Press Release:

St. Paul Lutheran School’s fifth- and sixth-grade classes and parents traveled to the Bath National Cemetery in Bath to participate in the laying of flags on all 20,000 grave sites for the commemoration of Memorial Day. 

They joined the local fifth grade class that has been participating for the last 43 years. Their teacher, Mrs. Dunn, has a personal connection to the cemetery, as her grandfather, Vernon Rowe who was in the Navy, and her grandmother Pearl Jean Rowe, are buried there. 

The students identified the Civil War, Spanish War, Korean War,  World War I and II sites among others including Medal of Honor recipients. All felt overwhelmed and honored to participate in this special day.

Press Release:

Genesee County Youth Bureau will be hosting its 20^th annual Family Game Night from 5 to 7 p.m. this Friday at the David McCarthy Memorial Ice Arena, 22 Evans St., Batavia.

The night will consist of interactive booths with activities, games and prizes for families and youth serving organizations. This event is free and includes pizza and assorted beverages. 

Each family will take home one brand new board game after they visit each booth so they can start their own family game night!  Just for attending you will be entered into a raffle to win one of several prizes from businesses all around Genesee County. 

Following the event, please stick around for free roller skating with your family! (Please bring skates as rentals are limited) Adults must be accompanied by a child to receive the board game.

Please call the Youth Bureau for more information or to register at 585-344-3960.

The Genesee County Youth Bureau would also like to thank Applebee’s, Lamb Farm, Alabama Hotel, Terry Hills, BJ’s, Subway and YWCA for donating, and David McCarthy Memorial Ice Arena for hosting the event.

Press Release:

The City of Batavia Fire Department will be flushing/testing fire hydrants on Tuesday (5/30), Wednesday (5/31), and Thursday (6/1) from approximately 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the general area of North of Main Street and East of Bank Street. Homes and businesses nearby will be affected.

These tests may result in temporary discoloration of water in that area. As in the past, please do not attempt to wash any clothing if your water appears discolored. If you do experience a discoloration of your water, run cold water for about 5 minutes or until clear.

This annual testing is essential to maintain the communities class III Insurance Services Office (ISO) public protection classification and to assure that fire hydrants are operating efficiently for fire protection purposes. 

Along with maintaining the fire rating, the test monitors the health of the city's water system, identifies weak areas in the system, and removes material that settles in the water lines. Checking each hydrant improves fire department personnel's knowledge of the hydrant locations.

If you have any questions or should notice a hydrant in need of repair, please contact the fire department at 585-345-6375.

Here is a round-up of all of The Batavian's Memorial Day coverage.

Links:

• Photos: Memorial Day ceremony at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Batavia, by Howard Owens
• Photos: Memorial Day Tribute to Vietnam Veterans at Genesee County Park, by Steve Ognibene
  Photos: Honoring World War I Memorial at Williams Park, by Steve Ognibene
• Photos: Batavia Memorial Day Parade, by Steve Ognibene
• Photos: Memorial Day service at the War Memorial at St. Jerome's, by Howard Owens
• Photos: Memorial Day services at Veterans Administration Medical Center, by Steve Ognibene
• Photos: Memorial Day in Le Roy, by Nick Serrata
• Photos: Memorial Day in Bergen, by Nick Serrata
• Photos: Memorial Day Ceremony in Elba, by Laura Lufts
• Photos: Memorial Day Parade in Corfu, by Howard Owens

Here is a link to all of the photos taken by Howard Owens, where you may purchase prints, including a number of unpublished photos.  If you are a member of Early Access Pass, send Howard an email at howard@thebatavian.com and request a high-resolution copy of any photo for free. Please specify as best you can exactly which photo you wish to receive in full resolution.  If you're not yet a member of Early Access Pass, join now and then make your request.

Photos by Howard Owens

Residents, scouts, and veterans gathered in the Village Park in Elba to honor local fallen heroes today, Memorial Day.

Photos by Laura Lufts.

Residents and veterans of Bergen held a parade and ceremony today honoring local fallen heroes.

Photos by Nicholas Serrata.

Residents and veterans in Le Roy honored fallen heroes today with a parade down Main Street and a ceremony in Trigon Park at the Soldiers Memorial.

Photos by Nicholas Serrata.

Veterans gathered outside the V.A. Medical Center to honor the nation's fallen for Memorial Day.

To view or purchase photos, click here.

Photos by Steve Ognibene

The County's war dead, along with local veterans who served during past conflicts and died during the past year, were honored in a ceremony today at the War Memorial at St. Jerome's, located at Bank and Washington in Batavia. For each service member who passed away in the previous year, a flag was placed at the base of the War Memorial.

Photos by Howard Owens.

Batavia's annual Memorial Day Parade followed its traditional route down Main Street from Eastown Plaza to Bank Street this morning.

To view or purchase photos, click here.

Photos by Steve Ognibene

Perhaps the most bizarre ending to a game in organized baseball history occurred on Saturday at Dwyer Stadium in Batavia, and the video made ESPN and has gone viral online.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Hornell was up 5-4 and with Brady Prebalick at the plate and two runners on base, Hornell gets a called third strike, but the ball is in the dirt. The catcher appears to miss the tag attempt on the hitter as he starts to run to first but thinks he got the out. The umpire signals safe.  The catcher sticks the ball in his back pocket, and the Hornell team starts celebrating an apparent championship win. 

The Pal-Mac runners on first and second race around the bases. The only Hornell player, at first, who realizes the game isn't over is the second baseman, who rushes toward the plate, yelling and looking for the ball.  

Both runners score. Pal-Mac wins 6-5 to take the Class B1 crown.

Hornell's coach Joe Flint told the Wellsville Sun, "I blame myself a little; maybe I could have gone out and argued it was a dead ball and kept the runner on third and said, ‘Hey, it’s tied now, put the runner on third and make them beat us.’ But we can’t blame the umpires; everyone is running on the field, and I’m not sure they knew how to handle it either. I’m not sure what else happened because I haven’t watched the video. Maybe I should have called for a conference and protested. I blame myself on that piece of it, maybe I could have done a better job.”

UPDATE: H/T Steve Ognibene for finding this explainer video. 

Various veteran organizations in Genesee County honoring the 35 Batavians at the W.W.I. memorial in Williams Park this morning.  More continued coverage throughout the day honoring fallen soldiers on Memorial Day.

To view or purchase photos, click here.

Photos by Steve Ognibene

Members of the VFW Chapter 1602, American Legion 332 and Glenn S. Loomis VVA 193, met this morning at Genesee County Park to honor Vietnam Veterans on Memorial Day.  The guest speaker was Dan Burling, VFW post surgeon, Alexander VFW 6239.

To view or purchase photos, click here.

Photos by Steve Ognibene

Area veterans gathered at the Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines Monument, also known as the Upton Monument, in Batavia this morning for a placing of a wreath on the monument in honor of Genesee County's war dead.

It is one of several Memorial Day services today.  The Batavian will have more coverage of the various parades and ceremonies.

Photos by Howard Owens

Residents from throughout Western New York gathered in Pembroke on Sunday to honor the nation's fallen heroes in a ceremony at the WNY National Cemetery.

Photos by Nicholas Serrata 

The Memorial Day parade in Batavia is set to begin at 9:30 a.m. Monday, beginning at East Town Plaza. A previous time of 9:45 a.m was provided to The Batavian, and City Councilman Bob Bialkowski wants to make sure that anyone intending to participate in the parade should show up at 9:30 a.m. This is to ensure that it doesn't conflict with other ceremonies scheduled that day.

The parade is to travel west along Main Street and end at Alva Place.

The Oakfield-Alabama/Elba Boys Track team picked up a sectional title in Class B3.

OAE scored 186 points, well ahead of second-place Rochester Academy Charter, with 72 points.

In the Girls Track, Class B3, Alexander scored 90 points, giving them second place behind Geneseo with 115 points.

For full results and individual results, click here.

Photos by Kristin Smith. For more, click here.

On Friday evening, in a less than 24-hour change of locations for the Class B1 outdoor track sectional competition, the Batavia Girls finished first place by a large margin, with 172 points.  

Batavia Boys were edged by U-Prep by 2.5 points in the last race to take second place. 

The event was moved at the last minute to Van Detta Stadium because of a fire at the Newark High School facility, the originally scheduled host of the event. There was an electrical fire late Thursday afternoon in Newark.

Girls head coach Rich Boyce said, "I am extremely proud of this accomplishment tonight. The girls worked really hard all season. We knew we would have to have the best meet of our lives to beat HFL, and they came here today, and every single girl on this team got a PR in every event they did."

"We knew it would come down to us and HFL," Boyce said. "172 points today was just amazing by our team, which to my recollection, is the most points Batavia girls outdoor track team have scored in a sectional meet.  We will celebrate this one tonight and be back to work for state qualifiers next week."

Assistant Coach Bill Buckenmeyer said, "It was an outstanding effort to a change in scenery in one day and come out on their home track and put out the performance that they did. I thought it was amazing. The boys had a great meet, too. It just shows the true meaning of being a Blue Devil to go out there, up against tough competition and perform at the highest level."

Winners for Batavia include Nate Canale in the 1600m (4:29.44) and in the 800m (1:59.41). Cody Harloff won the 3000 Steeple (10:21.67), and the boy's 4x800 Relay squad won (9:06.29).  

Relay runners for the winning 4x8 were Noah Pickard, Gavin Fowler, Donavin Solis, and Ryan Dillon.  

Sheldon Siverling continued his impressive spring with a victory in the Shot Put (54-3) and a 2nd place finish in Discus (136-3).  Lucas Crater won the individual sectional championship in the Pentathlon (2578 points) as well.  

The team finished with 142.5 points, while Uprep scored 145.  

"This meet was a very gutsy performance from many of our athletes, and the Blue Devils competed hard all meet long," said Boys Coach Nick Burk. "The meet was hosted by Batavia, so all of our seniors got to have one more chance to run on the home track against the top competition.  We also had a very balanced meet, getting contributions in many events throughout the course of the day.  Despite the bittersweet ending to sectionals, our athletes left it all on the track and competed until the end."

Full results can be found at: https://live.yentiming.com/meets/781/events

Batavia will host the State Qualifier meet this Friday at Vandetta Stadium at 4:45 p.m.

To view or purchase prints, click here.

Photos by Steve Ognibene