Press release:

St. Joseph Catholic School held its annual Lil Irish Basketball Banquet on Thursday, April 26, to honor those students that participated this year.

These third- through sixth-grade players and their families gathered together to celebrate the hard work and perseverance that they showed throughout the basketball season.

Their dedicated coaches taught them how to always play hard but more importantly to always show respect and sportsmanship toward their teammates and other players.

Congratulations to the following 2018 Lil Irish Basketball players and their coaches for another great year:

Third- and fourth-grade boys coached by Mark Fitzpatrick

Colton Callard, Clayton Conrad, Finn Davies, Benjamin Ferrando, Evan Fitzpatrick, Steven Karas, Noah Kowalski, Noah Figlow, Owen Therrien, Nicholas Compton, and Andrew Compton.

Third- and foruth-grade girls coached by Michelle Falleti, Vincent Falleti & Dan Milliman

Maddison Klotzbach, Sofia Falleti, Emma Fitch, Peyton Goebert, Elizabeth Lankford, Riley Yunker, Amelia Sorochty, Karleigh Driffill, Gianna Falleti, Lyllian Miller, Clairissa Milliman, and Lucia Zambito.

Fifth- and sixth-grade boys coached by Ed King

Andrew Kaus, Chance King, Nilsson Laska, Matthew Compton, Gabe Castro, Jaden Firmstone, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Nate Goras, and Kalen Muehlig.

Fifth- and sixth-grade girls coached by Kati Sisson and Ed King

Sara Murray, Gracie Phillips, Katelyn Kowalski, Kaitlyn Landers, Kate Ricupito, Emma Sisson, Hannah Tenney, Katelyn Witherow, Sophia Papponetti, Loretta Sorochty, and Teresa Compton.

Press release: 

Typically working behind the scenes, Roberta "Bobbi" Norton was recently in the limelight at an awards banquet in Buffalo as she was recognized with a Western New York Educational Service Council Award for Excellence.

Norton is the executive assistant to the superintendent and assistant clerk /secretary to the Board of Education for the Batavia City School District.

She was nominated for the annual award by Superintendent of Schools Christopher Dailey and Board of Education President Pat Burk, who wrote, “Mrs. Norton is dedicated to our district, the Board of Education, and the children. She is caring, conscientious, compassionate, and professional, and she makes the Batavia City School District a better place for all every day. “

Norton has worked for the District for more than 38 years, beginning as a clerical intern in the business office, continuing with positions in schools and administrative offices, and, for the last 10 years, in the superintendent’s office.

Calling her a leader and an example of excellence for the clerical staff, Dailey and Burk noted that, “Through superior work performance that includes trustworthiness and professionalism, Mrs. Norton has earned a place within the inner circle of trust among the leadership within the District.”

In announcing her award, Council President Lori DiCarlo said, “Bobbi exhibits undying loyalty to public service, the students and to the administrators she supports. ... Driven by an obsession for creating meticulous order to things, Bobbi draws a lot of personal satisfaction from the clerical work she performs.

"When asked to identify the best thing about her job, without hesitation she credits the positive environment within the Batavia City Schools as a source of great job satisfaction.”

Lynn M. Homer, 45, of Platten Road, Lyndonville, is charged with; aggravated unlicensed operation, 2nd; criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th; driver's vision obstructed; and obstructed plate. Homer was stopped at 3:22 p.m. April 13 on West Main Street, Batavia, by Officer Christopher Lindsay. She was jailed on $1,000 bail or $2,000 bond.

Travis Lilbern Robert Bartz, 22, of Buell Street, Batavia, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Bartz was allegedly found in possession of marijuana during an investigation into a complaint on Trumbull Parkway at 11:03 p.m. April 22 by Officer Mitchell Cowen.

Jacob A. Kasmarek, 19, of Fargo Road, Stafford, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and speeding. Kasmarek was stopped at 9:15 p.m. April 23 on East Main Street, Batavia, by Officer Christopher Lindsay.

Samuel McDonald III, 54, of Bank Street, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. McDonald is accused of stealing two cans of beer from Tops at 6:39 p.m. Wednesday.

Matthew Frank Carney, 25, of Dodgeson Road, Alexander, is charged with DWI and driving with a BAC of .18 or greater. Carney was stopped at 12:55 a.m. Friday on East Main Street, Batavia, by Officer Arick Perkins.

Jesse James Sasiadek, 24, of Cayuga Creek Road, Cheektowaga, is charged with: DWI; driving with a BAC of .08 or greater; driving while impaired by drugs; driving while ability impaired by drugs and alcohol combined; and unlawful possession of marijuana. Sasiadek was stopped at 4:26 p.m. Sunday on Route 19, Bergen, by Deputy Erik Andre.

Jay Kenneth Feitshans Jr., 23, of Alleghany Road, Darien, is charged with petit larceny. Feistshans is accused of stealing property and selling it at a local business.

Stefanie S. Kitanik, 33, of Maltby Road, Oakfield, is charged with DWI, refusal to take breath test, uninspected motor vehicle, and no plate lamps. Kitanik was stopped at 2:09 a.m. Saturday on Maple Avenue, Oakfield, by Deputy James Stack.

David Wayne King Jr., 36, of Main Street Road, Batavia, is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. King is accused of falling asleep due to a prescribed medication and as a result, his 2-year-old son left his residence and was alone for a period of time.

Nelson E. Figueroa, 29, of Batavia, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Figueroa was stopped at 10:40 p.m. Saturday on Route 33, Stafford, by State Police.

Icha R. Koirala, 28, a resident of the State of New York (exact town not provided), is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and speeding. Koirala was stopped at 9:18 p.m. Friday on Route 33 in Bergen by State Police.

Laura D. Vazquez Coronado, 38, of Elba, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, and failure to stay in lane. Coronado was stopped at 4:39 p.m. Thursday on North Byron Road, Elba, by State Police.

The Batavian is 10 years old tomorrow. You're invited to join us at 5:30 p.m. for a 10th Anniversary Celebration at Eli Fish Brewing Company.

Eli Fish is located at 111 Main St., Batavia. Ten years ago, that was the location of Main Street Coffee. When we were launching The Batavian, we didn't have an office, so Philip Anselmo (our editor then) and I, with the gracious permission of Rob Credi, camped out at Main Street Coffee all day. That was our first "office." So it's fun to return to that same location that is now a new business that is part of Batavia's revitalization.

The Huffington Post: Public-financed elections

A motor-vehicle accident with injuries is reported at West Bergen Road and Telephone Road, Bergen.

Bergen fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.

UPDATE 7:57 a.m.: A Mercy medic reports one person in a vehicle who probably won't need extrication and two additional patients.

UPDATE 8 a.m.: Only one patient will require transport.

UPDATE 8:04 a.m.: National Grid to be notified for a broken utility pole.

A reader submitted these photos of a tractor-trailer fire on Route 20 in Bethany that was reported about 20 minutes ago.

Bethany fire and Alexander fire on scene.

Law enforcement is requested to the scene.

The driver got out safely according to the reader.

UPDATE 10:25 p.m.:  Photos by Glenn Adams, Bethany Fire Department. 

The Forum Players performed selections Saturday night from 50 years of theater productions at Genesee Community College.

The show included selections from:

"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," "Singin’ in the Rain," "Peter Pan," "The Mystery of Edwin Drood," among others.

These photos are from the musical "Chicago."

To purchase prints, click here.

Jodi Fisher was the greeter Saturday night at Seymore Place for GO ART!'s first "Swing Fling."

The evening's entertainment included an old-fashioned radio show and The Genesee Jazz Collective with vocalist Wendy Williams (also pictured below, Dan Klinzar on trumpet.)

Jim Burns brought his 1950s era Graflex Speed Graphic camera (the standard professional/press camera for decades, and still in use in the 1970s, after being introduced in 1912). Partygoers could purchase black and white portraits of themselves during the event.

The Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge in Alabama is hosted its 34th annual Spring into Nature celebration Saturday with displays, vendors, crafts and activities.

Lindsey Zanghi, 12, from Pembroke, had a lot of fun Saturday at the Town of Batavia Fire Department's Open House. So did Brooke Nichols, 12, of Oakfield, below, who got to honk the emergency horn on one of the fire trucks.

More than 40 volunteers from the area's Presbyterian churches came together yesterday for "Mission Day." Starting out at the First Presbyterian of Batavia, they fanned out to the Crossroads House, the Child Advocacy Center, and the YWCA. Volunteers came from the Presbyterian churches in Byron, Corfu, Le Roy, Attica, Bergen, Batavia, and East Bethany.

Photos submitted by Rev. Roula Alkhouri.

Deputy Ryan Young drops off boxes of drugs disposed of at the Sheriff's Office over the past year at Batavia PD for delivery to the DEA for destruction.

Det. Rich Schauf, pictured below, said that the amount of unused prescriptions being dropped off Saturday was on pace with previous years, even though there are now permanent drop-off boxes at Le Roy PD, the State Police barracks on West Saile Drive, and the Sheriff's Office on Park Road.

Saturday morning was cool, damp and overcast but the mood at the YWCA on North Street, Batavia, was anything but downcast as more than 20 volunteers tackled a massive spring cleanup of the building and grounds in the belief that community organization has a new, brighter future.

Just a few weeks ago, the outlook for the YW was dire. Executive Director Millie Tomidy-Pepper announced the YW was out of money, in debt, and couldn't continue to operate without assistance.

"The community is showing an outpouring of support," Tomidy-Pepper said. "They want us to be here. This organization has helped so many people and I honestly didn’t know how much until I got here. Everybody has a story of how this organization helped them or they had a piece involved in it at some point."

The clean-up effort Saturday was massive, clearing away old broken toys, gardening supplies, and decorations, broken office furniture, and junk piled in the boiler room.

It felt like a fresh start.

The volunteers were among the 40 who showed up at the First Presbyterian of Batavia -- coming from churches in Byron, Corfu, Le Roy, Attica, Bergen, Batavia, and East Bethany -- that morning for three "Mission Day" projects, at Crossroads House, the Child Advocacy Center, and the YWCA.

"There are so many people here today helping," Tomidy-Pepper said. "There are people here rolling up their sleeves because this means so much to the community. My biggest thing is, we're open. We're open for business. We never stopped being open for business."

But some things have changed. The Crisis and Care Hotline is now run out of Niagara County and a group called Healthy Kids has taken over the before-school and after-school child-care programs.

"We realized that as we regroup and as we take a step back to analyze, that we can get stronger and go forward, we needed to kind of downsize a little bit," Tomidy-Pepper said. "We didn't want to do it haphazardly. We wanted to do it in a well-thought-out plan in order to transition to quality services so people will never know anything is different than it's being done by somebody else now."

Parents in the daycare programs won't notice a difference, she said. Healthy Kids is retaining all the staff at the same pay, all the same locations, the same hours, at no price difference for parents.

"They (Healthy Kids) are the rock stars here," Tomidy-Pepper said. "They really are. They did everything we asked."

Tomidy-Pepper is also getting help from the national YWCA. 

Eileen Mershart, a retired YWCA executive director, is in Batavia for more than a week to help Tomidy-Pepper and the board, with an assessment of their situation and strategic planning.

"After about a two-hour board meeting last night, I told them, they are a pretty feisty group," Mershart said. "They are committed to turning this organization around.  With that board support and the community support that I see today, and the interest from a variety of people, as the outpouring of people for friends and fundraisers, I see a path forward here.

"It may not look like it did before, but we will stay true to the domestic violence program and stay true to the mission to take this time to look at the community and community-wide needs."

Going forward, Tomidy-Pepper said there are other programs she things the YW can take on. At the top of the mission statement for the YWCA is eliminating racism. Tomidy-Pepper said she doesn't have specific ideas for programs at this time but that is important to her, she said. 

The YW also has a mission of empowering women, especially women going through difficult times, so she would like to bring back a program called "Power Up."

Along those lines, Tomidy-Pepper decorated her office with two pictures of purses from the 1970s that she found in storage at the YW and a quote from Susan B. Anthony, "Every woman should have a purse of her own."

Among the people in the community coming forward to support the YW is Guy Clark Jr., owner of Cedar Street Sales and Rentals. He's holding a Cinco de Mayo celebration May 5 and $1 from every taco sold will go to the YWCA.

That's the first of a new series of fundraisers. The second one is hosted by Rick Mancuso, owner of T.F. Brown's. The date in May hasn't been selected yet and there are still details to finalize but it will be at the restaurant.

Tomidy-Pepper also praised Bob Swinarksi and students from Genesee Community College who have come in and taken care of all the YW's IT needs, including the computer system, the website, and social media.

"I remember in the interview process (for the executive director's job), I talked about how the foundation of any organization needs to be on a solid foundation before you build a house on top of it," Tomidy-Pepper said. "We’re rebuilding the foundation."

Even with the difficult transition, Tomidy-Pepper said, "I'm staying."

She added, "There on of people who came before me. The women 108 years ago (who founded the Batavia YWCA) had more challenges than I do right now. They’re the people who worked for the right to vote. They’re the ones who went into jails. They’re the ones that risked their lives.

"I’m not risking my life here, but it’s a mission and I believe in the mission and I believe it’s going to work out."

Millie Tomidy-Pepper, left, and Eileen Mershart, under the picture of purses and the quote from Susan B. Anthony.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS! You have a right to safe workplace. Federal laws state that your employer must provide a work area with no known health or safety hazards. You also have the right to: 

• Be protected from toxic chemicals;
• Request an OSHA inspection, and talk with the inspector;
• Be trained in a language you understand;
• Work on machines that meet safety regulations;
• See copies of the workplace injury and illness log;
• Get copies of test results done to find hazards in the workplace;
• Be provided required safety gear, including but not limited to: hardhat, gloves and harness;
• Report an injury or illness, and get copies of your medical records if you or someone you know has been injured or fallen ill due to unsafe work conditions. 

Call Dolce Panepinto at 716-852-1888 immediately. We understand how life altering a work injury can be, and we are here to help.

Yesterday morning, players and coaches in the Oakfield-Alabama Little League didn't let a bit of rain dampen their enthusiasm for opening day of the baseball season as they marched down Main Street through the Village on their way to the baseball fields off Drake Street.

Morgan Fuller, a senior at Byron-Bergen High School, was among the dozens of students at the school last night who showcased their artistic and musical talent in the school's annual "Buzzin Bistro," a celebration of the arts.

Besides the art show, vocal and music students performed in the cafeteria to a packed house, including songs such as the B-52s' "Love Shack" and the Guys and Dolls/Frank Sinatra hit "Luck Be A Lady."

As for Fuller, as much as she loves art, especially drawing either with graphite or charcoal on black paper, she is thinking of pursuing a career in photojournalism.

"I still like drawing but I don't know if I'll do it that much professionally because, you know, moneywise, and stuff like that, but I'll always do it as a hobby," she said.

She doesn't go much for abstract art. She likes realism but she likes pictures that tell a story and can get a reaction from people rather than just a depiction of a realistic subject.

"I like pictures that are very awkward," She said. "The fish one is my favorite because it’s so awkward and it makes people feel uncomfortable. I also like the mysterious look of black and white and graphite."

Pastor Marty Macdonald was an evangelist for Downtown Batavia at the Business Improvement District's annual meeting and awards breakfast in the Generation Center on Friday morning.

Macdonald, pastor of City Church and the keynote speaker Friday, delivered a sermon on the virtues and values of Batavia, his belief in its potential, and his encouragement for Downtown's business owners to remain steadfast in their commitment to growth and community.

“This is the greatest city on the face of the Earth,” Macdonald said. “I really believe that. We as leaders are commissioned to make incredible decisions, not just once in a lifetime but every single day because we are presented with the call to make the future around us great. And not just for five, 10 or 15 years. We are called to change generations yet to come.”

He said he is overjoyed to see the success he sees coming Batavia's way and encouraged business owners not to gripe about the problems they might see but embrace what is going right.

"I’m thankful when I pull into the parking lot next to our building and I can’t find a place to park," Macdonald said. "I remember there was a time you could have thrown a bowling ball in any direction and not hit anything. Now people are upset because they’ve got to walk a little bit. Come on, we need to walk more anyways."

Instead of listening to the few lingering negative voices in the community who badmouth everything they see, Macdonald said we all should aim higher.

"I know I’m not talking to anybody in this room who talks about things that can’t be done," Macdonald said. "I’m talking to people who are can-do people here. Instead of saying what cannot be done or listening to the two or three voices in the community that seem to have the largest megaphone built into their mouths, let’s decide to live at a higher level than we’ve ever lived before. Let’s commit our attitude to be changed in order to go higher and go further than we have ever gone before."

After comparing and contrasting two birds of the desert -- the vulture that feeds only on dead things and the hummingbird that seeks beautiful flowers and spreads life -- Macdonald said, "Can I encourage you today to start thinking like a hummingbird, to start thinking like that one who is looking for life, looking things that are living, instead of focusing on something that is dead. I just want to throw this out here, and I don’t mean to insult anybody, but urban renewal is over. It’s dead. It’s gone. Yes, we learn from yesterday but we can’t stay stuck in yesterday if we are going to move on to a great future."

Adding, "In my church, everyone would say, ‘Amen’ right now."

Jon Mager, co-owner of the newly established Eli Fish Brewing Company, along with Matt Gray and Matt Boyd, delivered the opening remarks, talking about how the new restaurant, brewery, and restaurant incubator came to be.

"We all grew up in Batavia," Mager said. "We’re all very familiar with the area. We recognize that Downtown has been hurting for quite a few years. Over the years we, unfortunately, saw many restaurants and retail stores leave Downtown or close up completely. We admit we looked other places. We saw places with lower rent, lower operating costs, and lower construction costs over the entire project."

But they picked the former Newberry building for several reasons, including (the fact that) its surrounded by parking; Jackson Square is a hidden gem; there is ample traffic passing past the location; the current Downtown businesses are "awesome," and they are all nostalgic and love old buildings.

City Council President Eugene Jankowski talked about the benefits of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative and the process of the city winning the $10 million prize.

He recalled that while making a presentation in Albany, a slideshow of pictures was on a screen behind him when serendipity struck.

"I was talking about how I was walking to school and I remember the smell of those wet, demolished bricks and seeing this once beautiful downtown just rumble down," Jankowski said. "I remember that smell and I was telling the story, and unbeknownst to me, the picture came up of urban renewal and a pile of wet bricks. Jason (Molino) told me that afterward and I thought maybe the timing is right on this one."

Jankowski expressed his appreciation for Downtown's local business owners.

"I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for investing your time and your hard-earned money in our Downtown and in our City," Jankowski said. "I know it’s a risk and I know sometimes it’s not always easy, but I as a Batavian really appreciate driving down Main Street and seeing all the traffic."

Jeff Gillard was named a Volunteer of the Year.

Derek Kane was named a Volunteer of the Year.

The Genesee Valley PennySaver, celebrating its 70th year in business, was named a Business of the Year. Pictured are Manual Karem, PennySaver ad manager, owner Steve Harrison, BID Director Beth Kemp, BID Board President Steve Krna, and Beth Walker, a sales associate with the PennySaver.

Adam Miller Toy and Bicycle, celebrating its 100th anniversary, was a Business of the Year. Pictured are Buzz Masse, Mark Masse, Joyce Masse, Cathy Roche, Michael Mugler, John Roche, and Krna and Kemp from the BID.