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Washington Post: House GOP leaders defend new budget deal

Had enough snow yet? Good, because more is on the way.

A lake effect snow advisory has been issued for Thursday, starting at 10 a.m. through 1 a.m., Friday.

As much as two to four inches of snow could fall Thursday and another two or three inches Thursday night for storm totals of four to seven inches.

Winds of 10 to 20 mph are predicted.

With blowing snow, visibility could be dropped to a quarter of mile at times and places.

Travel could be difficult at times.

We just learned that our series on Genesee County Farms and Farmers is receiving an online feature writing award from the New York State Agriculture Society.

We entered the first installments from the series earlier this year.

The award will be presented at the Society's annual forum in Liverpool on Jan. 9.

Tom Rivers, former staff writer for the Batavia Daily News and editor now of Orleans Hub, has previously been honored by the society for his stories on local agriculture.

Here are some of the snow pictures we received in response to our request to see what it looks like in Genesee County today.

We also got a couple of pictures from Wyoming County and since they got hit a little bit harder, I thought we'd include those (the bottom two pictures).

Top photo submitted by Jessica Radam.

After just a couple of minutes outside, Julie Ingalls' dog was snow covered.

Submitted by Mat Fenton.

Submitted by Angela.

Submitted by Sam Tambe, from Attica.

Submitted by Nora O'Neill from Orangeville.

Since Billie and I are missing all the snow Genesee County is getting, how about sending us your snow pictures. E-mail weather-related pictures to howard@thebatavian.com and we'll post the best of them.

From The Batavian's news partner, WBTA:

Batavia Middle School and the high school are OPEN. 

The announcement was made by School Superintendent Christopher Dailey shortly before 6 a.m. this morning in a voice mail message to parents.

Samuel R. Smith, 27, of Townline Road, Bergen, is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Smith was allegedly involved in a motor vehicle accident at 9:22 a.m., Sunday, and his children, ages 7 months and 3, were not secured in any sort of child restraint in the back seat at the time of the collision. The arrest report did not indict whether the children were injured or not.

Amanda Ann Mull, 29, of Mill Street, Akron, was arrested on bench warrants related to charges for aggravated unlicensed operation and following too closely. Mull is accused of failure to appear on the charges. She was arrested following her release from the Erie County Jail where she was held on unrelated charges. She was arraigned in Town of Batavia court jailed on $300 cash bail or $500 bond.

A semi-truck driver hit an icy patch on Route 63 near Transit Road early Monday morning causing the truck to leave the roadway, strike a utility pole and overturn.

The driver, Benito A. Taveras Fernandez, 43, of North Bergen, was transported to Strong Memorial Hospital.

Taveras Fernandez was driving a 2004 Freightliner northbound at 3:42 a.m.

The accident was investigated by Deputy Matthew Fleming.

(Initial Report)

From six to nine inches of lake effect snow are expected to fall on portions of Genesee County today and a lake effect snow warning has been issued through 7 p.m.

The National Weather Services says the heaviest snow will fall south of, and along a line between, Corfu and Le Roy, meaning the bulk of the storm should stay south of Batavia.

Winds will be 15 ot 30 mph, producing blowing and drifting snow. Visibility will be as low as a quarter of a mile at times.

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This is the fifth in our series on Genesee County's farms and farmers. For previous stories, click here. (Obviously, I started this story in late fall and am only now publishing it. I've got one other story that I started at the same time as this and hope to finish in the next week).

When you farm 11,000 acres -- growing cucumbers, green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, cabbage, pumpkins, winter squash, onions, potatoes, carrots and tending milk cows -- you always have something to sell.

Whether you always have a buyer is another matter.

Each work day -- spring, summer, fall and winter -- Maureen Torrey arrives at the main office of Torrey Farms in Elba at 8 a.m. to start marketing the products grown on the farmland owned by her and her brothers John and Mark.

She talks to potential buyers not just in the Northeast, but as far away as Texas and California, trying to get the best price, and sometimes just trying to set a reasonable price, to move perishables before they spoil.

Torrey is a graduate of Iowa State University with a degree in journalism. She was a Cornell Extension agent for awhile then worked in merchandising for Chiquita for four years. The merchandising job gave her a taste of how she could contribute to the family farm.

"I realized I really liked the wheeling and dealing," Torrey said. "The markets are different every day. It's all by your gut. You're looking at weather patterns and what's available and what your gut is telling you. You look at whether to raise the market or lower the market and look at who's short around the country."

The roots of Torrey Farms goes back to the founding of the nation. In 1626, the Torrey family left England and settled in Connecticut. But the rocky soil of The Nutmeg State wasn't great cropland, so as pioneers moved West, so did the Torreys, looking for better farmland.

John Torrey arrived in Bethany in 1803, and while there are still Torreys farming in the Bethany area, Torrey Farms as we know it today began in 1948 when Elbert Torrey, the grandfather of Maureen, John and Mark, purchased the 375-acre Higley Farm in Elba.

Don't let the size of today's Torrey Farms fool you -- it's as much a family farm as the one with 100 acres and 40 cows. Besides the three offspring of Charles Torrey running operations today, Mark's children also work in management roles on the farm.

Jed is charge of grain crops, Travis, daily labor, Lucus, harvest and planting, Shannon, marketing and sales, Molly, human resources and Jordon in accounting and marketing.

"We're very much a hands-on operation," said Maureen, whose three daughters are all in college. Jill is at Cornell, Julie is at Florida State and former Elba Onion Queen Jamie is a freshman at the University of Arkansas.

The farm employs 80 workers throughout the four seasons and brings in as many as 220 workers for the spring through the early fall.

Most employees, as is the case in agriculture throughout the United States, are migrants and immigrants.

After the weather -- if not before -- ensuring the farm has enough labor to plant and harvest is the biggest difficulty Torrey Farms faces. Both John and Maureen agree on that point.

"More than 70 percent of all the food in this country is planted and grown by immigrants," Maureen said. "That's pretty significant. Without them, we'd be pretty hungry."

Yet, there's an endless supply of politicians in Washington -- and it's been this way since the 1980s --  seemingly intent on trying to make it as difficult as possible for farms to get the labor they need to feed Americans.

"Our biggest challenge is the labor, the immigration issue," John said. "You're always going to have the variables of the weather, but the last several years, what we're most uneasy about is immigration."

Fighting against hard-headed politicians in Washington has put Maureen Torrey on a national stage. She's testified before Congress and worked with both labor and agricultural groups trying to bring about sensible immigration reform.

It hasn't been easy.

"We're trying to get some people in Congress to stand up and be fair and do what needs to be done for the country," Maureen said. "They need to make strong decisions and stop worrying about elections. They hear from some advocacy groups, from people who are well organized and use social media and send tons of letters, but they need to look at the meat of the issue and see what it means for the country and who is doing the work and how it's getting done.

"We've always got to educate a new batch of congressmen," Maureen added.

Like just about any farmer you talk to, the Torreys have tried hiring native-born workers, but it never works out. After six hours, maybe two days, the domestic workers leave or don't come back.

The work is hard and dirty, and there are too many handouts from the government to it make worthwhile for citizens stoop and bend in farm fields.

Misinformation spread about immigrants sucking money from that same social services system is what drives border crack downs and makes it harder for farmers to bring in crops, Maureen said. People come here from Mexico to work, Torrey said, not collect welfare.

And often their wages get poured back into the local economy.

"They talk about (immigrants in) the schools, but this farm land and our housing all generate school taxes," Maureen said. "They're also the best shoppers for our retailers. Three weeks ago, 42 brand-new TVs went back on the bus to Mexico. Talk to the store owners in Albion. They love these guys. It makes their business for them."

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It's a rather unexpected trip, but Billie and I are boarding a plane in the morning bound for California.

We will return Tuesday, Dec. 17.

As is typical when we travel, I'll have my computer and stay connected to The Batavian and will have some news to post.

Alecia Kaus, Bonnie Marrocco and Nick Sabato will also be contributing stories. Alecia will be monitor the scanner for us.

Sheriff's Office K-9 "Pharoah" is nearing the end of this career, and while he no longer works every day, he is available when needed and handler Brian Thompson hopes that's the case until October of 2014.

Pharoah's successor, Destro, and new handler Deputy Chris Erion, graduate from the K-9 Academy on Dec. 17.

The former Niagara County police dog was recently recertified, Thompson said, and that certification expires in October.

Thompson said it will be good for Destro to work with the older, more experienced dog once in awhile, and besides, Pharoah does like to work. It will drive him a little crazy just to sit at home.

"I'll have to work with him more in my off time," Thompson said. "Not letting him work would be like putting an ADD child in a room with one block and telling him to have fun."

Pharoah was put to work today when K-9s from the State Police and Livingston County were not available to help search for a burglary suspect on Batavia Bethany Townline Road.

A house was broken into and the homeowner returned to the burglary in progress and only heard the back door close as he entered the house.

Deputies were on scene quickly, but no suspect was spotted.

Thompson said he found only one possible suspect footprint and Pharoah didn't pick up a scent trail to follow. Thompson said it's probable that the burglary had a car nearby and was able to make a quick exit from the area.

"He's a good dog," Thompson said. "He's ready to work if he's needed. He would have found this guy if he was out there to find."

What's missing from this picture? Try, Baby Jesus.

Believe it or not, somebody actually stole Baby Jesus from the nativity on the steps of All Babies Cherished at 445 Ellicott St., Batavia.

Director Tammy Arneth's one wish for Christmas is just to get the Baby Jesus back.

"We survive just on donations," Arneth said. "I need to spend our money on diapers and baby formula. I can't justify buying another Baby Jesus."

All Babies Cherish is a faith-based organization that is supported by local churches. The goal is to assist women who have chosen to give birth to a child rather than get an abortion.

Arneth has been with the agency for 15 years.

She's shocked that somebody would steal their Baby Jesus. While she filed a police report, she said she isn't looking to get anybody in trouble. She would just like to see Baby Jesus returned.

(NOTE: This is among the stories lost to a server glitch. I was able to recover a copy of the story from Google's cache, but the original group of comments are lost.)

Those of you who think you should look into your back yard this time of year and see a blanket of white should get your wish by Wednesday morning.

A lake effect snow advisory is in effect from 4 p.m., Tuesday, through 1 a.m., Wednesday.

An inch is expected to fall Tuesday evening, followed by two to four inches Tuesday evening. Storm totals could reach five inches.

Winds will be 15 to 25 mph from the west with gusts up to 35 mph.

Visibility will be reduced to a quarter of a mile at time.

A server glitch caused us to lose anything and everything posted to the site since 6:05 p.m. -- your comments, my stories, any classified ads posted. I'll endeavor to rewrite the stories -- instead of getting a little more sleep before we head to the Buffalo airport. You'll need to repost anything you still want posted to the site.

Pamela Morrow, 53, of Linwood Road, Le Roy, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and leaving the scene of a property damage accident. At 8:35 p.m., Sunday, Sheriff's Dispatch received reports of an erratic driver heading west on Route 5 through the City of Batavia. The car reportedly moved right several times and struck curbing. A witness reported the car turning left on Park Road about the time Sgt. Ron Meides was leaving the Sheriff's Office complex, though Meides did not see the vehicle. The car proceeded to the Batavia Downs parking lot where Meides located the car a short time later. Two witnesses told Meides that they had seen the car strike two parked vehicles before parking. Meides located Morrow inside Batavia Downs and brought her back to the car.

Frank Lynn Morrison, 32, of Bridge Road, Elba, is charged with sexual abuse, 2nd, and endangering the welfare of a child. Morrison is accused of subjecting a female child under age 14 to sexual contact. Morrison was jailed on $15,000 bail.

Lorraine Ellen Pillo, 48, of Summit Street, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Pillo is accused of shoplifting from Walmart.

Marion Jermaine Spivey, 31, of Elmhurst Place, Buffalo, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Spivey is accused of punching another person in the face while at the Clarion Hotel in Batavia at 6 p.m., Nov. 30.

Kevin J. Compton, 52, of Clipnock Road, East Bethany, is charged with resisting arrest and harassment, 2nd. Compton was arrested by State Police for an alleged incident reported at 4:56 p.m., Nov. 24. No further details released.

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A weather advisory has been issued for tonight, starting at 9 p.m. through 11 a.m. Monday, with a freezing drizzle potentially making travel difficult.

Accumulations of up to a 10th of an inch are expected.

Any untreated roadways could mean hazardous driving conditions.