The Bergen C-Store at Route 33 and Route 19 in Bergen was burglarized at 1:50 a.m. two mornings ago and the owners are seeking the public's assistance in identifying the perpetrator.
Anybody with information that can assist the investigation can reach the Sheriff's Office at (585) 343-3000.
County Planning Director Felipe Oltramari is at the Farmers Market on Alva Place today handing out free Perry's ice cream sandwiches to help encourage people to complete their census forms. There will be free ice cream sandwiches available until the farmers market closes at 4 p.m.
We had several readers submit pictures from last night's closing sky. It looks like it was quite a light show.
Top photo by Chris Parker.
Submitted by Joanne Meiser.
Submitted by Corey Coles.
Submitted by Ritchie Kirkum.
Submitted by Keira Stehlar.
In March, school districts were forced to quickly throw together a remote learning plan with the pandemic forced students to stay home, but after a summer to prepare, the Batavia City School District has developed a more comprehensive plan to educate children in the age of coronavirus.
Molly Corey, executive director of Curriculum and Instruction, outlined the virtual learning guidelines for the 2020/21 school year for members of the city schools' board of trustees on Monday night.
At the heart of the plan, Corey said, is SEL -- social and emotional learning.
"There is a variety of feelings around everything we're doing," Corey said. "We want to make people comfortable with what we do."
SEL is, according to the virtual learning guidebook, "the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions."
Corey said SEL includes self-awareness, self-management, being responsible for decision-making, social awareness, and developing relationship skills.
The other key elements to the learning plan include communication, instructional time, and feedback.
About 75 percent of the district's students will split time between virtual learning and in-class instruction, while the parents for 20 percent of the students have chosen virtual-only learning. The remaining 5 percent are students with special needs who will be on campus every day.
The guidebook includes a chart that highlights the differences between the hastily compiled plan for distance learning last spring and the more thoughtful plan for the new school year.
For example, "teacher check-ins" is now "Teacher-led instruction with SEL as the cornerstone of what we do," and the flexibility of daily and weekly requirements has been replaced by a scheduled and planned school day.
"Monitored attendance" becomes "attendance taken daily."
Students, and their parents, will now be expected to focus grade level/course standards using pacing guidelines.
While there were no formal assessments given last spring and grades were credit/no credit, this year will include scheduled assessments and grades and "growth-producing feedback."
All students will have a Chromebook. Middle school and high school students will use Google Classroom, while younger students will be introduced to a new program for online learning called "Seesaw."
To make all this work, communication will be key, Corey said. Teachers have to produce written communication plans for the school year to ensure students and parents have a clear idea of the process, expectations, standards and progress.
"I want parents to know that this is really a true partnership," Corey said. "To make this work, we need them with us."
What fall high school sports will look like is still being determined by state and regional officials, Batavia High School Athletic Director Michael Bromley told district trustees at a meeting Monday evening.
Football, volleyball, and cheerleading are considered high-risk sports for the spread of COVID-19, and play and practice may be limited if athletes in those sports are allowed to participate at all.
Tennis, soccer, cross-country, golf, swimming, and gymnastics are being considered low-risk sports, and those athletes are likely to be able to compete this fall.
No practices will be allowed until Sept. 21.
Schedules for all sports have yet to be written.
If football players are allowed to practice, social distancing will need to be maintained with teams segregated by positions and contact -- such as blocking and tackling -- will not be permitted. And even if the teams can practice, there may be no games.
There's been some talk of moving the football season to the spring but then it conflicts with spring sports such as baseball.
For indoor events, such as volleyball, attendance will be limited. No player will be allowed more than two supporters in the stands.
Bromley said there won't be any concessions and no attendance fee.
As for winter sports, the start of the season is being moved from Nov. 16 to Nov. 30.
Varsity and JV will be able to start practice Sept. 21 but players in modified leagues will be limited to practicing on the days they attend school in person.
Batavia is planning a "hybrid" model for school attendance, with classroom instruction two days a week, with students alternating attendance days, and three days of virtual learning.
Bromley said the state is still trying to determine how athletes might be able to use on-campus weight rooms.
It is still possible, Bromley said, there won't be any fall sports at all.
A fifth person has been arrested on narcotics charges in connection with an Aug. 12 search warrant execution at 22 Hutchins Place in Batavia.
Desiree Hutchinson, 25, of Liberty Street, Batavia, is charged with two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, 3rd, criminal possession of a controlled substance, 4th, criminal using drug paraphernalia, 2nd, and unlawful possession of marijuana.
This past weekend, Hutchinson was located by Det. Sgt. Matthew Lutey, Batavia PD, and arrested on the pending charges.
Her arrest is part of a Local Drug Task Force investigation into the sale of narcotics in and around the City of Batavia.
Previously arrested where Donald Brown, 46, of Liberty Pole Way, Rochester, Ronnie K. Johnson, 50, of Hutchins Place, Madalyn R. Muntz, 34, and Angela Bateman, 46, of West Main Street Road, Batavia.
Previously:
Photo by Philip Mangefrida of the Le Roy Volunteer Fire Training conducting a training exercise Monday night at the Oatka Creek.
Paula G. Pierce, 28, of State Street, and David M. Schmieder, 26, of Silver Road, Bethany, were arrested a week ago along with Suzanne Corona for an alleged prostitution incident Corona's house on Osterhout Avenue in the City of Batavia, police announced today.
Pierce is charged with prostitution and Schmieder is charged with two Class A misdemeanors: patronizing a person for prostitution, 3rd; as well as criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th.
Corona's arrest was announced yesterday. The 51-year-old Batavia woman, who was once charged with adultery, is accused in this case of promoting prostitution, 4th, and permitting prostitution on a premises, class A and B misdemeanors, respectively.
The prostitution case was opened Aug. 19 at 4 a.m. after police were dispatched to Corona's residence after another member of the household reported a possible trespass.
Following an investigation, Pierce was located at an address on Maple Street in the city on Aug. 21 and taken into custody.
Police alleged that Schmieder was invited to the residence on Osterhout by Corona in order to pay for and engage in sex with Pierce.
Both Pierce and Schmieder were issued appearance tickets.
Officer Arick Perkins investigated the case assisted by officer Samuel Freeman, Jordan McGinnis, Wesley Rissinger and Adam Tucker.
A Batavia woman whose previous antics have led to multiple criminal charges over the past decade, including a charge of adultery that made international headlines, has been accused of allowing prostitution at her home on Osterhout Avenue.
Suzanne M. Corona, 51, is charged with promoting prostitution, 4th (advance or profits from prostitution), and permitting prostitution on a premises.
It's alleged that on Aug. 19, Corona allowed prostitution to occur at her residence and agreed, in advance, to accept a fee for another person to engage in sexual activity while at the residence.
Corona was released on an appearance ticket.
There were two other people arrested as part of the incident, according to a police source, but those arrest reports have not yet been released.
Corona's name became familiar locally after her arrest in early June 2010 on an adultery charge for engaging in a sexual act with a man on a picnic table at Farrall Park. The adultery statute has rarely been used in New York and her arrest made headlines in the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia. The police department was surprised by the interest in the case. The adultery charge was eventually dropped by prosecutor Lawrence Friedman. She admitted to public lewdness.
Shortly after that case was closed, Corona was accused of trashing the buffet at the now-defunct South Beach Restaurant. Initially, owner Ken Mistler was going to have her carry a sign on Main Street that read "I Stole from South Beach." After a "sincere apology" and restitution, Mistler dropped his demand for the "walk of shame."
She was arrested on a shoplifting charge in 2011, as well as being accused of shoplifting at Target while a K-9 and deputy were in the store for a public demo. In 2015, Corona admitted to a drug-dealing felony. That conviction lead to a year-and-a-half in prison, followed by probation, and until this most recent arrest, she had managed to avoid trouble with the law.
The prostitution case was investigated by Officer Arick Perkins along with officers Wesley Rissinger and Adam Tucker.
Deputies and firefighters responded at 11:23 p.m., Friday, to a report of a car colliding with a train to find the vehicle engulfed in flames and the driver missing.
Timothy Michael Brady, of Jerico Road, Bergen, is accused of fleeing the scene on foot.
He is charged with aggravated unlicensed operation, 1st, driving while intoxicated, refusal to take a breath test, leaving the scene of a property damage accident, and driving through, around or under a railroad barrier.
Brady was released on an appearance ticket with an order to appear in Bergen Town Court Oct. 8.
Leaving the Sheriff's Office after 20 years and six months of service is bittersweet, said K-9 Officer Chris Erion as he finished out his final shift before retiring yesterday.
He not only leaves behind a job he said matured him, he leaves behind his partner "Frankie," who will be paired with a new partner in the coming weeks.
"I've had a lot of great experiences. I've met a lot of wonderful people," Erion said. "I've seen a side of humanity, both good and bad, that I never would have seen had I not worked this job and been through experiences that have matured me. It's overwhelming to think of everything and trying to take it all in and think back over 20 years."
Erion joined the Sheriff's Office in March 2000.
He hasn't decided yet what comes next.
"I'm going to take a week or two and I'm going to kind of decompress and try to get the weight of the profession off of my heart and off my shoulders a little bit and reconnect with my family," Erion said. "They've been tremendous in just keeping things together over the years and the stresses that you go through. And they've earned it, too. It's not my retirement. It's something that they've earned as well."
Erion has four children, all under the age of 16.
Being a K-9 officer is a tough job on anyone, especially a family man.
"You have to be available," Erion said. "When that phone rings at two, three, or four in the morning, you have to be ready to go and go quickly. That takes a toll on everybody at home as well. I'm not getting any younger and you strap yourself to a 70-pound animal and go off into the darkness to wherever they take you. So it is a very physical job and it wears on you, but it's been very rewarding."
He's retiring at the age of 45. He looks back at himself as a 24-year-old rookie as somebody really didn't know much about life when he started.
"I was 24 and I was just a kid," Erion said. "I'm looking back now and I wasn't even an adult when I started. This job grows you up quickly."
His advice to young officers today: Do things right and do them the right way.
"Check your ego, because that will get you in trouble faster than anything else," Erion said. "Listen to the people around you that have been through the experiences that you're trying to learn. Take their advice. That's the easiest way to learn."
The tough job has been made a lot easier by the support of the people in the community, Erion said. He praised community members for the way they stand behind local law enforcement.
"I love this community," he said. "They back us and we know it and we try to be worthy of it."
Photo by Alecia Kaus/Video News Service. Article based on a recorded interview by Alecia Kaus.
Previously:
The train overpass on Route 5 in Le Roy is flooded. A fire chief requests a traffic detail.
Traffic is being stopped at Gilbert Street and Route 5.
UPDATE 3:53 p.m.: The roadway will reopen shortly.
Genesee County's unemployment rate is back over 10 percent for July after a small dip to 9.5 percent in June.
The 2020 rate of 10.6 percent is 7 percentage points higher than it was a year ago.
Genesee County's unemployment rate had mostly stay between 6 percent and 3 percent, depending on the time of year, going back to 2015, and then the global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic hit and many people started to shelter in place at the same time the government severely restricted business activity.
In March, the month the first lockdown orders were issued, the county's unemployment rate was 4.9 percent. In April, it jumped to 14.4 percent, then fell to 10.1 percent in May.
A year ago in July, it was 3.5 percent.
One big factor in the local unemployment numbers is the county's largest seasonal employer, Darien Lake Theme Park, has not been allowed to reopen. The park employs more than 1,000 people every summer.
Another significant local employer that remains closed is Batavia Downs, which this time of year would have at least 450 people on the workforce.
There are currently 3,200 work-eligible people living in Genesee County who do not have jobs. A year ago, there were 1,100 people looking for work who reported they couldn't find a job that suited their qualifications.
At the hight of the previous recession. the high July number for unemployed people was 2,400.
Nancy Wee's Tai Chi class at DeWitt Recreation Area. The classes are at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday and Sunday. They are free and open to everybody. Masks and social distancing required.
Pat Crowe, an English teacher at Le Roy High School has retired after 49 years of lecturing kids on Shakespeare and grading their essays on To Kill a Mockingbird.
Photo submitted by Principal Tim McArdle.
When it came time for the Toronto Blue Jays to build a new nest for the 2020 season, a local company was called on to make Sahlen Field in Buffalo look like home.
Unitech Applications opened in Le Roy in 1989 and owner Guy Laesser focused on the bigging on landing big-business clients. The company specializing in large-scale vinyl design applications, like car wraps but on large vehicles -- trucks, buses -- and buildings.
The effort paid off in a big way in 1996 when he was hired to wrap all buses for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Since then, Unitech has been Laesser's full-time occupation.
He calls himself a perfectionist and that has helped the company grow. Other clients include the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign, Dick's Sporting Goods, Old Navy, Ice Road Truckers, the NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans, and Scooby-Doo's "The Mystery Machine" movie tour.
It's no wonder, then, when the Blue Jays called 3M looking for a company to work within the Buffalo region to get Sahlen MLB-ready, 3M recommended Unitech.
"Our job is to provide whatever the client needs," Laesser said.
When the Blue Jays wanted a wrap on the scoreboard, Laesser, who doesn't like getting up higher than 12 feet himself, had a friend who did just that kind of work, so he called him to complete that part of the project all in the name of taking care of the client.
For the Blue Jays, Unitech provided signage and wraps for the concourse, the dugouts, the stands, and the outfield walls. The company even used vinyl to tint the windows on the tents being used as the visiting team's locker room.
That wasn't as big of a frosted vinyl project as Unitech did for a company in NYC, which involved wrapping a 40,000-square-foot building.
Not every project Laesser and his lone full-time employee Fred Crimes take on is all that big. The company also wraps the covers of medical equipment used to treat children going through cancer treatment.
Unitech also supports the charity Special Spaces, which provides unique and specially designed bedrooms for children going through cancer treatment.
"That (the vinyl wall covering) was the biggest bill they had, it cost the most, so when we got involved, we volunteered all of the time and material so it didn't cost them anything and they could put their money elsewhere," Laesser said.
A Corfu police officer reports a train in the city is stopped and blocking the roadway.
"It appears to be at a standstill," he said.
He didn't provide a location.
He asked dispatch to call the rail company and find out if there's an issue.
UPDATE AND CORRECTION 12:31 p.m.: I heard the call sign of "14" but didn't hear the "CP" part. On the update from dispatch, the call went to "CP-14," so this train was actually in Corfu. The train is a CSX train. CSX dispatch is not aware of an issue with a train but is contacting the engineer to inform him that the train is blocking an intersection.
Ten months ago, the Civil War-era cannons that have sat as sentinels outside the Holland Land Office Museum since at least 1905, were sent to Altoona, Pa., for restoration by Seed Artillery and today, they returned to Batavia looking almost certainly much like they did when they were shipped to Batavia in the 1860s.
Residents on Trumbull Parkway has not only created a Little Free Library they also installed a bench, a planter, and a solar-powered light.
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