A car versus pole accident is reported at 8056 Bank Street Road. Unknown injuries, but there is entrapment. Town of Batavia fire and Mercy medics are responding.
A motor-vehicle accident with injuries is reported on Lewiston Road. Genesee County dispatch plotted the call locale as east of Knowlesville Road. Alabama fire and Mercy medics are responding.
UPDATE 3:10 p.m.: A responder on scene reports "a vehicle into the trees."
A motor-vehicle accident is reported, with unknown injuries, on the westbound I-490 near mile marker 2. Bergen fire is responding along with Le Roy fire and ambulance.
The driver of a pickup truck that plowed into the western entryway of Batavia's police headquarters did so intentionally, investigators say.
Charges are pending against Steven J. Mancuso-Haitz Jr., according to a statement released by BPD.
Mancuso-Haitz is identified by police as the man who drove a 1998 Chevrolet S10 pickup into the building at 2:57 p.m., Friday, causing damage to the doorway, but apparently not causing any structural damage.
The driver was transported to Strong Memorial Hospital for evaluation.
The investigation is ongoing, police said.
No motive was given for Mancuso-Haitz to allegedly drive his truck into the building. Mancuso-Haitz has had prior local law enforcement contact, including an incident that led to this correction by The Batavian in 2011.
A working structure fire is reported at 102 S. Main St. in the Village of Oakfield. Oakfield fire is responding along with Town of Batavia and the city's Fast Team. East Pembroke is asked to fill in at Oakfield's hall.
UPDATE 9:51 p.m.: Fire police are requested to shut down traffic at Route 63 and Fisher Road, and in the Village at Route 63 and South Pearl Street.
UPDATE 9:59 p.m.: Elba's firefighting "Cascade" is called in.
UPDATE 10:25 p.m.: National Grid has been notified. Command reports the blaze is under control.
UPDATE 10:34 p.m.: One code enforcement officer is on scene and a second one is contacted to respond.
UPDATE 11:25 p.m.: Roadway being reopened.
In an effort to defeat Batavia's anticipated press in the Rotary Tournament championship game Thursday night, Dave Pero gave his girls a great plan -- quick passes down court to open shooters.
The Fighting Irish got a lot of open shot opportunities in the first half of the game. The part of the plan that didn't work is that too few baskets went through the hoop.
In the end, the Blue Devils prevailed in the defensive battle of rivals, 41-33.
"A game like this is great for us come sectional time," said Notre Dame Head Coach Dave Pero. "We're not going to see a team in our sectional bracket that presses like Batavia, so it's a great lesson we learned tonight of how to handle it."
Pero thought his team handled it pretty well, even mounting a bit of a comeback in the 4th quarter that had to make Batavia supporters a little nervous, but Batavia answered and held off the Fighting Irish charge to avenge defeats in the previous two Rotary tournaments.
"These guys hate me at practice, as hard as we run, but there's a reason," said Marty Hein, Batavia's head coach. "In the second half, and we don't turn the ball over any worse than we do in first half, but we seem to force more in the second half than anybody else. I think that gives us an edge."
Hein tightened his defense during half time, putting more pressure on Notre Dame at half court, which took away passing lanes and made it harder for offensive players to get behind his defenders. It created more turnovers.
Pero said his team was ready and primed for this game, but Batavia just did a little bit better.
"We had a great practice yesterday, perhaps one of the best practices we've had," Pero said. "Did we do a lot with the basketball? We did a little bit. We did a lot of talking. The girls were upbeat. They were responsive. When we got to the locker room upstairs, they were focused. When you get girls that are focused, a team like that, I don't care if they're boys or girls, win or lose, that's when you've got to give them credit for the way they prepared. They were awesome. They were ready for what they were going to give us, we just fell short. Next week is another week."
Hein said he and his team thought they were going to do a lot better.
"We're a little down, because we thought we should play better, myself included, but that's just a credit to them and their coach," Hein said.
Tiara Filbert, Batavia, was tournament MVP and scored 22 points Thursday. No other Blue Devil got into double figures. Essence Williams scored eight.
Shea Norton led Notre Dame with 10 points. Taylor DiMartino and Emma Francis each had eight.
(Filbert and Norton in the top photo)
To purchase prints, click here.
A truck reportedly struck the Batavia Police Station at 10 W. Main St. and a person is trapped inside the vehicle. City fire and Mercy medics are responding.
UPDATE 3:04 p.m.: The driver is speaking with a police officer.
UPDATE: The male driver was not seriously injured. He was transported to a hospital outside of Genesee County.
More information in the video:
Joel Emerson delivering mail through the snow and bitter cold on Redfield Parkway.
Joe Caruso cleaning his driveway on North Spruce.
Also on North Spruce.
Craig Thurman on State Street.
Joseph Verssagi on Union while his neighbor Buck Oltman works with his own blower in the background.
The sun was out, the storm was gone, but snow was still blowing on Main Street.
A reader submitted this photo of a school bus reportedly stuck in the snow in the traffic circle at Batavia High School.
Press release:
The Genesee County Sheriff has issued a travel advisory for all of Genesee County effective immediately and continuing until further notice. While travel in the county is not banned at this time, unnecessary travel is discouraged. Heavy, blowing and drifting snow is making roads slippery and limiting visibility. Several motor-vehicle accidents have been reported with numerous vehicles going off the road.
UPDATE: The travel advisory was lifted at 9:30 a.m.
The following players were honored for their 2014 season in the New York Sportswriters Association All-State awards.
UPDATED to include Tom Kelso. who was inadvertantly left out of the original post. Apologies to the Kelso family.
A car has reportedly hit a tree on Cole Road, Le Roy.
Injuries are reported.
Le Roy fire and Le Roy ambulance dispatched.
A car has reportedly hit a tree and there are unknown injuries at 3992 South Main Street Road, near Fairway Drive, Batavia.
Town of Batavia Fire and Alexander Fire's ambulance dispatched.
UPDATE 6:11 a.m.: Law enforcement on scene reports no injuries. Alexander's ambulance is cancelled. Town of Batavia can hold all equipment in hall.
Closing and cancellations reported to us:
E-mail closings and cancellations to howard@thebatavian.com
A reader who witnessed the accident reports a westbound tractor-trailer has jackknifed on Route 5 near Bater Road, Le Roy.
The truck hit a pole and the eastbound lane is blocked.
A trooper just arrived on scene.
UPDATE 5:58 a.m.: Le Roy fire requested to shut down traffic westbound on Route 5 at Keeney Road. Stafford fire requested to shut down traffic eastbound at Buckley Road.
UPDATE 6:44 a.m.: Traffic is reopened. Stafford and Le Roy back in service.
In a special weather statement, the National Weather Service reports a heavy lake effect snow band is moving toward the western portion of Genesee County and could drop snow at a rate of three inches per hour as far east as Batavia.
Visibility will be near zero with winds gusting to 40 mph.
"Travel will be extremely difficult or even impossible due to a combination of snowfall and strong winds," warns the weather service.
UPDATE 6:17 p.m.: A medic with Mercy EMS informs dispatchers that conditions are so bad, "we won't be doing any transports to Buffalo until further notice."
A motor-vehicle accident is reported near Judge Road and Macomber Road, Oakfield.
A medic on scene reports two minor injuries and one person trapped. A second ambulance is requested to the scene.
Oakfield fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.
UPDATE 5:40 a.m.: Alabama fire requested to the scene for traffic control.
UPDATE 5:44 a.m.: A second ambulance might not be needed. Two minor injuries. "We might be able to double stack one rig," a responder tells dispatch.
From the Thruway Authority:
Parts of the New York State Thruway in Western New York will be closed due to extreme winter weather conditions. The mainline Thruway, I-90, between Exit 46 (Henrietta) and Exit 61 (Shortman Road), as well as the Niagara Section, I-190, between I-90 and Exit 16 (I-290), will be closed to tractor-trailers at 9 tonight. Starting at midnight, these same sections will be closed to all traffic. Vehicles traveling westbound on I-90 will be detoured off the roadway at Exit 46 (Henrietta) and all eastbound traffic will be detoured off at Exit 61 (Shortman Road). All vehicles traveling south on I-190 will be detoured off at Exit 16 (I-290).
The idea of solar power for county government certainly brought a gleam to the eye of members of the Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday, but in the end, a proposal by Solar City didn't exactly light up their lives.
The committee voted unanimously to reject a proposal that could have saved the county more than a quarter of its $500,000 annual electricity bill.
The short-term cost savings looked good, but the long-term and potentially unknown consequences seemed daunting.
Legislator and Committee Chairman Bob Bausch worried about Solar City going bankrupt, and without some sort of bond to protect the county's financial liability, taxpayers could be left holding the bag on a nine-acre solar farm the county had no ability to maintain.
"We would have to clean up their mess," Bausch said.
County Attorney Chuck Zambito said Bausch was essentially right.
"It would be their responsibility, but if they go bankrupt, there would be no way to enforce it," Zambito said.
Legislator Maryanne Clattenburg was concerned that 20 years was too long to lock the county into technology that looks good today but may quickly become obsolete. She said she was especially concerned because the company seems so dependent on government grants, which could dry up in a few years.
"When I think of my phone 20 years ago, or I think of my computer 20 years ago -- I just think it's too long of a time to be tied into one technology," Clattenburg said.
County Highway Superintendent Tim Hens expressed concern that the state, which would help finance the project, might eventually reduce the amount of compensation the county would get for hosting the solar farm.
He also noted that the county may yet need to build a new jail and the proposed location of the farm -- nine acres off West Main Street Road, Batavia, next to County Building #2, might be a prime location for a new jail. Putting a solar farm on that land would potentially drive up the cost of a new jail if the county had to purchase nine acres elsewhere.
Solar City would get use of the nine acres to generate electricity to sell to National Grid tax free, legislators noted.
County Manager Jay Gsell said the county also looked at land at the County Airport, but found FAA regulations would prohibit any possible configuration the county could use because of glare, glide path and safety zone issues.
Hens said other companies have contacted the county about solar power and in rejecting the Solar City deal, which the county had to act on by mid-February, the county keeps its options open.
The way the county treasurer and county clerk see it, the NYS Office of Comptroller didn't do a very good job of crossing its Ts and dotting its Is when it came to issuing audit reports on their offices last month.
While the reports only raised minor bookkeeping issues and found no real evidence of mismanagement, both Scott German and Don Read told the Ways and Means Committee yesterday that they were blown over by the negative audit reports.
"Essentially, the State Comptroller's Office didn't follow normal protocol," German said. "There was no entrance interview, no exit interview, and they always give 90 days to respond and have our response in the audit, and that didn't happen either."
Read said the auditor who hit his office never clarified how certain court records were being handled, just said they weren't being handled correctly.
"Everything she complained about in the audit, we do," Read said. "They said we don't keep a record of it because we don't keep it in a book. Well, we don't keep it in a book any more. We keep it in a folder, a printout. We no longer have to write in a book, get a book out. We put it on computer. That was acceptable the last time they did a court and trust fund audit. They didn't raise any issues, but this time they found fault with it."
Like the Treasurer's Office, Read wasn't given a chance to file a written response before the audit was made public.
The treasure was knocked for not notifying the state of $507 in a trust that needed to be turned over as abandoned. German said the state has changed the rules on the time frame of such notifications in the past few years, but never communicated that change to county treasurers. The lastest printed booklet from the state, which is what German's staff was using contained the incorrect information. (There is apparently a downloadable booklet that is corrected.) He said his staff now has the corrected state booklet.
Ray Cianfrini, chairman of the Legislature, said the couple of minor complaints in the audit report were really a credit to both county offices because nothing more serious was found.
German said his office is currently in the third month of what he expects to be a year-long audit, and he's sure some discrepancy or another will be found.
"I'm sure they're going to find things," German said. "They always do, but nothing major."
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