batavia

Start a business and make it well into your second year and you're doing better than nearly 20 percent of the other people who tried doing the same thing. Make it to five years and you've lasted longer than nearly half of your compatriots. How about 30 years? Well, the Small Business Administration doesn't publish those stats, but does tell us 75 percent of new businesses are closed by year 16.

And in the age of speedy delivery from computer to doorstep, it gets even tougher on retail businesses.

That makes 30 years of owning Neptunes Gardens for Nick and Cathy LaFarnara quite an accomplishment.

Nick said customer service and an ongoing effort to diversify what they offer has helped them survive, especially against growing Internet competition.

Just this past Thursday, as an example of going above and beyond for a customer, Nick said he drove nearly 150 miles to retrieve a saltwater aquarium filter and deliver it to an elderly customer after she tried unsuccessfuly to purchase it at Petco.

"It's stuff like that, you kind of bend over backwards to try to make ends meet," Nick said.

A big part of their business now is live bait, and they do well in the summer with goldfish for fairs and carnivals, and stocking fish for residential and commercial ponds.

Nick's father opened Neptune's Gardens at 33 Liberty St., behind the Pok-A-Dot, in 1967.

Nick and Cathy's daughter, Jamie, works in the store now and will likely run it someday, but Cathy thinks a fourth generation is already eager to take over.

"Our grandkids are already involved," Cathy said. "One time we had a customer looking for a fish and I was, 'I don't think we have it,' and Victor, I think he was 6  years old, said, 'Grandma, we have it.' He took the lady right to it."

Now 9, Victor has a way with reptiles in the store and he thinks nothing of walking around with a snake wrapped around his waist.

"He probably sells more reptiles and snakes than I do," Nick said.

Press release:

Notre Dame High School is sponsoring a program about good manners for all fifth- through eighth-grade students at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24. This interactive program is presented by Beverly Thomas, founder of Buffalo-based Etiquette for a New Generation.

Etiquette for a New Generation's programs focus upon skills to help individuals succeed in the classroom, at home, in the world of business or in a college interview. Application of these manners and skills leads to increased opportunities, greater confidence and improved self-esteem.

Topics to be covered include: Communication Skills, including cell phone etiquette, Social Etiquette, Self Image, Creating a Personal Preference and Elements of Good Sportsmanship.

Notre Dame High School is located at 73 Union St. in Batavia. Cost is $10 per student and includes lunch. Please call 585-343-2783, ext. 100, for more details and to make reservations.

City firefighters are responding to a complaint about "a recreational fire" behind the residence at 7 Ross St. Law enforcement is also dispatched to the scene.

A caller is reports an open burn is causing a nuisance at 251 Bank St. City firefighters are responding. The location is between Hart and Douglas streets.

The Business Teachers Association of New York State awards the Julian A. Milkes Award for Outstanding New Business Educator each school year. Notre Dame High School is proud to announce that its Business Teacher, Lindsay Warner, is the recipient of the 2015 award.

The Julian A. Milkes Award recognizes exemplary efforts of new business educators early in their careers. Individuals must have made significant contributions to Business Education through some combination of program development, professional association activities, professional contributions (through presentations/publications), and civic and community involvement. They will have been involved in innovative, unique and novel programs and have shown extraordinary professional commitment early in their careers.

Retired principal Joseph Scanlan, Ph.D., said “Mrs. Warner has brought Business Education into the new millennium at Notre Dame High School.”

Lindsay’s hard work and diligence have resulted in Notre Dame obtaining college course accreditation for three high school business courses she currently teaches in conjunction with Genesee Community College.

“She is a mover and shaker who teaches business courses using real life business applications," Scanlan said. "Course requests for the courses she teaches are off the charts as the word has traveled quickly that her classes are indeed the real deal."

Warner also masterminded her senior-level marketing class’s participation in the Virtual Business Competition held at GCC in March. The Notre Dame “Cupcakery” team captured four first-place awards and one for second in the competition with 12 other regional schools. She planted the seed, encouraged them to do their best and oversaw their efforts.

Warner has also started a quality shadowing experience program, which is placing interested juniors and seniors in real-life career opportunities during the school year and summer vacation.

A Notre Dame High School graduate, she received her master's in Education from Nazareth College in 2009. She holds a NYS Professional Certification in Business and Marketing Education. She lives in Le Roy with her husband, Jeremy, and two young sons. Congratulations to Lindsay on this prestigious award!

A bicyclist was struck by a vehicle and is possibly injured on Veterans Memorial Drive in front of Peebles department store. Town of Batavia fire is responding. Mercy medics are on scene to evaluate the patient.

UPDATE 11:15 a.m.: The town assignment is back in service.

Brian L. Brennan, 46, of Maple Avenue, Oakfield, is charged with criminal sale of marijuana, 2nd, and endangering the welfare of a child. Brennan allegedly gave a quantity of marijuana to a 15-year-old in Attica Village Park on Monday. The park is monitored by surveillance cameras and patrolled frequently by Attica PD. Following an investigation by Attica PD, he was arraigned and jailed on $2,000 bail, or $5,000 bond.  

Kevin Scott Ludwig, 41, South Pearl Street, Oakfield, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, driving while using a mobile phone and failure to signal a turn. Ludwig was stopped at 2:17 a.m. on Stevens Street, Oakfield, by Joseph Corona.

Joseph Benjamin Baldassara, 29, of 3rd Street, Youngstown, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and inadequate muffler. Baldassara was stopped at 10:26 p.m. Friday on South Main Street, Oakfield, by Deputy Joseph Corona.

Ramon Alberto Quinones, 21, of Batavia Stafford Townline Road, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Quinones is accused of shoplifting from Walmart.

American Legion National Commander Dale Barnett visited Batavia Friday and spoke with veterans at the VA Center.

His Fall Meetings in communities nationwide are aimed at publicizing three things, primarily: the Walk with Veterans campaign to raise awareness about veterans; the VA healthcare system and its value; and role the Amercian Legion plays in fighting for veterans' rights regarding education, jobs, and mental health/reintegration services.

He told the local group that he believes the Veterans Administration is a system worth saving, that it provides greatly needed services for veterans and their families.

Barnett mentioned the Veterans Opportunity to Work Act, which the legion successfully lobbied in favor of, state licensing credits, the expanded GI Bill of Rights and new educational opportunties, including the ability to transfer educational benefits to spouse or children.

"We're fighting for benefits that affect them," he said. "We fight for veterans and their families."

Asked about efforts to shore up declining membership, especially among younger vets, Barnett said education and awareness are key. They can't help fix problem if they aren't aware of them.

Since active duty military personnel and National Guards reservists can't lobby legislators about proposed defense cuts, Barnett said, so it's imperative that newly retired and non-active personnel fill that gap, both for the sake of U.S. safety and preparedness, and the benefits and services at stake.

Asked about the alarming rate of suicides among young veterans, he noted that every day 22 veterans take their life. Barnett said the VA is branching out in its efforts to help self-healing, "with less reliance on narcotics, over-medication that may have occurred in hospitals nationwide."

Plus, they've help develop creative programs to help war-weary vets meld back into society and overcome bad experiences, citing a program that pairs vets with horses in Saratoga and another equine program in Montana. There's also the "Dogs for Heroes" program.

And no one is better suited to understanding the wounds of war better than other veterans, Barnett said.

Photo and information provided by our news partner, WBTA.

Four years ago Mark Fanara, whose Batavia tattoo business High Voltage had become very successful, thought he should do something to give back to the community that had nourished him his entire life, so he decided to hold a charity tattoo event and donate the proceeds to local community groups. The event was so popular and raised so much money for local charity that he decided to do it again the next year, and the next, and the next.

This year, Mark needs the community's help. Hospitalized with lymphomatoid granulomatosis, a rare cancer, the father of little two boys has only limited means to deal with his illness.

To help him out, two of his employees, Andrew London and Jeremy Fridman, are holding their own three-day event of tattoos and piercing to benefit Mark. The event is from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 23 through Oct. 25. Customers can select from a specific set of designs for a small tattoo for $30. Piercings are $15. Proceeds benefit Mark Fanara.

High Voltage is located at 110 W. Main St., Batavia.

There will also be a spaghetti dinner at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, at the Alexander Fire Hall. Live music with Nix Vega starts at 6 p.m.

Pushing through adversity and not giving up on your goals are keys to success, said Brittany Salmon, Batavia native and one of the top-ranked speed skaters in the nation, while speaking this afternoon to students in the Girls on the Run program at Batavia Middle School.

Salmon always dreamed of being an Olympian, starting as an 8-year-old hockey player with the Batavia Ramparts. And though she went on to play Division I hockey at Princeton, she found she wasn't quite good enough make the Olympic hockey team. More as a chance to compete and have fun, she took up speed skating after college and a coach encouraged her to take a shot at making the U.S. Hockey Team.

She moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, and started training with the team, but then she suffered a series of injuries. She had two knee surgeries, a broken back and various tears and sprains of muscles and tendons. That kept her from physical training for two years.

She admitted to feeling discouraged, even depressed, and she thought about giving up speed skating.

"It's hard to keep motivated and keep pushing through when you can't do something that you love," she said.

Then she had a realization. If she couldn't prepare to compete physically, she could still prepare to compete mentally. She started reading books on competition and training, and mental preparation, and nutrition ,and started visualizing exercises.

"So, all the sudden, even though I'm injured, I'm still working towards my goal," Salmon said. "Even when roadblocks come up, there are ways to work around them. Even though you're injured now, maybe you can do sit ups. There's always a way around a roadblock."

By the time she returned to competition, she jumped from a top 16 skater, she said, to maybe a top six.

"After all that hard work of reading and visualizing, I got back on the ice," Salmon said. "I made Olympic trials. I didn't make the Olympic team. I'm bummed about that, but I made our World Cup Team and I earned my USA suit and I got to skate with all the Olympians and I got to race against all of the Olympians. I got my butt kicked, because they're so good. That was my first international race, but it was super cool and I'm so happy that pushed I through it and kept working toward my goals and didn't give up at all."

Press release:

Kevin Carlson from the Warsaw Kiwanis Club presents a $1,000 check to Jeanne Walton, president of the Kiwanis Club of Batavia. The check is a donation the Warsaw club is making to  the JFCAC (Justice for Children Advocacy Center) Glow Foundation as part of the 5th Annual Bidding on a Brighter Future Auction and Gala which was hosted by the Kiwanis Club of Batavia on Sept. 19th.

The event was part of a long-term effort by the Kiwanis Club of Batavia to raise the funds necessary to acquire a permanent home for the Justice for Children Advocacy Center in Batavia. The Kiwanis Club of Batavia would like to thank the Warsaw Kiwanis Club as well as everyone else who donated money and volunteered their time for another successful gala.

Press release:

Crossroads House in conjunction with St. James Episcopal Church is offering a FREE Community Concert at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23, titled “A Showcase of a Local Treasure."

“Our community is fortunate to have such a rare treasure in an acoustical setting second to none," said Crossroads House Executive Director Jeff Allen. "In keeping with St. James' 200^th Anniversary and the City of Batavia’s Centennial, this concert is given as a gift back to a generous community that has supported us since 1996.”

This will NOT be your typical organ concert. In showcasing the amazing dynamics and broad range of this historic pipe organ, numbers will include sacred hymns as well as songs by The Doors, The Allman Brothers Band, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and more.

Pipe organs have largely been relegated to Sunday morning worship services for centuries and the gift of their sound is kept to a select audience. 

“I liken most pipe organs to a Ferrari that is only backed in and out of the garage once a week, at this concert, we will take the Ferrari out on the open road and reveal it’s amazing horsepower,” Allen said.

Playing the organ will be St. James organist David Lange who will offer powerful renditions of the sacred hymns and Jeffrey Fischer who will put the pedal to the metal and play the modern rock classics.

Again, the concert is free and no offering will be taken, just come and enjoy. You will love it madly.

Date: Friday Oct. 23^rd at 7 p.m.

Place: St James Episcopal Church, 405 E. Main St., Batavia.

Press release:

From 2 to 4 p.m. this Sunday, Oct. 18^th Notre Dame High School will hold its annual Fall Open House for prospective students. Everyone is invited to come “Experience the Difference” of a Notre Dame education.

Teachers will be on hand along with many clubs and sports coaches. The Notre Dame experience is affordable for all, financial aid and scholarships are available.

Notre Dame is a Catholic school with a physically and emotionally safe learning environment welcoming to all. Our Tradition of Excellence continues with a graduation rate of 100 percent for the Class of 2015, with 100 percent attending college earning $4 million in scholarships.

Please join us to learn more about our small school community with big school possibilities. The school is located at 73 Union St. in the City of Batavia. Phone is 343-2783.

Press release:

RTS Genesee announced today that it will begin testing a pilot bus route in January that will connect Genesee Community College’s (GCC) College Village to the business district. The pilot route will also connect the Walden Estates and Woodstock Gardens apartment complexes to businesses on the west side of town. RTS Genesee has aligned this service with local business hours to connect customers with retail, entertainment and dining destinations.

The pilot route will operate approximately from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. every Friday that GCC is in session, between Jan. 22 and May 13. The pilot route will not be in service when GCC students are on break. The standard fare of $1 for a one-way ride will apply.

“This pilot route is a result of input from our customers and conversations with GCC and the business improvement district,” said James Mott, regional manager of RTS Genesee. “GCC and the people of Genesee County have been valued partners of RTS for many years and it’s our hope this pilot route becomes popular enough to make it a permanent addition.”

More information, including the pilot route schedule will be available later this year.

For all other information, visit www.myRTS.com/Genesee.

Tom Murphy, a professional MMA fighter and an Ultimate Fighting Champion, brought his anti-bullying presention, Sweethearts and Heroes, to Batavia High School on Wednesday afternoon. Murphy's program is aimed at giving students tools for combating bullying, not just a pep talk about why bullying is wrong.

“Just talking about awareness doesn’t fix anything,” said Murphy, who lives in Glen Falls and was a wrestler in college at Brockport. “What separates us from other anti-bullying presentations and projects is that we have the plan to curb, and even stop, bullying in your school, or wherever it exists for you.”

His special guest Wednesday was Rick Yarosh and his companion dog Amos. Yarosh is an Iraq War vet whose Bradley armored vehicle was incinerated by an IED, leaving Yarosh badly burned. He also lost a leg. Yarosh spoke about battling against hopelessness to live a life of purpose and optimism.  

There will be an internal investigation into why a door to a roof was left open at 400 Towers, apparently contributing to the death of a resident of the facility, said Brooks Hawley, a member of the Batavia Housing Authority Board of Directors.

Yesterday morning a 91-year-old man with dementia was found dead on the roof, apparently the victim of exposure after wandering onto the roof and seemingly unable to find his way back into the building.

The name of the man has not yet been released.

Hawley, who is also president of the City Council, called the incident "unfortunate."

"We will be doing an internal investigation to find out what went wrong and whose responsibility it was," Hawley said. "I believe something slipped through the cracks and unfortunately the door to the roof was left open and we need to investigate that and find out why."

This is the second death of questionable circumstances in the past six months at 400 Towers, but Hawley said the two incidents are totally unrelated.

In the prior incident, a resident apparently died of natural causes in his apartment, but his death wasn't discovered for at least two weeks.

"The only reason he was not found is because he didn't have any friends and there are liability issues for just entering somebody's apartment unless there's a cause."

UPDATE: Here's a press release about the incident from Batavia PD:

The Batavia Police Department is currently investigating the death of a 91-year old -male that occurred sometime overnight, Oct. 12 – 13, at 400 E. Main St. in the City of Batavia.

Officers responded at approximately 8:36 a.m. for a missing person report at that location. The call was placed by a caregiver who had stopped to check on the deceased early that morning. After a brief search the man was located on the roof of 400 E. Main St. deceased. Video recovered from the premises shows the man wandering the halls until approximately 1:40 a.m., he appeared to be disoriented. He is last seen going into a stairwell leading to the roof where he was later found.

The Police Department is working closely with the Housing Authority as the investigation proceeds. The body was sent to the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy. Further details of the investigation will be available pending the results of the autopsy. 

Previously: Resident of 400 Towers reportedly dies of exposure after wandering to roof during the night

Our news partner, WBTA, conducted the interview with Hawley.

For the second time within six months a resident at 400 Towers has died under questionable circumstances.

Yesterday morning a 91-year-old man who reportedly suffered from mild dementia was found dead on the roof of the west wing of 400 Towers. He apparently died of exposure.

Chief Shawn Heubusch, Batavia PD, confirmed last night the death and that the man was found on the roof, but officials have yet to release the man's name.

Kyle Couchman, who was hired as an independent contractor to help care for the gentleman, called police yesterday morning after he found the man was missing from his room.

Couchman said the man would occasionally get up in the middle of the night and be confused about where he was and would wander off. Typically, when that happened, he would first move things around his room, so when Couchman arrived in the morning and found his room in a bit of disarray he knew the man had another wandering episode.

He tried calling the man's cell phone and began searching the stairwell to see if he might have stopped to rest or fallen. On the sixth floor, in a walkway outside the stairwell, he found the man's phone, wallet and towels from the man's room.  

It was now after 8:30 a.m., he said, and the 400 Towers Office was open for the day and he asked if surveillance video could be reviewed and he said he was told he would have to wait until the maintenance supervisor was available, or he could call police for assistance, so he called police.

A short time after Officer Frank Klimjack arrived on scene, the maintenance supervisor found the gentleman's body on the roof. 

A county coroner pronounced the man dead at the scene, Couchman said.

Couchman speculated that the man wandered up to the roof, became confused, and couldn't relocate the doorway that would lead him back into the building.

"He was in a common sleeping position for him when I would come in and wake him up in the morning," Couchman said.

According to Couchman, there was a magnetic lock on the door leading to the roof that was left unsecure, perhaps after fire maintenance work on Friday. The lock is supposed to be secure at all times, Couchman said, and only open during a fire alarm.

In June, a resident apparently died in his room and was left unattended or unchecked upon for two weeks.

A phone call to the Batavia Housing Authority placed this morning seeking comment has not yet been returned. We will continue to update this story or post new stories as additional information becomes available.

A vibrant and prosperous urban core in Batavia is vital to all of the economic development projects the Genesee County Economic Development Center is working to bring to fruition, said CEO Steve Hyde, during a presentation Monday night during Batavia's City Council meeting.

Hyde joined the discussion Monday about a projected called Batavia Path to Prosperity, or BP^2. The project is being set up to take some of the fees paid by developers in future projects in the city that receive PILOTS (Payments in Lieu of Taxes) from the GCEDC and allocate half of those funds to a pool of money that can help spur development of blighted properties, properties that are part of the city's Brownfield Opportunity Area.

"My passion all along has been about growth in our community," Hyde said. "How can we build economic growth outside so it will flow back into the inside. This is an opportunity to shine a bright light on troubled areas in our community so that we have a multifaceted redevelopment strategy so that we have a path of growth for our kids."

City Manager Jason Molino kicked off the discussion by saying the program can help address poverty in the city's most economically distressed neighborhoods, increase employment opportunities nad expand the city's tax base.

In the three census tracks considered distressed, the poverty rate is 30 percent (it need be only 20 percent to be considered distressed) and the unemployment rate in excess of 7 percent is more than 2 percentage points higher than the rest of the community.

Hyde, Molino noted, is fond of saying that economic development isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. But dealing with brownfield areas, Molino said, isn't a marathon. It's a triathlon, because the issues to deal with are so big and so complex.

Often brownfield properties need a great deal of environmental remediation, which substantially increases the cost of redevelopment and scares off those who might otherwise sink their investment dollars into a commercial or mixed-use project.

BP² will help address that issue by providing funds that can help with brownfield cleanup.

Hyde said he's seen attempts at creating other such projects around the state, but they never get off the ground because of infighting among the various taxing jurisdictions. He's encouraged by the cooperation so far from the city, county and school district.

At Monday's meeting, nary a negative question or comment came from council members, who will be asked at a future meeting to pass a resolution authorizing the city's participation in the project. Similar resolutions will need to be passed by the County Legislature and the Board of Trustees for Batavia City Schools.

Only projects within the city limits that are approved by GCEDC for PILOTs would contribute to the funds, and only brownfield projects in the three census tracks that make up the BOA could receive funds from the pool.

Under state law, development projects in all six census tracts in the city are eligible for PILOTs, even retail and commercial development, which are normally excluded, because of the highly distressed nature of three central census tracts.

The fund could be used, Molino said, to: mitigate the extraordinary cost related to hazardous material cleanup; demolish buildings that contribute to blight; rehabilitate buildings that can and should be saved; modernize infrastructure;  install broadband/WiFi downtown to support economic growth initiatives; and to advance the planning and engineering of the Ellicott Trail, which will run right through the heart of the BOA, and help secure more project capital for the BOA.

Within the BOA there are five critical, strategic sites:

• Creekside, behind the Falleti Ice Arena
• The Dellapenna building on Ellicott Street
• City Centre
• The medical corridor, particularly around where the old Elks Lodge used to be
• The Harvester Center

"If over the next five years we really spent some time trying to redevelop these areas, it could have a tremendous impact on our community," Molino said.

Hyde is optimistic about our community's future, reversing the trend that has seen Genesee County go from 5,000 manufacturing jobs in 1990 to 3,500 today.

"We're on the cusp of great growth here, especially in light of last week's announcement (the new project in STAMP)," Hyde said. "The state and feds are investing in the innovation economy, especially up and down the I-90 corridor, and we've now got the largest project in the state right along that corridor."

Batavia needs to be ready for that growth and strengthening the urban core is vital to benefitting from economic development elsewhere in the county. 

For every high-tech job, studies show there are five additional jobs created along the economic chain, Hyde said. Those jobs only come to Batavia if Batavia is ready for the opportunity. That means upgrading the housing, increasing office space, fixing infrastructure and "making this place as beautiful as the people who live here."