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By this time tomorrow, the Bergen Volunteer Fire Department will have a brand-new ambulance in service.

It's a big moment for the department. 

The 2016 Ford Rescue replaces the ambulance involved in the crash Sept. 23 that took the life of Barry Miller.

"It’s a wonderful moment for us," said Julie Donofrio, of the Bergen Rescue Squad. "We all do this to give back to the community. We, of course, wish Barry was here, but this was a push from the whole department and something Barry would be proud of. It's also something the whole community can be proud of."

Donofrio said the whole community has been so supportive of the department and that enhances the meaning of the moment.

"It means the world to us to have this ambulance on the road representing Bergen," she said. "For the department, for the community, to help provide (for) all the people of the community that we provide service to, it's a wonderful feeling."

The new rig is fully outfitted with the latest rescue technology, including touch screen systems to monitor patients and also has state-of-the-art safety equipment, from the brush grill and light bars to the interior accommodations for responders and patients.

The department has been using a loaner the past several months and Donofrio said the plan is for volunteers to arrive at the department and transfer equipment from that ambulance to this new one in the morning and then put the new rig in service.

The Warming Center is open tonight from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. for women and children in need of shelter at the United Methodist Church, Lewiston Road, Batavia.

For assistance, call (585) 993-6371.

There will be pickups at both McDonald's locations in Batavia.

Light meals will be served.

Press release:

Congressman Chris Collins (NY-27) today released the following statement after President Obama released his budget for Fiscal Year 2017.

“President Obama has proposed a liberal wish list instead of a budget,” Congressman Collins said. “The president’s spending proposal shows how out of touch he is with fiscal reality and the priorities our country needs to address. His proposal fails to enact meaningful entitlement reforms while raising taxes on hardworking families, increasing our nation’s deficit, and never balancing.

“The president’s proposed oil tax will increase the cost of gasoline by 24 cents a gallon and cripple already struggling families and businesses. Western New Yorkers need pro-growth policies that will jump-start stagnant wages and increase economic opportunities for the middle class. Unfortunately, President Obama still harbors the flawed belief that we can spend our way to economic growth. House Republicans are working on a budget that balances and provides the pro-growth solutions Western New York needs to get back on track.”

From Jeffery Whitcombe:

The Batavia Ramparts Squirt Tier 3 team participated in the Empire States Winter Games last weekend (Feb. 4th thru 7th, 2016) in Lake Placid. The Squirt Ramparts were the only team representing the Western Region of New York State. The Team ended up winning a bronze medal ending up in third place for the weekend. The Team is made up 9- and 10-year-olds from the Batavia area. They are:

Mason Cook
Chase Cummings
Cooper Hamilton
Ryan Hamilton
Noah Hudson
Alex Johnson
Brady Johnson
Jamison Motyka
Brenna Munn
Carter Prinzi
Noah Whitcombe
Mac Wormley

Kevin Hamilton- Head Coach
Jeff Whitcombe - Assistant Coach
Dan Hudson - Assistant Coach
Fred Hamilton- Assistant Coach
Bob Johnson- Manager

Members of the Batavia City Council are ready to raise a ruckus about a proposal for the Town of Batavia to sell a portion of Park Road to Batavia Downs, leading to a closure of the road to thru traffic.

About a dozen Redfield Parkway residents attended Tuesday's council meeting to express their concern about the potential for increased traffic on their residential street if Park Road is closed.

"Redfield will become the new Park Road," is the battle cry.

But that won't necessarily be the case, said Mike Nolan, COO of Western OTB. A traffic study commissioned by Batavia Downs indicates there will be minimal impact on city streets, Nolan said.

"We've been working on this for a year," Nolan said. "We've met with all the stakeholders, the business owners on Park Road, the Sheriff's Office, the fire department and we're trying to mitigate the impact in every way. This wasn't just something thought up a month ago."

City Manager Jason Molino worried that the traffic study doesn't really address the impacts on parallel streets, such as Redfield, Bogue, Union, all the way down to Oak Street.

A couple of weeks ago, Park Road was closed on an emergency basis because of construction work related to the new hotel at Batavia Downs and traffic backed up on Redfield. 

Nelson Baker (top photo) and other speakers expressed concern that the congestion represents Redfield's future if Park is closed.

Maybe, maybe not, Molino said.

"Obviously, people are concerned with that closure that is going to be the type of traffic congestion that could take place," Molino said. "That has some merit to it. On the flip side, it was an emergency and that is going to cause traffic to congest because nobody has time to plan on getting around it. If the closure is well known ahead of time, then people have time to plan. With one incident, it's hard to judge, but it certainly raises awareness and puts focus on it."

That congestion was a one-time event and the traffic study indicates people will find alternatives, more sensible routes, if Park is permanently closed, Nolan said.

The main issue for Batavia Downs, Nolan said, is one of pedestrian safety.

When the racetrack was first built in 1940, the kind of high-volume entertainment center Batavia Downs has become wasn't envisioned, so building it right on Park Road wasn't an issue.

Last year, more than a million people visited Batavia Downs, creating two million pedestrian crossings on Park Road, and Batavia Downs is just going to continue to grow, Nolan said. 

"This is all about trying to solve a big problem, and that's public safety," Nolan said. "That is what the town and Batavia Downs are addressing."

The City Council will take up the issue at its next conference meeting to discuss drafting a letter to the Town Board opposing the plan and maybe directing a council member to personally carrying the city's concerns to the town.

The decision is entirely within the hands of the Town of Batavia. All the city can do is share concern and monitor the issue.

"We as a city are going to be affected and we don't have a say in this, so I would encourage everybody in the city to speak out to the town as well," said Councilman John Canale. "I'm not sure how much of an effect that is going to have on the decision, but it's frustrating because it's going to have a negative effect on city streets."

Fifth Ward Councilwoman Kathy Briggs presented Dan Fischer, co-owner with Debbie Fischer of WBTA AM/FM, with a resolution Tuesday night from the Batavia City Council in recognition of the radio station's 75th anniversary.

Samuel C. Norris, 91, of Batavia, formerly of Alexander, was lain to rest Tuesday with full military honors.

Norris, a past assistant chief of the Alexander Volunteer Fire Department, served with Canada in World War II. His unit landed on Juno Beach, France, on D-Day.

He was born Dec. 30, 1924 in Welland, Ontario, Canada.

For full obituary, click here.

Photos by Laura Friend.

An accident with possible injuries is reported in the westbound lane of the Thruway in the area of mile marker 384.

Le Roy fire and Le Roy ambulance along with Mercy EMS dispatched.

UPDATE 9:37 a.m.: A first responder reports a pickup truck with severe damage to the passenger side. There's a semi-truck involved, too. No word on injuries.  

UPDATE 9:42 a.m.: Landing zone being set up on the Thruway for Mercy Flight. The Thruway will be closed for the landing. Once the helicopter has left, firefighters will clean up the roadway of accident debris and then open one lane.

UPDATE 10 a.m.: Mercy Flight is in the air. One lane being reopened. Mercy Flight is headed to Strong Memorial Hospital.

UPDATE 10:11 a.m.: Both lanes open. State Police and Thruway Authority responsible for traffic. Le Roy fire back in service.

Adam M. Kruetz, 27, of Ross Street, Batavia, is charged with strangulation, 2nd, petit larceny and criminal mischief, 4th. Kruetz allegedly grabbed the throat of another person at 10:20 a.m. Sunday at 5 Ross St., Batavia, and caused that person to nearly lose consciousness, then stole property and broke an item belonging to that person. Kruetz was jailed without bail.

Elizabeth A. Wortman, 28, of Lake Street, Le Roy, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and driver's view obstructed. A witness reported a vehicle driving erratically on Lake Street Road, Le Roy, on Monday. A Le Roy PD patrol stopped Wortman's vehicle on Lake Street and Wortman was allegedly found to be intoxicated.

Michael J. Elmore, 25, of Liberty Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal impersonation. Elmore was located in the parking lot of 305 E. Main St., Batavia, and Elmore allegedly provided false identification to a Batavia police officer in an attempt to avoid arrest on a warrant.

Joseph A. Auricchio, 25, of Broadway Road, Darien, is charged with possession of a hypodermic instrument. Auricchio was allegedly found in possession of a needle at 4:53 p.m. Monday at a location on South Main Street, Batavia.

Brant Gordon Matthews, 21, of Maple Avenue, Le Roy, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Matthews allegedly showed up to a probation meeting at 2:08 p.m. Monday with marijuana in his pocket.

Tyler D. Price, 23, of East Main Street, Batavia, was arrested on a warrant for alleged failure to meet conditions of sentencing.

Todd Patrick Galen, 53, of Merrill Road, Byron, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Galen allegedly violated a court order by failing to comply with animal control regulations.

Tyler J. Penepent, 21, of Oakfield, is charged with petit larceny. He allegedly stole a car lighting bar worth $12.96 from WalMart. 

Kristen E. Dwyer, 23, of Rochester, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Dwyer was stopped on Judge Road by State Police for an alleged expired registration. She was allegedly found in possession of 3.5 grams of marijuana in a baggie, a glass pipe containing burnt marijuana and a multicolored glass pipe containing burnt marijuana residue.

Batavia PD is asked to check on a loud rooster on Vernon Avenue, Batavia.

The caller wishes to remain anonymous at this time.

The rooster is believed to belong to a resident on Vernon Avenue.

An East Rochester man, whom federal authorities say has ties to the Hells Angels, has associates in Genesee County and was arrested in 2009 in Corfu as part of reported scrap metal heist, has been sentenced to 12 months in federal prison on a racketeering charge.

Timothy M. Stone, 36, was convicted of being an accessory after the fact to an assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering activity.

Stone was convicted of participating in a May 31, 2006 baseball bat attack on a male patron at Spenders Bar in Rochester. Surveillance cameras recorded the attack and the video was stored on a computer hard drive. Stone forcibly removed the hard drive and took the hard drive from the bar and later destroyed the hard drive and the baseball bat used in the attack.

The case is part of a larger investigation that stretches from Monterey, Calif., to Oakfield, with Oakfield residents James H. McAuley Jr. and Donna Boon being charged, along with others, of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 500 grams or more of methamphetamine.  

Gordon L. Montgomery, of Batavia, has already been convicted on the charge. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 3.

Robert W. Moran Jr., of Rochester, and Gina Tata, of Rochester, are charged with assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering activity; and McAuley is charged with conspiracy.

A jury trial for Richard W. Mar, of Monterey, McAuley, Moran, Boon, Jeffrey A. Tyler, of Rochester, and Tata, is scheduled to begin March 7.

Some of the prior related stories:

• Alleged heist of scrap metal thwarted by Sheriff's deputies
• Five suspected meth dealers busted in early morning raids
• FBI agent's affidavit reveals some details of alleged meth ring investigation
• Le Roy meth dealer given time in federal prison
• Batavia woman proclaims her innocence after meth dealing case dropped by feds
• Three Genesee County residents accused of being part of Hells Angels meth distribution ring
• Men caught stealing tons of scrap metal convicted in federal court

High school student-athletes interested in playing sports in college are invited to a discussion tonight in the library of Batavia High School starting at 6:30 p.m. The workshop is open to student-athletes grades eight through 12 and their parents and will provide information on NCAA rules and requirements, eligibility, scholarships and recruiting. Kelly Cruttenden, an associate athletic director at University at Buffalo, will lead the discussion.

Lionel J. Anderson Sr., 44, of Oak Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal trespass, 2nd, and harassment, 2nd. Anderson allegedly tried to enter a residence on Dellinger Avenue at 10:55 p.m. Sunday after being told to leave. He allegedly pushed one of the residents. He was jailed on $5,000 bail or $10,000 bond.  (UPDATE: Though the reported times are different, Det. Eric Hill confirms this arrest is related to this report last night).

Adrian P. Morris, 36, of South Street, Le Roy, is charged with felony DWI, felony driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, and inadequate headlights. Morris was stopped by Le Roy PD on West Main Street, Le Roy.

William J. Hixenbaugh, 26, of Le Roy, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Hixenbaugh was allegedly involved in a fight in the Village of Le Roy on Friday.

Lisa M. Volk, 21, of Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Volk is accused of shoplifting at Walmart. She allegedly took $40 worth of nail polish.

Jessie Benedict Joy, 20, of Telephone Road, Pavilion, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, drinking alcohol in a motor vehicle, driving while using a mobile phone, driving left of pavement markings. Joy was stopped at 3:43 a.m. on Telephone Road, Pavilion, by Deputy Ryan Young.

Richard Andrew Germony, 30, of Wildwood Place, Buffalo, was arrested on a warrant for alleged failure to pay fine. Germony is being held in the Genesee County Jail pending his next court appearance.

Andrew C. Webster, 22, of Gillete Road, Alexander, was arrested on a warrant for allegedly failure to comply with court-ordered treatment. He was jailed on $1,000 bail.

Kathryn M. Yark, 18, of Harlem Road, of West Seneca, is charged with criminal possession property, 5th, and unlawful possession of a personal ID, 3rd. Yark was arrested on a warrant and released back to a treatment program.

Jennifer L. Stack, 29, of South Main Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd, and harassment, 2nd. Stack was allegedly involved in an incident Feb. 4 on West Main Street, Batavia, where she threatened another person and violated an order of protection. Stack was jailed on $1,000 bail.

Yolanda E. Johnson, 29, is charged with West Main Street Road, Batavia, turned herself in on a warrant for alleged failure to appear on a traffic citation.

Maggie S. Dipilato, 21, of Hutchins Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal mischief. Dipilato was arrested following an investigation into a domestic incident. Dipilato allegedly struck a male in his face damaging his eyeglasses. She was jailed on $500 bail.

Gerard H. Altenburg, 21, of Main Road, Corfu, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .18 or greater, and moving from lane unsafely. Altenburg was arrested following an investigation into a motor-vehicle accident on Gilmore Street, Pembroke, reported at 9:04 p.m. Friday. The accident was investigated by Deputy Ryan DeLong. Altenburg was jailed on $1,500 bail.

Robert C. Paris, 26, of West Main Street, Batavia, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, and failure to stop at stop sign. Paris allegedly failed to stop at a stop sign on Redfield Parkway, Batavia, at 2:14 a.m. Saturday and was stopped by Deputy Ryan DeLong.

Jacqueline Jane Kurcoba, 38, of Pittsford Mendon Road, Mendon, is charged with DWI and insufficient tail lamps. Kurcoba was stopped at 1:14 a.m. Sunday on Lewiston Road, Alabama, by Deputy Eric Meyer.

Kyle Lee-Maddison Michaels, 18, of Overlook Drive, Batavia, is charged with trespass. Michaels allegedly refused to leave the BOCES campus on State Street Road, Batavia.

Ann Marie Schiegel, 38, of Porter Road, Medina, was arrested on a warrant stemming from two counts of petit larceny. Schiegel was jailed on $250 bail.

A 17-year-old resident of Byron is charged with unlawful surveillance, 2nd. The youth is accused of using a mobile phone to view a female victim in a woman's bathroom stall.

Coty Lee Kimmel, 22, of Alleghany Road, Corfu, is charged with criminal possession of a stolen property, 4th. Kimmel allegedly possessed a credit card belonging to another person without permission.

Troopers are dispatched to Kmart to investigate an individual in a black pickup truck who is at the side of the building loading wooden pallets into the vehicle.

The individual was told to stop and leave, but reportedly has stayed and continued to load pallets.

UPDATE 10:25 a.m.: The subject has left on Lewiston Road. He is described as a white male with a beard and glasses.

UPDATE 10:31 a.m.: It sounds like the person was located and the deputy is returning to Kmart. He said, "no charges."

A caller believes as many as eight people are trying to break into her residence on Dellinger Avenue.

She reports at least some of them having baseball bats.

Batavia PD just arrived on scene.

A deputy reports some sort of "commotion" on the Walnut Street bridge.

A suspect may have left in a gold van.

UPDATE 9:06 p.m.: Police are searching for a suspect.

UPDATE 9:08 p.m.: A second suspect is described as a Jamaican and wearing a red T-shirt.

UPDATE: For a related arrest, see today's Law and Order.

A panel of legislators and an audience of school board members and administrators who gathered in Pavilion on Saturday morning all seemed to agree that cuts in state aid to schools, mandates, and a restrictive property tax cap are hurting school districts.

School districts are in financial dire straights and can't continue to tap into reserves to provide the same level of services to students and their families was the general message of the discussion.

"What we would like to see, because we know the property tax cap is so low, what we would like to see in the Senate Republican Caucus, is eliminate the GA (Gap Elimination Adjustment) fully this year and add to the Foundation Aid so that we can fund our schools," said Sen. Cathy Young, who represents Cattaraugus County and is chair of the State Senate's Finance Committee.

Gap Elimination Adjustments were a prime target during the panel discussion. The program is a product of 2010-11 fiscal year when state funds were tight and Foundation Aid was being cut. While the word "gap" might imply the program was meant to replace what was being lost in Foundation Aid, for most school districts in the state, the program just meant fewer dollars to fund programs.

For the region, GA has cost school districts more than $140 million over the past five years. For the current fiscal year, those school districts are underfunded, officials say, by $21,447,597.

Meanwhile, the complicated tax cap formula limits any increase in school district revenue to .12 percent.

David Little, executive director of NYS Rural Schools, said there are districts that a year ago didn't need a voter-approved tax cap override, but this year, with the exact same budget, will need to go to voters for approval.

Until 2010-11, school districts were kept on a level playing field across the state through Foundation Aid. It's a complex formula but accounts for publication, household income, district size and cost of living to arrive at the size of an annual grant to school districts to ensure they have enough operational revenue.

Over the past five years, as the figures above indicate, Foundation Aid has been slashed drastically, and GA hasn't closed the gap.

The issue of mandate relief was raised early in the discussion by Paul Alioto, superintendent in Dansville, and several of the panel members responded.

Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer said he was on a task force that came up with a list of 51 mandates that could be targeted for elimination, but as soon as you start to dig into them one-by-one, you find each has their constituency, people who will fight tooth and nail to keep it alive.

One of his pet mandates to eliminate is one that requires a third audit of district financial records. It costs districts from $10,000 to $100,000 annually and in Ranzenhofer's view, it's unnecessary. He was able to get a bill through that exempted the state's smallest school districts, but subsequent attempts to exempt more districts have been stymied.

"We have to be able to get (a reform) through both houses," Ranzenhofer said. "It seems like common sense to me, but there is somebody in the Assembly majority who feels it is a good idea to have these audits."

Young said mandates around special needs students are particularly contentious. Many of the mandates could be shifted to a federal budget responsibility, but at the local level, people fear change. At the local level, it's often easy to see how mandated spending on even one special needs child might lead to the elimination of an advanced placement class, which creates local conflicts, but it's difficult to shift expense responsibility to the federal government.

David Little said New York's funding formula is backward compared to just about every other state in the Union. In New York, the state picks up only about 40 percent of the cost of education; in other states, the school district is on the hook for less than 40 percent and the state covers the rest of the expense.

And that's something that could be fixed easily, Little said, at least in theory, though the politics of it are much more tricky. The state mandates a pension program that is state run, but the school districts pay into the program. If the state covered pension expense, Little said, that 40/60 split would flip. It would lift a huge expense burden from school districts.

Assemblyman Bill Nojay took aim at standardized testing. He said children need a broad range of experience and the ability to think critically. The system, he said, is forcing children at a younger and younger age into silos -- "you're going to be a doctor, you're going to be an engineer ... "

He said he was in China recently and their standardized testing is even more rigorous, and people there complain about it.

"For what purpose?" Nojay said. "No matter how good the standards, we are teaching to the test, for lack of a better term, and the obsession with testing, in my judgment, and the Chinese experience, it's not good for child development. It is immensely counterproductive to the development of a society."

Assemblyman Steve Hawley said the drift in education is being driven by a progressive agenda that is hurting America in a lot of ways, and he spoke at length about increases in the minimum wage and problems with the healthcare system.

He shared a story about a call from a restaurant owner who employs 27 servers. An increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour will cost that restaurant owner an additional $105,000 a year.

The owner also recently had a waitress and cook who fell in love and she became pregnant. The waitress did have health insurance, so the owner set her up with an appointment with a health insurance navigator. he waitress reported back that the good news was, she was going to get health insurance. The bad news was that in order to qualify, she couldn't work more than two days a week, and the child's father, a full-time cook at the restaurant, couldn't work more than three days a week.

"We've lost our way in this state with hands out instead of hands on, actually working," Hawley said. "This is not the America we grew up in. It's not the free enterprise system we all prospered under, or tried to prosper under, and that movement over the last seven years across this state is going the wrong way and it's hurting education."

The call initially came in as heavy black smoke coming from a vent at a residence at 111 Myrtle St., Le Roy, indicating a possible structure fire.

A first responder reported smoke coming from a vent for a heater and another reported smoke in the residence.

Le Roy fire and Le Roy ambulance dispatched. Bergen fire initially dispatched, but now told to stand down.

A 73-year-old man faces criminal charges following an incident during student mass at St. Joe's this morning, after the man allegedly took a student by his arm who was in line for Holy Communion and led him through it and then back to his seat in a pew.

Police did not indicate what the man's motivation might have been or what statements he may have made while inside the church, but said the man has no prior relationship with the church nor the student involved in the incident.

Daniel S. Kuczka, 73, is charged with harassment, 2nd, and criminal trespass, 3rd.

According to police, Kuczka entered the church during a private Mass for students of St. Joe's and Notre Dame. He made "inappropriate" comments to staff and was asked to leave.

During Communion, Kuczka reportedly returned to the Mass and grabbed a juvenile who was in line, saying, "Come with me."

Police were called and when patrols arrived, Kuczka was taken into custody without incident.

Police say that investigators found there was no attempt by Kuczka to remove the student from the service.