We received the following news from East Pembroke Fire Chief Robert Yungfleisch. It was dissemeniated by Timothy Yaeger, coordinator of the Genesee County Office of Emergency Management.

It is with deep sadness to inform you of the death of Firefighter Norman Koch. Firefighter Norm Koch was the Past Chief of the Corfu Fire District and a current Commissioner of the East Pembroke Fire District and Fire Police Captain. Norm passed away Dec. 30, 2008 while assisting at the scene of a MVA on Pearl St. in the East Pembroke Fire District.  Firefighter Norm Koch suffered an apparent heart attack and was transported to UMMC where he was pronounced dead.

Firefighter Koch had over 58 years in the fire service with Alexander, Corfu and East Pembroke Fire Departments.  He will be deeply missed.

Please extend your sympathy to Norm's family, friends and brother and sister firefighters.

Norman Koch leaves behind his wife, Joan Koch and three sons, Alan Koch, Randy Koch, David Koch and daughter, Debbie Stocking

Norman joined the Alexander Fire Department in 1950 and the Corfu Fire Department in 1955.  He was Chief of the Corfu Fire District from 1982 through 1986.  In 1987, he joined the East Pembroke Fire Department were he held the positions of Commissioner and Fire Police Captain.

Calling hours will be held on January 3rd and 4th from 4 pm to 8pm at the    
    Pembroke Community Center
    Corfu Fire Department
    116 East Main St
    Corfu, NY 14036

Funeral service will be at 11:00 am on January 5th 2009 at the
    Pembroke Community Center
    Corfu Fire Department
    116 East Main St
    Corfu, NY 14036

Departments sending apparatus to the funeral are asked to notify the Emergency Management Office.  Please limited apparatus to one per department. 

City of Batavia fire crews responded to a call at 21 Liberty Street, Ficarella's Pizzeria, this morning at 11:15am, according to Captain Craig Williams. Callers reported a smell of smoke inside the building. When firefighters arrived on the scene they saw smoke inside and smelled wood burning.

A fire was quickly located in the attic and extinguished by the personnel on scene. Crews were on scene for about an hour. No injuries were reported.

A malfunctioning neon sign caused the fire. Damage is estimated at $2,500.

This here is a picture of Dame Edna, the only snow... er, person... to be built out at the Holland Land Office Museum today.

Unfortunately, while the snow fell, and it looked like it might be a good day to build snow... people... the roads were nasty and the winds a bit cutting. That being said, the snowman contest has been extended through Saturday.

So pack up the kids, mittens, carrots and coal and head down to the Holland Land Office Museum to build up your snowman for a chance to win a cool prize. Here's Pat Weissend:

With all this snow, its snowman weather!

Come down to the Holland Land Office Museum until noon today and participate in a snowman building contest!

We have great prizes!

And  FREE coffee and hot chocolate! See Danielle is pouring it right now.

Call us at 343-4727 if you have any question.

It was a wretched commute into Batavia from Rochester this morning. Roads were packed and ragged with snow. It's slow going out there, so be careful.

Fortunately, the winter storm warning is set to expire by noon today, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. Until then, however, expect another few inches of snow to fall, and watch out for whiteout conditions as the winds should be kicking up around 30 mph.

The Batavia boys basketball team won the Batavia Lions Club Championship for the fifth consecutive year, and did it in convincing fashion. The Blue Devils thumped Notre Dame 59-33.

Andrew Hoy earned MVP honors, following in his older brother's footsteps, by scoring 43 points in the tournament, which easily made him the highest scorer in the tournament.

After four straight Blue Devil championships, this was a tournament where many area fans figured the Fighting Irish had a serious chance.

And ND came out red hot.

Batavia had a 4-0 lead before Greg Barr scored five consecutive points to put Notre Dame ahead 5-4.

Matt Thompson hit a 3-pointer and then added another bucket and the Fighting Irish had a quick 10-4 lead.

Marcus Hoy hit one of two free throw attempts with an Andrew Hoy 3-pointer tossed in the mix to get Batavia within a point.

Marcus and Adam Pettinella scored back-to-back buckets and the Blue Devils had a 13-10 lead after the opening period of play.

Batavia went on a tear in the second quarter and opened up a huge halftime lead.

Pettinella had five points, Andrew scored six and Rob Hoy pitched in five as the Blue Devils were up 34-17 at intermission.

Joe Schlossel had eight quick points in the third quarter and Andrew Hoy added eight points in the third quarter to give Batavia a 52-26 third quarter lead.

Notre Dame coach Mike Rapone received his first technical foul in three years near the end of the third period when he asked an official "How do you play 24 minutes against Batavia and not get a foul shot?". It was his first technical foul call since he received one against Prattsburgh a few years back.

Batavia did attempt just two free throw attempts over the first three quarters.

But in the end, it was the effort of Andrew Hoy and a ton of support from his supporting cast that gave the Blue Devils the trophy.

Schlossel finished with eight points and eight rebounds with Marcus Hoy getting eight points with five dimes. Pettinella had seven points.

Batavia's defense did an excellent job of limiting Notre Dame star Kevin Francis, who scored nine points and did make the all-tournament team. Vinny Zambito was held to three points, but made the all-tournament squad based on his 18-point opening round performance.

Thompson had eight points.

Rob Hoy made the all-tournament team with five points and Marcus made it for his scoring and passing efforts. Andrew, of course, was the MVP after making the all-tournament team as a freshman last season.

 Albion defeated Perry 53-39 in the consolation game, with Russell Craft leading the way with 19 points. He made the all-tournament team.

Notre Dame won the jayvee tournament, beating Batavia 62-43 in the finals. Perry beat Albion in the consolation game 61-49.

Please check out our selections for The Batavian's Top Ten Posts of 2008 in the post directly below. Once you've done that, you're ready to vote. Here's how it's done: Click next to the titles of the three posts you most enjoyed or that you thought were the most well-written, most impactful or whatever. Once you have selected three, click the 'Vote' button at the bottom. We will compile the results after the New Year, and list them in their proper order.

We encourage you to check out all of the top ten selections before making your vote.

Enjoy!

I couldn't figure out any way to make the poll wider. Sorry if it's a little cramped.

Well, it's taken me most of the day, but I've put together tentative lists for the Top Ten Posts and Top Ten Stories covered by The Batavian in 2008. Before we go any further, please understand that these lists are not comprehensive, and there are plenty of posts and stories that were not included that could have easily replaced those that were included. The lists that have been compiled are meant to indicate some of the best that's out there, as well as point some folks to some of the better content that they may have missed. Hopefully, you will agree that I've done well in my selections. We had more than 100 pages of content to browse through—not including comments and specialty content not featured on the home page. Our coverage has now spanned eight months.

Originally, I had planned to highlight a few posts at a time, then run the survey for you to select your favorite among the top ten. Instead, we're going to go ahead and list all top ten here, then run a separate post with the survey. So be sure to vote once you've read through these. Tomorrow, we will get up our Top Ten Stories—ongoing coverage.

Here are your Top Ten (individual) Posts. We tried to pick out those individual posts submitted by our staff and our readers that exhibited great writing, those that told a great story or those that got people talking. Remember these are not in any order:

Chainsaw Artist Rick Pratt...

It was a tough choice deciding between this video of Rick Pratt sculpting an eagle out of a tree trunk with a chainsaw and a video put together recently over at Oliver's Candies about how ribbon candy is made. Rick Pratt's chainsaw sculpting took YouTube by a storm. Several months later, and it is still our biggest draw, nearing 10,000 views as I write this.

Waterfowler's Morning...

This one is a gimme for the top ten. This is the first post on our site by Jim Nigro, who has fortunately hung around and has since written a few more, all gems. Jim has a calm hand with his prose, crafting supple phrases and idyllic scenes you can just about walk into. Not to mention his ace photography! We hope he sticks around for a long time to come.

O-A stuns Pembroke in final seconds...

This game came at the peak of the high school football season. We saw it coming for weeks ahead—and it didn't disappoint. Neither did the coverage by Brian Hillabush. His story tells the story, delivers the drama, the hits, the stats and the nail-biting suspense of the game's final seconds. Always worth another read.

Hillary's Seat: If We Were Speaking Locally...

In this post, frequent contributor to The Batavian, Daniel Jones, wrote up a fun scenario about a what if... His question is simple: If the senate seat soon to be vacated by Hillary Clinton were to be granted to a local politico, who should get it? Dan lists a few potential contenders, including Assemblyman Steve Hawley, a few members of the Batavia City Council, even former Le Roy Mayor Jim Delooze. Fun post!

A truck that's got a story to tell...

This was my own favorite of my own writings of the past few months. This one kind of slipped under the radar. Or maybe it just wasn't appreciated as I had appreciated it. It's simple. I saw a retro traveler's truck coated with stickers, took some photos and asked if anyone knew its story. This one was similar to the post on the sidewalk chalk that got a little more buzz going in the comments.

Contemplating Bill Kauffman's Batavia...

This was a post Howard wrote early in the morning after The Batavian had been chugging along for a few weeks, back, I believe, in late May. This was before Howard knew much about Kauffman, and when both of us were still drinking in the local lore by the steinful. This post is somewhat wistful, a tad nostalgic (aptly), yet mostly forward leaning. It's a great read for folks ineterested in peeking behind the curtain.

Telling stories that tell stories: The art of Brian Moore...

This was the post I was most proud of writing, and writing well. I had no choice but to step to the plate on this one: the subject matter demanded it. Brian's paintings grip you with a visceral pinch. You remember them. You dream them. Yet they nevertheless stand aloof, untouchable, enigmatic. They live there at that nexus where art ought to be, eluding the desire they themselves foment. Read this post.

Batavians choose not to live like they do in big cities...

This was the first post on our site from City Council President Charlie Mallow. As you probably know, it wasn't his last, and we've been glad to have him on the site, freely communicating with his fellow city residents, and none too shy about telling it how he sees it. This first post of his gives a great insight into how he thinks and feels about the city of Batavia.

Le Roy remembers Hooks...

This is vintage Hillabush at his best, and easily one of the most well-written posts to appear on the site so far. His writing is brimming with emotion and intensity. Everything here comes from the gut and the heart—no trappings, no ornament, and it shows... Really, this one just needs to be read.

Saturday Day Trip...

This one is from Bea McManis, about her weekend trip down to Brown's Berry Patch. It deserves a spot on the top ten, if for no other reason than it brought a new flavor to The Batavian when it graced the home page—literally. Not long after Bea's post, we created the recipes section. People were talking about food for a good week after it appeared. Bea writes about food the way it ought to be done: with relish.

There you have it. Please feel free to argue the selection. Write in your own favorite posts. Curse me for my poor taste. Praise me for my good taste. Personally, I'm kicking myself for not including any of the dozen or more videos that have come out of our two greatest series: At the Holland Land Office Museum and Cooking with the Dairy Princess. Those are my favorites.

Just be sure to vote. We'll have the survey up within the hour.

Remember! We will get up our Top Ten Stories tomorrow. Those will feature themes and ongoing issues that spanned more than just one individual post.

Bring your friends, families or co-workers out tomorrow to the Holland Land Office Museum starting at 9:00 a.m. for a snowman building contest.

Between now and tomorrow morning we are expected to get about five inches of snow and a temperature in the mid-20’s. It will be perfect snowman building weather!

The team that builds the best snowman will win a gift certificate from Matty’s Pizza, plus we are still pulling together a few more items.

If you get too cold building your snowman, come on in to the Museum for free coffee and hot chocolate and see the Wonderland of Trees!

The event runs until noon. This is this first time we are trying this event and I hope everyone comes out and has a great time! It would be a good idea to bring a shovel and a bucket to help you build your masterpiece.

The event is sponsored by our good friends at Five-Star Bank, thebatavian.com and Matty’s Pizza.

www.wonderlandoftrees.com

In our police blotter yesterday, we reported the charges filed by the Genesee County sheriff's deputies against John McGowan relating to an ongoing investigation of alleged domestic abuse spanning several months bewteen October 12 and December 17. Seeking more information about the class of those charges and whether McGowan had been released or sent to jail, we were contacted by Chief Deputy Gordon Dibble, who explained that the case was more complex than those five charges we listed yesterday.

As we stated yesterday McGowan, 32, of 5 Highland Park, Batavia, was charged with third-degree criminal mischief, second-degree coercion, third-degree assault, fourth-degree aggravated harassment and fourth-degree stalking. We have since learned that the first charge of criminal mischief was a felony. All other charges were misdemeanors. McGowan stood for those charges in the town of Batavia as a city court judge was unavailable at the time. McGowan was successively arraigned twice, in the towns of Batavia and Alexander, explained Dibble. All of the charges in each of the three municipalities related to the same investigation into allegations of abuse and harassment of the same woman conducted by the sheriff's deputies. They were filed based on where the alleged crimes occurred.

McGowan's first arraignment in the town of Batavia resulted in his being sent to Genesee County Jail in lieu of $7,500. That bail was "promptly" posted, said Dibble. Following that, McGowan was arraigned in the town of Alexander on the charge of aggravated harassment. He was again sent to Genesee County Jail in lieu of $5,000. Again, the bail was promptly posted. McGowan then faced charges of second-degree unlawful imprisonment and second-degree harassment in the town of Batavia. In that instance, it was decided that no further bail was necessary, said Dibble, and McGowan was released on his own recognizance.

David J. Staba, 40, of Darien, was charged with driving while intoxicated early this morning, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said. Staba was stopped following a one-car property damage accident in Alexander. He was also ticketed with moving from the lane unsafely.

Two adults, whose names have not been released, were treated for smoke inhalation early this morning after a fire broke out inside their apartment at Walden Estates at 337 Bank Street in the city of Batavia.

City fire crews report that the fire was contained to the first-floor dining room of the two-story frame house around 3:36 am. Firefighters were on scene for just under two hours battling the fire which caused heavy smoke damage to the first and second floors.

No one else was reported injured. Details of the cause of the fire are under investigation.

Today and tomorrow, The Batavian will run down its Top Ten Posts and the Top Ten Stories of 2008, and we're asking you to help us decide which is the best. Of course, our 2008 began in May, when The Batavian launched, so this will be a short year countdown. No matter. We've had plenty of content. So much great content, in fact, that we're going to do this in two parts. Here's how it's going to work:

Today, we will search through our past content, looking for ten of the most interesting, well-written, most impactful posts of the past eight months. Those posts could have come from our own staff or contributors from the community. Once we've culled ten, we'll introduce a few at a time throughout the day, talk a little bit about why they deserve a spot in the top ten and link to each post so that you can check them out for yourselves. Then, at the end of the day, we'll get up a survey asking you to decide which of the ten posts deserves the number one spot.

Then, tomorrow, we will do the same, but instead of looking for specific posts, we will round up the ten most impactful stories of the past eight months—stories that drew the crowds to The Batavian, stories that were covered voraciously by our staff and our readers/contributors out in the community. Stories that needed not one but five or even ten posts to convey all the rich details of what went on. We will get them up in the same manner, and again, a survey at the end of the day will decide our number one pick.

So get ready. And if you've got some recommendations in the meantime, don't hesitate to pass them along.

More snow will be falling across the region overnight tonight and into tomorrow afternoon. Fortunately, it won't be anything we can't handle. Here's the winter weather advisory being issued by the National Weather Service and in effect from 10:00pm tonight through noon tomorrow:

Snow amounts of 2 to 5 inches are expected overnight with the lowest amounts near Lake Ontario and the highest amounts generally south of Route 20.

On Wednesday another couple of inches are expected through midday before the snow tapers off.

A winter weather advisory is normally issued for a variety of winter weather conditions such as light snow, blowing snow, sleet, freezing rain and wind chilld. While the weather will be significant, the word advisory implies that severe winter weather is not anticipated.

In other words, get out your shovels, but there's no need to fire up the generator.

Here's how things look on the radar right now. There are a few patchy areas of snow south and east of us. But what will really bring the accumulation is that blotch of blue off to the west, creeping over Detroit.

 With Notre Dame leading just 22-20 at the half against Perry in the opening round of the Batavia Lions Club Tournament, coach Mike Rapone needed somebody to step up and score.

He looked in Vinny Zambito's direction and the sophomore - who led the jayvee team in scoring last year - stepped up to score a game-high 18 points and lead his team to a 60-45 victory.

Perry's pressure defense forced ND star Kevin Francis into a distribution role and other players had to step up, even though Francis did finish with 14 points.

Tommy Rapone started a third quarter run and by the time it was over, the Fighting Irish had outscored the Yellowjackets 22-10 in the frame.

Zambito popped the second of his 3-pointers and Rapone added another bucket to give ND a 30-26 lead.

Zambito scored with an and-1, Francis scored, Zambito scored and then Francis dropped in another one to make it a double-digit lead, 40-29. Nick Wetherwax and Francis each had baskets to wrap up the third quarter scoring to give Notre Dame a 44-30 lead.

Zambito hit another trey in the fourth quarter along with a pair of free throws.

After Zambito and Francis' big games, the scoring was spread out for the Fighting Irish (5-0).

Rick Lair had seven points, Wetherwax six and Rapone had five. 

Derick Cicero, Wes Cox and Alex Syberg had nine points apiece for Perry, which falls to 2-6.

Notre Dame will now be facing Batavia in the finals for the second consecutive year. The Blue Devils won 63-34 last year. The teams played each other in 2000 and 2002, with Batavia winning 62-58 in 2000 and 58-36 in 2002. 

The Blue Devils also beat the Fighting Irish 70-39 in 1997.

You have to go all the way back to 1996 for the last time Notre Dame won the Lions Club Tournament. The Fighting Irish beat Batavia 56-49, with Mike Redick earning MVP honors.

New York Stae Senator-elect (61st), Mike Ranzenhofer will take his oath of office in Batavia on December 30th.  He will be sworn in by Judge Robert Noonan at the Genesee County Court Facility at 1:30 pm.  A short reception will follow. All are welcome. Please contact Jay Grasso at 703-0920 or hopejay@frontiernet.net if you have any questions.    

 It never really wound up being much of a game.

The defending Lions Club Champion Batavia Blue Devils dominated Albion 76-40 in the opening round, with Andrew Hoy having a fantastic game. The sophomore - who was on the all-tournament team last year - kicked off this year's tournament with a 24-point, seven rebound performance. Hoy nailed five 3-pointers.

Each year when Batavia wins the Lions Tournament, it always seems that a single player has a huge game.  We've seen players like Phil Santiago, Michael Chmielowiec and Mike Hoy all have huge games to win MVP in recent years, and Andrew is well on his way.

The Blue Devils were on a tear early, going on a 13-0 run near the end of the first quarter and early in the second. But the Purple Eagles got four straight points from Matt Monacelli with a few minutes left in the half and closed the gap.

Mike Lee hit a shot for Batavia at the buzzer to make it 33-18.

Eight different Blue Devils scored in the third quarter to open up a 62-32 advantage after three periods of play and there was no coming back from that.

Dakota Irvin scored 11 points, and point guard Marcus Hoy scored seven points and dished out 13 assists. Lee had nine rebounds.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Also: Batavia's jayvee team beat Albion 59-42 and Notre Dame downed Perry 61-51. The two Batavia squads will be in tomorrow's final.

This video was posted to YouTube on December 23, obviously before the rains. It was shot at PolarWave Snowtubing on Harloff Road in Batavia. I must admit, I had not yet heard of this place. It sounds like great fun. Have you been? Tell us about your time there.

Note: PolarWave is temporarily closed due to the warm temperatures and rains. You can check back at their Web site to find out when they open again, or to make reservations for a later date.

Here are some photos that were taken on Creek Road about 7:30a.m. Sunday morning before the Tonawanda had crested.

Still looking for that holiday pup? Check out this video from the Genesee County Animal Shelter to see which pooches are looking for a home.

It started actually Saturday as temperatures were rising in the upper 30's climbing to low 50's overnight.  We had received about 2+ feet of snow just in the last week and now it was melting very rapidly.  Today's high was in the upper 50's and the tonawanda creek was above flood stage of 9 feet and peaked around 11.4 feet according to the weather channel this morning.  It's now at a little over 12 feet and hopefully cresting soon.  Also during this time we had very high winds which were approx 35-45mph most of the day.  This morning there were gusts passing through around 50+ mph for about an hour.  As the day went on the city crews were on scene along with tree and power companies to help battle the flooding and tree damage due to high winds.  On every street I saw tree limbs, debris and even uprooting in some areas that had left much damage through the city.

Here are some pictures to share of areas around the city:

A tree fell hitting a house on east avenue and pulled utility wires.

Tree was uprooted on Lincoln Ave. damaging houses and a red SUV due to the 50+ mph winds.

Many side streets had flooding on the south side.  Ganson Ave, Elmwood and pictured here is Jackson Avenue.

Kibbie park or should I say Kibbie lake?  The winds were very high in the afternoon during this time.

The tonawanda creek filled up rapidly due to the fast melting of snow.  Here is a picture showing the River Street bridge with a vehicle coming across.

Look familiar?  Corner of Walnut and Law streets had major flooding.  A trucker was able to pass through heading south on Rt 98.

Let's hope the worst is over and we can recover a bit before heading into the New Year.