Cambria Orbaker, 10, of Pavilion, and Audryana Schulman, 6, of Batavia, had fun seeing the Easter Bunny at Oliver's Candies on Saturday in Batavia, along with visiting the petting zoo.
Photos by Howard Owens.
Noah Logsdon, 2 1/2, of Batavia, enjoyed feeding the animals in the petting zoo.
Hazel is a baby kangaroo.
We all know -- or should -- that Sherman burned Atlanta, but like all historical characters who have become more myth than human, there is more to General William Tecumseh Sherman than his march to the sea during the Civil War.
The Ohio native was an intellectual, insightful man with a keen understanding of human character, said Derek Maxfield, a GCC history teacher who has written a 160-page biography of Sherman.
GO ART! hosted a reception on Friday evening to celebrate the release of "Man of Fire," published by Savas Beatie as part of the Emerging Civil War Series.
"Somebody like Sherman is a lot more complex than what popular culture makes him out to be, and that was part of one of the reasons I wanted to write this book," Maxfield said. "Here's a character who is not that simple."
In popular culture, Sherman is remembered for burning nearly all of Atlanta to the ground on Nov. 15, 1864, largely because of Gone with the Wind. From Atlanta, Sherman marched his Union soldiers to Savannah (the March to the Sea) as they destroyed everything in their path.
"I think one of the tasks of a good biographer is to make somebody more human, make them more easily understood," Maxfield said.
It as tough, Maxfield said, capturing somebody as complex as Sherman in 40,000 words, but he thinks he's produced the best short biography yet of the Union general.
This is the first biography written by Maxfield but his second book. Previously, he wrote "Hellmira: The Union's Most Infamous Civil War Prison."
Among Sherman's more positive traits, Maxfield said, was his intellectual strength.
"He used to love to quote Shakespeare, so he was very literate, and I think that part of him is lost," Maxfield said. "He is known as this arsonist and barbarian, at least to the South, and even some of his partisans want to remember him that way. I think it does him a disservice because he's probably the most intellectual of all of the generals in the Union Army.
"I also think that he had a deeper understanding of people than many in the administration, perhaps save Lincoln. I think that, ultimately, that understanding of human nature is one of the keys to the Union victory because he could understand how to break the will of the Confederacy and end the war sooner."
The most unredeemable aspect of Sherman's life, Maxfield said, came after the Civil War.
"I think you have to be careful judging people of another time and place by 21st-Century values, but the thing that punches me in the gut is he's the author of a federal policy in the late 19th Century to kill the buffalo in order to subdue the Plains Indians," Maxfield said. "That's the one that I find the most unredeeming."
The book, Maxfield hopes, will find an audience among people with an emerging interest in the Civil War while also appealing to people who have already read a good deal about the war between the states.
"I always envisioned it as a general audience book for somebody who might not even know a lot about the Civil War," Maxfield said. "I was aiming kind of broadly, but certainly anybody who has an interest in the Civil War, I would hope that they would find this of value."
For more about the book, click here.
Photos by Howard Owens. First and second photos, Derek Maxfield.
Tracy Ford, actor and teacher, dressed above as Sherman, wrote an essay published at the end of the book entitled "Becoming Sherman." He's signing a copy for fellow actor Daniel Snyder, who played Arthur Brisbane in the one-act play written and produced by Derek Maxfield, Brothers at Odds: The Brisbane Story
A 68-year-old Batavia woman who was active in the community as a volunteer and advocate was killed Friday evening on Route 5 in the Town of Batavia after her westbound 2021 Hyundai suburban crossed the double-yellow line and struck two-oncoming vehicles.
Mary Ellen Wilber was pronounced dead at the scene by Coroner Karen Lang.
"She loved this community," Paula Savage told The Batavian on Saturday morning. "She was involved in so many organizations."
The accident, in the area of 3833 West Main Street Road, is under investigation by the Sheriff's Office.
Wilber's vehicle struck a 2014 Ford F-350 and a 2015 Jeep Cherokee, which were both eastbound at about 6:36 p.m. The driver of the F-350 was uninjured. The driver of the Jeep was transported to ECMC with lower body injuries.
Among the groups Wilber supported and participated in were the Friends of The Batavia Peace Garden, the Business and Professional Women's Club. She was also an occasional public speaker at City Council meetings on issues that mattered to her.
Her brother, David J. Zanghi, was known as the "The Mayor of Southside." He died in April 2020, the first local person to die as a result of contracting COVID-19.
Savage said whenever she needed anything, Wilber would rush to her side to help. If a tour group showed up unexpectedly at the Peace Garden, Wilber arrived minutes later in costume to provide an orientation to the tourists.
"She was one of the most giving, loving people I have ever met," Savage said. "It's a terrible loss for me."
Carol Grasso, who served alongside Wilber in community volunteer efforts, said she loved her family and her community.
"She was a great girl for the community," Grasso said. "She did everything. She was involved with everything. If anybody ever needed anything, she was there."
Savage said, "It's not only a loss for me. It's a loss for our community."
Top photo: File photo by Howard Owens from 2013 when the Peace Garden received an award from the Chamber of Commerce. Mary Ellen Wilber is second from left, with Barb Toal, Carol Grasso, and Berneda Scoins.
It was showtime on Thursday at GO ART! for Brian Kemp and two other artists with new solo shows in one of Seymour Place's galleries.
While Kemp had won multiple local art competitions over the years, this is his first solo show.
Kemp describes his creative process as intuitive and almost childlike, and he takes found materials of wood and metal along with Duck cloth for painting to create unique and original pieces, all while listening to an assortment of tunes for inspiration.
"I love creating in this manner as it allows for unplanned expression," Kemp said. "It amazes me what comes out of my works as they develop."
Also opening on Thursday was a show by Bryan Wright. A Batavia resident, Wright is originally from Charleston. As a child, he was drawn to the seaside and water, which remains an inspiration for his work in various mediums.
The collection was inspired, he said, by countless hours spent digging and rummaging through the earth in search of unique rocks, shells, sand dollars, and even an occasional shark's tooth.
"I truly enjoy working with my hands and find my training in graphic design and basic metal fabricating has proven to be practical when fixing things and effective when creating art with such rugged material," he said.
The two pieces below are by John Midla, who also has a new show at GO ART!
Photos by Jim Burns.
After multiple inquiries, The Batavian has learned that animal abuse charges against Cassandra Elmore have been resolved, and the dog she was accused of allowing to ingest narcotics has a new home.
Elmore had actually entered a guilty plea, as part of a plea agreement, to disorderly conduct on Feb. 2, a month before our last story on the case, but nobody associated with the case informed The Batavian of the plea when we inquired about the status of the case.
Oddey, Elmore's former French Bulldog, was adopted the same day as when the article ran, March 3, and The Batavian's inquiry to a member of Volunteers for Animals about the dog's status also went unanswered.
Elmore entered her plea and was granted a conditional discharge, meaning that if she avoids any further arrests and complies with court orders for the next year, her record on these charges will be sealed.
Elmore, 30, was arrested in July and had faced three counts of injuring an animal under New York Ag and Markets Law Section 353. She reportedly took Oddey to veterinarians with apparent drug overdoses after the dog, according to police reports, licked up white powder from the kitchen floor.
Batavia PD is currently trying to locate Elmore, who has warrants out for her arrest after she was released from custody after being picked up on prior warrants, in order to go to a treatment facility. She reportedly never showed up at the facility.
The warrants are for charges that arose after her arrest on the animal charge. She is facing ongoing criminal complaints on charges of obstruction of governmental administration 2nd, aggravated unlicensed operation 3rd, criminal possession of a weapon 4th, criminal use of drug paraphernalia 2nd, as well as failure to comply with a court-ordered program.
Douglas M. Ashworth, 48, of Vine Street, Batavia, is charged with menacing. Ashworth is accused of pointing a rifle at two youths on Oct. 9 on Vine Street in Batavia and placing the individuals in reasonable fear of injury or death. He was arrested on Feb. 28 and issued an appearance ticket.
John J. Saddler, 35, of South Main Street, Batavia, is charged with burglary 2nd, aggravated criminal contempt, grand larceny 4th, and petit larceny. Saddler is accused of entering the home of a person projected by a court order and stealing property, including an NYS benefits card and then using the card at a local business. He was arraigned in City Court and jailed until his next court appearance.
Sarah A. Malone, 40, of Graham Street, Batavia, is charged with theft of services and criminal impersonation 2nd. Malone is accused of dining at a restaurant in the City of Batavia on Feb. 21 and leaving without paying for her meal. Once located, Malone allegedly provided officers with a fake name and date of birth. She was issued an appearance ticket.
Ariel N. Pontillo, 32, of Washington Avenue, Batavia, is charged with DWAI drugs and failure to keep right. Pontillo was stopped by Officer Joseph Weglarski at Main and Court streets in the City of Batavia on Feb. 25.
Michael E. Wilson, 29, of East Main Street Road, Batavia, is charged with DWI and insufficient tail lamps. Wilson was stopped at 2:32 a.m. on Feb. 26 on East Main Street in Batavia by Officer Joseph Wglarski. Wilson was issued an appearance ticket.
Rebecca R. Fugate, 22, of Woodrow Road, Batavia, is charged with harassment 2nd. Fugate is accused of striking another resident of a residential care home in Batavia on Feb. 24. She was issued an appearance ticket.
Heather L. Armstrong, 46, of Ellicott Street, Batavia, is charged with harassment 2nd. Armstrong was arrested on Feb. 28 following a report of a disturbance at a business in Batavia. She was issued an appearance ticket.
Brittany L. Hollaert, 26, of St Paul Street, Rochester, is charged with failure to appear. Hollaert is accused of failing to appear in court as ordered on charges of grand larceny 3rd, petit larceny, and criminal trespass charges. She was released on her own recognizance and admitted into a drug treatment facility. Her case will be transferred to SAFE Court.
Grant J. Fremstad, 22, of Ekern Street, Westby, Wis., is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .18 or greater, improper lane usage, and open container. Fremstad was stopped at 2:23 a.m. on March 5 on East Main Street by Officer Joseph Weglarski. Fremstad was released on an appearance ticket.
Demerio J Watts, 38, of Eggert Road, Buffalo, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, failure to keep right, and failure to signal. Watts was stopped at 1:18 a.m. on Ellicott Street in Batavia by Officer John Gombos. He was issued an appearance ticket.
Phillip D. Byford, 32, of Brockport Spencerport Road, Sweden, was arrested on City Court bench warrants. The first warrant for an alleged petit larceny on Jan. 24, 2020. He was issued an appearance ticket and allegedly failed to appear in court. The second warrant was for an alleged petit larceny also reported on Jan. 24, 2020. He is accused of failure to appear on an appearance ticket. The third warrant is for a charge of criminal trespass 2nd at a location on East Main Street, Batavia. He was issued an appearance ticket and allegedly failed to appear. He was arraigned in City Court and ordered to appear at a later date.
Myia N. Sobus, 19, of South Pearl Street, Oakfield, and Timothy J Alis, 18, of Park Road, Batavia, are charged with petit larceny. Sobus and Alis are accused of filling a shopping cart at an undisclosed store (UPDATE: Through court records, The Batavian confirmed the location was Tops) in Batavia with $897 in merchandise and leaving the store without paying for the items. They were released on appearance tickets.
Shawn M. Sloan, 38) of Porter Avenue, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny and criminal trespass 2nd. Sloan is accused of entering an apartment on Bank Street, Batavia, on March 3, and stealing a kitchen utensil. Sloan was released on an appearance ticket.
Shannon B. Harder, 38, of Bowen Road, Attica, is charged with DWI, unsafe turn, speed in zone, and failure to keep right. Harder was stopped on Center Street, Batavia, on March 8, by Officer Sam Freeman. She was released on an appearance ticket.
Brian Eric Dagar, 37, of Oak Orchard Road, Elba, is charged with petit larceny. Dager is accused of shoplifting at Walmart in Batavia on Feb. 26. Dagar was arraigned in Town of Batavia Court and released.
Evan Francis Maynard, 22, of West Main Street, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Maynard is accused of shoplifting from Target in Batavia on March 2. He was processed at the Genesee County Jail and released.
Jeanna Marie Hattaway, 36, of Park Road, Batavia, is charged with two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance 7th and aggravated unlicensed operation 3rd. Hattaway was allegedly found in possession of multiple controlled substances during a traffic stop conducted by Sgt. Kyle Krzemien at 3:38 a.m. on March 3 on Lewiston Road, Batavia. She was released on an appearance ticket.
LeeAnna Krull, 53, of West Main Street, Batavia, is charged with promoting prison contraband 1st and promoting prison contraband 2nd. Krull was allegedly found in possession of a controlled substance while inside the Genesee County Jail on March 1 at 4:07 p.m. She was arraigned in Centralized Arraignment Court and ordered held.
Beglervoic Denis Ikonic, 20, of East Ridge Road, Rochester, is charged with petit larceny. Ikonic is accused of shoplifting from DIck's Sporting Goods on March 5 at 4:30 p.m. He was released.
Marie Tiffany Walter, 31, of Putnam Road, Bethany, is charged with petit larceny. Walter is accused of shoplifting from Walmart. She was released on an appearance ticket.
Zachary Austin Laird, 26, of Bethany Center Road, Bethany, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .18 or greater, aggravated unlicensed operation, and criminal mischief. Laird is accused of damaging property at a location on Bethany Center Road at 8:15 p.m. on March 1. He allegedly left the scene and drove back while intoxicated. He was arrested by Deputy Nicholas Chmoun and Deputy Kenneth Quackenbush and was held in the Genesee County Jail pending arraignment.
Jeffrey M. Schneider, 44, of Alexander, is charged with DWI. Schneider was stopped by State Police at 7:50 p.m. on March 11 in the Town of Alexander. He was released to a third party. No further information released.
Journalists work hard, report important stories and hope they're making a difference.
Often we feel that we do make a difference, but we don't often see the tangible results.
Our news editor, Joanne Beck, broke the story about Ellicott Station unexpectedly becoming a low-income housing project when the community was promised something far different. She stayed on top of the story, providing follow-ups and more details.
As a result, the community and Batavia City Council took notice.
As The Batavian reported first, last night City Council approved a letter to Homes and Community Renewal asking that rather than relegate the property to low-income housing, the income standards be raised to better fit the original intention of the complex. That intention was to serve the needs of people making workforce wages, which HUD defines as 80 to 120 percent of an area's median income.
The current 50 to 60 percent AMI for the project is what HUD defines as "very low income."
“This is a fundamental change from the goals for the Ellicott Station project and does not match the BOA or DRI strategies for development of our downtown,” the letter states.
Kudos to the City Council for taking action, even if the letter might fall on deaf ears. It's unlikely the city has any power other than write a letter in an attempt to change the rental requirements for the project, but documenting the community's concerns and the history of the project is an important step if there is any chance to effect a change.
So, we're glad to see some action taken following our exclusive coverage of the issue.
Previously:
A Red-bellied woodpecker stopped at a tree outside the district office of Batavia City Schools today.
Photo submitted by Jason Smith.
For the 51st time on Saturday, the Chamber of Commerce presented awards to the people and places that make Genesee County a great place to live, work, and play.
The awards ceremony was held at Batavia Downs.
Super volunteer Norm Argulsky was named, for the second time (he received the award in the 1990s), Geneseean of the Year.
See: Chamber of Commerce Award: Geneseean of the Year, Norm Argulsky
GO ART! received the Special Service Recognition Award.
See: Chamber of Commerce Award: Special Service Recognition, GO ART!
Empire Hemp was honored as the Innovative Enterprise of the Year.
See: Chamber of Commerce Award: Innovation Enterprise of the Year, Empire Hemp
The Agricultural Business of the Year is Fenton Produce.
See: Chamber Awards: Agricultural Business of the Year, Fenton's Produce
Max Pies furniture was honored as the Business of the Year.
See: Chamber of Commerce Award: Business of the Year, Max Pies Furniture
Every dinner table at the event was adorned with a life-size cut out of Phil Pies' face.
Photos by Howard Owens
There was a birthday party at 400 Towers in Batavia on Sunday, with four of the residents celebrating their recent 90th birthdays and one, his 95th.
Pictured: Hazel Preedom, 90, Eleanor Day, 90, Julia Scalia, 90, Frank Aquino, 90, and Donald Hart, 95.
Photo by Howard Owens.
A bicyclist has reportedly fallen and may have suffered a head injury on South Main Street, near the roundabout, in Batavia.
City Fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.
UPDATE 1:15 a.m.: I drove over to the roundabout for an update, and the scene was cleared when I arrived.
Resurrection and Ascension parishes hosted their annual confirmation retreat on Sunday morning at St. Mary's in Batavia.
The class was led by Jason Smith and Ron Chrzanowski.
Smith said that Father Ivan offered a blessing after the 9:15 mass, and then candidates engaged in several activities, including making a coat of arms, and church collages symbolizing elements of the faith. They also studied the Corporal Works of Mercy, and presented their Saints in an interview style.
Candidates will be confirmed on May 28 at St Joseph’s Cathedral in Buffalo by Bishop Fisher.
Submitted photos and information.
Pavilion's 42-40 loss came down to the closing minute of play against Randolph in the Class C Far West Regional Championship game at Buffalo State Sports Arena.
Karlee Zinkievich hit a three-pointer with 40 seconds left in the game to tie the score at 40-40.
The Girls Basketball title game on Saturday, which determined which Class C team would advance to the state semifinal game, was decided on a two-point basket by the Cardinals with 12.3 seconds left.
The Batavian did not receive statistics for the game.
Photos by Debra Reilly.
The Alexander Air Rifle Team, which includes shooters from Perry High School, placed fourth, as representatives of Section V, this weekend at the NYS Invitational Shooting Competition in Lancaster.
Team members:
The coaches from Alexander are Tom Green and Brian Waite. The coaches from Perry are Dillon Hirsch and Nathan Paddock.
Photo and information submitted.
An attorney for Scott Doll, convicted of murder in 2010, thinks there are questions about the case that deserve answers, but the looming question is whether he convinced a judge in Genesee County on Friday that the law allows for those questions to be asked in a hearing.
"We have too many questions in this case, too many whys," said Attorney Michael S. Deal, from the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, near the end of a nearly 90-minute hearing before Judge Sanford Church.
"Scott Doll was sentenced to 15 years to life. He has served 13 years in prison. There are questions about significant evidence, whether it was collected or not, and questions about DNA at the scene when the theory of the prosecution was that Scott Doll was the sole person who committed the crime.
"There is some evidence of another person present," he added. "There is an unknown footprint in the snow.
"We should be interested in the answers to these questions. We shouldn't have these questions floating around in a case as serious as this, what was or was not collected when it was testified that it was? Why was there DNA there that is not the victim's and not Mr. Doll's? We're not sure. There is absolutely enough evidence and enough questions as to what happened in this case to warrant a hearing."
Whether there is enough evidence, and new evidence at that, to warrant a hearing under Criminal Procedure Law Article 440 is one of the questions that Church must answer.
Deal and Assistant District Attorney William Zickl provided him with passages from the statute that seem contradictory.
On one hand, Church shouldn't decide whether the evidence that might be presented at a hearing would lead him to overturn Doll's conviction. There is case law that says that the quality of the evidence shouldn't be the deciding factor. The language of 440 says he can order the hearing purely "in the interest of justice."
On the other hand, Zickl argued, the defense failed to make the case that there is any basis to hold a hearing under the language of the statute. The pleading is deficient in substance and substantiation and therefore fails to meet the standards to proceed with the motion, according to the language of CPL 440.
Doll, 60, formerly of Corfu, was convicted in a jury trial of murder in the beating death of former business partner Joseph Benaquist. During the trial and for the past 13 years, Doll has maintained he didn't kill Benaquist. He wants a chance to prove to a new jury that there is evidence that somebody else was at the scene of the murder before he arrived and found Benaquist already dead.
Church, who is a judge in Orleans County, is hearing the case because County Court Judge Melissa Lightcap Cianfrini recused herself over a conflict of interest. She formerly worked in the District Attorney's Office at the time of Doll's trial and subsequent motions.
The new facts Deal is asking Church to consider as new evidence is an apparent admission by Scott LaPoint, a deputy medical examiner in Monroe County, that it was policy and normal procedure to collect fingernail scrapings from a victim in a murder case. That didn't happen in the Doll case.
Also, Deal says, new DNA tests of one of Doll's family members and two of Benaquist's do not match third-party DNA found on one of the victim's boots.
Deal is trying to thread a needle, and Church asked some seemingly skeptical questions.
A motion to vacate Doll's conviction must be based on new evidence.
In 2016, a motion to vacate was made on the discovery that, contrary to LaPoint's testimony at trial, no fingernail scrapings were taken from Benaquist. Based on defense motions during the appeal process, new testing of the blood-spattered clothing from the crime scene was ordered by Judge Robert Noonan. That led to the discover of DNA that apparently matches neither Doll nor Benaquist.
So, the jury did not know that there were no fingernail scrapings taken from Benaquist and the jury did not know that about the possibility of third-party DNA at the scene of the crime.
That motion to vacate based on these then-new discoveries was rejected by then interim County Court Judge Michael F. Pietruszka on the ground that if the new evidence had been available to the jury, it wouldn't have led to an acquittal for Doll.
Doll lost subsequent appeals of Pietruszka's decision.
Since those two facts have been adjudicated, they can no longer be considered "new evidence."
That leaves Deal arguing that what Pietruszka didn't know at the time of his decision was that, by policy and procedure in the Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office, LaPoint should have collected fingernail scrapings. The fact that LaPoint didn't, despite the policy and usual practice, raises a question as to why, and that question deserves an answer that can only be obtained in a hearing, Deal reasoned.
Church wanted to know if Deal was implying something underhanded went on in the case, and Deal walked carefully around that question.
"What we need is a hearing to fully explore what happened with that evidence," Deal said. "Why wasn't it collected? What if anything is going on, or is it something else? We don't know, and we should know. This is a man's life."
Church accused Deal of a fishing expedition, and Deal said that isn't the case.
"If we have a hearing, Mr. LaPoint comes in and testifies under oath, bringing his notes, bring whatever else might be related, to help his recollection," Deal said.
The DNA comparison from relatives of the defendant and victim is significant, Deal said, because it means some person unknown to the defendant was at the scene of the murder, substantiating Doll's claim that he wasn't there at the time of the murder.
According to Zickl, none of this represents new evidence; to the degree that it does or might, it is of minimal importance, he said.
First, Zickl argued that Deal's motion is insufficient on technical grounds. The information from LaPoint about policies and procedures isn't in the form of an affidavit, and the same is true of the new DNA results.
"It is required that the defendant support his motion and substantiate all essential facts of his claim," Zickl said. "That substantiation has not occurred based on these papers."
Beyond that, even if Doll were granted a new trial and LaPoint testified that yes, fingernail scrapings should have been taken, and no, they weren't, and he didn't know why, that wouldn't persuade a jury to reach a different verdict faced with the overwhelming physical evidence of Doll's guilt.
The jury heard testimony in 2010 that the fingernail scrapings were not tested for DNA. The only thing that's changed is that LaPoint was mistaken, Zickl said, in testifying that fingernail scrapings were taken when they were not.
The defense had the opportunity before the trial to request a test on the scrapings. The defense did not make such a request.
Benaquist was murdered, beaten to death, on Feb. 16, 2009, in the driveway of his home in Pembroke. Before his body was found, a deputy came across Doll walking on South Lake Road in a jumpsuit covered in blood. At trial, a blood spatter expert testified that the patterns of blood on Doll's clothing and face were consistent with an assault on another person.
Deal has noted that Benaquist had defensive wounds on his hands, but Doll was found to have sustained no injuries the night of the murder.
As for the third-party DNA, Zickl said the Medical Examiner's report does not conclude that the DNA comes from blood and that it is mixed in with Benaquist's blood. It's not as clear cut as Deal asserts that there was third-party blood on Benquist's boot.
Deal wants a hearing, also, so the DNA sample can be submitted to a national crime database to see if it matches anybody in that database. That would answer the question, perhaps, of who else was at the murder scene, Deal said. Zickl said the fragment of DNA isn't of sufficient quality for that kind of test. Deal said it was sufficient enough to know it didn't match the family members tested.
Zickl said, based on Noonan's order during the previous appeal, that the defense requested dozens of new areas on clothing be tested.
"Out of the dozens of areas, this one area produced this fragment of DNA that could not be attributed to the defendant or the victim, though Joseph Benaquist is a major contributor of the sample that includes this biological substance. We don't know how, why, or even what this biological substance comprised."
Deal said in his papers and mentioned it again during Friday's hearing that a blood splatter expert has stated the DNA sample could have only arrived on Benaquist's boot at the time of a struggle.
Zickl implicitly disputed that claim.
"There is so much not known about this fragment," Zickl added. "We don't know when it was deposited, who, or what it is."
Despite Zickl's insistence that the abundance of evidence points to Scott Doll's guilt and nothing new has been presented that would suggest he didn't kill Joseph Benaquist, Deal maintained that Doll deserves a legally substantiated answer to the questions that still dangle in the case.
"When you stand back and look at all the pieces, there are good reasons to believe that someone else was at this crime scene when this crime occurred," Deal said.
Many members of Doll's family attended the hearing. After the hearing, Dawn Doll, Scott's step-sister, leaned over to a reporter and said, "There is a murderer out there who is free."
For all of The Batavian's prior coverage of Scott Doll, click here.
File photo: Scott Doll's 2009 Genesee County Jail booking photo.
While the Pembroke Dragons are Class C2 champions in Boys Basketball, their season ended on Thursday in the state qualifier game, consolidating Section V's Class C trophy winners into one team that advances.
The Dragons lost to Lyons 59-56.
No statistics were submitted for the game.
Photos by Jessica Pfalzer
Two accidents are reported in Bergen, both with injuries and entrapment.
The first accident reported was at Jericho and Townline Road the second at Route 33 and Route 19.
Two vehicles involved in the first accident, three in the second.
Bergen Fire and Mercy EMS dispatched to both accidents.
UPDATE 3:53 p.m.: At one of the accidents, a responder reported no entrapment but assistance needed in getting patients out of a vehicle.
UPDATE 3:55 p.m.: Le Roy Ambulance requested to the Jericho Road accident.
South Main Road, over the Tonawanda, Batavia. Photo by Chris Suozzi.
Oakfield. By Kristin Smith.
A truck has reportedly hit a pole on Ellicott Street Road at Shepard Road, Batavia.
Unknown injuries.
Town of Batavia Fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.
UPDATE 11:52 a.m.: There's also a truck off the road with a fuel leak on Route 63 and Little Canada Road. Bethany Fire responding. A minor injury reported at the Shepard Road incident.
UPDATE 11:53 a.m.: Shepard Road, no injuries. The driver is in an emergency vehicle, warming. Low-hanging wires, none detached.
UPDATE 12:03 p.m.: Trucks can't get through because of the low-hanging wires at Shepard Road. A single lane is open for cars.
UPDATE 12:08 p.m.: Traffic control is needed at Little Canada Road. "We're on a bend in the road here. People are flying around the curve before they see us."
The Town of Bethany board meeting has been rescheduled from March 13 to March 20 at 7 p.m.
The change is "due to unforeseen circumstances," said Town Clerk Shauna P. Klump.
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