Stories from

Damon Bradford, 18, of Scottsvile Mumford Road, Scottsville, is charged with criminal impersonation, 2nd. Bradford is accused of impersonating a parent and defrauding Elba High School.

Jeremy D. Lyons, 27, of Oakfield, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Lyons is accused of violating an order of protection. Lyons was arrested by State Police and jailed on cash bail. No further details released.

Josue Garcia-Basilio, 28, of no permanent address, was arrested by State Police on an unspecified federal felony. Garcia-Basilio was jailed on a bail bond. No further details released.

Returning to Batavia from the Genesee County Park this morning, I came across this scene on West Bethany Road. The building across the street says "West Bethany Baptist Church" on it. There's a cemetery behind it and a cemetery to the south. This building and the park-like area around it strikes me as some sort of fellowship hall for the church, but I'm not sure. Interestingly, it appears the church is in the Town of Bethany and this building is in the Town of Alexander.

This morning, bright and early, I arrived at Genesee County Park, in Bethany, for a walk in the woods, with my camera of course.

If you've never been to the park, I highly recommend it. It's another one of Genesee County's gems.

Workers repair the facade at I.R. Systems, a DirecTV dealership, on West Main Street, Batavia, after a car had slammed into the front of the building.

The driver apparently stepped on the gas by mistake while pulling into a parking spot. Nobody was hurt in the accident, but judging from the video below, it's possible somebody could have been hurt. The car suffered only very minor damage, according to I.R. Systems staff.

The accident occurred about 1 p.m.

Every year in Genesee County, 350 people are diagnosed with cancer and 100 people die from cancer, which is why, according to a group of the American Cancer Society who were in Batavia today, cancer should be an important election issue.

Americans need research and treatment for the disease and the assurance of funding for both, according to Hillary Clarke, director of federal government relations, so this is an issue voters should take up with candidates for office.

At www.cancervotes.org is a voter's guide for the presidential election with responses from the two major party candidates, but Clarke said neither of the candidates for the NY-27 Congressional District responded to the Cancer Action Network's survey.

Contacted today, a spokesman for Kathy Hochul's campaign said Hochul did respond and her answers are posted on the Web site. We've not been able to find those answers and requested a direct link to the appropriate page.

The spokesman for Chris Collins, Micheal Kracker, sent the following statement in response to a simple question of what would Collins do to support the fight against cancer.

"As the brother of a cancer survivor, Chris Collins knows how important it is to support cancer research. Chris also recognizes how important it is to make sure no government bureaucracy stops doctors from giving patients like Chris' sister the treatment they need to stay healthy. We need to be sure that doctors, not government bureaucrats determine how best to care for patients. We must also promise to protect Medicare for our seniors so they continue to receive the access to affordable care they paid for their entire lives."

We'll update this post if any additional information comes in.

UPDATE: Statement from Angela Pause-Smith, communications director, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Inc.: "Neither candidate responded to our questionnaire so there actually isn't a Voter Guide for this race. I'm sorry if someone told you that there was one."

UPDATE II: As soon as I posted the update above, Pause-Smith emailed the following: "So I learned literally a moment ago that late this afternoon Hochul returned our questionnaire. There is a process we need to follow to post it on our Web site and we've asked for that process to be expedited so you can see the responses, but I can't provide a time that they will be available."

UPDATE III: Pause-Smith clarifies: "It may not have been late this afternoon that she returned it, I just learned of it late this afternoon. We received it sometime today."

UPDATE IV: Hochul's answers are now available, click here.

Photo: Julie Kumiega, Hillary Clarke and Karen Hall.

Alexander High School has never had a hockey team, but starting this season, players there will get to play varsity level hockey for the first time.

Batavia HS is facing a shortage of varsity level players this year, so Alexander and Batavia will come together to form the Batavia/Alexander Ice Devils.

Batavia Athletic Director Mike Bromley said when school officials realized there would be a shortage of players this year, the school held a meeting with the parents of hockey players and the parents took the initiative to get the puck rolling on a possible merger with Alexander.

Once the idea was raised, things came together pretty quickly, Bromley said.

"Several students (in Alexander) expressed an interest," Bromley said. "We expect that anywhere from five to 10 students may try out."

The problem the Ice Devils faced, Bromley said, is that several seniors graduated after last season and then three varsity players elected to play in another, more advanced, hockey league.

That left Batavia not only with fewer players but also with a team of mostly ninth- and 10th-graders.

"There's a lot of hitting in hockey," Bromley said. "Hockey can be just as tough physically as football, but where you play only one game a week in football, with hockey sometimes you play two or three games a week, and trying to play ninth- and 10th-graders out there could be tough."

For Alexander, the opportunity is welcome by administrators, parents and players alike, said Athletic Director Ben Whitmore.

"All of these kids play together in youth leagues and they always dreamed of playing high school hockey, so to be able to give them that chance is very exciting," Whitmore said.

Suzanne Dizak is indicted on counts of criminal possession of stolen property, 4th, and criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th. Dizak is accused of possessing jewelry stolen from Target on April 1 when she allegedly knew the property was stolen. The total value of the jewelry was reportedly $1,171.58. On that same date, Dizak is accused of possessing heroin.

Brian P. Griffen is indicted on counts of burglary, 3rd, and grand larceny, 4th. Griffen is accused of breaking into a building on Fisher Road, Oakfield, sometime between June 12 and June 26 and stealing a dune buggy, Yamaha Kodiak 4-wheeler and a Honda dirt bike.

Luis Ramos Perez is indicted on felony counts of aggravated DWI and aggravated driving with a BAC of .08 or greater. Perez is accused of driving drunk May 6 on Route 262, Byron, with a child under age 15 in the car.

Sheri Lee Flint, 30, of Selden Road, Le Roy, is charged with identity theft, 3rd. Flint is accused of applying for a credit line in the name of another person and after receiving the credit card, making a purchase on credit.

Emily J. Walker, 19, of Sherman-Stedman Road, Sherman, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Walker is accused of sending text messages to a person in violation of a court order.

There simply isn't enough cost savings to justify merging the county planning gepartment with the highway department, legislators concluded in a discussion at Wednesday's Ways and Means Committee meeting.

The cost of expanding office space at the highway department's facility on Cedar Street offsets any possible cost saving by sharing clerical staff.

Tim Hens, highway superintendent, said that while the planning department is understaffed, the merger wouldn't necessarily address their biggest staffing need -- help with the GIS map system.

"It's easy to get bogged down in GIS," Hens said. "If you lighten the load on the GIS side of things, we would probably all be better served in the future."

One recommendation from Hens was to move GIS support to the IT department.

Legislators uniformly said they valued the planning department's reputation for being unbiased in its assessment of land use issues.

While moving the planning department into the highway department wouldn't necessarily jeopardize that independence, it could damage the perception for the public and for the various planning boards around the county.

Senior Planner Felipe Oltramari said he shared that concern.

"Any sort of perceived bias could sour that relationship (with the municipalities) that we built over decades. With Jim (Duval, former planning director) being there for 35 years, we really have built a level of trust between the planning department and the municipalities."

As a former town supervisor in Le Roy, Legislator Shelly Stein said the department's reputation for independence is real and necessary to maintain.

"Without that -- our planning department being independent -- we lose, we all lose as a county," Stein said.

The perception could be lost because the highway department sometimes has its own projects that need to be reviewed by planning and the department also occasionally does work for Genesee County Economic Development Center.

With the possibility of STAMP in Alabama, the growing ag park in Batavia and other economic development growth opportunities, the planning department could get super busy in future years. A staff of two planners won't cut it, but for now two is all they get.

Duval retired early this year, and while Oltramari will likely be promoted to director, County Manager Jay Gsell said, his senior planner position won't be filled as the county continues to look for ways to save money.

Your opportunity to sound off about the proposed 2013 Genesee County Budget will be 7 p.m., Nov. 8, at the Office of the Aging, 2 Bank St., Batavia.

The proposed $100.9 million spending plan will be supported in part by a 10-cents per $1,000 property tax rate increase, making the rate $9.99.

The total levy is $26,428,478.

While the budget may include cuts to nursing home staff, no other significant changes in county government are planned, though legislators have warned that in the near future drastic cuts may be necessary if Albany doesn't deliver on mandate relief.

Many times I've driven down Ellicott Street Road, Batava, and spotted this old barn and saw the picture potential. There is no good way, though, to get a picture of the barn from the public road. Yesterday, I contacted the proper owner and got permission to walk onto their property and take some pictures, which I did this morning.

Benjamin Santiago, 23, who made news June 1, 2011, when he was part of a group of men arrested at a local hotel for drug possession in a case that unraveled into an attempt by a suspect to flee, jail house violence and a conspiracy to commit murder, is back in custody.

Santiago was located in a parked car by Rochester PD and arrested on warrants for bail jumping, 2nd, and criminal possession of a controlled substance.

The former Batavia resident admitted in May to drug possession but was offered a chance by Judge Robert C. Noonan at a reduced plea and no jail time if he completed a substance abuse program.

Following his arrest in Rochester, Santiago was turned over to the Genesee County Sheriff's Office, arraigned and jailed without bail.

Whenever I'm in Pavilion, I like to stop by Randy and Cindy Starr's farm on Starr Road in Pavilion, especially on a beautiful day.

This morning, Randy was busy grinding barley for feed when I arrived.

As I've written about before, Randy likes old-time farming, using mainly older tractors (he does have a new, modern-technology tractor now) and growing a variety of crops on his 100-acre spread. Today, he showed me his single-row corn harvester, which leaves the corn kernels on the cob, which he said yield more feed per acre.

For years, Pavilion has dealt with a sewer system that can't handle the capacity of the 200 or so customers in the hamlet.

Not along ago, the contractor who operates the sewer system contacted the company that designed and manufactured the system, Pure Stream, and as it turns out, the company said the system actually has a design flaw.

Pure Stream constructed and delivered a new 30,000-gallon sewer tank at no expense to the sewer district. The district, however, is paying for the installation of the tank, which is taking place today.

Supervisor Ted Howard said the cost of installation is significantly under $20,000, but that there will be no rate increase for sewer district customers.

"Hopefully, from here on out, we'll have no more problems with the plant not having adequate capacity," Howard said.

Kenyon Hanks Barnes, 27, of North Street, Le Roy, is charged with trespass. Barnes is accused of being on College Village property after being banned.

Joseph Henry Schenik, 21, of Mill Street, Le Roy, was arrested on a warrant for alleged failure to appear on a charge of criminal possession of property, 5th. Schenik was jailed on $500 bail or $1,000 bond.

Article submitted by Andrew Crofts, GCC sports information director. Photos by Howard Owens.

It was the most anticipated regular season matchup in Genesee Community College men's soccer history. The #2 Cougars welcomed the #1 Herkimer County Community College Generals to town in a rematch of last year's NJCAA Division III National Championship game. The game lived up to the hype.

Both teams entered Tuesday night's showdown with identical 14-1 records. The Cougars won the Western New York Athletic Conference title this season and the Generals took care of the Mountain Valley Conference. Tuesday night's winner likely will determine next week's number one team in the National Poll.

Not wanting to give up the top spot, Herkimer jumped out in front just under three minutes into the first half. The Generals capitalized on a penalty kick that came as a result of a GCC handball in the box. Jordan Stoddart converted on the kick.

Genesee's best chance to tie in the first half came late when Dom Francis sent a lefty bid from just outside the box that hit the crossbar, keeping the score 1-0 in favor of the visitors. The Cougars trailed by the same score at the break.

GCC notched the equalizer about 10 minutes into the second half when Theo Stamotopolous chipped in a goal off of a corner kick to tie the score at one. It was his third goal in two games.

Both teams played scoreless soccer for nearly 30 minutes after that until GCC broke through. Set up with another corner kick, Sam Cassidy sent the cross in front of the Generals net that was headed in by Cody Niccloy to give Genesee a 2-1 lead with about five minutes remaining.

The Cougars were able to hold off Herkimer for the final five minutes and knocked off the country's number one team, 2-1.

Niccloy's game-winning goal is his second of the season. He also tallied the winner against Mercyhurst North East in double-overtime in September.

Jake O'Learly played all 90 minutes in net for GCC and made six saves.

The win is the second regular season victory for Genesee over Herkimer in the last two years. The Cougars defeated the Generals 1-0 during the regular season last year, before falling 4-1 in the National Championship game.

Genesee improves to 15-1 overall and will conclude their regular season on Thursday night when they travel to Bryant and Stratton College for a 4 p.m. start.

If you're unable to view the slide show below, click here.

In Stafford this morning working on a story (a story that won't be ready for publication for another day or two or three) and with a little time, thought Prentice Road would be a good place to go for some fall photos. There was a particular shot I wanted to get. It didn't turn out as well as I would like (I plan to try again as soon as I can), but here are four shots from my little trip this morning.