Notre Dame lost in first round playoffs to the Clyde-Savannah Golden Eagles by 41 to 20.

It was a cold night in Clyde but the Golden Eagles offense and defense were both red hot in the first half of the game, out scoring Notre Dame 28 to 0. Consistent ground drives by the Golden Eagles and two interceptions by their defense put Notre Dame behind.

The second half was a different story. Notre Dame scored 20 points to Clyde’s 13. The offense was able to move the ball on the ground and air, and ended the game with nearly twice as many offensive yards as Clyde, but a total of six interceptions made a come-from-behind win impossible.  

More pictures of the game are here http://jimburns.org/p574779137#h5e40d0f5

Attica scored on their first three possessions in their Class C Section V playoff match against Le Roy on Friday night in Attica, but then the Oatkan Knights defense tightened up, including stopping the Blue Devils twice in the red zone, so Attica never got past those initial 19 points.

In the end, Le Roy pulled out a 20-19 victory.

Nick Egeling gained 115 yards on 17 carries. He scored on a 41-yard run. Nate Flint also scored on the ground, while going for 31 total yards on five rushes.

Josh Laurie was 7-12 passing for 113 yards and TD. He gained 18 yards on the ground on seven rushes.

Reed Kacur hauled in that TD pass, one of three catches for 79 yards. Ryan Boyce had two receptions for 18 yards and Flint had two for 16 yards.

On defense, Benny Piazza, nine tackles, Anthony Natrigo, eight, Kacur, eight, and Egeling and Luke Hogle had six each.

Photos by David Boyce.

Jim Nigro remembers well the night the Batavia Blue Devils scored 63 points. In was 1962 and he was a freshman on the squad that squared off against a team from the Syracuse area. The fans came into town with banners and shouting about beating the farmers, and the Blue Devils buried them 63-20.

The 2015 Blue Devils came two points shy Friday night of tying that school record in a 61-0 victory over Midlakes in the first round of the Section V Class B playoffs.

Batavia advances to the semi-finals against Hornell at 1:30 p.m., Saturday, at Cal-Mum.

QB Greg Mruczek was a perfect 10 for 10 passing for 144 yards and three touchdowns.  Dominick Mogavero ran for 79 yards and two TDs on four carries. Ryan Hogan had three TD receptions, gaining 60 yards. Malachi Chenault caught four passes for 44 yards.  Ray Leach gained 97 yards, returning two punts for touchdowns. John Garlock and Cody Dioguardi each scored. Terren Lovria and Leach had seven tackles, Mogavero six and Trenton McGraw, six with two sacks.

To purchase prints of photos, click here.

Dave and Robyn Tufts held an open house today in the former WBTA building on East Main Street that they are renovating into apartments and office space.  The restoration preserves and enhances the mid-century modern architecture and when completed will contain four apartments and office space. The exterior and one apartment are completed and a second apartment will be done soon. The downstairs office space is build-to-suit ready for a tenant.

Previously: Local developer announces plans to restore and preserve Mid-century building in city's central corridor

A hay baler is on fire at 10162 Perry Road, Pavilion. It's next to a barn and attached to a tractor with diesel fuel in it.

Pavilion fire is dispatched.

Pete Colantonio, of Empire Tractor, goes over some of the controls of a New Holland Skid Loader with Pete Kingston, of Geneseo, during Empire Tractor's Skid Loader Rodeo.

The most skilled entrants can win prizes.

The rodeo involves driving the skid loader through a timed obstacle course.

Empire Tractor, on East Main Street Road, Batavia, is hosting the event through this afternoon and then again tomorrow starting at 9 a.m.

Lunch is being served both days.

John Reigle says that two of the Batavia Bulldawgs Youth Football teams will be playing in the NOFA championship games tomorrow in Medina. The Mini Team (8-9 year old division) will face off vs. Attica at 4 p.m. and our Varsity (12-13 year old division) will kick off at 8 p.m. vs. Newfane.

The games are held at Vets Park in Medina, located at 335 W. Oak Orchard St.

This is the first year two Bulldawgs teams out of the three divisions will represent the Batavia program and community in the championship games. The athletes, coaching staff, and parents are very excited about this opportunity. You are welcome to attend and show your Bulldawg pride!

(Photo submitted by Kevin J. Keenan, community engagement coordinator for Tobacco-Free GLOW)

Press release:

Genesee SADD Council students took part in an awareness activity at BOCES earlier this week centering around Halloween and tobacco-prevention initiatives. They want to advance tobacco-free communities.

Roswell Park Cancer Institute established a tobacco-free community outreach program in 1993 and today administers three programs in Western New York: Tobacco-Free Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany (CCA); Tobacco-Free Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming (GLOW) and Tobacco-Free Erie-Niagara (EN). Each locally based program is funded by the New York State Department of Health/Bureau of Tobacco Control.

Its goals are to prevent youth tobacco use through the Reality Check Youth program; raise awareness about tobacco control policies; and to reduce tobacco use among adults across this region and in New York State.

Reduce Tobacco Marketing Point of Sale: Product marketing and price promotion aimed at youth are proven causes of youth tobacco use. Much of this marketing occurs at the point of sale (POS) in the retail environment and may be largely unnoticed by adults.

Increase Tobacco-Free Outdoor Areas: Tobacco use in outdoor areas such as parks, playgrounds, beaches and workplaces is dangerous to the environment and presents a health risk to non-smoking adults and children.

Expand Tobacco-Free Multi-Unit Housing: Smoke-free housing protecting residents’ health by reducing exposure to secondhand smoke. Property managers benefit from reduced maintenance costs and decreased fire risks.

Decrease Tobacco Use Imagery: Research shows that smoking in movies and other media impacts teen perceptions of smoking norms and raises the likelihood of youth initiation.

Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death and disease in New York.

Adult Smoking Rates

• Genesee: 18.7 percent
• Livingston: 16.9 percent
• Orleans: 29.9 percent
• Wyoming: 22.3 percent

*Source:

New York State Department of Health – based on the most recent data (July 2009-June 2009)

http://bit.ly/13A3VEw

Kayode Ayodeji Animashaun, 30, no address provided, is charged with strangulation, 2nd. Animashaun is a detainee at the Buffalo Federal Detention Center on Federal Drive, Batavia, and was allegedly involved in an altercation with another detainee, which was reported Oct. 12. Animashaun allegedly struck the victim and placed the victim in a choke hold causing injury. Animashaun is scheduled to appear in Town of Batavia Court Nov. 30.

NOAA's most recent winter weather outlook predicts that winter in Western New York will be warmer than average, while there is an equal chance of precipitation being above or below average. The weather outlook is about probability and averages. It doesn't address the likelihood, or not, of significant storms.

This little feline funny face is "Kitler." He was last seen Oct. 12 around the North Spruce Apartments, his home in the City of Batavia. He is very skittish and spooks easily.

If he's in a captive space, please keep him there and contact his mom. If you see him, try to keep an eye on him and contact his mom. He's a big boy. He weighs just over 20 pounds. Zounds! Please help get him home!

Jeanine Messinger is desperately hoping that someone will recognize him. Please call 585-455-0560 if you can help.

A two-car accident with minor injuries is reported at Main and Fargo roads, Stafford. A female has some glass stuck in her hand and another person is complaining of neck pain. Mercy medic #1 is on scene and Stafford Fire Department is responding. The accident is blocking traffic.

The Hilton Board of Education has selected Casey Kosiorek as the next superintendent of the Hilton Central School District pending formal appointment to the position at the next Board of Education meeting on Oct. 27. He will step into this role when David Dimbleby retires at the end of this calendar year.

“The Hilton School District Board of Education would like to sincerely thank the staff and community members who participated in the search process,” said Board President Daniel Wellington. “We have reviewed all the information given to us from the finalist interviews as well as their Day in the District. Together with our own observations and your invaluable input, we have taken great care to select our next leader and are confident that Casey will carry on the tradition of keeping our schools at the heart of the community.”

Kosiorek is currently the superintendent of the Byron-Bergen Central School District and has served in that position since 2012. Kosiorek earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education and Master of Science degree in Education from Canisius College. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in Educational Leadership at the University of Rochester.

“It is an honor and a privilege to be selected as the next Superintendent of Schools for the Hilton Central School District,” Kosiorek said. “I look forward to learning and understanding the great pride, traditions, and work that has taken place and I’m excited about working with all stakeholders in the Hilton learning community to continue on the trajectory that has been set on doing what is best for our students. My family and I look forward to becoming a part of the community in the near future. I am humbled by this opportunity.”

The Board worked with Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES District Superintendent and Search Consultant Jo Anne L. Antonacci throughout the search process. Wellington stated, “The Board was very pleased with the process that Mrs. Antonacci led us through and the resulting selection of our new Superintendent.”

Bill and Nancy Brach clearly love their business, Brach Machine, Inc., which is now in its 30th year in Batavia. Yesterday, the Brachs showed a visitor around their shop with verve and eagerness to share the details of what they do, how they do it and why it's important. 

Going through the stockroom of completed parts, Nancy stops and remarks, "These are parts that most people wouldn't have a clue as to what they are."

"I have no idea," the visitor admits.

"Right, exactly," said Nancy, "but there's someone for whom these are a vital part of their business."

Making vital parts for business is what Bill Brach set out to do when he started his business in 1985. Brach machine makes the tools that make it possible for other manufacturers all over the world to make the parts that make our daily lives a little bit easier.

The ignition on your car, die cast. Your refrigerator handle, probably die cast. The sprinkler head on your hose, die cast.

"You've had your hands on hundreds of die castings," Bill said.

When asked to describe his business, Bill has a ready answer that he enunciates clearly in a voice of good cheer that tells you it's a well-rehearsed line intended to precisely describe the business he's in, as precisely as the tools his employees make.

"We manufacture consumable tooling for the high-pressure die-casting industry."

That's it. That's what Brach Machine does. In a nutshell.

High-pressure die casting involves injecting metal in liquid form -- zinc, aluminum, magnesium, copper, lead, and tin -- into molds to make parts, tools and pieces. Brach Machine makes the parts that make the injection possible.

It's no wonder Bill chooses his words carefully. What he does isn't easy and mistakes are measured in fractions of a millimeter. After showing a visitor a tool that can measure a gap that is a quarter of the width of a human hair, Nancy explains such exacting specifications are necessary for their customers to achieve the quality their customers expect.

A tool that comes out of Brach Machine, cut and crafted from a piece of iron with no do-overs, might be worth $4,500 or more. It needs to be cut and shaved and polished to exact specifications. 

That means the people Bill and Nancy hire need to be able to do quality work and have some level of experience suitable to the task. Such employees are hard to find, especially in a tight job market with the unemployment rate hovering near 4 percent.

Brach Machine is advertising for employees more than they ever have and is hosting a pair of open houses to celebrate both 30 years in business and to commemorate Manufacturing Day.

The open houses are Tuesday Oct. 27 and Thursday Nov. 5 with three times available for tours each date: 8 a.m., 11:30 a.m., or 2:30 p.m. Spots are limited, so the open house will be on a first-come-first-serve basis. RSVP to: Tim Gleba, production supervisor, via e-mail tim@brachmachine.com or phone 343-9134.

Prospective employees are welcome as well as anybody interested in one of Batavia's world-class businesses and manufacturing sites in general.

"The thing we want to share with people is this is a place where you can get a job, and it's a good job and it's a stable job and it's a fair-paying job," Nancy said. "It has benefits and we'll keep you here as long as you will stay."

Brian Doktor

Dave Beedham

Al Bailey

Dozens of members of Zonta Club of Genesee County gathered at the Dibble Family Center on Wednesday to stuff care packages with food and household items to give to victims of domestic violence.

Pictured are members of the committee, Ann Marie Brade, Mary Barnard, Beth Kemp, Heather Parker, Rhiannon Hawley, Patti Pacino, Kristen Elkins, and Karen Crittenden.

There's a report of people selling CDs at the Tops in Le Roy, knocking on car windows, scaring people.

"It's been an ongoing problem in other parts of the county," a dispatcher tells an officer.

Le Roy PD is responding.

UPDATE 2:23 p.m.: A dispatcher confirms with a deputy that he had previous contact with the CD sellers and the deputy informed the sellers they need permits and to "move along."

The county serves the public, and increasingly, the public is online, which is why County Manager Jay Gsell thinks the county needs a stronger and more consistent digital presence.

In his 2016 budget, he's proposing a new position in the county's IT department that would be responsible for the county's Web site and its social media activity, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

"There is also a difference in generations in how they deal with us," Gsell said. "They are different in where they go for their information, where they look for information and how they interact with county government whether they're asking questions, registering complaints or things of that nature."

The county's Web site could be more user-friendly, but more importantly, Gsell said, it could contain more information that is more current and timely and relevant to residents.

"We're the public sector -- if we're not public and media friendly, we suck," Gsell said. "We're also not doing our job. The idea is to put information out and give it out so the public can access it."

Increasingly, people want to find their information and interact with government and businesses in social media, and the county should be where the public is, Gsell said, which means an active presence on Facebook and Twitter, for example.

"If you don't have a more duel-enabled communication, you're missing out on how you connect with people, how people connect with your services, how they issue complaints, how they issue praise in some cases, or even how we deal with some things we change, for instance, taking on credit card payments in the Treasurer's Office," Gsell said.

The salary for the new position will be about $35,000 and represent a total expenditure with benefits and related expenses of $58,000.

The position is part of a $106,756,416 spending plan being proposed by Gsell.  

On the revenue side, Gsell is proposing a $27,283,304 tax levy with a $9.89 tax rate per thousand of assessed value. That is a 3-cent increase over the 2015 tax rate.

One new position previously proposed that didn't make the budget is an additional Sheriff's deputy with a primary responsibility to keep a sharp eye out for drunken drivers.

The position would have been funded through STOP-DWI money -- fines levied against convicted drunken drivers -- but Gsell said he could tell the idea wasn't going over well with a majority of the Legislature, so he dropped the proposal from the budget. He said the consensus among legislators seemed to be that even if the position was legal and above board, it might engender the perception that there was a level of entrapment in the strategy to catch more drunken drivers. Any case of actual entrapment could open the county up to litigation, something the Legislature would like to avoid.

"It's not like it was, 'Oh, my, this is the best thing since pockets,' so we said, 'You know what, it's not worth the angst and having the legislators have a discomfort as we're trying to present a hundred plus million proposal to let that become the litmus test of what's going on for 2016,' so we pulled it out," Gsell said.

The budget also includes an increase in hours for the County Attorney, making the job a full-time position. The additional 7.5 hours per week means an additional $30,000 in salary and a total increase in expenditure for the position of $37,095, but that cost is offset, Gsell said, by a decrease elsewhere in the budget for contracted fees for outside counsel.  

The budget proposal also includes a new public health sanitarian in the health department and a new case manager in Genesee Justice. Gsell said the case load at Genesee Justice has started to overwhelm the current staff hours in that department.

Ray Cianfrini, chairman of the Legislature, also floated the idea that members of the body should consider whether it's time for a pay raise for legislators. There was no further discussion of the idea after he threw mentioned it.

Press release:

State Senator Michael H. Ranzenhofer has announced today that he will host a round table discussion for breast cancer survivors at 1 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 30th, at the YWCA of Genesee County, 301 North St. in Batavia.

“The Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester and I want to hear your story,” Ranzenhofer said. “Listening to the experiences of survivors is one way to support families here in our community who have been impacted by breast cancer. That is why it is so important for women to share their stories with us at the upcoming community round table.”

The two-hour program will be facilitated by the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester (BCCR).

“No one needs go through breast cancer alone," said BCCR Executive Director Holly Anderson. "If you or a loved one receives a diagnosis of breast cancer, the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester is here to help. The Coalition offers education and support programs, as well as advocacy for those uninsured or underinsured.

"The Coalition is a full-scope, grassroots breast cancer organization serving survivors and families throughout the Finger Lakes Region of Central and Western New York. We can help you find resources in your own community.”

The purpose of the discussion is to learn more about the experiences of survivors during the diagnosis, including:
•    What happened when you were diagnosed with breast cancer?
•    What resources were you given?
•    Where did you turn for support?
•    What resources did you find in your community?
•    What do you wish you would have had access to at any point?

Family members impacted by a breast cancer diagnosis are welcome to attend. Due to limited seating, pre-registration is strongly encouraged. To pre-register, residents can contact the Coalition at (585) 473-8177.

Senator Ranzenhofer secured a $200,000 State grant in the 2015-16 Budget, administered by the State Department of Health, to increase outreach initiatives to individuals impacted by breast cancer and to provide expanded cancer services in our region. Some of the counties in Western New York have the highest rates of breast cancer in the State.

According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States, other than skin cancer. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer. In New York State alone, 14,000 new cases of breast cancer are reported each year.

About the BCCR
The Coalition’s mission is to provide support to those touched by a diagnosis of breast cancer, to make access to information and care a priority through education and advocacy, and to empower women and men to participate fully in decisions relating to breast cancer. Currently, the Coalition serves individuals in 10 counties, including: Monroe, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates. For more information, visit www.bccr.org.