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It's a beautiful day. Maybe one of the last great days to get outdoor projects done before winter hits. At least that's what James Pontillo had in mind when he pulled a high lift into the parking lot of Stafford Trading Post (he says with the shop owner's permission) so he could work on his building at the corner of Main and Morganville roads.

By now, today's roof work and gutter repair would be done, Pontillo said, if not for the trespassing complaint leveled at him by neighboring property owner Tom Englerth.

A deputy has been to the property twice today. The first time after Pontillo parked the high lift in the parking lot, the second time after he parked it in front of the parking lot. Pontillo contends that area is owned by the State of New York, not Englerth. Englerth apparently contends he controls it.

Englerth was no longer on site by the time The Batavian arrived this afternoon.

Pontillo half expected to be arrested and charged with trespassing.

Deputy Brad Mazur told Pontillo it's a complex situation given the nature of the property and the state highway right-of-way issue. He said he would need to consult with the District Attorney's Office.

Meanwhile, Pontillo has a storm drain he is worried might fall and hurt somebody, and a roof he wants to finish replacing on an arguably historically significant building and he's being prevented, he said, from getting the work done.

Previously: Fences, and more, divide business neighbors in Stafford

Where the Wiss Hotel once stood this holiday season will stand a huge amount of Christmas cheer thanks to Andrew Lathan, owner of Lathan Tree Service, and his family.

The Lathans are donating a 30-foot tall artificial Christmas tree to the community.

Businesses and families are asked to provide ornaments to the tree. The ornament should have a name or business logo on it.

Ornaments can be dropped off at Town Hall by the end of November.

Ornaments should be at least 6-inches tall. 

"This is a very large tree," the Lathans note. It will be as tall as the existing buildings on the west end of Main Street.

The tree will be lit Dec. 7 as part of the community's holiday celebration.

Pictured are Jack, Jay, Aubrey and Carrie Lathan with the unassembled tree.

Press release:

Community members, area businesses, ARC families and staff have donated more than 100 baskets for Genesee ARC’s 3rd Annual Chili & Chowder Fest and theme basket raffle.  The event is scheduled for Saturday, November 16 at the Genesee ARC Community Center, 38 Woodrow Road, and runs from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

“We have a wide range of themes this year ranging from movies and tools, to candles and restaurants and everything in between,” said Shelley Falitico, ARC Development Director and event chair.

With every $10 ticket, participants will have 25 chances to win, along with a chance to win one of two door prizes. There is a group of specialty baskets, valued at $50 or more with 10 tickets at $15. Featured specialty items include Sabres baskets with tickets and parking passes and a wheeled trash can full of cleaning supplies.

This year’s grand prize is a chest freezer that comes with gift cards to area grocers and meat markets, so the winner can fill the freezer. Grand prize chances are $2 each, 3 chances/$5.00 and 8 chances/$10.

A baked goods sale is also planned along with chili and chowder in bowls, to eat in or quarts to take home.

Winners need not be present. The drawings will begin promptly at 1:30 p.m. Funds raised will benefit disability services in our community.

New this year is a ticket-only sale on Friday, November 15 from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.

“We know this is a busy time of year with a lot of weekend events,” Falitico said. “The Committee wanted to offer everyone a chance to win, even if they cannot attend the actual event."

Community members with questions may call Shelley Falitico at the Genesee ARC Community Relations office at (585) 343-4203, ext. 222.

Notre Dame's Tim McCulley was honored Saturday in Rochester with the Section V Player of the Year award. McCulley, a senior QB, led his team to the Section V semi-finals this year and threw for 25 TDs, setting a school record and placing him at #5 in Section V single-season record list. He's 55 career TDs are #4 all-time in Section V. Tim is pictured with his father Michael and mother Carolyn.

Also honored in their respective classes were Curtis Haught from Cal Mum and Ritchie Welch from Avon, pictured below with McCulley and Section V officials.

UPDATE: Here's some of McCulley's stats and accomplishments. He made GR League all team in 2011, 2012 and 2013. He was the team's MVP 2011 and 2013. Team offensive MVP in 2012. His starting career varsity team record was 20-7 with the team making sectionals all three years, winning the title in 2012. In 2013, he completed 83 passes in 164 attempts for 1,390 yards and 25 TDs with only two interceptions. His QB rating was 170. He rushed for 471 yards and six TDs. career, he had 197 completions in 385 attempts for 3,441 yards and 55 TDs and only 11 interceptions over three seasons.  He had 216 carries for 970 yards and 14 TDs.

McCulley has served his church in a number of capacities; referring games and coaching at the now closed Holy Family School, St Joseph’s Elementary youth basketball program,  working at St. Peter’s Church and the St. Francis Cemetery. He has actively volunteered to complete his school service hours at a number of events and venues.  Tim is a 3.0 student and hopes to continue his playing career and is undecided in his major.

Photos submitted by Michael McCulley.

Press release from Rep. Chris Collins (NY-27):

“The administrative fix announced today by the President is just the latest example how misguided and unmanageable ObamaCare really is. After being intentionally misled by the White House in an attempt to sell ObamaCare, 137,000 people in Western New York alone recently learned their insurance policy would be canceled under the healthcare law. Now under immense political pressure from his own party, the President is making yet another unilateral decision to change a key provision of his healthcare law.

I believe that significant changes to legislation should be made through the legislative process and that is why tomorrow the House will vote on the ‘Keep Your Health Plan Act.' While there are significant challenges to reinstate these canceled plans by the new year, we should be doing everything we can to make sure people can keep their coverage and not be forced to buy more expensive plans they do not want or need.”

Albany Times-Union: Bill asks ban on youth tackle

In recent years, even on the first day of practice, Buddy Brasky said he was eager for go-time. He thought his teams were ready for their first regular season game.

This year, with six seniors graduating and a roster stocked with sophomores and juniors, it's going to take a little time to get the team into championship form.

"We've got to get better throughout the year," Brasky said following a practice at Batavia High School today. "We get a little bit better, a little better, a little bit better, and hopefully we peak by the end of the year. Where in the past couple of years we've been really good right from the beginning, I think it's going to take a little while this year."

The core of the starting squad appears to be Justice Fagan, a senior guard, and Jeff Redband, a junior forward whose clutch buzzer beater in last year's regional championship helped send the Blue Devils to the state championship semi-finals.

"We've got two really good players, two first-team, all-league type of players," Brasky said. "If we can get the guys around them to step up, yes, we can win the league title and then the next step from there is sectionals."

It's a little bit of a setback, Brasky said, that Redband is sitting out pre-season wth an injured ankle. He's already been sidelined for three weeks and is at least two weeks away from returning for action. He may not be ready for the opening tip-off.

Also missing a big chunk of practice time is starting senior guard Andrew Turner, who will miss the next 10 days of practice after suffering a mild concussion.

Brasky is also expecting a big contribution from sophomore forward Malachi Chenault, who made the varsity last year as a freshman.

Coming up from JV is that squad's second-leading scorer last year, guard Jerrett Laskett, a junior.

"These are good kids," Brasky said. "They listen. They're coachable. Our schemes are pretty complicated. Our defenses are not easy to pick up, so little by little, I see improvement every day. I'm pretty pleased with how they're working right now."

The Blue Devils, in Class A-II this year, opens the season Dec. 7 against Williamsville South at Niagara Falls HS. There are no home games scheduled before the Lions Tournament, Dec. 27 and Dec. 30 at Genesee Community College.

To purchase prints of photos, click here.

Two callers, one on Wood Street, report hearing the sound of a gunshot.

The sound was a single boom with a sustained echo (we heard it, too).

Batavia PD is responding to the area.

UPDATE 8:56  p.m.: A reader e-mails saying he heard what sounded to him like a 12-gauge shotgun in the area of Cherry/Wood/Jackson.

UPDATE (by Billie) 9:02 p.m.: An off-duty police officer told dispatch it sounded like a pop from a blown transformer. Subesequently, a police officer reported that people interviewed on Wood Street say the noise came from Cherry Street. Officers are now scouring the area of Cherry and Pringle Avenue to try and determine the cause of the sound.

UPDATE 9:11 p.m. (by Howard): An officer I spoke with over on Pringle said the sound I described sounds more like a wire arcing than a shotgun, especially since the sound has reportedly been heard over a wide area of the city, not just the Southside. He said a gunshot sound would not carry to such a wide area. Also, another caller reports seeing a bottle rocket in the area of Cherry and Liberty. One officer expresses skepticism that that was the cause and another recalls there were reports of fireworks from that area over the summer.

UPDATE 9:28 p.m.: Officers are clearing the call. "It's probably a power arcing issue," reports an officer. "Nothing else has been found."

With 25 years in the auto repair business -- a career that took him from mechanic to district manager and vp of operations for other people's businesses -- Steve Getty says he's found a place he wants to put down roots, in Batavia.

Getty has acquired a former oil change and auto repair location at 4003 W. Main St. and opened up Syd's Automotive.

"It feels really good to own my own business," Getty said, "especially being where I live."

Asked what will set his business apart, he said, "quality."

"Most companies in the industry I'm in focus on the fast," Getty said. "We'll be quality first, fast second. It's still a fast oil change, but you're getting a quality oil change, quality repair work."

Photo: Getty left with Scott Levensailor, who is also working in the shop.

The American Conservative: George Vanderbilt & The Reading of Many Books

In the late 1960s, when David Pero played boys basketball for Notre Dame, one of the schools annual opponents that always presented a challenge was St. Mary's School for the Deaf out of Buffalo.

The boys played hard and and ran their plays with no verbal communication.

It was quite an experience, as Pero remembered it. As the girls basketball coach at Notre Dame, Pero thought his team should share the same experience.

"This is a life lesson," Pero said. "Our girls get a chance to see that people with disabilities might play the game differently, but it's the same game and they're just as aggressive as we are."

Notre Dame hosted a pre-season scrimmage tonight with St. Mary's, the Rochester School for the Deaf and Geneseo High School participating.

"We thought it would be a great experience for our kids, our girls, to have a scrimmage with hearing teams and with another deaf team," said Tim Kelly, St. Mary's superintendent. "All four schools are getting a great experience playing against schools they wouldn't necessarily play against."

Notre Dame and St. Mary's haven't played competitively against each other in years, since both left the Smith League. The Fighting Irish are now part of Section V and the Genesee Region. St. Mary's and Rochester School for the Deaf are independent teams.

"They were always, always a good basketball team," Pero said. "They would give you all you wanted. We probably only ever beat them, all the years we played them, by three, four, five points, because they always had very good teams."

The scrimmage was a great chance for the teams to learn from each other and about each other, Kelly said.

"We're always looking at our school to have our kids reach their full potential both academically and athletically and this certainly helps our girls reach their full potential," Kelly said.

The scrimmage was sponsored by T.F. Brown's owner Rick Mancuso.

To purchase prints of photos, click here.

Local historians from throughout Genesee County were in County Building #2 today for the official ribbon cutting on the History Department's new home. Cutting the ribbon above are Legislator Esther Leadley and Legislature Chairwoman Mary Pat Hancock while County Historian Sue Conklin looks on.

Previously: Big task complete, history department settles into new digs at County Building #2

Sean M. Vickers, the man accused of being a predatory child molester in Niagara and Genesee counties, with alleged victims from up to 20 years ago, won't get a chance to post bail.

Vickers appeared in County Court today to be arraigned on a new 11-count indictment that accuses him of sexually assaulting four children in Batavia from the 1990s to the early 2000s.

Citing the possible multiple life sentence faced by Vickers, Judge Robert C. Noonan said Vickers posed too great a flight risk to have an opportunity to post bail.

Bail was set at $500,000 when Vickers was arrested on the first set of sexual assault charges in May.

Public Defender Gary Horton asked Noonan to set a bail amount, saying that bail out of Niagara County Court, he believed, was set at $100,000 cash or $200,000 bond.

As is usually the case for defendants at an arraignment on new charges, Vickers entered a not guilty plea to all 11 of the counts.

He was indicted by a grand jury last week on: one count of a course of sexual conduct against a child, a Class B felony; two counts of predatory sexual assault against a child, a Class A-II felony; six counts of criminal sexual act first, a Class B violent felony; one count of sexual abuse, 1st, a Class B felony; and one count of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.

The 44-year-old Vickers was a resident of Geneva at the time of his arrest in May.

The local investigation into Vickers started after detectives in Niagara County contacted Batavia PD about a case they were working on. That helped to bring to light alleged molestation against at least one victim and the ongoing investigation turned up more victims and more evidence to base the new charges on.

Det. Kevin Czora, leading the local investigation, said over the weekend that it's possible there may be alleged victims in the community local law enforcement doesn't even know about. 

Anybody with information that may assist in the investigation can contact Batavia PD at (585) 345-6350 or outside the city, contact your local law enforcement agency.

Previously:

• Former Batavia resident accused of sex offense against a child more than a decade ago
• Grand Jury indicts man for alleged sexual conduct with a child under 13
• Brothers suspected of having multiple sexual abuse victims over three-decade period
• Former Batavia resident accused of sexual conduct with a child appears in court
• New charges filed against former Batavia resident accused of child sexual abuse
• Detective worries there may be more victims locally of alleged child molester
• Grand Jury indicts convicted child molester on 11 new counts

A Monroe County resident who was tied to a burglary at the former Jell-O Factory in Le Roy by DNA evidence, entered a guilty plea this morning in County Court to one count of fourth-degree grand larceny.

James M. Kavanagh is being released under supervision of Genesee Justice pending his sentencing Feb. 4.

He was arrested in September by Le Roy PD for the burglary in April 2012.

Also arrested was Kristen Brightenfield. Her case is still pending.

John O'Shea was arrested for the burglary shortly after it occurred and is currently serving a sentence in State Prison. Brightenfield and Kavanagh were accused of being accomplices.

In court this morning, Kavanagh's attorney said he has a fiance who is due to give birth and Kavanagh, who was being held in the Genesee County Jail until today, said he has a job waiting for him in Chili supervising a gas station at night.

Judge Robert C. Noonan placed a curfew on Kavanagh as a term of his release under supervision, but carved out exceptions for him to work and to be present at the birth of his child.

He's also on probation in Monroe County.

At sentencing, Kavanaugh could be facing the potential of a longer prison term because of a prior felony conviction in Ontario County for forgery.

Previously: Law and Order: DNA allegedly links two people to 2012 burglary in Le Roy

USA Today: Iran negotiations vs. war: Our view

A motor-vehicle accident with a possible minor head or neck injury is reported on Park Avenue, City of Batavia.

City fire and Mercy EMS are on scene.

The vehicle hit a utility pole. 

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Investigators have determined that the fatal fire early this morning at 10 Davis Ave., Batavia, was caused by "careless use of smoking materials, i.e., cigarettes and lighters."

The fire, first reported around 2 a.m., took the life of 87-year-old George A. McConnell.

McConnell's wife, Candace McConnell, was not injured in the fire.

George was apparently unable to exit his second-floor bedroom after the fire started. Candace made her way to the first-floor back porch and was assisted from the house by Officer Darryl Streeter.

The fire investigation was conducted by the Batavia Fire Department and the Batavia Police Department.

Previously: Fire on Davis Avenue claims life of 87-year-old resident

I couldn't make it to the marker dedication for the East Boundary of the Holland Land Purchase at Four Corners in Stafford on Friday. Sue Conklin sent along this photo and the press release below.

On Friday, November 8th 2013 a historical marker commemorating the Eastern Boundary of the Holland Land Purchase was dedicated in Stafford at the intersection of routes 5 and 237. More than 20 people attended the dedication ceremony, which included a brief reading of the history of the survey and a gun salute provided by the War of 1812 militia. 

Following the dedication the Stafford Historical Society served cider and donuts and several people toured their award-winning museum.

Prior to the dedication a survey using original links and transit was conducted by:

• Rochelle Stein, Genesee County legislator for District No. 5
• Lynne Belluscio, Le Roy House director and LeRoy Village historian
• Susan Conklin, Genesee County historian
• Phyllis Darling, Stafford Historical representative
• Jeffery Donahue, Holland Land Office Museum director

This survey revealed the location of the marker and the actual boundary line is over by 83 links. Had the marker been installed in the actual location, it would be in the center of the intersection of Route 237, something the Department of Transportation would have forbidden. The Town of Stafford graciously provided the Genesee County History Department with an alternative spot.

Welcoming Remarks / Mary Pat Hancock Genesee County Legislator:

"Genesee County included not only the Holland Land Purchase, but many other smaller land tracts. The County had six land companies with the Holland Land Purchase being the largest. It included two-thirds of the county lands and was located west of the Transit Line.  The other smaller companies were located east of the Transit Line and include one third of the county lands. The other land tract companies were the Connecticut, Triangle, Phelps & Gorham, Craigie and the 40,000 Acre.  

"When the Holland Purchase was made, the land was in Ontario County, with the county seat in Canandaigua. On March 30, 1802, Genesee County was formed with the county seat in Batavia. As populations grew, eight other Western New York counties were carved from the original Genesee County.

"The eastern boundary of the 3.3-million acre Holland Land Purchase bisects the old State Road, now known as Route 5, in the Town of Stafford. This boundary runs from the State of Pennsylvania north to Lake Ontario. The Holland Land Purchase extends west from this line to Lake Erie and the Niagara River.

"Today we honor the Holland Land Purchase and commemorate their Eastern Boundary."

A former Batavia resident accused of five burglaries locally has a chance to carry on his life without serving any time in prison.

Judge Robert C. Noonan ruled in County Court today that Samuel G. Malone, 27, can serve a year's interim probation before he is officially sentenced on his guilty pleas Aug. 12 to two counts of burglary, 3rd, and one count of attempted burglary, 3rd.

District Attorney Lawrence Friedman told Noonan he thought a prison term was the appropriate way to deal with Malone, who committed his local burglaries in 2008 and avoided detection until he was arrested in another county in January.

The arrest in another jurisdiction helped Batavia PD match Malone's DNA to blood found at three burglary scenes in the city.

Malone was later charged in another local residential burglary and admitted to burglarizing the former Clor's location on Pearl Street.

Noonan was apparently persuaded to give Malone another chance based on pre-sentence reports from the probation departments in Allegheny County, where Malone now lives, and Genesee County. Both reports recommended no prison time for Malone.

The maximum sentence available to Noonan was eight to 16 years in prison.

Malone is on probation on his conviction in another county, so he faces consequences there as well as Genesee County if he violates the terms of his release.

For previous coverage of the Samuel Malone case, click here.

A one-vote margin was all the difference needed to elect Michael Welsh town justice in Le Roy.

He beat Scott McCumskey 817-816, according to the Genesee County Elections Commission, which completed counting absentee ballots from last week's election.

In the other closely watched and tight race, incumbent Ed DeJanerio held onto his 21-vote margin over challenger Bob Bialkowski for a 405-372 victory.