batavia

The ghouls and ghosts of all ages were out in force on Ellicott Avenue (and Lincoln Avenue) again this year.

Here's a few shots from the fright fest.

If you're unable to view the slide show below, click here.

Press release:

The City of Batavia Fire Department is reminding everyone to change the batteries in their detectors this weekend when they change their clocks back one hour for the end of Daylight Savings Time. Batteries in both smoke and carbon monoxide detectors should be changed twice a year to ensure a quick alert to the presence of deadly carbon monoxide or a fire in the home, allowing occupants precious time for escape. 

Smoke detectors should be replaced every 10 years and carbon monoxide detectors every 5-7 years or when defective. As in the past, the Energizer Battery Company has donated a supply of 9-volt batteries to the City of Batavia Fire Department for city residents who need help replacing the batteries in their detectors.

The fire department also has free smoke detectors available to make sure that every residence has at least one working smoke alarm. To ensure proper installation, firefighters will come to your home and install a smoke detector or replace the battery in existing detectors free of charge. 

The smoke alarm and battery replacements are offered year round. To schedule an appointment for an installation, call City Fire Headquarters at 345-6375.

Jason Robert Sando, 45, of Walkers Corners Road, Byron, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Sando is accused of violating an order of protection during a domestic incident at his home.

Jason Carl Nanni, 36, of Highland Park, Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd, and aggravated harassment, 2nd. Upon release from the Willard Drug Treatment Campus, Nanni was taken into custody on three counts of criminal contempt, 2nd, and three counts of aggravated harassment, 2nd.

Joshua L. Baltz, 36, of 29 Tracy Ave., Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Baltz is accused of shoplifting from the Kwik Fill on Jackson Street.

Photo and info submitted by Pam L. Reed, administrative assistant, YMCA.

Frankenstein (alias Bill Reed) with his daughter, Justine Reed, of Batavia, helped entertain members and guests at the YMCA's annual Halloween event. More than 350 children enjoyed crafts, games, face painting, a haunted house, and watching a movie with pizza.

A thank you to the BHS Zonta Club and ALL the many volunteers! Also a special thank you to area businesses who supported the event: Domino's Pizza, Mark's Pizzeria, Oliver's Candies, and Tompkins Insurance.

Submitted by Todd Crossett:

On Oct. 28, Alexander Crossett, 15, Timothy Martin, 16, Jacob Richardson, 18, Jaden Ohlson, 18, and Donald Ohlson, 16, completed the Marine Corps Marathon. The boys are part of a boys' mentoring group called the Royal Rangers. They were running the marathon to raise money to send underprivileged boys to camp.

The journey started two years ago when two leaders of the group ran the Buffalo Marathon to raise money for Royal Rangers. The boys said that some day they wanted complete the marathon for Rangers. Last year the boys completed the Rochester Half-marathon. In June, the boys began training for the marathon that they would run in October. Todd Crossett, one of the leaders who ran the marathon two years ago, ran with the boys during the training. They all ran over 400 miles and put in more than 60 hours of running.

If you would like to show your support for these boys and would like to give to the Royal Rangers, you can send a check to the Batavia Assembly of God and mark "Marathon" in the memo section. The address is 24 N. Spruce St., Batavia, NY, 14020.

You can also go to bataviaassemblyofgod.com and go to "giving."

Pictured from left are Donald Ohlson, Alexander Crossett, Todd Crossett, Jaden Ohlson, Timothy Martin and Jacob Richardson.

The Batavia Bulldawgs varsity squad made it to the NOFA championships after an amazing season of youth football. 

Meeting BarLyn Saturday in Medina, the Bulldawgs took the field on a cold and rainy night under the lights on artificial turf.

Unfortunately for Batavia, the BarLyn team played like a team possessed and brought the ball on the ground and air in wave after wave.

Edward Schildt of BarLyn had six touchdowns, one extra point and three interceptions. 

Eric Neace Jr. added two touchdowns for BarLyn with Christian Wolck receiving a pass for a two-point conversion.

The Bulldawg's lone score came from a long touchdown run by Demetrius Spinks.

Congratulations to the Bulldawgs on a great season!

More pictures from this game, the other playoff games, and previous games this season can be found at Francletography.com

A Batavia man who yesterday received the lowest possible sentence from Judge Robert C. Noonan for burglarizing a friend's house earlier this year, is now a suspect in a burglary at the Sprint store on Veterans Memorial Drive.

Justin C. Smith, 36, of Hutchins Street, Batavia, already in custody awaiting transfer to state prison to begin serving a three-year term, was arrested by the Sheriff's Office today and charged with burglary, 3rd, and grand larceny, 4th.

According to investigators, Smith is suspected of stealing two Samsung touch screen cellular telephones from a display stand near the front door of the Sprint store at 4140 Veterans Memorial Drive.

Deputies had responded to the location after a burglary alarm at 10 p.m., Oct. 18. Nobody was in the store when they arrived, but they did discover the alleged theft.

A store employee reported that during regular business hours the previous two days, three additional touch screen phones had been stolen.

Smith is suspected of stealing one phone Oct. 16, two Oct. 17 and two more during the Oct. 18 burglary.

Yesterday, Noonan, whose assessment of Smith was based on a pre-sentence probation report, said that Smith was an example of what happens when a good person gets mixed up with drugs.

Because Smith had a prior non-violent felony conviction in 2007, the minimum sentence available to Noonan for Smith was three years.

Noonan would not necessarily have known about the pending investigation at the time of sentencing.

Yesterday work crews started removing the fuel pumps and fuel tanks from the Wilson Farms location at 355 W. Main St., Batavia.

While people have told us the tanks needed to be removed because they were leaking fuel into the Tonawanda Creek, information obtained from the DEC indicates that's just not the case.

While there is some localized soil contamination, which the DEC is supervising for remedial clean up, the leak is contained to the property.

The property owner is listed as Sugar Creek Stores. Both Wilson Farms and Sugar Creek were sold to 7-Eleven early last year.

Earlier this year, 7-Eleven announced it was selling two Wilson Farms stores in Batavia. Industry reports at the time indicated 7-Eleven was not interested in locations that sell gas, but 7-Eleven recently rebranded the former Wilson Farms location in Oakfield.

While a source tells us the property owner plans to discontinue gas sales at the West Main Street location in the city, we've not yet been able to confirm that with a company representative.

The property is .35 acres and stretches from the shared property line with Settler's west toward Lambert's Design Jewelers, with a length of green space in between the buildings.

Fuel tank removal is expected to take another week or two.

UPDATE: A spokeswoman for 7-Eleven said the property is on the company's "divestiture list." It will be sold.

City PD just announced, as far as they're concerned, Halloween is Oct. 31, and that's not changing.

Police officials are asking parents and trick-or-treaters to conduct Halloween activities Wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m.

Police officers will be on patrol to help ensure the safety of children. If a Halloween emergency should arise, call 9-1-1.

The forecast for Wednesday is temperatures in the 40s and scattered rain showers.

Juveniles are "apparently lighting themselves on fire" near 15 Harvester Ave. in the city. A caller reports they are spraying themselves with some sort of aerosol and then trying to ignite it. Police are responding.

UPDATE 3:56 p.m.: Police on scene found nothing. The caller said the activity took place in a front yard. Police are trying to make contact with them.

UPDATE 3:59 p.m.: The caller says she saw the youngsters go up on a nearby porch, and then possibly into the house.

Sandy Mullen sent in this picture of the large willow that fell in her back yard on Ross Street, Batavia.

A tree has reportedly fallen into power lines on Clinton Street, Batavia.

City fire responding.

National Grid notified.

UPDATE 2:02 p.m.: The homeowner said he contacted National Grid some three hours before calling the fire department. He only called fire after one of the power lines started sparking. Fire officials assessed the situation and advised the homeowner to wait for National Grid. City fire is back in service.

Not all the trees lost their fall leaves over night. This is a tree on South Main Street. The picture was taken from behind Billy Goats on West Main Street, Batavia.

A woman accused of breaking into the home of a person she knew in Le Roy and trashing the residence entered a guilty plea this morning to burglary in the third degree.

As part of her plea deal, Karen L. Stone, 45, of Elm Street, Le Roy, faces from four to six months of intermittent jail time and five years probation.

Stone reportedly caused significant damage inside the home while the resident was away.

She was originally charged with second-degree burglary and petit larceny.

Sentencing is set for 1:30 p.m., Jan. 14.

A car hit a tree on Evans Street, Batavia, just before 10 a.m. No injuries were reported.

Robert Scott DeSmit, 47, of 14280 Gillette Road, Barre, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. DeSmit is accused of violating a complete stay away order issued in Family Court by sending an e-mail message attempting to arrange a meeting to the protected party Oct. 23. DeSmit allegedly followed up with a text message sent from his e-mail address to the protected party's mobile phone that read, “I got the order. I’m sorry. I sent you an e-mail.” DeSmit was arrested Oct. 24 by Batavia PD.

Ranelle E. Reuben, 30, of Basom, is charged with felony DWI, aggravated unlicensed operation, refusal of breath test, stopping/standing on public highway, drinking alcohol while operating a motor vehicle and driving without a license. Reuben was arrested by State Police at 2:40 a.m., Sunday, on Route 77, Pembroke.

Brandon Charles Smart, 35, no permanent address, is charged with trespass. Smart turned himself in on a warrant pending in Le Roy Town Court. Smart is accused of trespassing at Buttermilk Falls on June 14.

Electrical wires rubbing against a tree limb early this morning sparked a small fire at Washington and Ross streets, which led to a power outage for the area and the closure of all Batavia City Schools.

The location is directly in front of Batavia Middle School.

The school district posted this statement on its Web site this morning: "All of the schools in the Batavia City School District are closed today, October 30, due to a power line malfunction."

The fire and school closure were perhaps the most significant overnight event as a result of what was left of Superstorm Sandy passing over Genesee County.

There were only a few trees down, some power loss -- at one point, more than 1,800 National Grid customers were without power -- and a couple of utility poles fell.

The current city outage effects 178 customers. There is also an outage is South Byron for 49 customers and another in East Bethany for 23 customers.

National Grid crews are also working in Darien this morning to restore power to fewer than five homes.

As Sandy winds down, the forecast for Genesee County over the next six hours is for cloudy and windy conditions with scattered rain showers. Winds will blow east-northeast at 20 to 25 mph.

A flood watch remains in effect until noon.

The other storm damage early this morning in the city was a window was blown out on the front of Falcone Electric Supply Co., on West Main Street.

The case of Justin C. Smith is an example, Judge Robert C. Noonan said in county court today, of what can happen when a "basically good person has drugs take control of his life."

On Nov. 18, Smith broke into the residence of a friend on Porter Avenue and stole an item and pawned it.

In July, Smith admitted to attempted burglary, 2nd.

Because Smith has a prior non-violent felony conviction, from 2007, the minimum sentence available to Noonan was three years. Smith will spend three years in prison.

"There are a lot of different kinds of entries into somebody's house and your's violated the trust of a friend," Noonan said. "You accessed the property of somebody you knew and, unfortunately for you, that is classified as a violent felony with a mandatory determinate sentence."

A friend of Smith's sat in the gallery and wept as Noonan pronounced sentence.

One his term is completed, Smith will be on post-release supervision for five years.

He must also pay restitution to Pawn King for $105.

We encourage readers to send us information about closures, cancelations and postponements or rescheduling of events, roads, activities, businesses, services, etc., as we all hunker down in preparation for Hurricane Sandy. I'll add them ASAP.

E-mail them to:

billie@thebatavian.com

or

howard@thebatavian.com

*********************

Phone:

Billie (585) 905-5581

Howard (585) 260-6970

• Canceled: Tuesday night Bingo at the Elba Fire Hall is cancelled.
• Postponed: Muller Quaker Dairy meet-and-greet Tuesday, Oct. 30, at Genesee Community College.
• Canceled: All afternoon and evening activities today in the Oakfield-Alabama school district.
• Canceled: The 4-H Volunteer Training scheduled for tonight at the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Genesee County Building.
• Canceled: All activities scheduled after 5 p.m. today in the Elba Central School District.
• Canceled: All after-school activities in the Byron-Bergen school district.
• Canceled: This evening's classes of the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership Education.
• Canceled: All activities scheduled after 5 p.m. today in the Pavilion Central School District.
• Temporary closure of GCC campuses as of 4 p.m. today: To help ensure the safety of students, faculty and staff, and encourage everyone to remain indoors and avoid unnecessary pedestrian and vehicle travel during this time, Genesee Community College will close today effective at 4 p.m. This closing includes all Campus Centers in Albion, Arcade, Dansville, Lima, Medina and Warsaw, as well as the Batavia Campus. If you have any questions concerning closing and class cancellation procedures, please refer to http://www.genesee.edu/gcc/closing/.
  Classes are expected to resume on a normal schedule Tuesday, Oct. 30. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to check the local news channels and the college's Web site before leaving for campus Tuesday morning.
• Canceled: Tonight's 7 o'clock Bible Study with Just Joy! Ministries at the YWCA.

Press release:

In preparation for the upcoming storm the National Weather Service has issued a High Wind Warning from 5 p.m. today until 2 p.m. Tuesday. North or northeast winds are expected from 30-45 mph with gusts up to 65 mph. In addition, due to the unusual direction of the wind and saturated ground, tree uprooting is of particular concern.

Rainfall amounts of 2 to 2.5 inches are forecast from Monday afternoon through Tuesday morning, though there will be localized areas that receive more rain.

All residents are advised to move leaves or debris from the roadway to the parkway between the sidewalk and curb, in addition to keeping all storm water catch basins clean and clear of debris.  Keeping the roadways, gutters and catch basins clear of leaves and debris may assist in mitigating localized flooding concerns. Also, residents are encouraged to check sump pumps to ensure they are functioning properly.

All residents are advised that garbage and recycling collection is CANCELLED for Tuesday pickup and will presume on Wednesday. Residents are advised not to put out garbage and recycling containers for collection Monday evening or Tuesday morning for Tuesday pickup. All collection days will be pushed back one day, and Friday pickup will be on Saturday. 

High Wind Safety Information

High winds can cause downed trees and power lines, flying debris and building collapses, which may lead to power outages, transportation disruptions, damage to buildings and vehicles, and injury or death. Please stay inside when a Wind Advisory or Wind Warning has been issued.

All residents are encouraged to conduct a home safety search to look for items that can move, fall, or break in windy conditions. In addition, move or secure lawn furniture, outdoor decorations (Halloween), trash cans, hanging plants, and anything that can be picked up by wind and become a projectile.

The safest place during high winds is indoors. Postpone outdoor activities if a wind advisory or high wind warning has been issued.

• Watch for flying debris. Tree limbs may break and street signs may become loose during strong wind gusts. Keep an eye toward nearby balconies for loose objects that may fall.
• Take cover next to a building or under a shelter. Stand clear of roadways or train tracks, as a gust may blow you into the path of an oncoming vehicle.
• Use handrails where available on outdoor walkways and avoid other elevated areas such as roofs without adequate railing.
• Avoid anything that may be touching downed lines, including vehicles or tree branches. Puddles and even wet or snow-covered ground can conduct electricity in some cases. Warn others to stay away.
• Do not touch anyone who has been shocked who may be in direct or indirect contact with a power line. You may become a second victim. Get medical attention as quickly as possible by calling 9-1-1.
• When driving, keep both hands on the wheel and slow down. Watch for objects blowing across the roadway and into your path.
• Keep a safe distance from cars in adjacent lanes as strong gusts could push a car outside its lane of travel.
• Take extra care in a high-profile vehicle such as a truck, van, SUV, or when towing a trailer, as these are more prone to be pushed or even flipped by high wind gusts.
• If winds are severe enough to prevent safe driving, get onto the shoulder of the road and stop, making sure you are away from trees or other tall objects that could fall onto your vehicle. Stay in the car and turn on the hazard lights until the wind subsides.
• If a line falls on your car, stay inside the vehicle. Take care not to touch any of the metal frame of your vehicle. Honk your horn, roll down the window and warn anyone who may approach of the danger. Ask someone to call the police. Do not exit the car until help arrives, unless it catches on fire. To exit, open the door, but do not step out. Jump, without touching any of the metal portions of the car's exterior, to safe ground and get quickly away.

The city encourages all residents to take the necessary precautions to prevent injury to themselves and others. Should any resident need the assistance of an emergency responder please call 9-1-1.

If there are any questions, please contact:

Office of the City Manager

One Batavia City Centre

Batavia, New York 14020

Phone: (585) 345-6330

Fax: (585) 343-8182

E-mail:  jmolino@batavianewyork.com