Elba High School students were shown first-hand today what it can mean to drink and drive. Elba Fire hosted its annual DWI drill at the school. The exercise involves a simulated fatal accident with a serious injury. The department is assisted by the Sheriff's Office, Mercy EMS and Mercy Flight. Officials hope students get the message that drinking and driving can have serious consequences. The event is timed to come before prom season.

Top photo submitted by Karl White, Elba Volunteer Fire Department; The rest from Lynn O'Donnell of Mercy Flight.

A mediator could help resolve the long-simmering dispute between the City of Batavia and the Mall Merchant's Association, City Manager Jason Molino said this morning during an on-air interview on WBTA's Main and Center.

The bickering and lawsuits and counter-lawsuits are leading nowhere, Molino suggested. They won't lead to a resolution that satisfies all parties. A mediator would have a better chance and an equitable solution.

“When litigation is filed, it is on a narrow scope of issues and if it ever goes to trial and has a determination, the determination is going to be on that narrow scope of issues, and generally, on anything, there is more to it than just those narrow scope of issues and in this case, there is a lot more to it," Molino said.

The city and the Mall Merchants Association have been locked in a dispute for several years over who is responsible for the maintenance of the roof over the mall concourse.

The merchants claim the city owns the concourse and should repair or replace the roof.

The city maintains the merchants failed to properly maintain the roof.

Molino said he would like to see the case go to a mediator.

“Can there be a mediator? Yes, absolutely," Molino said. "Is that something we’re looking to do? Yes, it is.”

So far, no mediator has been appointed.

The city owns the Mall Concourse. The stores and offices in the mall are individually owned.

Sometime around 5 p.m., a truck carrying crates of tomatoes dumped a few boxes in the curve where Walnut becomes South Main in Batavia. A witness told police, the driver stopped, gathered his empty crates and left the tomatoes in the roadway. Police responded to a report of a "dangerous condition" and requested city DPW to the scene for clean up. The tomatoes were hauled to the city's compost heap. The driver, who left the scene, could not be identified.

MOTHER'S DAY 3-COURSE BREAKFAST - Seatings at 9  & 11 a.m. ~ $13.95 
~ Something to Start ~  Choice of Entree ~ Something to Finish ~

• Filet & Eggs ~ a grilled petit filet, any style eggs, home fried potatoes and Texas toast. 
• Black Forest Waffles ~ fluffy dark chocolate waffles topped with a cherry glaze and homemade crème served with breakfast sausage. 
• Stuffed French Toast ~ thick slices of cinnamon egg-dipped toast stuffed w/Nutella and topped with fresh strawberries and crème served with breakfast sausage. 
• Baguette Omelet ~ farm fresh eggs, veggies and cheese baked into crusty baguette bread served with breakfast sausage and home fried potatoes. 
• Children's menu available.

MOTHER'S DAY 3-COURSE LUNCH - Seatings at 1 & 3 p.m. ~ $16.95
~ Something to Start ~ Choice of Entree ~ Something to Finish ~

• Tuscan Pasta ~ homemade angel hair and grilled chicken topped with a creamy Alfredo, sundried tomatoes and broccoli.
• Greek Platter ~ marinated, grilled chicken & pork kabobs atop Greek rice, served with Greek potatoes and tzatziki sauce.
• Steak Rolls ~ sautéed, julienned vegetables wrapped in flank steak and grilled, served on garlic mashed and topped with a balsamic glaze.
• Lobster Rolls ~ New England-style rolls stuffed w/Maine lobster, served w/homemade cole slaw and hushpuppies.
• Children's menu available.

MOTHER'S DAY 3-COURSE DINNER - Seatings at 4 & 6 p.m. ~ $19.95
~ Something to Start ~ Choice of Entree ~ Something to Finish ~

• Stuffed Pork Tenderloin ~ butterflied pork stuffed with spinach, apples and wrapped in prosciutto, served w/garlic mashed and seasonal vegetable.
• Chicken French ~ boneless, skinless breast dipped in egg and cheese, sautéed in garlic, white wine & lemon served on angel hair pasta w/artichokes.
• Italian Trio ~ homemade lasagna, chicken parmesan and fresh made gnocchi w/our traditional red sauce.
• Surf and Turf ~ a juicy, thick, grilled strip steak and roasted jumbo shrimp served atop parmesan risotto.
• Children's menu available.

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A grass fire is reportedly burning its way toward a barn at 6912 Lyman Road. Byron and South Byron fire departments are responding. The location is between Coward and Beaver Meadow roads.

UPDATE 5:09 p.m.: The dispatcher says a small building and several vehicles are now involved in the fire.

UPDATE 5:13 p.m.: The dispatcher says they are on the phone with "DEC police."

A possible serious-injury accident involving a car and motorcycle is reported in front of Yancey's Fancy/Kutter's Cheese Store, 857 Main Road, Corfu. Mercy Flight is in the air. Pembroke Town Hall parking lot is the landing zone. Pembroke and Indian Falls fire departments are responding along with Mercy medics. Fire Police are told to shut down westbound traffic at routes 5 and 77.

UPDATE 3:49 p.m.: Confirmed serious injuries. The car involved is a Dodge Neon. Mercy Flight has a 3-minute ETA. Akron is also "assembling a crew for their end."

UPDATE 3:54 p.m.: Mercy Flight is on the ground.

UPDATE 4:07 p.m.: Mercy Flight is airborne and headed to Buffalo hospital.

UPDATE 4:28 p.m.: The motorcyclist suffered a broken arm. A state trooper at the scene told Howard this was a classic case of when looking twice could have avoided an accident. The trooper said the driver of the Neon pulled out of the parking lot of the medical facility across the street, right in front of the motorcyclist, and "never even saw him."

UPDATE 4:39 p.m.: The assignment is back in service and the roadway is being reopened.

UPDATE 4:52 p.m.: Howard at the scene interviewed accident eyewitness Christopher Macomber, who had just gotten off work from his job at Yancey's. Macomber said the accident was "very shocking" ... "The Neon came right out from the doctor's office and the motorcycle was headed east towards Batavia. He was going I'm guessing 55 miles an hour, if not 60, depends, and he just got launched in the air upon impact. He was pretty banged up. The car pulled right in front of him. It was pretty brutal. It was nasty." ... "I've been in a car accident, but I've never seen one with a motorcycle. I've heard stories about it, but that's about it." ... "The male driver of the Neon -- I honestly don't think he saw him at all, not one little bit. I honestly don't think he looked. I mean, it didn't look like he stopped at all or anything. I think he just pulled right out in front."

UPDATE: The motorcyclist is identified as Timothy Young, 52, of Hopkins Road, Batavia. The driver of the Neon is John Colosanti, 62, of Rundell Road, Alden.

The Batavia High School Class of 2016 is sponsoring a Food Truck Rodeo from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday at the high school. Participating vendors include Papa Gig's Gourmet Italian, The Brunch Box, Bento Box Asian Cuisine and Smoothies Plus. There will be live music and entertainment for children. Proceeds benefit the Class of 2016.

In the photo: Simran Rathod, Noah Dobbertin, Alexis Vasciannie and Ross Chua.

With their robot "Big Mistake," the robotics team at St. Joseph Catholic School took home a championship trophy at the VEX IQ Robotics Highrise Funfest, held Saturday at the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. St. Joe's recently integrated a robotics program into its curriculum for eigth-grade students. Teams from throughout WNY participated in the competition. "Big Mistake" also won the Design Award for being able to move multiple cubes at once. Photo: Maya Rademacker, Matthew Stevens and Paige Johnston.

Photo and info submitted by Lauren Humphrey.

Press release:

The City of Batavia was awarded a $200,000 grant to foster the development of new and expanding small businesses that will improve the community. Per Federal grantor requirements, the City has coordinated capacity-building training in order to make grants available to entrepreneur participants and those willing to promote employment opportunities for persons of low-moderate income families.

“Knowing we have market opportunities, this grant enables the City to coordinate instructional training to help people develop their business ideas and learn what it takes to be successful from veteran business owners,” said City Manager Jason Molino. “The classroom interactions will supplement the existing services already provided by the Chamber, Small Business Development Center and SCORE.”

To meet national program objectives, the City of Batavia partnered with the BEST Center at Genesee Community College and the Batavia Development Corporation (BDC) to offer a three-part “Owning Your Own Business” series designed to inspire creativity, fine-tune skills, and find where passion and work intersect. At the end, new and expanding businesses in the City having fewer than five employees may be eligible to access grants up to $15,000.

The initial program started April 22nd as a series of one-hour sessions where participants assessed their personal readiness to own and operate a new business and explored business opportunities. The final Part I session is next week, "The Sniff Test: assessing your business idea!" In the class setting, participants will pinpoint a target audience, evaluate the idea, navigate the competitive landscape and determine next steps.

The final Part I series is Wednesday, May 13, from noon -1 p.m. in the second floor community room at Batavia City Hall. Pre-register for $5 online at http://www.genesee.edu/best/ or pay $10 at the door. Light refreshments available.

Get Underway -- Small Business Ownership Part II begins Wednesday, May 27th . This weekly evening session goes beyond the basics to help participants fully develop a business concept and transition into becoming a business manager.

These five weekly Wednesday evening sessions are mandatory if participants want to access grant resources available through the City of Batavia Microenterprise Grant Program. The sessions run from 6 to 9 p.m. in Room T121 of the Conable Technology Building on GCC’s Batavia campus.

They include:

• May 27
• June 3
• June 10
• June 17
• June 24

-- Trials, tribulations & skills of a successful business leader Marketing strategies to increase sales;

-- Using financial information to guide my business Learning to “manage” a business;

-- Business plan presentation and networking costs $125 and students will receive a certificate upon successful completion.

The five-week course registration is also available online at http://www.genesee.edu/best/.

The City has offered small business loans and grants for over a decade resulting in more than $5,000,000 public-private investments. The $200,000 grant and the Small Business Ownership series is funded by the New York State Office of Community Renewal Community Development Block Grant.

A discarded cigarette is the likely cause of a fire that left burned out three residents of 5253 Bridge Road, Elba, out of their home last night, according to Tim Yaeger, emergency management coordinator.

Two dogs, a chinchilla and five kittens born to a barn cat and living in the basement, are believed to have perished in the fire.

No people were hurt in the fire.

The 140-year-old farm house was divided into two apartments.

At least two of the residents were smokers and were known to stand out behind the house, on the back porch, smoke, and deposit their butts in a plastic canister by the back door.

That's where the fire started.

The structure is still standing and the first floor remains accessible.  

This morning Alex Beardsley and a friend were pulling out the personal belongings of Beardsley and his brother. Beardsley said excluding clothing and books and anything else easily damaged by water, about 90 percent of their personal property was saved when firefighters were able to contain the blaze to the second floor.

Beardsley and his brother had a significant investment in the game Warhammer 40,000. That collection was largely undamaged.

One of the dogs that died in the fire belonged to Beardsley and his brother. The other lived with the upstairs resident.

The likely brand of cigarette that ignited the fire is Senecas. About half-a-decade ago there was some controversy around cigarettes manufactured by tribes and their lack of fire-safe features, but in 2009, the Seneca Nation announced all of their cigarettes would be fire safe.

A fire-safe cigarette will burn out more quickly when left unattended.

An employee of Zuber Farm, where the house is located, said the structure is a total loss and will be torn down.

Previously:

• House fire reported on Bridge Road, Elba
• Photos: Bridge Road Fire

Sponsorship space available. For applications and information, contact Laurie Oltramari at 585-344-0900. Click here to purchase your tickets today or visit Angotti Beverages at 61 Jackson Street in Batavia!

Here's photos from this evening's fire at 5253 Bridge Road, Elba. At this point, we have no new information beyond what was in our initial post.

To purchase prints, click here.

NOTE: In the past, when I had a group of photos to upload at night for a slide show, I would typically get the upload started and go to bed and post the slide show in the morning. It would take an hour, maybe two hours, depending on the size of the slide show, to upload the photos. Now we have broadband through Empire Access. It took only 10 minutes to upload this slide show.

A house fire is reported at 5263 Bridge Road, Elba. The location is between Norton and Transit roads. Elba fire dispatched.

UPDATE 8:33 p.m.: Bergen, Byron, Oakfield, South Byron and Stafford are called to provide mutual aid at the confirmed working house fire. Town of Batavia is requested to fill in at Elba's hall. Mercy medics are also called in.

UPDATE 8:39 p.m.: National Grid advised of the blaze, no ETA provided.

UPDATE 9:25 p.m.: Tankers from Alexander and East Pembroke requested to the scene. At least two of the three tankers called in are filling up at the ARC Center. Howard at the scene reports it is believed that one dog and two cats were on the property. Over the scanner, it is reported that a man is en route to pick up a dog located on Bridge Road. One of the two cats was seen jumping from a window of the burning house. "It is still standing," says Howard of the house, "but it appears to be a total loss. Flames are shooting from the roof."

UPDATE 10 p.m.: The property is owned by Zuber Farms. Firefighters will be there for awhile, doing overhaul. Howard is clearing the scene.

An unknown-type fire is reported near a residence at 4596 East Road. Town of Batavia Fire Department is responding. The location is between Creek and Putnam roads.

UPDATE 8:38 p.m.: The fire is out. The East Road assignment is in service.

Students at Batavia Middle School beat out 87 schools in a shoe drive as part of the Girls on the Run program.

The girls collected 1,220 donated pairs of shoes.

As a result of the big win, Molly Barker, founder of Girls on the Run, will visit Batavia Middle School at a future date.

"We wanted to put a thank you out there to the community for all of their support," said teacher Sarah Gahagan. "We had over 90 Batavia families donate to this cause. Just goes to show how when a community pitches in great things can happen."

Photos and info submitted by Sarah Gahagan.

A field fire is reported in the area of 6945 Byron Road. The location is between Tower Hill Road and Byron Elba TL Road. Byron and South Byron fire departments are responding.

UPDATE 7:40 p.m.: Fire is out. Byron and South Byron firefighters are back in service.

Press release:

Stephen M. Hawley, chairman of the Town of Batavia Republican Committee, announced the endorsed candidates for the upcoming 2015 Election:

Legislator, District No. 4, Towns of Batavia and Stafford --  Andrew Young

Batavia Town Justice --  Michael Cleveland

Batavia Town Council --  Chad Zambito and Sharon White

The Committee currently has three vacancies. Anyone wishing to serve their community in this capacity should send a letter to the Chairman, Steve Hawley at P.O. Box 1733, Batavia, NY  14021. This is a good opportunity to learn more about your Town and be part of the election process.

Letters of interest to serve as Election Inspectors at the upcoming election will also be accepted by Chairman Hawley.

The Annual Town of Batavia Republican Picnic at the Kiwanis/Town Park will be held on Friday June 12th at 5 p.m. till dark. All residents are invited to join us, meet the candidates and start the summer season off with hot dogs, salads, beans and desserts at the park. Tickets at $10 per person are available from all Town Committee people or by calling Kathy at 762-8239.

The Committee is also seeking nominations for our annual “Community Service Award,” which is presented at the Picnic. You can obtain a nomination form from Teressa Morasco, town clerk. Nominations are accepted from Town residents who would like to recognize someone who exemplifies service to the Town and people of our community.

Press release:

National Women Build Week is a weeklong event created by Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build program that challenges women to devote at least one day to help build affordable housing in their local communities. Across the nation, more than 15,000 women are expected to volunteer at Habitat construction sites this week to spotlight the homeownership challenges faced by women.

Lowe’s helped launch National Women Build Week in 2008 and each year provides the support of Lowe’s Heroes and conducts how-to clinics at stores to teach volunteers construction skills.

This is Habitat for Humanity of Genesee County’s 5th year participating. This year’s event will be our biggest yet! More than 50 women have signed up to volunteer for the day. The event will take place at 27 Oak St. on May 9th, as we build for prospective homeowner Sheila Rolle and her daughter Jada.

"We are so excited for this event! Our community has really stepped up to the plate in their effort to impact poverty housing in our neighborhoods. We cannot thank them enough," said CEO of Habitat for Humanity Jessica Maguire-Tomidy.

“National Women Build Week has made a difference in the lives of thousands of families since its inception,” said Joan Higginbotham, Lowe’s director of community relations. “We’re grateful to all the women in Genesee County who got involved this week and were part of something bigger with Lowe’s and Habitat.”

Lowe’s donated nearly $2 million to this year’s National Women Build Week, including a $5,000 store gift card to Habitat for Humanity of Genesee County. National Women Build Week is one of the major initiatives supported through Lowe’s national partnership with Habitat for Humanity. Since 2003, Lowe’s has committed more than $63 million to Habitat and helped more than 4,000 families improve their living conditions.

Habitat’s Women Build program recruits, educates and inspires women to build and advocate for simple, decent and affordable homes in their communities. Since the program was created in 1998, more than 2,300 homes have been built in partnership with low-income families using Women Build crews.

For more information on Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build program and to learn about Women Build events in communities across the U.S. year-round, visit Habitat.org/wb or the Women Build tab onhttp://www.facebook.com/habitat.

Press release:

The Board of Directors of the Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) will consider a project from Depew, Lancaster & Western Railroad at its May 7 board meeting.

Depew, Lancaster & Western Railroad is planning to purchase additional equipment to include one specialized forklift and two track vehicles for servicing truck and rail service at the transload warehouse facility in the City of Batavia. The projected capital investment is approximately $118,000. The company has applied to the GCEDC for a sales tax exemption of $9,512.

The GCEDC Board meeting will take place at 4 p.m. and is open to the public. Meetings are held at the Innovation Zone Conference Room at MedTech Centre -- 99 MedTech Drive, Batavia, on the first floor, across from Genesee Community College.