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The grandchildren of Mike Cleveland offer a salute while standing in front of a giant flag he's hung on his garage for Flag Day today.

The girls are Angelina, 6, and Juliana, who is 3 years old today.

The Pok-A-Dot turns 60 years old this month and co-owner Phil Pastore couldn't be happier.

Not many restaurants survive 60 years, and fewer still with the same ownership.

"It’s probably one of the greatest things in my life, to own something for 60 years and still be alive to appreciate it," Pastore said.

"We're quite proud," said his wife, Leona, "quite proud."

Pastore said his friend Joe Marone, who ran a concession business, came to him one day while he was working at Masse Harris and suggested they open a hot dog stand at the corner of Ellicott and Liberty streets.

In the 60 years since, the Pok-A-Dot has become a landmark, a throwback to a simpler time of friends and neighbors seeing each other every day and sharing a bite to eat. It was the favorite restaurant of famed author John Gardner and has become a must-visit stop for many politicians on the campaign trail.

It's been featured in international media reports.

And still, it's a place where locals come for coffee and breakfast or a beef-on-weck every day.

"It's the food," Pastore said, explaining the Pok-A-Dot's success. "And it's a very friendly place, a place where you can sit around an eat and talk with people. That's what it's really known for."

The 60th anniversary celebration will be from 5 to 9 p.m., June 22. Musician Bill McDonald and friends will play and many old friends are sure to gather.

Photo: Joe Marone, Joanne Cox, Phil Pastore and Nicole Johnson.

We're not supposed to call it Batavia Downs Casino anymore, but beyond that, officials are still sorting out what a new compact between New York and the Seneca Nation means for Western Regional OTB.

In exchange for resuming long-overdue payments, at a reduced rate, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has granted the Senecas exclusive rights to casino operations in WNY.

Exactly what "exclusivity" means hasn't been entirely spelled out, said Michael Kane, president of the Western Regional OTB.

Dick Siebert said he's worried the governor has given away Rochester to the Senecas after promising that Batavia Downs would be the only gaming facility in the region.

Dropping "casino" from the name isn't too troubling, nor is the requirement to stop calling video terminal games "slots," and even the loss of electronic table games isn't crippling, but there needs to be some compensation to WROTB for the deal cut with the Senecas.

The Senecas had their taxes reduced, Siebert said, so should Batavia Downs.

"They got what they wanted and we’re just looking for a little relief ourselves since they took the table games away from us," he said.

WROTB is lobbying for a 15-percent reduction in the amount of money it sends to New York, Siebert said.

"We need concessions to be able to provide more for our local counties," Siebert said.

Batavia Downs is undergoing a $27-million renovation downstairs and space was being set aside for electronic table games. That space will just now be used for something else, Siebert said.

"We can survive without them (the table games), that's for sure," Siebert said.

Kane agreed.

"We still think our customers will be very happy with the expansion," Kane said.

Related link: The Buffalo News.

If Bill Kauffman sat down to write a screenplay, the result would surely be the movie "Copperhead."

The ideal Kauffman film would take a look at a side of history that is little known and rarely discussed. The lead character would be a dissenter, the holder of unpopular opinions who won't bow to conformity. The major themes would be love of family, community before nation, and fealty to the Constitution. It would show how war rips asunder these values as brutally as it maims bodies and damages souls.

This is, indeed, the movie "Copperhead," based on the 1893 novel, "The Copperhead," by Utica-born Harold Frederic. The screenplay is by Batavia's (and Elba's) own Bill Kauffman.

A packed house at Genesee Community College's Stuart Steiner Theater of Kauffman partisans -- friends and family, mostly -- viewed a special screening Thursday night of "Copperhead." We applauded when Kauffman's first film credit rolled across the screen and clapped again for his daughter, Gretel, whose credit was for one of the two "giggling girls" at a barn dance.

We also all applauded in appreciation as the final scene faded to black and credits for all the grips and technicians and wardrobe staff rolled across the screen.

It is a very good movie.

The story line -- without trying to give away too much -- is about a small Upstate New York farm community in 1862. The town is largely Republican with a view of the war in line with the Lincoln Administration.

Abner Beech opposes the war. He's a Democrat. He's no "slaver" he says, but he considers Lincoln's war unlawful.

"It is Abraham Lincoln," Beech tells Avery (played by Peter Fonda), "and his Republicans tearing us apart, and the Constitution. Closing down newspapers, putting critics in prison, enlisting mere boys to fight in his unconstitutional war."

The scene is near the start of the film and Kauffman said during the Q&A after the screening that it's a critical scene. It sets the themes of the entire movie.

Avery's character wasn't included in Frederic's original novel, but Kauffman said one of the faults with the original story was it was rather one-sided in its point of view.

"He never gives the pro-Lincoln, the pro-war side a fair shake," Kauffman said. "It's only about Abner Beech and in the film we made the community more of a character, so I introduced the Fonda character to be an articulate advocate for that point of view."

Near the end of the exchange, Avery says, "The union, Abner, doesn't the union mean anything to you?"

Abner, played by Billy Campbell, looks at Avery with sad eyes, but also affection.

"It means something. It means more than something. But it doesn't mean everything. My family means more to me. The farm. The Corners means more. New York State means more to me. Though we disagree, Avery, ye mean more to me than any union."

A good portion of what Bill Kauffman has written in his nine books could be summed up in those eight sentences.

Asked how closely the Kauffman-esque polemic aligned with Frederic's own work, Kauffman laughed and said, "it's a seamless and harmonious melding."

Director Ron Maxwell, in Batavia for the screening, picked up the question.

"It's what we choose to do," said Maxwell, whose previous screen credits include "Gettysburg" and "Gods and Generals." "It's why this novel, instead of that novel.

"Having spent as much time as I have tilling these fields, going on 30 years of these Civil War movies, for myself, it was a completely different exploration. Where the previous two movies were, to generalize, they were cinematic meditations on what good, powerful, ethical men should be when they go to war. When you look at those films, you have a strong, full-throated point of view for the men who wore the blue or the men who wore the gray.

"Along the way," he continued, "the question is, what about the good, honorable, ethical men who chose not to go to war, and in fact, the very same war? This is one of the very few novels that raises that question about the Civil War."

Abner's opposition to the war is not without consequence. It becomes a wedge between him and his son. It leads to bitterness, hatred and violence among the townspeople.

The home front has rarely been portrayed by Hollywood, and certainly not from a dissenter's point of view during the commonly accepted "good wars" (the Civil War and World War II).

Maxwell and Kauffman have been friends since the mid-1990s and one day a few years ago they discovered they had both read "The Copperhead" and thought it an interesting and largely unexplored aspect of the Civil War. They agreed it might make a good movie, so Kauffman set about writing the screenplay.

It was no easy task -- and it never is -- getting the film funded, but eventually cast and crew were dispatched to a settlement town in New Brunswick, Canada, where all of the scenes take place.  It looks very much like Upstate New York.

Maxwell said in shooting a movie like this, you don't think about the politics of it. He doesn't like to make, he said, movies with overt political messages. He would rather explore questions and not give answers. When cast and crew are in production, they're in 1862. They're not even thinking about what happened in 1863, let alone 2013, but he knows others will apply today's current events to the issues raised in the movie.

Just the same day, he noted, President Obama has made a military commitment to Syria, so now the U.S. is involved in three wars.

"This movie is going to go into this world where we already have neighbors who are in Afghanistan," Maxwell said. "We all know military families who are suffering. This movie is to a large extent about the families who are home, worried about their relatives, so the context may be 1862, but it is relevant to our world and those kinds of inferences will be made and they probably should be made."

"Copperhead" opens nationwide June 28.

Top photo, Bill Kauffman; bottom, Ron Maxwell.

Organizers of the Stafford Carnival have canceled festivities for tonight. Just about everything -- including the beer tent -- is flooded.

Jamie Call said everything will be ready to go by tomorrow, however.

You can't brew beer without malt, which is something Ted Hawley thinks legislators forgot about when they passed a farm brewing bill last year that will eventually require ales and lagers  labeled "New York Beer" to contain 90 percent locally grown ingredients.

"They just thought they could grow barley in New York," Hawley said. "They didn't know there was another step, which is malting. It has to be malted before you use it in a brew. So it was kind of interesting that they put this huge amount of effort into requiring 90 percent ingredients from New York, but there's no way it can be produced with 90 percent ingredients."

The timing of the bill was fortuitous for Ted and Patricia Hawley, who started planning a year earlier to open a malt house on their farm off Bank Street Road, Batavia.

It will be the only malt house in New York, though the Hawleys are sure others are coming with anticipation of a craft brew boom in the state thanks to the new rules.

The farm beer license created by the bill is modeled after the winery license, which requires local ingredients and allows for tastings, on-site sales, bigger production runs and statewide distribution.

The Hawleys, like the bill's supporters, envision beer trails -- like wine trails -- and a new branch of agri-tourism throughout Central and Western New York, with hopefully the Hawley's malt house, and Batavia, right on the map.

The Hawleys are never afraid to dream big, and asked about the future of craft beer in Batavia, Patty shared a vision of microbreweries being drawn to the area.

"If you look at the larger picture, it would be really great if we could encourage microbrewers to come in, who are largely young, to set down roots, raise their families here, to change the landscape of what Genesee County looks like," Patty said. "It would be very cool to bring in that demographic, who then attract others with that whole artisanal mindset."

The Hawleys have no immediate plans to brew beers themselves, though they imagine selling beer right on their farm that's created by other microbrewers using Hawley malts.

It's almost a matter of coincidence that the Hawleys came into the malting business.

Living local is important to the Hawleys and they also have a strong interest in organic products (Patty Hawley owns Fountain of Youth Organics in Brockport), so two years ago, Ted went to a conference to learn more about growing organic grains for commercial bakeries.

"We were thinking that we were going to grow some organic grains on a little bit of land that we have for the baking industry, which is another kind of booming initiative," Patty said. "At this conference, there was one brief mention, like a sentence or two, if there were any entrepreneurs out there, malt is needed and there are no malt houses. Initially we weren't thinking in that direction."

Ted started researching the idea and saw it as a great opportunity for a new business venture even before the farm bill passed.

Since then, he's been learning everything he can about malting and grains, attending conferences, taking workshops, going to seminars.

"About 100 yeas ago, New York State used to be the largest producer of barley, the largest producer of malt, the largest producer of hops in the whole country," Ted said. "Some fungus came in and kind of knocked it down a little because of the farming practices and repetitive planting and (the state) never recovered after Prohibition."

Hawley just returned from the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Center, where he found himself sitting next to representatives from the largest breweries in the world.

The center, he said, can create any kind of climate in the world. They grow many varieties of barely in different conditions and then malt the barley in small batches and brew beer to test the results.

Not all barley types grow equally well in all climates and since malt varieties of barley haven't been grown in New York in nearly 100 years, Hawley is on a search to find the best barley varieties to grow in Genesee County.

To get their malting operation off the ground, the Hawleys are growing barley on 43 acres in Byron (top photo) and planted a variety that is used commonly for malting. But Ted also has a field in Le Roy where he's growing 23 varieties of barley in cooperation with researchers from Cornell.

"A variety you grow out in the Midwest is not going to grow the same here," Ted said. "We've got to see what grows here and thrives and keeps the proteins down and the enzymes up, which is different than feed-grade barley, which is protein high, enzymes low, and that's what's been planted here the last 100 years."

The Hawley malt house will produce a variety of artisanal malts based on the varieties of barley and other grains they find grow best in Genesee County.

Already, some 50 brewers have expressed an interest in Hawley malts, from some larger craft brewers to guys still brewing private stock in a garage, Ted said.

The passage of the bill also created another opportunity for the Hawleys. They were able to apply for and receive a $117,000 state grant, which allowed them to immediately double the size of their operation.

Eventually, Ted believes the Hawley house will produce 150 tons of malt a year, but he's starting out small -- 1,000 pounds a week (the 43 acres in Byron will yield 43 to 50 tons of malt).

"This is all new, so I need to feel comfortable doing this," Ted said. "It's quite an intricate process."

There is no limit to the kinds of recipes brewers can dream up for beer and the Hawleys think that creative opportunity will help fuel a craft beer boom in New York and that brewers are ready for locally produced malts unique to New York.

"This craft brewing industry is phenomenal," Ted said. "There's no rules. I mean, there could be up to 30 ingredients in brews, from nuts and berries to honey, to apples. There's no rules and there are some great craft brews that are being processed right now in people's garages. This farm brewing bill will offer them an opportunity to open up larger and sell their brews."

These two pictures were made from just about the same spot on Ivison Road, Byron, just before sunset yesterday.

A mask-wearing man carrying a sawed-off shot gun robbed Pandora's Boxxx, an adult video and novelty store, as a clerk was preparing to close last night, according to the Sheriff's Office.

The suspect is described as a white male, about 5' 9" tall and weighing more than 200 pounds. He was wearing a camouflage balaclava over his head and dark clothing. He was last seen on foot running through the parking lot of the store toward Ellicott Street Road.

The store is located at 4818 Ellicott Street Road, Batavia. The robbery was reported at 11:39 p.m.

The clerk handed over the contents of the cash register to the man when he demanded cash.

The Sheriff's Office is asking that anybody with information that might assist in the investigation to call (585) 343-5000.

Ryan D. Shumway, 33, of 104 Jackson St., rear, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, 5th. Shumway was arrested following an investigation by Officer Arick Perkins and Sgt. Dan Coffey into a theft reported Monday of an item from the porch of a residence on Pringle Avenue.

Jacob T. Bell, 21, of 205 Washington Ave., lower, Batavia, is charged with assault, 3rd. Bell is accused of being involved in a fight with a family member at 5:10 a.m., Wednesday.

A 17-year-old resident of Coe Avenue, Oakfield, is charged with trespass. The youth is accused of trespassing on property owned by Bonduelle USA, Inc., in the Village of Oakfield. Three other youths were referred to Juvenile Court.

Drew M. Frost, 24, of Attica, is charged with DWI. Frost was stopped on Bowen Road, Darien, by State Police at 12:30 a.m Tuesday.

Should military commanders or special prosecutors investigate charges of sexual assault?

Huffington Post:  Democrats Divided On Whether To Remove Military Sexual Assault Cases From Chain Of Command

GCC's Forum Players Theater Company presents "Charlotte's Web" this week, opening at 7 p.m. Friday in the Stuart Steiner Theater.

Alumna Jaime Arena directs the production, which also shows at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.

From a press release:

The show is being produced with the support of The BEST Center at GCC by special arrangement with the Dramatic Publishing Company of Woodstock, Ill. Originally published in 1952, E.B. White’s “Charlotte’s Web” chronicles the life of Wilbur the pig  (played by 2010 GCC alumnus Robert Reiss). Born the runt of the litter, Wilbur is saved first by 8-year old Fern Arable (Brianna Jones of Batavia) who stops her father (played by GCC English Professor Norm Gayford) from killing the pig and nurses him to good health. In the barn at the Zuckerman farm, Wilbur encounters a spider named Charlotte (Margaret Gayford, of Warsaw High School), who spins magic when Wilbur’s life is again in danger. A timeless tale of bravery, selfless love, and the true meaning of friendship, the play is adapted for stage by Joseph Robinette.

Other cast members include: Kayli Wilson (Canastota) and Jordan Griffiths (Milford) as narrators; Sania Hyatt (New York City) as Templeton; Courtney Amesbury (Bergen) as Mrs. Arable; William Rupp (Batavia) as Avery; Christian Hoffman (Hilton) as Homer Zuckerman; Alayna Zimbrich (Hilton) as Edith Zuckerman; Tony E. Heard (Fillmore) as Lurvy; Emily Jones (Waterloo) as Goose; and Norm Gayford as Old Sheep. William Rupp, Norm Gayford and Emily Jones will play fairgoers while Brianna Jones, Tony E. Heard and William Rupp will appear as spiders.

All tickets for the show are $5. An autograph session will be held after each performance. Tickets can be purchased by cash, check or credit card from the GCC box office at (585) 345-6814 or boxoffice@genesee.edu.

Photos from today's dress rehearsal by Howard Owens.

Following a Local Drug Enforcement Task Force raid, two Le Roy residents have been arrested on drug charges.

Taken into custody were Jacqueline D. Cecere, 35, and Brandon M. Longhany, 33, both of Clay Street.

They were charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th, criminal possessing of a hypodermic instrument and criminal using drug paraphernalia. All three charges are misdemeanors.

Task force agents reportedly found hypodermic instruments, methadone, a small quantity of cocaine, heroin and packaging used for controlled substances.

Uniformed deputies and Le Roy PD assisted in the execution of the search warrant.

A weekly business newspaper in Buffalo published a ranking of WNY elementary schools and one Genesee County school made the top 10.

St. Paul Lutheran School is the 10th best in academic achievement over the past four years, according to Business First.

Press release:

"Matt Venuti's performance opens the heart, quiets the mind, and deeply touches the soul" ~ Arun Gandhi, author, lecturer, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.

Multi-instrumentalist/composer Matt Venuti is one of the world's premier players of the Hang, the most exciting new acoustic instrument of the 21st Century and one of the most captivating and versatile of all time. Better described as a sound sculpture than a typical instrument, Hang means hand in Swiss -- pure magic!

Matt's compositions and performances have been commended by worldwide fans of his original music. He has a history of performing at progressive happenings like the TED Conferences and gala events worldwide, either as a soloist or with his San Francisco based ensemble, The Venusians.

He tours throughout most of the year performing solo Hang concerts and FreeFlow Yoga events.

CLICK HERE to read a recent article written about Matt for the Huffington Post about FreeFlow.

CLICK HERE videos of him playing.

For pre-sale tickets buy on line or stop in the studio call : 585-230-5430​ or visit our Web site: www.bp-yoga.com

Thursday, June 20 | 7 p.m. | $15/ pre sale | $20/ door

Robert P. Leiser Jr., could be out of jail today, but according to Judge Robert C. Noonan, Leiser couldn't do one simple thing: follow a court order.

Noonan gave Leiser, originally indicted on two counts of assault, 2nd, a chance at a sentence of credit for time served after Leiser entered a guilty plea in the middle of his trial in April to a lesser charge of second degree attempted assault.

It's probably the first time Noonan has ever allowed a plea bargain after a trial has begun, but according to Noonan it was the most bizarre trial he's presided over and it was clear to him, he said, that the main witness against Leiser wasn't telling the truth.

"Mr. Burns (attorney Thomas Burns) saying that this was a dysfunctional relationship between you and the complainant, that's probably the understatement of the decade," Burns said. "This was a relationship that was nothing short of bizarre between two people who share a responsibility for the conduct that brought us here today."

However, Noonan said, the only person with an order of protection in place was Leiser.

Leiser was arrested in August and accused of hitting a woman in the head with a flashlight.

In deciding to sentence Leiser to one-and-a-third to three years in prison, Noonan said he also considered Leiser's criminal record, which includes at least 40 arrests and two stints in prison.

"In 25 years of criminal history, you just get arrested, go to jail, get out, go to prison, get out," Noonan said. "I don't know when you're going to wake up and say, 'I'm a grown man now, I'm in my 40s, and I need to take charge of my life and not go back to prison.' "

Noonan had hoped, he said, that Leiser could prove he was ready for that change after his guilty plea when Noonan released him from jail under supervision (RUS) of Genesee Justice.

Burns argued that Leiser wasn't accused of using drugs while he was on RUS and there is no evidence that he used drugs, but Noonan said Leiser violated his RUS contract in numerous other ways.

Leadership Genesee held its annual golf tournament and its bocce ball tournament today. Here are three shots from bocce ball.

Staff at UMMC were honored this morning for their participation recently in the "Safe Haven" drop off of a newborn baby by a mother in distress.

Timothy Jaccard, president and director of AMT Children of Hope Foundation, and author of the 1996 law that makes Safe Haven possible, presented plaques to the hospital and to staff for UMMC's acceptance of a Safe Haven baby last month.

In late may, a mother contacted Jaccard's organization looking for an option for a baby she could no longer care for. The mother was directed to the Medina Fire Department, which accepted the baby and transported it to UMMC.

The Safe Haven law allows mothers to hand over babies to Safe Haven ambulances and hospitals without any repercussions.

Prior to the law's adoption, Jaccard said, as many as 25 babies a year in New York were being left to die in Dumpsters and along roadways. Last year, only three babies in New York died after being abandoned.

"It’s very rewarding to know that we made a difference in the community," said Maryann Cogdill, who is in charge of the maternity ward.

The baby was given a medical examination to ensure it was healthy and then placed in a foster home and it will eventually be adopted.

Photo: Mary Beth Bowen, VP of nursing, Mark Schoell, CEO of UMMC, Denise Polovick, RN, Jaccard, Cogdill and Dan Ireland, VP of clinical support services.

Should campaigns for state office be publicly financed?

Albany Times-Union: Cuomo bill eyes public-financed elections

A Le Roy woman, already facing a pot growing charge, has been arrested again on an unrelated burglary charge.

Sara E. Schimley, 23, is accused of unlawfully entering or remaining in the apartment of an acquaintance between April 1 and May 24 and brandishing a crowbar and putty knife.

She was arrested by Le Roy PD on charges of first degree burglary, a Class B felony, and criminal possession of a weapon, 3rd.

Nearly two weeks ago, Schimley's apartment on East Main in Le Roy was raided by members of the Local Drug Enforcement Task Force and Schimley was charged with unlawful growing of cannabis, a Class A misdemeanor, and unlawful possession of marijuana.

Also charged a few days later was 33-year-old Michael J. Penvose.

Schimley and Penvose have a young daughter together and Penvose made news in April when he was accused of stealing a thermometer from Le Roy's Dollar General store. After sharing with police that he was concerned about the health of his infant child, a Le Roy PD officer purchased the thermometer for him.

Schimley was arraigned in Le Roy Town Court on the new charges and released under supervision of Genesee Justice.