and others who are part of the GLOW region agri-business community.

(Photo by Alex Feig, of our news partner WBTA.)

The Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council announces a call for artists to submit up to five pieces of winter-related 2-D work for the 14th annual Holiday Group Show. The exhibit will be held Nov. 5 through Dec. 17 at the Batavia Satellite Gallery inside the Genesee County Senior Center, 2 Bank St. in the city.

Drop-off dates are 9 a.m to 4 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 29 and 30, at GO ART! Seymour Place, 201 E. Main St., Batavia. (The Batavia Satellite Gallery is equipped with the Walker Hanging System.) Remember to include the completed inventory form with your work when you drop it off.

There will be a meet-the-artists reception at the Senior Center from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 4, during Batavia's Christmas in the City event.

Pick-up dates are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 22 and 23, at GO ART! Seymour Place.

General Guidelines:

1)  The exhibit invitation is open to all artists in 2-D media;

2)  All artwork submitted must be winter-related;

3)  Work MUST be framed, wired and ready for hanging. NO sawtooth hangers;

4)  GO ART! reserves the right to accept or refuse pieces;

5)  All questions should be directed to GO ART! by calling (585) 343-9313 or via e-mail  info@goart.org

6)  The inventory/release form should accompany your artwork when you drop it off. These can be picked up at GO ART! or printed out from our Web site;

7)  All artwork should be labeled on the back with name, title, medium and price;

8)  Items may be offered for sale. If sold, GO ART! will receive 10-percent commission;

9)  Insurance is the responsibility of the artist.

Press release:

A focus group on Monday, Oct. 19th, will enable New Yorkers with disabilities in Buffalo, Niagara Falls, New York City and Batavia to have their voices heard on which programs most deserve Federal Independent Living funds allocated for the Empire State in the next three years.

The entity designated by the federal government to oversee this process, the New York State Independent Living Council (NYSILC) has been gathering consumers’ input on the statewide plan for Independent Living (SPIL) for 2016-2019.

In our region, Western New York Independent Living, Inc. (WNYIL), is facilitating this effort by holding the focus group from 2 to 4 p.m. at its 3108 Main St. facility near Hertel Avenue, in Buffalo’s University District. However, video conferencing will permit participation by those at Independent Living of Niagara County, 746 Portage Road, near Pine Avenue in Niagara Falls, and at Independent Living of the Genesee Region at 113 Main St., Suite 5, in Batavia.

Funding ideas presented for past SPIL three-year plans that bore fruit include: the Statewide Self-Advocacy Network (SSAN) in which community-change advocates across New York work collaboratively to help localities become more disability-accessible; development of programs, such as Consumer-Directed Personal Assistance Services (CDPAS), which give individuals control of their own Home Care Attendants; plus research into an array of disability issues, and training to enhance the quality of local services.

Those who wish to register can call Johanna at (716) 836-0822, ext. 120. Additional information is available from Todd Vaarwerk at (716) 836-0822, ext. 101.  Space is limited.

WNY Independent Living, Inc. is Western New York's largest cross-disability, consumer-directed, non-residential organization for persons with disabilities. At WNYIL, individuals of all ages and all types of disabilities learn to exercise their freedom of choice to take control of their own lives in order to live more productively in, and contribute to, the community.

Press release:

Crossroads House in conjunction with St. James Episcopal Church is offering a FREE Community Concert at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23, titled “A Showcase of a Local Treasure."

“Our community is fortunate to have such a rare treasure in an acoustical setting second to none," said Crossroads House Executive Director Jeff Allen. "In keeping with St. James' 200^th Anniversary and the City of Batavia’s Centennial, this concert is given as a gift back to a generous community that has supported us since 1996.”

This will NOT be your typical organ concert. In showcasing the amazing dynamics and broad range of this historic pipe organ, numbers will include sacred hymns as well as songs by The Doors, The Allman Brothers Band, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and more.

Pipe organs have largely been relegated to Sunday morning worship services for centuries and the gift of their sound is kept to a select audience. 

“I liken most pipe organs to a Ferrari that is only backed in and out of the garage once a week, at this concert, we will take the Ferrari out on the open road and reveal it’s amazing horsepower,” Allen said.

Playing the organ will be St. James organist David Lange who will offer powerful renditions of the sacred hymns and Jeffrey Fischer who will put the pedal to the metal and play the modern rock classics.

Again, the concert is free and no offering will be taken, just come and enjoy. You will love it madly.

Date: Friday Oct. 23^rd at 7 p.m.

Place: St James Episcopal Church, 405 E. Main St., Batavia.

Press release:

From 2 to 4 p.m. this Sunday, Oct. 18^th Notre Dame High School will hold its annual Fall Open House for prospective students. Everyone is invited to come “Experience the Difference” of a Notre Dame education.

Teachers will be on hand along with many clubs and sports coaches. The Notre Dame experience is affordable for all, financial aid and scholarships are available.

Notre Dame is a Catholic school with a physically and emotionally safe learning environment welcoming to all. Our Tradition of Excellence continues with a graduation rate of 100 percent for the Class of 2015, with 100 percent attending college earning $4 million in scholarships.

Please join us to learn more about our small school community with big school possibilities. The school is located at 73 Union St. in the City of Batavia. Phone is 343-2783.

Press release:

RTS Genesee announced today that it will begin testing a pilot bus route in January that will connect Genesee Community College’s (GCC) College Village to the business district. The pilot route will also connect the Walden Estates and Woodstock Gardens apartment complexes to businesses on the west side of town. RTS Genesee has aligned this service with local business hours to connect customers with retail, entertainment and dining destinations.

The pilot route will operate approximately from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. every Friday that GCC is in session, between Jan. 22 and May 13. The pilot route will not be in service when GCC students are on break. The standard fare of $1 for a one-way ride will apply.

“This pilot route is a result of input from our customers and conversations with GCC and the business improvement district,” said James Mott, regional manager of RTS Genesee. “GCC and the people of Genesee County have been valued partners of RTS for many years and it’s our hope this pilot route becomes popular enough to make it a permanent addition.”

More information, including the pilot route schedule will be available later this year.

For all other information, visit www.myRTS.com/Genesee.

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) today announced the availability of $1.4 million in grant funding through the New York State Environmental Protection Fund to support a pilot program aimed at helping farms implement projects that mitigate adverse environmental impact and protect against dramatic weather conditions.

Funding will be available to farmers who best develop projects which reduce greenhouse gas and carbon emissions as well as aid farms in their constant struggles with drought and flooding.

“As the owner of a family farm for many years, I understand the daily struggles of Western New York farmers as they try to protect their crops from harmful New York weather conditions,” Hawley said. “As large agricultural producers, we must also be mindful of our environmental footprint, and this funding will help our state’s farms develop procedures which reduce detrimental environmental impact without damaging the farms’ ability to grow produce and livestock. This is a victory for our environment, as well as farmers who could use increased funding to protect their livelihoods from flooding and drought.”

County Soil and Water Conservation districts will apply for competitive grants on behalf of farmers and must be submitted for one of the following categories: soil health systems, on-farm riparian, floodplain and upland water management systems, or agricultural waste storage cover and flare systems.

Applications must be received by Dec. 14 and can be submitted at https://www.grantsgateway.ny.gov

Tom Murphy, a professional MMA fighter and an Ultimate Fighting Champion, brought his anti-bullying presention, Sweethearts and Heroes, to Batavia High School on Wednesday afternoon. Murphy's program is aimed at giving students tools for combating bullying, not just a pep talk about why bullying is wrong.

“Just talking about awareness doesn’t fix anything,” said Murphy, who lives in Glen Falls and was a wrestler in college at Brockport. “What separates us from other anti-bullying presentations and projects is that we have the plan to curb, and even stop, bullying in your school, or wherever it exists for you.”

His special guest Wednesday was Rick Yarosh and his companion dog Amos. Yarosh is an Iraq War vet whose Bradley armored vehicle was incinerated by an IED, leaving Yarosh badly burned. He also lost a leg. Yarosh spoke about battling against hopelessness to live a life of purpose and optimism.  

New York Times: Cash Drops and Keystrokes: The Dark Reality of Sports Betting and Daily Fantasy Games

A car vs. tractor-trailer accident is reported at Ellicott Street Road and Telephone Road, Pavilion. A 9-year-old child may have a fractured ankle. Law enforcement is on scene. Pavilion Fire Department and Mercy medics are responding.

An apartment house fire in Corfu Village was reported a few minutes ago and five fire departments were called to the scene. The location is 9 E. Main St., between Corfu Plaza and West Main Street. A minute later, a dispatcher said the fire was out and all responders could go back in service, with the exception of Corfu.

The caller said flames and smoke were visible.

The other responders toned out for service were the city's Fast Team, Darien, Pembroke, East Pembroke and Mercy medics.

There will be an internal investigation into why a door to a roof was left open at 400 Towers, apparently contributing to the death of a resident of the facility, said Brooks Hawley, a member of the Batavia Housing Authority Board of Directors.

Yesterday morning a 91-year-old man with dementia was found dead on the roof, apparently the victim of exposure after wandering onto the roof and seemingly unable to find his way back into the building.

The name of the man has not yet been released.

Hawley, who is also president of the City Council, called the incident "unfortunate."

"We will be doing an internal investigation to find out what went wrong and whose responsibility it was," Hawley said. "I believe something slipped through the cracks and unfortunately the door to the roof was left open and we need to investigate that and find out why."

This is the second death of questionable circumstances in the past six months at 400 Towers, but Hawley said the two incidents are totally unrelated.

In the prior incident, a resident apparently died of natural causes in his apartment, but his death wasn't discovered for at least two weeks.

"The only reason he was not found is because he didn't have any friends and there are liability issues for just entering somebody's apartment unless there's a cause."

UPDATE: Here's a press release about the incident from Batavia PD:

The Batavia Police Department is currently investigating the death of a 91-year old -male that occurred sometime overnight, Oct. 12 – 13, at 400 E. Main St. in the City of Batavia.

Officers responded at approximately 8:36 a.m. for a missing person report at that location. The call was placed by a caregiver who had stopped to check on the deceased early that morning. After a brief search the man was located on the roof of 400 E. Main St. deceased. Video recovered from the premises shows the man wandering the halls until approximately 1:40 a.m., he appeared to be disoriented. He is last seen going into a stairwell leading to the roof where he was later found.

The Police Department is working closely with the Housing Authority as the investigation proceeds. The body was sent to the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy. Further details of the investigation will be available pending the results of the autopsy. 

Previously: Resident of 400 Towers reportedly dies of exposure after wandering to roof during the night

Our news partner, WBTA, conducted the interview with Hawley.

Today, 19 law enforcement officers from throughout New York State graduated from a Drug Recognition Expert course conducted at Genesee Community College by instructor Sgt. Greg Walker, including Deputy Joseph Corona, above, with Sheriff Gary Maha, Undersheriff William Sheron, Corona, Renee Borden, NYS DRE coordinator, and Walker.

Below, members of the graduating class who were able to attend today's recognition program at GCC. Participants in the course included officers from NYPD, Central and Western New York.

Submitted photos.

Press release:

Central Service professionals are being celebrated for their important role and commitment to patient safety during the annual International Central Service Week, Oct. 11 - 17.

At almost every facility where surgical procedures are performed -- such as United Memorial Medical Center -- there is a highly skilled group of people that are often overlooked and almost never thanked! They are the behind the scenes people, the people that the patient never meets. The people that reprocess and prepare hundreds, if not thousands, of pieces of reusable medical instruments and devices.

Central Service is the heart of the hospital, because without them they could not operate. Without Sterile Instruments surgeons, nurses and scrub techs (these are also the people that do get thanked) would just be people standing around with gloves on. We put the tools in their hands!

Central Service professionals are integral members of the health care team who are responsible for decontaminating, inspecting, assembling, disassembling, packaging, and sterilizing reusable surgical instruments or devices in a health care facility that are essential for patient safety.

If you or someone you love has undergone a surgical procedure, a central service professional was directly responsible for the cleaning and sterilization of the instruments used throughout your operation.

Please join us in honoring these dedicated professionals!

A head-on collision with entrapment is reported at Alleghany and Judge roads. Alabama fire and Mercy medics are responding.

UPDATE 11:46 a.m.: One car failed to yield to another at the intersection, according to law enforcement. There was no entrapment and no injuries are reported. One car has heavy front end damage and the other is slightly damaged. Each vehicle had an older driver and passenger, and they were all sitting inside their vehicles when help arrived, awaiting the tow trucks.

For the second time within six months a resident at 400 Towers has died under questionable circumstances.

Yesterday morning a 91-year-old man who reportedly suffered from mild dementia was found dead on the roof of the west wing of 400 Towers. He apparently died of exposure.

Chief Shawn Heubusch, Batavia PD, confirmed last night the death and that the man was found on the roof, but officials have yet to release the man's name.

Kyle Couchman, who was hired as an independent contractor to help care for the gentleman, called police yesterday morning after he found the man was missing from his room.

Couchman said the man would occasionally get up in the middle of the night and be confused about where he was and would wander off. Typically, when that happened, he would first move things around his room, so when Couchman arrived in the morning and found his room in a bit of disarray he knew the man had another wandering episode.

He tried calling the man's cell phone and began searching the stairwell to see if he might have stopped to rest or fallen. On the sixth floor, in a walkway outside the stairwell, he found the man's phone, wallet and towels from the man's room.  

It was now after 8:30 a.m., he said, and the 400 Towers Office was open for the day and he asked if surveillance video could be reviewed and he said he was told he would have to wait until the maintenance supervisor was available, or he could call police for assistance, so he called police.

A short time after Officer Frank Klimjack arrived on scene, the maintenance supervisor found the gentleman's body on the roof. 

A county coroner pronounced the man dead at the scene, Couchman said.

Couchman speculated that the man wandered up to the roof, became confused, and couldn't relocate the doorway that would lead him back into the building.

"He was in a common sleeping position for him when I would come in and wake him up in the morning," Couchman said.

According to Couchman, there was a magnetic lock on the door leading to the roof that was left unsecure, perhaps after fire maintenance work on Friday. The lock is supposed to be secure at all times, Couchman said, and only open during a fire alarm.

In June, a resident apparently died in his room and was left unattended or unchecked upon for two weeks.

A phone call to the Batavia Housing Authority placed this morning seeking comment has not yet been returned. We will continue to update this story or post new stories as additional information becomes available.

A vibrant and prosperous urban core in Batavia is vital to all of the economic development projects the Genesee County Economic Development Center is working to bring to fruition, said CEO Steve Hyde, during a presentation Monday night during Batavia's City Council meeting.

Hyde joined the discussion Monday about a projected called Batavia Path to Prosperity, or BP^2. The project is being set up to take some of the fees paid by developers in future projects in the city that receive PILOTS (Payments in Lieu of Taxes) from the GCEDC and allocate half of those funds to a pool of money that can help spur development of blighted properties, properties that are part of the city's Brownfield Opportunity Area.

"My passion all along has been about growth in our community," Hyde said. "How can we build economic growth outside so it will flow back into the inside. This is an opportunity to shine a bright light on troubled areas in our community so that we have a multifaceted redevelopment strategy so that we have a path of growth for our kids."

City Manager Jason Molino kicked off the discussion by saying the program can help address poverty in the city's most economically distressed neighborhoods, increase employment opportunities nad expand the city's tax base.

In the three census tracks considered distressed, the poverty rate is 30 percent (it need be only 20 percent to be considered distressed) and the unemployment rate in excess of 7 percent is more than 2 percentage points higher than the rest of the community.

Hyde, Molino noted, is fond of saying that economic development isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. But dealing with brownfield areas, Molino said, isn't a marathon. It's a triathlon, because the issues to deal with are so big and so complex.

Often brownfield properties need a great deal of environmental remediation, which substantially increases the cost of redevelopment and scares off those who might otherwise sink their investment dollars into a commercial or mixed-use project.

BP² will help address that issue by providing funds that can help with brownfield cleanup.

Hyde said he's seen attempts at creating other such projects around the state, but they never get off the ground because of infighting among the various taxing jurisdictions. He's encouraged by the cooperation so far from the city, county and school district.

At Monday's meeting, nary a negative question or comment came from council members, who will be asked at a future meeting to pass a resolution authorizing the city's participation in the project. Similar resolutions will need to be passed by the County Legislature and the Board of Trustees for Batavia City Schools.

Only projects within the city limits that are approved by GCEDC for PILOTs would contribute to the funds, and only brownfield projects in the three census tracks that make up the BOA could receive funds from the pool.

Under state law, development projects in all six census tracts in the city are eligible for PILOTs, even retail and commercial development, which are normally excluded, because of the highly distressed nature of three central census tracts.

The fund could be used, Molino said, to: mitigate the extraordinary cost related to hazardous material cleanup; demolish buildings that contribute to blight; rehabilitate buildings that can and should be saved; modernize infrastructure;  install broadband/WiFi downtown to support economic growth initiatives; and to advance the planning and engineering of the Ellicott Trail, which will run right through the heart of the BOA, and help secure more project capital for the BOA.

Within the BOA there are five critical, strategic sites:

• Creekside, behind the Falleti Ice Arena
• The Dellapenna building on Ellicott Street
• City Centre
• The medical corridor, particularly around where the old Elks Lodge used to be
• The Harvester Center

"If over the next five years we really spent some time trying to redevelop these areas, it could have a tremendous impact on our community," Molino said.

Hyde is optimistic about our community's future, reversing the trend that has seen Genesee County go from 5,000 manufacturing jobs in 1990 to 3,500 today.

"We're on the cusp of great growth here, especially in light of last week's announcement (the new project in STAMP)," Hyde said. "The state and feds are investing in the innovation economy, especially up and down the I-90 corridor, and we've now got the largest project in the state right along that corridor."

Batavia needs to be ready for that growth and strengthening the urban core is vital to benefitting from economic development elsewhere in the county. 

For every high-tech job, studies show there are five additional jobs created along the economic chain, Hyde said. Those jobs only come to Batavia if Batavia is ready for the opportunity. That means upgrading the housing, increasing office space, fixing infrastructure and "making this place as beautiful as the people who live here."