Join us every Thursday morning at the Richmond Memorial Library as we read and discuss, The Birchbark House by Louise Erdich

Notebooks will be provided to registered participants to maintain a weekly journal of *chapter summaries*

Since we are fitting a lot into 30 minutes we are hopeful that everyone is here and ready to begin promptly at 10:00 am. Recommended age for participation is 8 to 14.

*The chapter summaries are an optional homework assignment and format can be determined by parents based on the writing skill level of each child.

Registration will begin January 2, 2009

Start Date: 1/15/09

Contact the Children's Room for more information

Richmond Memorial Library

19 Ross Street

Batavia, NY 14020

585-343-9550

www.batavialibrary.org

 Congratulations to Le Roy wide receiver Mike Humphrey for making the Democrat & Chronicle All-Greater Rochester football first team.

Humphrey is very deserving of the honor and had one of the best seasons any receiver has had in area football in many, many years.

The senior caught 63 passes for 892 yards and made it in the end zone a whopping 15 times, while guiding the Oatkan Knights to the Section 5 Class C championship.

Humphrey should excel at the University at Bufalo, Brockport or Cortland.

But the D&C again failed to give any love to our local teams, especially the Genesee Region League.

Oakfield-Alabama offensive/defensive lineman Chris Williams has been an all-state selection and has been the most dominant lineman in the GR since Pembroke's Chris Lauzze, who started at center this year for the MAC champion UB Bulls.

Here is the list of the Genesee Region League honorable mentions:

Genesee Region: Craig Campbell (Oakfield-Alabama), Chris Williams (Oakfield-Alabama), Graham Jensen (Pembroke), Craig Houseknecht (Batavia Notre Dame), Derek Hicks (Oakfield-Alabama), Ken Babcock (Pembroke), Kevin Francis (Batavia Notre Dame), Andrew Wright (Pembroke), Andy Ruddock (Attica), Tim Smith (Oakfield-Alabama), Brad Riner (Oakfield-Alabama), David Kleckler (Pembroke), Noah Seward (Oakfield-Alabama), Matt Klotzbach (Pembroke), Ray Paul (Barker), Tyler Kowalczyk (Oakfield-Alabama), Kevin Gallinger (Attica), Rick Lair (Batavia Notre Dame), Josh Hanel (Pembroke), John Koening (Oakfield-Alabama), Shawn Dupuis (Attica), A.J. Kehlenbeck (Oakfield-Alabama), Mike Dibble (Pembroke), Matt Thompson (Batavia Notre Dame).

I can't see how Williams, Smith, Wright and Ruddock (and maybe others) didn't get consideration for at-least second team.

Williams not making first team, heck, not making second team - is about the biggest joke and yet another example of the D&C blowing off the small schools and only caring about the big city schools.

Oh yeah, there was one local second team selection; Le Roy's Jordan Casper. Casper was an excellent offensive lineman and well deserving of an honorable mention selection. But where is Travis Fenstermaker?

Fenstermaker had an amazing career at Le Roy and is one of the top quarterbacks to ever play for the school. As great as Humphrey is - and trust me, he has some of the best hands I've ever seen - he is nowhere where 892 yards and 15 touchdowns without Fenstermaker getting him the ball.

I have a message that I really want the D&C and Section 5 officials to hear. I've said it before, and I'm going to keep saying it.

There should be two All-Greater Rochester teams, so the large school and small school kids can be honored. And the Eddie Meath game has turned into a joke, with coaches only playing the large school kids and giving the kids from the GR and smaller Livingston Conference schools little to no playing time. It is also time for two Eddie Meath games.

Come on. Oakfield-Alabama and Pembroke had great teams with an epic battle in the semifinals, O-A lost to Le Roy in the finals and Notre Dame advanced to the finals as well. Not a single GR player even earned second team honors. 

UPDATE: This has become a very heated debate on Talksback.

In our final installment of the Christmas lights series, I'm posting a home that doesn't have bulbs all over the place like most houses in the series did. But this one on Edgewood Dr. was one of my favorites. The red and green lighting was subtle but really made the house stand out.

I hope you enjoyed the photos I've been posting the last few weeks, I sure know I've had a lot of fun going around looking for well decorated homes to share on The Batavian.

We received the following letter from Batavia City Councilwoman Rose Mary Christian:

(SMSI) shared municipal services

(CGR) center for govermental research

(AIM) Aid Incentives Municipalitys

Our obligation is to our city and our taxes payers. AIM revenues would be approximately $650,000 In the first year and that would reduce the combined property tax levy of the city and town by 15% per year.  Only if the city and town are consolidated. That’s a win-win situation.

The cities growth is down -7% and the towns growth is up + 26.2% giving these figures that the burden is on mostly city taxpayers for Ambulance, police and fire services. The city and town both have recognized boundaries to be shifted for growth. We are faced with fiscal challenges all the time and now is the time to step up and make the necessary changes to be a viable one municipality.

We have been successful with water, city dispatch consolidation and economic efforts. Now is the time to move forward for shared services and consolidation of the ambulance, fire and police departments.  I can foresee other shared services in the future to engage fiscal responsibilities like town and city highway departments  and the animal control officer.

My goal is to create joint shared services with economic growth for a fiscal responsibility for all. Giving the State of the economy we must protect our communities with shared services to create a fordable standard of living.

                            Councilwoman
                            Rose Mary Christian

If you haven't guessed by now, our small staff is pretty much in holiday mode.  Expect posting to be light through the weekend.

Of course, we'll continue to monitor the site and if you hear of any news -- do a blog post yourself, or leave a comment, and we'll pick up on it.

It looks like the crew at WBTA is also taking a well deserved break for Christmas.  There are some fresh stories on the Daily's site, if you're looking for some news, and I suspect they will continue to post on their regular editorial schedule.

Merry Christmas. 

(shown in the photo is Batavia's Jaycee Shirk (left), Pavilion's Maddy Griep, O-A's Dani Sage and Notre Dame's Brittany Morelli)

The Batavia girls basketball Rotary Club Tournament is set for Jan. 5 and 7 at Genesee Community College.

The annual action-packed tournament features Batavia, Notre Dame, Oakfield-Alabama and Pavilion. 

Batavia opens up with Oakfield-Alabama at 6 p.m. in the opening round with Pavilion and Notre Dame following at about 7:45 p.m. The consolation and finals are at the same time on the 7th.

Batavia captured the title last year after dropping two games the previous season. The Blue Devils toppled O-A in the finals last year, 44-31, as Annie Palermo and Alyssa Tretter were the dominant players on the floor.

But we did see an emergence of current Batavia stars Jaycee Shirk and Brittany Mazurkiewiecz in the tournament, with Mazurkiewiecz scoring nine and Shirk adding eight.

This is the 20th year the Rotary Club Girls Basketball Tournament has been held.

Earlier today, we received a news tip that an elderly woman in Oakfield had been "found in the snow" and subsequently taken to the hospital for treatment. Apparently a news station in Buffalo reported the incident without releasing the name of the woman nor relating what exactly had happened... Odd.

Well, we contacted the Genesee County sheriff's deputies to find out what really happened. Chief Deputy Gordon Dibble got back to us. He had this to say:

"I found nothing regarding an elderly woman found in a snow bank in our county yesterday.  What I did find was a rumor floating around about an elderly woman who was found in a snow bank in some other county and supposedly she was a Genesee Co. resident.  I am unable to backtrack that rumor but your caller may have heard a news report regarding this and picked up on the Genesee Co. part thinking it occurred in our county."

There you go. Just another rumor that made the nightly news.

We received the following report from the state police in Jamestown:

At approximately 10:05 a.m. this morning the State Police in Jamestown received a report that a vehicle went off the roadway and was partially submerged in Cassadaga Creek. The caller stated that the vehicle was located off of Quaint Road in the Town of Poland.  Trooper Kevin Wozniak assigned to SP Jamestown responded to the scene.  When he arrived he observed a 4 door 2003 Buick Century sinking into the creek.  He went into the creek up to his waist and approached the vehicle, at that time the entire front of the vehicle was submerged and the rear windows were above the water.  Trooper Wozniak could not see inside the vehicle because the windows were fogged over.  He pounded on the window and heard a woman inside.  He broke the driver’s side rear window and pulled the woman out of the vehicle and safely helped her to the bank of the creek.

The victim, Lola Bennett, 66 years old from Frewsburg was taken to WCA Hospital for non-life threatening injuries.  Ms. Bennett was traveling northbound on Quaint Road when she went off the roadway due to icy road conditions.  The vehicle slide off the roadway and went into the creek. Ms. Bennett crawled to the back of the vehicle when she could not get out and the vehicle began to sink.  

We received this photo via a news submission this morning. No name was given, but the following caption was included: "Parts delivery @ Empire Tractor," and the photo was taken during Friday's big storm. Does anyone know the story behind this? How did this truck get in this situation?

William H. Griffin Jr., 45, of 118 Hutchins St., Batavia, was charged with petit larceny Monday, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said. Griffin Jr. is accused of stealing textbooks that he then returned for cash at the Genesee Community College bookstore earlier this month.

Aaron A. Carpenter, 24, of Corfu, was charged with driving while intoxicted early this morning, deputies said. Carpenter was stopped on Route 5 in the town of Batavia for an alleged traffic violation. He was also ticketed with inadequate lights.

Today's example of Chrismas lights comes from Kibbe Ave. The house has plenty of white light, with the side yard having a nice mix of colors and well decorated trees.

Thirty-five-year-old Batavia resident Angela Rogers teaches at Neil Armstrong Elementary School in Gates. Earlier this week, Rogers was surprised with a teach award from McDonald's Family Restaurants. From the Democrat & Chronicle:

Rogers was awarded a plaque that the fast-food chain gives to honor one teacher locally in the six-county region each week.

At the school gathering, (Principal LeRoy) Greer said Rogers is a valuable teacher who he is happy to have in the district. She received the award in only her second year with the Gates Chili Central School District.

Rogers began her career teaching kindergarten in Buffalo, but eventually moved back to Genesee County "to be closer to family." Check out the complete article for more details, photos and to hear from Rogers about the honor of receiving the award.

Hot Shots Coffee on Harvester Avenue has some great news for live music fans in Genesee County. From the release:

There is new hope for entertainment in Batavia. Other than at bars, there are not many concerts to speak of in our small city. Especially in the winter. On Saturday,January 24th, 6:30pm HOT SHOTS COFFEE at 56 Harvester ave. will be host to an alcohol free concert open to all ages. The Headlining band responsible for setting up the show, is Batavia's own RADIO RELAPSE, a modern rock coverband made up of the cream of Batavia's young talent. By young I mean mid 20's. There will also be an opening act t.b.a. RADIO RELAPSE is in support of seeing the local music scene flourish.  Entertainment is the spice of any city.

The National Weather Service in Buffalo has issued a winter weather advisory beginning at 10 o'clock tonight and stretching overnight to about 9 o'clock Wednesday morning. We should expect to see "mixed precipitation" that should start out as freezing rain but soon turn to rain only.

From the National Weather Service:

Light snow will overspread the region tonight, then change over to a mix of freezing rain and sleet for a few hours overnight before transitioning to all rain by mid Wednesday morning. A general 1 to 3 inches of snow is expected, along with the potential for up to one to two tenths of an inch of ice accumulation, with the greatest amounts of ice accumulation most likely across interior sections of the Finger Lakes, Genesee Valley and Western Southern Tier. Any such ice accumulation will result in hazardous driving conditions on any untreated roadways later tonight and early Wednesday.

A winger weather advisory for mixed precipitation is issued when some icing is forecast to develop, but accumulations are expected to be light. Any accumulation would make driving and walking difficult but not impossible on untreated roads and sidewalks. If you will be driving be especially careful on bridges and overpasses and allow extra time to reach your destination.

Here's a look at the current Thruway conditions... clear:

Road crews all over Genesee County have been vigilant and most roads and city streets are now all clear of the ice and snow that covered them yesterday, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. Nevertheless, some patches of packed snow can be found in spots, so caution is still advised while driving. As for tonight—how about rain? Temperatures will be pushing 40 degrees as we head into Christmas Eve. That means some of the ubiquitous snow will shrink down as it melts.

Fischer reports that the storms have caused some collateral damage, costing the Salvation Army some $5,000 in donations to the Red Kettle Campaign, presumably because folks couldn't get out and give.

We stopped by a few businesses in Batavia earlier today to see how they've been holding up amidst the brutal storms over the weekend and today. Whiteouts and incessant snow may have deterred a few shoppers, but for the most part, business has found its way here. That's especially the case at Stan's Harley Davidson, where the three employees who were able to make it in to work today—several were called and told they didn't have to come in—could barely keep up with the swell of shoppers cycling through. We would love to hear from other businesses around town. How did you fare?

The Genesee County Sheriff's Office lifted the travel advisory for the county at 2 o'clock this afternoon. "There is still blowig and drifting snow, however all roads are passable and visibility has improved," according to a released statement. "Roads are snow packed and slippery and extreme caution is advised when driving."

If you have gone out today, how have you found the roads?

I was snowblowing my driveway this morning and my wife took a picture of me.  I was very chilled by the cold air and wind that was whipping through the area.

Then when I finished.  I went around town taking some pictures of different places:

Main Street

I drove down Bank St. here shown above, the street was really narrowed by the snow.

Pictured here is a guy snowblowing his driveway on North Street.

Along side a neighbors house was a tree that was weighed down by the heavy snow.  Total I believe we got approx 2 feet but difficult to tell with the blowing and drifting.  More to come.