Press release:

On Friday, June 15, at or about 12:42 a.m., the Batavia Police Department and City of Batavia Fire Department responded to the report of an active house fire at 35 Maple St.

A female located on scene believed her children were still in the residence. Officers from the Batavia Police Department and the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office attempted to make entry into the residence but were unsuccessful. City of Batavia Fire Fighters made entry and attempted to locate the children.

By approximately 12:56 a.m. all children from the residence were located safely and accounted for at a neighbor’s residence. The Genesee County Department of Social Services was contacted to aid with the children.

During the fire investigation it was learned that the fire stemmed from a domestic incident between the female that lived in the lower apartment and her boyfriend. The male, identified as Plush Dozier (DOB: 11/21/1995), had become upset with his girlfriend and an argument ensued.

Dozier set her and the apartment on fire. During the initial stages of the incident all of the children were able to leave the apartment. The female was transported to an area hospital, where she is listed in stable condition. We will not be releasing the female’s name or location for the safety of her and her family.

Dozier was located at the scene and taken into custody without incident. Dozier was arrested for two Class A felonies: arson in the first degree (PL 150.20-01), and attempted murder in the second degree (PL 125.25-01).

Dozier was arraigned in Batavia City Court and put in Genesee County Jail without bail. Dozier is scheduled to appear in Genesee County Court at a later date.

During the course of the active house fire, and subsequent investigation a City of Batavia police officer, and a City of Batavia firefighter were both injured. The officer and the firefighter were treated and released from UMMC with non-life-threatening injuries.

Previously:

• Arrest made in midnight fire on Maple Street
• House fire reported on Maple Street in City of Batavia

A car-bicyclist accident with minor injuries is reported at 3 W. Main St., Le Roy.

Le Roy fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.

City of Batavia firefighters, IAFF Local 896, are downtown this morning with fire boots they're hoping passing motorists will help fill with cash.

The donations benefit MDA.This is their annual "Fill the Boot" fundraiser. They will be in the area of Ellicott, Court, and Main until 1 p.m.

An arrest has been made in connection with a fire reported at about 12:30 a.m. at 35 Maple St. that endangered the life of a woman sleeping in an apartment on the first floor, The Batavian has learned.

Batavia PD will put out a press release with more details shortly.

In the initial call for the fire, it was reported that two children were inside the residence while the frantic mother was outside when police arrived. The children were later located at a neighbor's house.

In all, four children lived in the apartment and all four were accounted for by 1 a.m.

The woman was transported to UMMC for a medical evaluation. There's no further word at this time on her condition.

The suspect was reportedly arraigned in City Court this morning and ordered held without bail.

DEVELOPING ... 

This short film was produced by a group of Pembroke High School for a class project. It's a sequal to a short film produced by students in 2009 called "The Birdman Phenomenon."

Press release:

The New York State Senate passed Senate bill S7397-A, establishing a more equitable tax rate for Batavia Downs Gaming.  Senator Michael Ranzenhofer, the sponsor of the legislation, issued the following statement:

“Today the Senate passed legislation to help level the playing field for Batavia Downs. Lowering the tax rate not only protects the future viability of Batavia Downs but returns more revenue to taxpayers across Western New York. I am hopeful that the Assembly will take action on this important legislation.”

Batavia Downs Gaming, operated by Western Region OTB (WROTB), is a standardbred racetrack and gaming facility. WROTB is a public benefit corporation – owned by 15 Western New York counties, including Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Orleans, Oswego, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne, and Wyoming, as well as the cities of Rochester and Buffalo.

Since its inception, WROTB has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in operating and surcharge revenues to the residents of those participating municipalities.

A working structure fire is reported on Maple Street in the City of Batavia. Two children are reportedly inside. It's gone to a second alarm. City fire is responding and Darien fire is called as mutual aid.

UPDATE 12:52 a.m.: The fire is at 35 Maple St. It's "knocked down." The children thought to be inside were actually at a neighbor's house and they are safe. Town of Batavia fire, Alexander's Fast Team, and Darien's rescue are also responding. 

UPDATE 1:27 a.m.: Overhaul in progress. Alexander is back in service. An adult resident was transported to UMMC for evaluation. There were four children who resided in the apartment. All four are accounted for and safe.

UPDATE 1:45 a.m. (By Howard): Officer Arick Perkins and Sgt. Eric Bolles where the first responders on scene. Bolles said Perkins tried to enter the residence but the smoke was too thick. Bolles said it was only about an inch off the floor at that point.  

Captain Robert Fix said when the first firefighters arrived on scene there was heavy black smoke and flames visible through the front window.

"The engine crew did a great job on getting in the front door and getting a good knockdown on the fire," Fix said. "They took care of it pretty quick. We had some fire on the outside we hit with a second line and were able to keep it in check."

There were some tense moments where the children were unaccounted for, with firefighters inside looking for them and officers from the City, County and State looking in windows with flashlights trying to see what they could see. Then a neighbor came out of her house with two of the children. Officers immediately converged on her front porch and confirmed all children were safe.

"Whenever you get the call that there are people trapped inside, especially kids, that elevates everything significantly," Fix said. 

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

A pedestrian has reportedly been struck by a vehicle at 44 Pearl St. in the city. The location is between Franklin Street and Brooklyn Avenue. City fire and Mercy medics are responding.

Press release:

United Memorial Medical Center (UMMC) has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines^® -- Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award.

The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

UMMC earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period.

These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients.

Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.

“We are dedicated to improving the quality of care for our stroke patients by implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke initiative,” said UMMC Stroke Director, Dr. Sara Connolly. 

“The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes.”

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the number five cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the United States suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

A car has reportedly hit a tree off the Thruway in the area of mile marker 393.7 in the westbound lane.

Unknown injuries.

Town of Batavia fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.

Sheriff William Sheron today introduced the three deputies who will become the new School Resource Officers in Pembroke, Pavilion and Alexander school districts.

Those district's past budgets in May commitment to pay for the SRO positions on their school campuses in 2018-19.

Deputy Patrick Reeves, a 21-year veteran of the force, is the new SRO in Pembroke. He's pictured above with Sheron, Pembroke Superintendent Matthew Calderon, and in the back row, Legislator Gordon Dibble and Legislator Shelly Stein.

Reeves is a lifelong Pembroke resident who has children in the district and is a youth sports coach.

"I think this is just the next step for me," Reeves said, "make that connection with the kids, keep them focused, get them to the end of their goals, get a good career, and while I’m in school, try to help every kid that you possibly can."

He said he hopes he can be a positive influence on some of the students he deals with over the course of the school year.

"Most kids need some guidance, and if I can connect with one or two who might need it, that’s my fuel," Reeves said. "I win and the district wins."

Deputy Cory Mower, also a 21-year veteran of the department, is the new SRO in Pavilion.

Mower said he wanted to work with the Pavilion district because throughout much of his career on road patrol he's covered the southeast part of the county. He knows a lot of the students and their families already.

He also worked six years in the jail and came into contact with a lot of young people and believes that experience has given him some insight on how to help teenagers today.

"Now with the schools opening up (these positions), I just think it’s a natural progression where I can use my experience to help some kids, maybe keep some kids out of trouble, maybe help them before they get addicted to drugs or make the wrong choice, the wrong move," Mower said.

Above photo: Sheron, Mower, Pavilion Superintendent Ken Ellison, Stein, and Legislator Gregg Torrey.

Deputy Eric Meyer, who attended Alexander Central Schools all the way through high school and still lives in Alexander has been assigned to his home school district. He is the new SRO in Alexander.

"I like the idea of keeping the children safe in my own district, in my own community," Meyer said. "I also live in the community so I thought it would be a great opportunity for me and for the school to be a positive role model for these kids."

He's already visited the elementary school and many of the students recognized him, said Meyer, who joined the Sheriff's Office three years ago.

"I already see the kids looking up to me and giving me high-fives and a hand clap," Meyer said.

Above photo: Sheron, Stein, Meyer, Alexander Superintendent Catherine Huber, Torrey.

Below, a press release from the Sheriff's Office:

Genesee County Sheriff William A. Sheron Jr. announces the newest School Resource Officer assignments in three local school districts.

Pembroke Central School District has chosen Deputy Patrick J. Reeves as its School Resource Officer. He graduated from Pembroke in 1992 and is a 22-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office. Deputy Reeves will start in this position on Sept. 1.

Alexander Central School District has chosen Deputy Eric J. Meyer as its School Resource Officer. He graduated from Alexander in 2006 and is a three-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office. Deputy Meyer will start in this position on Sept. 1.

Pavilion Central School District has chosen Deputy Cory W. Mower as its School Resource Officer. He is a 22-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office. Deputy Mower will start in this position on July 1.

Additionally, the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership (BOCES) and the Byron-Bergen Central School District also renewed their commitments for next year’s School Resource Officers on campus.

Sheriff Sheron stated that it his goal to establish a School Resource Officer in all county school districts to ensure the safety and protection of the students and faculty.

“Although the cost associated with placing a School Resource Officer in the schools is significant, I believe the safety and security of our children should be of the utmost precedence," Sheron said. "I applaud the tremendous support received from the school administrators, school boards, and the Genesee County Legislature, which ultimately made this possible.”

There are power outages affecting some 2,200 National Grid customers in the eastern part of Genesee County, primarily in Le Roy and South Byron and parts of Bergen.

The outages appear to be part of a larger set of outages in Livingston and Monroe counties.

We don't know yet the cause of the outage.

Emergency dispatchers are aware of the outages but have no information about the outage so calling emergency dispatchers about the outages would not be helpful.

Callers are reporting a tendency of motorists to not obey four-way stop protocols at intersections without power to their traffic signals.

National Grid does report that power should be restored around 6 p.m.

UPDATE 5:03 p.m.: A spokesman for National Grid says there was an equipment failure in a transmission line that runs through the Genesee region. More than 11,000 customers lost power. The cause of the equipment failure is under investigation.

UPDATE 5:25 p.m.: The transmission line is repaired. National Grid engineers are now in the process of a controlled restoration of power for those customers who lost power. The ETA is still approximately 6 p.m. for that work to be done.

UPDATE 5:39 p.m.: It looks like power has been restored to most of the customers in Genesee County, though there appears to be a separate, possibly unrelated power outage in Stafford. There are 111 customers without power. A work crew has not yet been assigned to the outage through its estimated power will be restored by 6:45 p.m.

Photo: A garbage bin outside a parole office filled with discarded voter registration forms that were given to parolees by parole officers.

Submitted photo and information from Assemblyman Steve Hawley.

According to information obtained by Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia), a memo has been issued directing all department parole officers to begin presenting newly pardoned felons with voter registration forms, help them complete the process of registering to vote, and help them locate the local Board of Elections during the course of their taxpayer-funded duties.

It is from Acting Commissioner Anthony Annucci of New York State Corrections and Community Supervision, a department under Gov. Cuomo.

The three-page memo, dated May 22, was circulated to all bureau chiefs, all chiefs of the Parole Violation Unit, all senior parole officers, and all parole revocation specialists. CC'd on the memo were executive, associate and assistant commissioners, the director of Internal Operations, regional directors, assistant regional directors, the director of Executive Clemency and the deputy chief of the Parole Violation Unit.

Executive Order 181 "Restoring the Right to Vote for Parolees" states in part “…the Parole Officer must also provide the recipient (of the pardon certificate) with the NYS Voter Registration Form and the NYS Voting Rights form…The Parole Officer must be prepared to assist the parolee with filling out the registration form and the Parole Officer is responsible for providing information regarding the location of the local Board of Elections.”

It says this "requires high priority attention..." and at the bottom of the memo is this: "PLEASE NOTE: This is a priority initiative and needs to be completed as soon as possible."

“This is the most outlandish abuse of power and taxpayer-funded resources I’ve witnessed in my time as a legislator,” Hawley said. “Gov. Cuomo is using state employees as campaign workers to register recently paroled felons to vote. Absolutely outrageous.”

The memo dictates detailed instructions for corrections employees on how to execute pardons and help parolees register to vote and does not specify that this be done outside the purview of their official, taxpayer-funded duties.

“This governor continues to use our money as his money and there seems to be no bound to how autocratic his tenure has become,” Hawley continued. “It’s very possible that there is added pressure on Parole Officers to hit some sort of ‘quota’ on registrations ahead of the governor’s upcoming gubernatorial primary.”

From Forest Productions & Photography Inc., in Buffalo:

A 360-degree virtual reality tour video produced for the Recruitment Publications Department at Genesee Community College in Batavia is a Bronze Winner in the 2018 Telly Awards. 

Forest Productions and Photography in Buffalo, owned and operated by husband and wife team Michael and Christina Mandolfo, won the award in the Online category for "Craft Virtual Reality / 360."

“We are, of course, extremely honored to receive this award,” says photographer/videographer Michael Mandolfo. “We’re grateful for the forward thinking of GCC staff members that continually allow us to explore creative options and new technology to promote this exceptional college.”

Internationally known, the Telly Awards are the premier awards honoring video and television across all screens. Established in 1979, the Telly Awards receive more than 12,000 entries from all 50 states and five continents.

Entries are judged by the Telly Awards Judging Council, an industry body of 200+ working industry experts who have previously won the Telly Awards’ highest accolades and, as such, have demonstrable expertise in the categories they review.

Throughout 2017-2018 the Telly Awards refashioned its categories to honor the type of work being made by leading producers, including branded content, social video and animation, as well as working with industry experts to identify important industry categories where technology plays an impactful role in the ways stories are now being told: virtual reality, interactive and 360 video.

“Many colleges have impersonal virtual tours,” says Tanya Lane-Martin, associate dean for Student Support Services at GCC. “I wanted something unique and fun so I called Michael and Christina, as GCC has been overwhelmingly appreciative of Michael and Christina’s artistic and creative ideas for many years. They did not disappoint; the video has been very well received.”

This is the ninth Telly Award Forest Productions and Photography has received. Previously, the company has been awarded Telly Awards for its work for Fisher-Price.

To view the 360 Virtual GCC Tour video, click here.

About Forest Productions & Photography

With more than 35 years of experience in photography and more than 24 years experience in video production, the unique partnership created between husband and wife team Michael and Christina Mandolfo has consistently produced outstanding visual work that combines the client's conceptual focus with the creative sensibility necessary to create truly custom imagery. Continuing to produce top-quality work and treating each client with the same care and respect they share with their own family remains Michael and Christina's mission.

About Genesee Community College

Genesee Community College (GCC) is a student-centered collegiate community that annually serves more than 6,000 students with 70 academic degrees and certificates, and seven campus locations in Western New York. GCC is proud of its technological prowess that includes 80+ smart classrooms, 37 computer labs, seven distance learning labs and 18 science labs.

In addition to state-of-the-art onsite facilities, GCC also provides a robust online learning community. Both the onsite and online learning modalities boast a 16:1 student-to-faculty ratio giving students plenty of hands-on, one-to-one teaching and learning opportunities. Genesee Community College is a committed to providing the educational experiences which promote intellectual and social growth, workforce and economic development and global citizenship. Additional information about Genesee Community College is available at www.genesee.edu.

Smokin' Eagle BBQ & Brew opened its 2018 Battle of the Bands competition with a check presentation of $3,000 to the Golisano Children's Hospital in Rochester. The Coniber family, Jason, Missy, and Hailey, of Le Roy, accepted the check on behalf of the hospital. 

This year, the crew at the Smokin' Eagle hopes to raise $5,000 during the Battle of the Bands competition, which ends in October. In addition to the 50-50 raffle that runs throughout the competition, the Smokin' Eagle will also be selling $15 chicken BBQ tickets for the finale.

The first band up last night was The Fallen, based in Rush, but with members from the region, including Le Roy.

There will be bands competing every Wednesday until the champion is crowned.

This year's judges, Carl Giammarva, Sarah Tonzi, Jackie Whiting, Jeff Kanaley, and Chris Biviano.