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Former Elba Mayor Steve Goff's attempt to regain the seat he voluntarily gave up a few months ago was rebuffed by the Village of Elba GOP last night.

Goff tried for the committee endorsement, but garnered only five votes.

Acting Mayor Scott Schuler won the nomination with 27 votes.

Goff is the proprietor of Elba’s Stumblin’ Inn.

A car has hit a tree on East Road at Route 20, Bethany, and a person has reportedly suffered a minor head injury.

Bethany fire and Mercy EMS responding.

UPDATE 9:24 a.m.: The patient will be transported to a hospital via Bethany ambulance.

UPDATE 9:31 a.m.: The patient is being taken to UMMC. Bethany units are back in service with the exception of fire police, who are told to stop traffic until the tow truck removes the car.

UPDATE 9:37 a.m.: The road is reopened.

UPDATE 9:46 p.m.: The driver is a 24-year-old female with complaints of pain in the left side of her neck and a headache.

Ashley R. Keene, 25, of 244 Liberty St., Batavia, was arrested on a warrant out of city court for an alleged failure to appear on previous charges. Keene was previously charged with unlawful dealing with a child and harassment, 2nd. The endangering the welfare of a child charge stems from an incident in July when Keene allegedly gave bath salts to a child. Keene was taken into custody upon her release from the Monroe County Jail, where she was held on an unrelated charged. Keene was jailed on $2,500 bail.

Stacy Lynn Patterson, 25, of Main Road, Stafford, is charged with grand larceny, 3rd, and offering a false instrument for filing. Patterson is accused of filing false information with DSS in 2010 and 2011 in order to receive benefits. Patterson was released under supervision of Genesee Justice.

Tammy L. Piesczynski, 36, of 1 Florence Ave., Batavia, is charged with criminal mischief, 3rd. Piesczynski is accused of damaging two doors of a residence on Florence Avenue on Jan. 1.

City fire is responding to 142 Pearl St., Batavia, for a report of smoke coming from a dryer.

UPDATE: Faulty machine. City fire back in service.

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New York Times: Pentagon Is Set to Lift Combat Ban for Women

One of the four men arrested together in connection with a pair of burglaries over the summer in Pavilion appeared in Genesee County Court today and received the stiffest sentence of all.

John H. O'Shea, 20, of Wolcott Street, Le Roy, was given consecutive 3 1/2 to 7 year prison terms. He must also pay his part of more than $53,000 in restitution to his victims.

On Nov. 28, O'Shea plead guilty to burglary, 3rd, and grand larceny, 4th.

He had been charged with two counts of burglary, 2nd, and grand larceny, 4th, in connection with the May 21 Pavilion robbery. He had also been charged with burglary and grand larceny for a break-in in Le Roy.

O'Shea was first arrested in July and faced a charge for falsely reporting an incident for reporting a burglary in which he said jewelry and marijuana were stolen.

His Nov. 28th plea satisfied all pending charges.

The Pavilion homeowners spoke in court today about how the nighttime robbery devastated them.

O'Shea and partners Dylan J. Hawkins, 20, of Morrow Road, Pavilion, and Anthony J. Gonzales, 20, of Myrtle Street, Le Roy, reportedly got away with more than $51,000 in cash and more than $21,000 in securities.

"This crime greatly altered our financial future," one of the victims from Pavilion told Judge Robert C. Noonan. "We would like Mr. O'Shea to know that it took a lot of hard work by my husband over many, many years to earn that money and save that money. Why did Mr. O'Shea think he could just come in and take it?"

The victim pleaded with O'Shea to reveal where the money is hidden.

While O'Shea has reportedly admitted to spending $6,000 of the money on cocaine; he doesn't know what happened to the rest, according to his attorney, Thomas Burns.

Hawkins and Gonzales have both pled guilty to attempted burglary. Hawkins was sentenced to five years in prison and three years probation. Gonzales received six months in jail and five years probation.

Joshua M. Bratcher, 22, of Lake Street, Le Roy, who was initially charged with burglary, 2nd, and grand larceny, 4th, for his part in a May 18 break-in of the Pavilion residence, entered a guilty plea in Pavilion Town Court to petit larceny. He has not yet been sentenced.

Assistant District Attorney Kevin Finnell argued for the maximum sentence under the plea deal. He said O'Shea received a substantial break in getting his plea reduced from a violent felony -- second-degree burglary -- to a nonviolent third-degree burglary.

O'Shea has a prior violent felony conviction in South Carolina for robbery with a deadly weapon.

"I don't know that I've ever seen in a PSI (pre-sentence report by the Probation Department) before what I saw in this PSI," Finnell said. "It says, quite correctly, I think, that he is a menace to society."

Noonan told O'Shea that he has a criminal record that shows he's a violent felon and while he got a break with the plea bargain, Noonan intended to put him away for as long as possible.

Noting that if his victims had awakened in the middle of the night during his Pavilion robbery, the scene could have turned violent, if not deadly (there were guns in the house), and that was a very scary situation for the victims, Noonan said he was just glad the victims didn't wake up.

"I'm going to make sure nobody sees you in their house in the middle of the night for a good long time," Noonan said.

Open Letter:

There has been much misinformation and confusion regarding Genesee ARC and the city’s Trash and Recycling Request for Bids. I am writing to clarify the process from the ARC perspective. The city administration also has information, a perspective, and opinion on this issue. I am speaking on behalf of Genesee ARC to answer some of the many questions that have been posed to me and on the various sites in social media, The Batavian, and The Daily News.

I’d like to preface this letter with the fact that we are a nonprofit organization and we are mission driven, as we should be. Our decisions in every aspect of the work we do are predicated upon doing what is best for the individuals we serve. We have a highly dedicated staff who understand that this is our purpose: “to support people with disabilities, in partnership with their families and the community.  ... and nurture their social, spiritual, physical and emotional growth.”

Genesee ARC began discussions regarding contract renewal with the city administration last summer. The city administration presented a number of new options that they wanted to transition to, including the cart system. This program was something we were asked not to share and we didn’t share, at their request. We voiced our concerns about this change because it would eliminate a number of jobs for the people we support. If we are not providing jobs for people with disabilities we are not following our mission. We also discussed single-stream recycling which would be difficult for us to implement but felt we would need to do if we were to proceed with the contract. We were asked for much information including the financial reports of the program. We complied with the city administration’s request as they said they were entitled to such as they held the contract.

We also discussed that this contract fell under the NYS Finance Law Article XI, Section 161 & 162 4(b)(i), which governs Preferred Source Vendors and Municipalities in NYS. A municipality must work with a Preferred Source Vendor if there is a vendor who can provide the service or commodity. The vendor must provide the service in the “form, function, and utility" as prescribed by the municipality. This is an important point that plays a significant role in the current discussion.

Genesee ARC did share some of our financial information regarding this service with the city administration so that we could develop a program that would fit the city’s needs and requests. After that submission we did not meet again even though we requested additional meetings with the director of Public Works.

On November 6, 2012, NYSID, the organization that facilitates the Preferred Source contracts and Genesee ARC received a request for bid from the City of Batavia. At that time we had 10 days to respond with a letter of intent as required in Section 162 referenced earlier. NYSID did respond on our behalf as required within the required timeframe. A meeting was requested by Genesee ARC and NYSID with city administration which they accommodated on November 14th at which time the city advised that they considered our letter to be insufficient. Subsequently, a second letter was submitted which clearly stated that we would fulfill the contract following the “form, function, and utility.” The city manager asked at the end of our meeting if we (Genesee ARC) could fulfill the contract in “form, function, and utility” and my final answer was “Yes." Subsequently, the city administration claimed we were non-responsive, in spite of the letter from NYSID and my in-person verbal response to the contrary.

On November 29th we received a response from the city administration that they did not recognize our request as a Preferred Source Vendor and had determined that we would not be able to meet the “form, function, and utility” of the request based on previous conversations with Genesee ARC. On that same day, the Request for Bid was submitted to all public bidders and posted on the city’s Web site. Of course we were eligible to submit a bid as well.

We considered filing an Article 78 motion to force recognition of our status but determined that it would not likely be of benefit.

At that time we were determined to participate and compete in the bid process to the best of our ability and try to maintain as many jobs for the people we support as possible.

The public should understand that the tote/cart system was a part of the city's request and unless ARC complied with the critical components of the proposal we could not participate at all. The city does have the right to propose such a program, if the residents disagree with this recommendation they should appeal to their council representatives. The bidders all had access to the provisions of the RFB and needed to submit a proposal that met the requirements or be disqualified.

Genesee ARC followed all the requirements. We consulted with regional experts in the field and submitted what we felt was a competitive bid and one that keep a majority of the people who currently work on the contract employed.

The city requested automated and semi-automated service. The purchase of all new equipment was not within our budget. We could however retrofit two of our trucks and retain the recycling pick up. We were able to work with a company from Chili which would be able to fulfill the trash collection and disposal portion of the contract. Again, this helped us retain jobs for most of the people with disabilities, who were employed on this contract.

We went head-to-head in the competitive marketplace as many have felt should have happened for many years, in spite of our Preferred Source Vendor status as written in NYS law. Although I believe we gave it our best effort, we were competing against national companies who bring all of their considerable resources to the table with them. I liken this to a Big Box store competing against a homegrown Mom-and-Pop grocery mart. The financial position of the bigger companies is hard to overcome.

We provided value-added components that we thought were worthy of consideration, as well as the knowledge that dollars spent with ARC are reinvested locally.

The final decision will be up to the council members. We will accept their decision but hope that they review all proposals fully before rendering that final decision.

There have been a number of questions regarding the financial statements and charts that were in the city manager’s presentation of January 14, 2013. I would ask that the charts from pages 7 and 9 be looked at carefully. The presentation indicates that current city costs are approximately $1,016,034. That may be true, but ARC has been paid only $811,000 for the fifth year of the contract, it was lower each of the previous four years. In fact, this final year of the contract is lower than the contract of 2007, which was $870,707. This shows that the payment to Genesee ARC has decreased over the past five years. The difference between what ARC is paid and the annual cost of the contract could be attributed to the rate that the city negotiated with its vendor for disposal. We do not receive any reimbursement for that portion of the contract. As for the five-year prediction, the city manager will need to provide an explanation for such a dramatic increase as over the past five years ARC has only experienced an average increase in revenue of 2 percent.

Also in clarification to concerns about prevailing wages: Genesee ARC has always paid prevailing wages for any municipal, government or any other contract that has required it, including the contract with the City of Batavia. ARC employees also receive a full benefit package to include health insurance if they so choose.

Regarding wages for other people who work within our vocational program, they receive compensation at various levels that fall within our Special Wage Certificate as granted by the Federal Department of Labor. These wages are carefully monitored not only by DOL but also OPWDD (Office of People with Developmental Disabilities) and NYS DOL.

People who experience disabilities have the highest level of unemployment in the U.S. at approximately 14.4 percent based on the U.S. National Bureau of Statistics. That rises to almost 70 percent for someone with a developmental disability. One of our major initiatives is to access employment in the community for the people we support. This is not an easy task. There are several local companies who have been very supportive of these efforts yet we continue to have many people who remained unemployed or underemployed. Our ultimate goal would be to be able to close our work center because the people we support are employed in the community.

We would be happy to work with any company, agency, or local government entity that would be interested in learning more about providing employment opportunities for the people we serve at Genesee ARC.

In closing, this is a very complex topic. The depth of this issue and implications for all parties involved cannot be summarized in a two-minute interview with a news outlet or conveyed in the back-and-forth of an online news site. The financial implications for the city are significant, as are the impacts to the residents of the city. For those who seek more in-depth information regarding the proposals you can ask to see them at city hall. You can also review the new ordinance that will govern this process. Also you should attend every council meeting and utilize the opportunity they provide to you to express your thoughts and opinions.

Genesee ARC will continue to provide services to the people with developmental disabilities in Genesee County. The loss of this contract will have implications for everyone who works on the contract and our community as well. In the end, whatever the outcome, we will continue to provide whatever supports we can to everyone we serve. It is our mission and this drives our actions and our future endeavors.

Respectfully and proudly submitted,

Donna Saskowski
Executive Director
Genesee ARC

A driver may have been going to fast for conditions at 8 p.m., Tuesday, when she apparently lost control of her car on Ledge Road in Alabama, causing a minor injury accident.

Cited for allegedly driving at a speed not reasonable or prudent was 20-year-old Jessica Metzler, of Portland.

Metzler was southbound on Reuben Road when she lost control of a 2010 Chevy sedan owned by Lauren Reinhardt, of Farmington. She drove off the left shoulder of Ledge Road, came back onto the roadway, drove off the south shoulder again, went back onto the roadway and into the westbound lane of Ledge Road and exited the north shoulder, hitting a sign post and then a large rock.

Reinhardt, 22, suffered a minor injury but did not require transportation to a hospital.

The accident was investigated by Deputy Tim Wescott.

Police accident report sketch.

Nathan Puls is 3 years old, and local haircutting salon Great Kutz is celebrating its third year in business. As a matter of coincidence, Nathan helped Great Kutz achieve another milestone this week by becoming the 1,000th customer to receive a free haircut. At Great Kutz, every seventh haircut is free. Nathan is pictured with his father, John. Maren Slane cut Nathan's hair.

Photo and information submitted by Great Kutz.

Carrie G. Blunt, 20, of 339 Hudson St., Syracuse, is charged with petit larceny. Blunt is accused of shoplifting $40 in merchandise from a business in the Tops Plaza.

Andrew A. Crimes, 40, of 627 E. Main St., Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt and aggravated harassment, 2nd. Crimes is accused of contacting a person several times whom he had been ordered not to contact over a six-hour period. Crimes was jailed pending his next court appearance.

Earlier this month I posted a notice that we're changing services for selling photos. At the end of this month, photo sales through the old service will no longer be available and because of the massive amount of work involved, I won't be transferring those three years worth of photos from one server to the other.

To ensure everybody has one last chance to buy prints of photos of events we covered in the past three years, I've greatly reduced the prices on the old service.

To view the photos and make print purchases, click here.

Event photos and slideshows created since early December were put on howardowensphotography.com and can be accessed by clicking here. The prices for these prints represent the new pricing structure and we've gotten nothing but positive feedback from people who have made purchases through the new service.

Given the backdrop of a proposed city budget that reduces local property taxes by 14.58 percent, various department heads sat before the Batavia City Council tonight and explained some of their funding needs.

The annual budget work session gives council members a chance to understand how taxpayer money will be spent and to ask questions, and even challenge, some of the budgeting decisions.

The discussion comes a week after City Manager Jason Molino presented the council with a proposed budget that reduces spending from a 2012 total of $15.8 million to $15.2 million for 2013.

Most of the savings comes from a proposal to change the way garbage is collected in the city.

For the past three decades, Genesee ARC has picked up residential garbage and recycling, with residents leaving their household waste by the curb in bags, cans and boxes.

The proposed new system would give each city residential property -- and some businesses -- at least two totes for refuse and recycling that could be collected by trucks fitted to dump the cans automatically.

According to Molino's budget, this would save -- especially if Allied/Republic is selected over Genesee ARC as the vendor for the new service -- some $218,000 in the first year.

That's a 21-percent reduction in expenses over what it would take to keep things as they are.

The city's tax rate would go down from $10.71 per $1,000 of assessed value to $9.15.

The tax rate could conceivably go down even more, but the city is faced with a nearly $300,000 increase -- mandated, non-negotiable -- in pension costs.

For the third year in a row, the assessed value of city property has not increased.

With that backdrop, here are some key points from tonight's discussion:

• The city could receive $250,000 in revenue from Batavia Downs from video lottery terminals. The VTL revenue is never a sure thing because Albany sometimes decides not to release the funds. But if it comes through, half of the money would go to the revolving loan fund of the Batavia Development Corp. If that happens, the redevelopment coordinator job currently held by Julie Pacatte could be retained for another two years. Economic growth and new jobs are critical to growing Batavia's tax base, Molino said. About $30,000 would be used to recapitalize the revolving loan fund. The city would also continue its $10,000 annual contribution to fund the position. If the city doesn't receive the funds, the city council will need to make a decision about what do to with the economic development coordinator position. In response to questions from council members, Molino said the position is necessary because the Genesee County Economic Development Center is not focused on redevelopment, or "brown field" development -- the kind of economic development a built-out city needs. Rather, GCEDC is focused on "green field" projects such as the agri-business park and STAMP. That lack of focus on the city means if that the city is going to pursue business develoment, Molino said, it needs a person dedicated to that task.
• This spring and summer, look for a community garden at the youth center near Batavia High School. Nearby residents will be able to have plots to grow vegetibles for $15 to $35 per plot.
• In response to questions from council members: The city expects to pay $28 million on debt currently accured, including principle and interest, from 2008 to 2043. Molina said he will need to look up what the actual principle owed is on the city's debt.
• Councilwoman Rose Mary Christian raised the issue again of privatizing Falleti Ice Arena. "When are we going to get serious about letting somebody else take it over," Christian said. Molino said that while it's not certain, city staff believes if the city were to sell the arena, the proceeds would need to be spent on building a similar facility, under terms of a grant secured 30 years ago by then-Rep. Barber Conable.
• The Department of Public Works needs to spend $377,000 from its equipment reserve fund to replace aging trucks, including a loader, a single-axel dump truck and plow and two one-ton dump trucks.
• The city will spend $75,000 from the sidewalk reserve to replace some 12,000 feet of sidewalk, including walkways on Hutchins Street, Cedar Street, Tracy Avenue and Richmond Avenue.
• Council members asked why residents don't help pay for sidewalk replacement. Molino said sidewalks are legally the resident's responsibility. Councilman Jim Russell pointed out that at one time the city had a program whereby residents would share the cost of replacing sidewalks. Molino said city staff could research alternative programs. Such a program, Russell pointed out, could mean twice the amount of sidewalks could be replaced each year. Christian said she remembers when the city did that and it was no big deal to have the cost of a new sidewalk in front of your house tacked onto your tax bill. Molino said such an approach is popular across the country.
• Matt Worth, superintendent of water and sewer, said the city will need to hire a consultant this year to come up with a plan and a budget for removing sediment from one of the wastewater facility's treatment ponds. The actual clean-up work won't occur until 2014. The last time this was done the bill was $600,000, but the pond in rotation for clean up now doesn't have the filtration devices that the previous pond did, so the cost should be less. There is a build up of phosphorus in the pond. Phosphorus must be removed before the wastewater is introduced into the Tonawanda Creek, because it causes algae to grow, which isn't good for aquatic life.  Worth said he remembers when he was a child how Lake Ontario would have a lot of foam on it. That was from phosphorous being dumped into the water stream (such as from laundry detergent).  Worth said if the city doesn't clean the pond, the Department of Environmental Conservation will come down hard on the city. The clean up is mandated by the Clean Water Act. This is a once-every-22-years requirement for this pond.
• The city fire department is currently down five firefighters and by the middle of summer it will be short eight firefighters due to retirement. New firefighters won't graduate from the academy until August. By the end of 2013, city fire should be fully staffed.
• The department is hiring an already-trained firefighter, in his first year on the job, from Canandaigua. The Canandaigua department is reducing staffing. The new firefighter will be required to move to Genesee County, though not necessarily into the city. Questioned by Christian, Fire Chief Jim Maxwell, who started his job more than a year ago, said he has relocated his family to Genesee County.  (After the meeting Molino said that reducing the number of firefighters in the city fire department will be a topic of negotiation with the union during upcoming contract talks.)
• Because of the shortage of firefighters following a spate of retirements, the city is expected to incure $220,000 in overtime expense in the department in 2013.
• Batavia PD faces a similar personnel shortage early in the year with the anticipated retirement (due to a forced restructuring of the department) of three lieutenants. A sergeant is also expected to retire. The city plans to replace the lieutenant positions with two new patrol officers and a sergeant. The department will also create a deputy chief position that will oversee road patrol. There are currently two vacant positions in the department and new officers aren't expected to start arriving until late summer.
• Staff shortages will mean an anticipated $220,000 in overtime expense for the police department.
• The city will also acquire a new patrol vehicle and a new supervisor's SUV at a cost of $55,000.
• Council President Tim Buckley questioned the need for five new Tasers at an expense of $5,200. Molino and Police Chief Shawn Heubusch explained that all new officers will be Taser-certified, which isn't necessarily the case with veteran officers. The use of Tasers and other non-lethal means to subdue suspects helps reduce the city's liability costs, Molino said.
• Heubusch said his former department, in Warsaw, had officers wear body cameras -- these attach to an officer's uniform and are activated when they are out of a patrol car and dealing with an incident. He said prosecutors love them because they record everything that an officer sees and everything that is said by the officer and a suspect. The city will purchase three such devices as a trial for using them in Batavia. Cost: $1,500.
• Batavia PD will try bicycle patrols for the first time in 2013. Cost: $1,500. This covers the bicycles, safety equipment and training. Heubusch said bicycle patrols will help the city enhance its community policing program.
• A public hearing on the budget, as well as a slight water rate increase and the new proposed refuse program will be Feb. 11.

Press release from Assemblyman Steve Hawley:

The governor’s Executive Budget proposal set the stage for weeks of public review and compromise with many details yet to be worked out. The governor’s proposal fails to address the pressing need for mandate relief and a more equitable school aid formula. Through my position on the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, I will make these issues and all of our local concerns a focal point of the legislature’s revisions to this spending plan.

December job numbers are out and Genesee County once again saw an increase in the number of jobs in the county year-over-year, but also an uptick in the unemployment rate.

There were 29,000 jobs in Genesee County for December, according to Labor Department figures released today, which is 400 more than December 2011, but 300 fewer than were counted in November 2012.

The unemployment rate year-over-year went from 8 percent to 8.2 percent, and jumped from November 2012 when it was 7.4 percent.

Orleans County continues to lead the GLOW region in unemployment, with a 10.9 percent jobless figure, compared to 8.0 for Livingston and 9.5 for Wyoming counties.

The U.S. unemployment rate for December was 7.6 percent, up from 7.4 percent in November 2012, but lower than the 8.3 percent of December 2011.

New York's unemployment rate grew two-tenths of a percent, year-over-year, from 8 percent to 8.2 percent and it's up from November 2011 when it was 7.9 percent.

A 56-year-old Pembroke woman who admitted in October to possessing child pornography received a 10-year term of probation plus intermittent jail time.

Beverly Hensel told Judge Robert C. Noonan, "I feel like I've ruined the rest of my life."

Hensel reportedly downloaded six DVDs full of child pornography and gave the DVDs to James Little Jr.

Little, who met Hansel in 2008 in a Corfu bar, is serving a 15-year prison term for molesting a Batavia toddler and faces more time in prison after admitting in November to molesting another child.

In October Hensel, as part of a plea deal, admitted to possession of child sexual performance. The deal was for a maximum sentence of shock probation, which means an intermittent jail term and probation.

Noonan will conduct a hearing at a later date to determine Hensel's status as a registered sex offender.

Noonan told Hensel that he didn't agree that she ruined the rest of her life.

"What you did is uncharacteristic of how you lived your life for the 56 years prior to your arrival here last October," Noonan said. "Probation is meant to keep you on track so you don't revert to this behavior or any other criminal activity again."

Hensel vowed to comply with the terms of the probation agreement.

"I'll do anything I have to do to work with probation," Hensel said. "I've never been in trouble before, so I won't be too much of a hardship."

Charles Wayne Oshea, 35, of Clipnock Road, Bethany, is charged with criminal obstruction of breathing and harassment, 2nd. Oshea is accused of grabbing a woman around the neck and forcing her to the ground during an argument. Oshea was jailed on $2,000 bail and an order of protection was issued.

Write-up submitted by Laurie Clarke:

On Saturday, at the Indian Falls United Methodist Church, Christopher Clarke was honored at an Eagle Court of Honor Ceremony where he was awarded the highest rank in Boy Scouting -- the rank of Eagle Scout.

Christopher was presented with several citations from President Barack Obama, the Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Kathy Hochul just to name a few. Assemblyman Stephen Hawley attended the ceremony and presented Christopher with a New York State Assembly Citation. Chris will also be receiving an American flag that was flown at the Capitol in honor of his Eagle Scout accomplishment.

In 2006 when Christopher was 8 years old he joined Troop 6066 in Indian Falls as a Cub Scout and began his journey toward becoming an Eagle Scout, a journey that would take him in many different directions. Along the way, Chris had the opportunity to visit new places, meet new people and learn many new things.

In 2010, Troop 6066 traveled to AP Hill, Va., to attend the National Boy Scout Jamboree, making many stops along the way at different historical sites.

The troop also went on numerous camping and kayaking trips including the Adirondack Mountains.

Throughout scouting Christopher was active in the community participating in Adopt-A-Highway program, planting trees for the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, ringing the bells for the Salvation Army, flag retirement ceremonies and many other community activities.

Christopher completed his Eagle Scout Project at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge in Alabama. With the help of fellow Scouts, family and friends, Chris constructed a handicap accessible duck blind. The blind was built in pieces and then transported to the duck pond on the refuge where it was assembled at the end of a long dock.

Chris spent many hours researching the correct measurements and regulations for a handicapped building, locating funding for and finally putting a crew together to build and transport the blind.

Chris says “Scouts allowed me to learn many things that I would not have learned  if I had not had the opportunity to be in scouting. Boy Scouting gave me the chance to grow as a person, to be part of the community and meet many wonderful people along the way."

Press release:

If you do go out, be prepared:

1) Is your trunk supplied to help you to be safe in case you are stopped or stranded in an area without assistance readily available?

2) Stock gloves, blankets, warmers, tool kit, first-aid kit, non-perishable foods, water, working flashlight and batteries, cell phone charger, etc.;

3) Have ready a shovel, ice scraper, de-icer, snow brush, rock salt or cat litter, tow chain or cable, jumper cables or battery charger, etc.;

4) If you have an exisiting medical condition, consider having a supply of necessary medication and, if possible, let someone know you are traveling.

Be prepared. Be safe.