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Memorial Day at United Memorial

By Philip Anselmo

United Memorial Medical Center will host a Memorial Day observance Monday, May 26, at 9:00am at the monument in front of the hospital's main entrance at 127 North St. Gold Star Family members and representatives from the Batavia Veterans' Association will lay a wreath at the monument. Members of the Batavia Concert Band will perform.

The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be available following the observance in the hospital board room. Call (585) 344-5415 for more information.

News roundup: A victorious week for Batavia high school sports

By Philip Anselmo

From the Daily News (Friday):

• A big hit from Joe Stachowski put the Batavia Blue Devils over Hornell last night. The high school baseball team rolled to a 7-7 record with the win. Meanwhile, the girls softball team was triumphant over Eastridge, winning 3-2 and setting their record at 7-8. Also, Blue Devils tennis took home a win over Alexander, 4-1, wrapping up their season with an 8-5 record, "one of the most succesful seasons the squad has had in years," writes reporter Brian Hillabush.

For the complete stories, the Daily News is available on local newsstands, or you can subscribe on BataviaNews.com.

Genesee County's Cold War veterans may get property tax break

By Howard B. Owens

As a Cold War veteran myself, the County's Legislature's proposal to cut property taxes by 10 percent for those who served in the military from 1945 to 1991 is applause worthy.

If approved, the tax break would be effective March 1, 2009, for county tax bills. The property must be a private residence of the veteran or the unmarried spouse of a deceased veteran.

Those who served in the three wars during that period — Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm — are currently eligible for property tax exemptions.

Applications are processed by the county’s Veteran Service Office.

For the Cold War veterans the percentage would apply to residential property values up to $60,000. Those with homes assessed at more would get the same exemption but only to a cap level of $60,000.

I served in the USAF from 1980 to 1994, and I always felt like I did my part to protect the country from the Red Menace, so it's nice to see the Cold War veterans of Genesee get some recognition.

From the Notebook

By Philip Anselmo

Can't seem to dredge up anything of great import in the way of news this afternoon. Whenever that happens, I head out into the community, into the shops on Main Street and elsewhere, into the parks...

Batavia police tell me they don't have anything to report — I've called them twice today so far. We should probably consider that good news. Strange though, since a city councilman told me that the city was already 300 calls above where they were this time last year.

Still not much luck connecting with the busy city manager. I did get a couple City Council members on the phone today, but didn't make it much further than that. I'll be meeting with Sam Barone next week. Looking forward to it. Sam mentions fishing, bowling and reading under special interests on the city's Web site. I'm a fan of all three myself, though I'm only good at the last one.

Also, I found this fine shot of the bend in the Tonawanda River in my camera. Have those bulbs popped yet?

Then I met with Hal Kreter over at the county's Veterans Service Agency. He's a great guy — a longtime U.S. Marine himself — who works for an organization that fills the gap between the American veteran and the no doubt intimidating bureaucracy of the federal government.

That's about all for now. But here's a note before I go: The Batavian's MySpace is humming along. We've picked up 30 friends so far — honestly, I don't know if that's very many, but I'm excited about it. For those of you interested in that, please stop by and check it out. We'd be happy to be your friend. For those who aren't interested or just don't know much about the site, it's a social networking hub where anyone can register and create a personal profile for themselves, meet other folks, keep up remotely with friends. Music is big on MySpace, so we're hoping to link up with a few bands, maybe even put together a music video from time to time to bring back here to our site. Look for that in the future.

Thursday morning news roundup

By Philip Anselmo

Check out WBTA for this and other stories:

• Iraq war veteran Mathew Hebell, 22, received full military honors at his funeral services held yesterday in Batavia. Hebell died recently after his car crashed into a pole on Richmond Avenue.

Support your veterans

By Philip Anselmo

Head down to Center Street for a Block Party, starting at 6:00pm on May 16 — the first night of the Genesee County Veterans Appreciation Weekend. Stay for the food and music... But not too late as the festivities contintue Saturday morning (May 17) at 9:00am. That's when registration opens for the Motorcycle Run that starts at Stan's Harley Davidson on Saile Drive and heads through the city to end at the VA Medical Center. Then, at noon, veterans and their families will tour the VA grounds in an honor walk, followed by food and music.

Speakers will take the mic at various events througout the weekend to talk about services for veterans and their familes. Call (585) 344-2611 for more information.

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