The D&C reports that the New York's Education Department is considering turning Batavia's historic School for the Blind into a private institution because the state cannot adequately run the institution.

The state Board of Regents will decide next week whether to seek letters of interest from private operators who could run the Batavia school. The change would require approval from the state Legislature and governor.

No recommendations have been made yet, said Rebecca Cort, a deputy commissioner.

"We do want to reassure people that we are not looking to close this school," she said. "In fact, it's just the opposite. We are trying to look long term and say, 'How do we continue to ensure the viability of a very viable program?'"

The 140-year-old institution's enrollment was once as high as 300 but is now just over 50. The population has declined largely because school districts have adapted to federal and state laws that require special-education students be mainstreamed into regular classrooms when possible.

The LoHud.com version of the story contains this:

Assemblyman Stephen Hawley, R-Batavia, said he is also trying to publicize the school. As for privatization, "I'm not sure that that's necessarily the route that we need to take at this point."

The school has about 150 state employees and a $10.3 million annual operating budget. It is one of two state-run schools. The other is the School for the Deaf in Rome, Oneida County.

On Tuesday, the Regents will discuss a report on the school by the Education Transformation Group. ETG, which was hired by the state, recommended operating a seven-day program and expanding admissions criteria to include students who are developmentally disabled and have a sensory impairment (vision and/or hearing loss) that makes it difficult to succeed in a regular classroom.

ETG is recommending the institution be privatized and become a state-approved school. Doing so would provide greater flexibility in who could be admitted, the report said.

The school was founded in 1868 largely to help Civil War veterans learn new skills. Here's a 1995 New York Times story that goes into some detail on the school's facilities and results.

After eliminating Lowell Wednesday night in a hard-fought 3-2 victory, the Batavia Muckdogs will face the Jamestown Jammers Friday night in an effort to secure the team's fourth league championship in its seven-decade history.

Surprisingly, the NY-Penn League site's story on the championship series gets it wrong, saying that Batavia is going for its first-ever title. (Surely, the Jammers, as one of the leagues original teams, has won championships before -- and we know they've made the finals before, because Batavia beat Jamestown in 1945 -- but I couldn't find any history of the team from before the 1990s.)

Last night, Adam Veres, who was 1-1 with a 4.35 ERA in the regular season, may have pitched the career game of his young professional career.  He went seven innings and gave up only 1 run and two hits while striking out seven.

From the NY-P story referenced above:

"We feel great right now, this was obviously the biggest game of the season," Veres said. "We've got a lot of high-spirited guys that want to go all the way with this."

...

"I was really amped up to get this start," he said. "I was locating the fastball to both sides of the plate and the ball was moving real well. I just wanted to prepare for this one just like any other game, but this one obviously meant a little more."

Ramon Delgado struck out the side in the eigth to preserve Batavia's selendor 3-1 lead.

Closer Adam Reifer was shacky in the ninth, giving up a walk, a hit and a run, but held on to pick up the save, retiring Lowell's Ricardo Burgos on a called third strike while all 800 or so Batavia fans were on their feet clapping and cheering.

Friday's opening game will be at 7 p.m., and then the teams return to Batavia Saturday for a 7 p.m. game. If game three is necessary, it will be played at Dwyer on Sunday and the game time will be 7 p.m. (oops, make the 6 p.m.).

UPDATE: Here's how the Batavia franchise finished in each year it fielded a team 1939 through 1997 (actually, the Batavia Indians seasons are here (including a 1957 finals appearance), and the Batavia Pirates made the finals twice, winning in 1963; and the Batavia Trojans made the finals in 1977). The Jamestown Falcons won five titles in nine championship appearances. The Jamestown Expos won twice in four appearances. The Jamestown Tigers made the finals once.

Now that we have a sports writer, I just wanted to make the point that not all sports coverage will appear on the home page.  If you're interested in local sports, you should regularly visit the sports page by clicking on the "Sports" tab in the top navigation.

Brian posted some scores from last night as well as previews of upcoming prep football games.

And so long as I'm posting reminders, don't forget you can post free classifieds under "Buy, Sell & Trade," as well as free help wanted ads under "Jobs."

The 26th District blog has a thoughtful post up on "Why Powers Failed" to win the primary.

A lot of it boils down to too much confidence in a mirage of grassroots support, and a poorly managed media message.

There was no real media team. For a campaign built upon “grassroots support” and on-line activism, there was nothing interesting nor innovative about their Web site. ...

I should note that the campaign’s communications person was more than happy to talk to me when it came to spreading positive messages. Almost every e-mail send inquiring about War Kids Relief or anything off message were ignored. After awhile I stopped receiving any contact at all.

...

I am a firm believer in the echo chambers ability to distort perception. If you spend all your time with people who think like you do, then you start believing everyone thinks like you do. No doubt the Powers team would go into halls and see a hundred people or knock on doors with a few dozen volunteers and begin to think they were a part of something.

The same thing happened in the “blogosphere”. In a district of this size it is true that a few hundred people could help sway things, but if that is all the support and name recognition you have, it won’t be enough. It was clear in reading the financial reports, Powers did not have the “local” or “grassroots” support he was claiming when it came to fund raising. That lead me to wonder if he actually had the on the ground support as well.

Even as a somewhat distant observer, I found myself, as I read through the post, finding the points persuasive.

When times were rough and it looked like the failures in the management of the Batavia Muckdogs franchise was going to cost the city a team, New York-Pennsylvania League president Ben Hayes admits he was on the fence. 

He said after the sixth inning of tonight’s game that it was tough for him to back keeping one of the NY-P’s original franchises in the league because of how bad things were. But he didn’t pull the plug because of Batavia’s history and because of the job done by the Rochester Red Wings.

He was impressed that the first playoff appearance for the franchise in eight years has brought out plenty of fans – 789 to be exact - on a chilly Wednesday night in September.

Combine the on field victories and the progress made in rebuilding the historic franchise and the league feels good about the Batavia situation.

“This is a win-win,” Hayes said. “What Naomi Silver and the Red Wings – Dan Mason, Gary Larder – what they have done is an experience in professionalism that is top-notch in Minor League baseball.”

Of course, everybody knows about the terrible financial problems that nearly left Dwyer Stadium without a team this summer, and how Naomi Silver and her Red Wings stepped in the bail out the team.

When the situation looked its worst, Hayes ducked phone calls by the media. The Muckdogs were not my beat at The Daily News, but I heard reporters talk about the frustrations of not getting a phone call (or three) returned.

He had no problem speaking to me now that I'm at The Batavian, shortly before the Muckdogs picked up a 3-2 victory over Lowell to advance to the league championship series.

Hayes was sitting with Silver and expects that the disappointing attendance figures for this season will not be a problem next year after the Red Wings get a full offseason to work on promotions.

“They got started very late in the marketing season,” Hayes said. “The other clubs started marketing two weeks after the season. The Rochester Red Wings didn’t take over operation of the club until the end of March. It was very, very late in the season, so to speak. I don’t think you will see anything different, but over an extended period of time the momentum will be a lot different. The problems have been fixed (with the stadium and the finances). Now they can focus on other things.”

While the former professional baseball player turned league president is optimistic, he realizes that there is still work to be done – the biggest of which is the support of local baseball fans, or rather, lack their of.

Batavia was 13^th out of 14 teams in the NY-P in attendance at 43,167 during the regular season. Those numbers are going to have to go up.

Hayes says that the sellouts can’t just come on the 4^th of July. Batavians need to get out to watch some quality Minor League baseball at a reasonable price.

If not, the talk about the franchise leaving town that engulfed the city of Batavia last winter could be back in the future. He has faith that the Red Wings will do a good job with promotions, but says it is up to the locals if we want professional baseball in Batavia.

“It really depends on the community and the fans, and if they are going to support the team,” Hayes said. “There has to be enough revenue for this team to survive. The cost of umpires, the cost of travel – all the costs associated with being a minor league club. It’s not an image, it’s an endeavor. In order to put the product out there for the community, the community has to support the product.”

The Batavia Muckdogs just won their playoff series against the Lowell Spinners and now are heading to the championship series against the Jamestown Jammers!  What a turn around from a city that was about to lose their long time baseball franchise!  The president of the New York Penn League was in town tonight to see Batavia win!  Its not over yet, we need the entire community, county and Rochester support to come out this weekend and cheer on our 2008 Batavia Muckdogs!  Several fans are heading to Jamestown this Friday for the first game and I expect to see every member of the city council along with  a few thousand fans Saturday night at Dwyer Stadium!  What a great story for this franchise and this community! Thank you all for your contiunued support and LET'S GO MUCKDOGS!

Betty Lane recently retired from her post as archivist at Genesee Community College, where she worked as a librarian for more than 40 years. In fact, Betty started work the very day the college opened its doors in August of 1967.

Officially, Betty was the assistant dean of the library at GCC up until 1990 when she (sort of) retired only to return to work part-time as the archivist until her recent (really this time) retirement. She initially came back on staff to compile the history of the college.

"As a brand new institution, you don't necessarily think about those things," she said, "but I had been saving materials from 'day one' and other departments within the college had their own records as well."

We caught up with Betty in of all places the archive room at the library—"bursting at the seams," she told me—to talk about that first day on the job at a college that was so young, they barely had books to fill the shelves, which they didn't have yet anyway!

You can visit the college site for a brief bio of Betty. Here's some of what is included there:

Aside from her part-time work at Genesee, Betty is an avid reader, she enjoys sewing and knitting, and with 10 grandchildren and three great grandchildren she keeps very busy. She has served on the Board of Trustees for Woodward Memorial Library in LeRoy since 1991, and she is a long term member of the Batavia-Genesee County Zonta Club. Betty and her husband reside in LeRoy.

A win in the Democrat primary by Alice Kryzan yesterday played up across the media last night and this morning as a "shock" and an "upset victory" has hit especially hard here in Genesee County. Whatever reasons you want to give for the win—that people were just fed up with the tooth-and-nail battles between Jack Davis and Jon Powers is getting the most cred in the papers and blogs today—the end result is the same: voters said no to the bigger names and yes to the lesser known.

Buffalo Pundit has this to say:

Because Powers and Davis spent so much time bashing each other, 2/3 of Kryzan’s job was done for her without her having to spend a dime. She needed one thing to stand out, and the “boys, take it somewhere else” ad was just the ticket. She comes out of this relatively unscathed, so Republican Chris Lee doesn’t have a lot of negative ammunition to use against her. Hopefully Kryzan is able to capitalize on the desire for change in Washington and take the seat away from the Republicans.

Nor is the Pundit alone in finding solace in the loss of his favored candidate—Powers—in the train wreck conclusion to the political career of one of the Democrats least favorite representatives: Jack Davis. And least favorite representative is a euphemism wrapped in a pink bow compared to what I've heard from many Democrats about Davis. So many of them outright detest the man.

But what does it all mean for Genesee County? Jon Powers was the favored candidate here by nearly a hundred votes over Kryzan and another fifty over Davis. I haven't heard anything from the Powers crew since the loss, and I have to imagine that they are somewhere dark and cool nursing the shell shock of a campaign that went from the little engine that could to a primetime fight to: Hey, we've got a real chance to win this thing, only to crash and burn amidst the collateral damage of the negative campaigning.

So I turned to Charlie Mallow, who, for one more week anyway, is the chairman of the Genesee County Democrats. He put it pretty simply and straight out.

I think we have been left with a candidate that we know very little about. Alice’s win was surprising and not the will of the voters in our county. There is going to be a period were people will come to their own conclusions about who they will support in November. All of the active Democrats in our district were behind Powers and whole party infrastructure was setup to support him. It’s going to take a lot for Alice to turn the ship around and develop the support she is going to need in November. Alice has been to Genesee County, her record defending chemical companies in lawsuits against people who suffered due to their neglect of the environment isn’t sitting well with me and it didn’t sit well with the core of our committee when we were vetting candidates. District wid, it’s clear this vote was about supporting someone who wasn’t Jack Davis or Jon Powers. Jack Davis ran the most despicable campaign that I can ever remember. His baseless attacks on Jon Powers turned the voters off. I believe Powers was stuck in a tough a position defending himself from Davis and it was felt that he hit back too hard and dirtied himself.

Ouch. There's some real hurt in the county this morning. Charlie's right, if not a little bit exaggerated, in his statement that the endorsement of Alice by the Democrats was not the will of the voters in this county. Powers pulled 621 votes. Kryzan took in 524.

So what does it mean for the future of the party? What does it mean going into the general election in November? I asked Charlie what would happen and if Democrats in the county might turn away from Kryzan, for whatever reason.

He wrote back to me:

Some will seek other options but, the vast majority will sooner or later support her before Election Day. We are Democrats; we have an ideology that puts us more in line with Kryzan than Lee.

Lee is Chris Lee, the Republican that will be running against Kryzan in the 26th Congressional District. His television ads were already running as the primary results were coming in last night. I guess that's game on.

What are your thoughts, whether you're a Democrat or Republican? Will you support Kryzan? Were you a Powers supporter who will not back Kryzan? Why do you think she ended up getting the nod?

Richmond Memorial Library will offer several free classes this fall to help folks get the most out of their computer, whether they're looking to bone up onthe family history, spruce up their photography or turn their junk into cash. There are some real worthwhile opportunities here, so be sure to take advatage.

There is no cost to attend the classes. They will be held at the library at 19 Ross St. in Batavia. Call the library at (585) 343-9550, and dial 3 to register for the classes.

Classes:

Genealogy and Family History on the Internet - See some of the sources available online to assist you with your genealogical researach. Find access to census records, military records, passenger  and immigration lists, and even charts to record your infomation.  This is a three-part series. Taught by Kathleen Facer.
Tuesdays, September 30, October 7 & October 14 at 6 PM.

Digital Photography - "Everything you wanted to know about digital photography - because you asked." Bring your own camera and ask questions. Find out how to save, preserve, and arrange digital photos on your computer as well as looking at various options for viewing, including printing and slide shows. Taught by Jim DeLooze.
Monday, October 27 at 6:30 PM.

Buying and Selling on Ebay - Learn the ins and outs of buying and selling on Ebay.  Taught by Veronica Frost of Genesee County Job Development Bureau.
Tuesday, October 28 at 6 PM.

Upgrade vs. Repair - Should you buy a new computer or just update/repair the one you have? Learn the things to consider when making this potentially costly decision. Learn some of the software issues to consider, and don't forget the impact of antivirus and firewall software. Taught by Paul McCullough.
Monday, November 17 at 6 PM.

All class information provided by Richmond Memorial Library.

Two posts on the town of Batavia Assessment Board of Review and a post on the Batavia Concert Band Board of Directors are open, and willing participants are encouraged to apply, according to the Daily News. Folks interested in the assessment positions should get their application to the Batavia Town Hall. Call (585) 343-1729 for more information. For those looking to join up with the Batavia Concert Band, call Jason Smith at (585) 590-0743.

Election coverage in the Daily News was featured on The Batavian last night. Scroll down to view the posts.

In other news...

• Helicopter flyovers have been spotting marijuana patches in Orleans County. "More than 300 marijuana plants have been yanked from plots in several towns." Genesee County's Drug Task Force went up a couple weeks ago and has so far spotted and pulled up 327 plants from Elba, Byron and Bergen.
• Virginia Kropf's "Around the Towns" column is on page A-5 today. In it, she relates the story of Bathshua Brown, great-great-great-great grandmother to Bob Brown of Brown's Berry Patch. Interesting read.
• Genesee County Highway Department will add a pair of "box culverts" at the east end of DeWitt Pond in the city. These culverts will act as pedestrian bridges over especially swampy patches of the pond to allow hikers more access to the trails there.

We encourage you to get out and pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

In Genesee County, if you follow local sports, you know the name Brian Hillabush.

Brian has been covering sports, mostly high school sports, for the Batavia Daily News for eight years.  In that time, he has developed a solid reputation and built quite a popular following.

Today, he joins the staff of The Batavian.

Brian will be the full-time sports editor for The Batavian (you may have noticed we added a sports tab to the top of the home page the other day).  He’ll cover local sports and help anybody who wants to post their own team or league information on the site.  Besides being able to blog about sports (something he wasn’t allowed to do for the Daily News), he’s also excited about shooting video for the site – so looks for more local sports video on The Batavian.

A native of Oakfield, Brian has spent his entire life in Genesee County. He attended Genesee Community College where he studied broadcasting and managed WGCC.  He even spent a couple of months working for WBTA before embarking on his print career.

In hiring Brian, we fulfill one of our earlier promises – that as we grow, we will hire local staff, people who live in and love Genesee County.

We’re also excited to bring Brian onto our team because he’s just so dang good – a good writer who really knows local sports, has a wealth of contacts and is highly regarded by the people he deals with. We’re confident that with Brian covering sports for The Batavian, we’ll have the most timely and comprehensive Genesee County sports coverage you’re going to get anywhere.
 

The Arts Council for Wyoming County presents the 33rd Annual Letchworth Arts & Crafts Show and Sale on Columbus Day Weekend, featuring handcrafts of 300+ artisans from all over the US. Enjoy the peak fall foliage at Letchworth State Park along with the best in pottery, paintings, quilts and fiber arts, handcrafted jewelry, photography, furniture, decorative painting, dried floral pieces and more. Food vendors and live entertainment. Handicap parking available. Curbside pickup of heavy purchases. Free with park admission. Shuttle bus service is also available from American Outfitters, Rte. 39, Perry.

Oct. 11,12 &13 from 10 am to 5 pm at the Highbanks Recreation Area of Letchworth State Park.

Info: 
www.artswyco.org/letchworthcrafts.htm
info@artswyco.org or call (585) 237-3517

State police are investigating a crash that claimed the life of a Depew man yesterday. Twenty-nine-year-old Thomas Delong was riding on his motorcycle along Bloomingdale Road in the town of Alabama when he lost control of the bike on a curve and crossed into the path of an oncoming vehicle, driven by Donald Jelonek, of Cheektowaga. Delong fell from his bike and was struck by the vehicle in the road. He was pronounced dead at the scene by Genesee County Coroner Robert Yungfleisch. Jelonek was not injured and faces no charges.

Angela K. Williamson, 36, of 106 Ellsworth Ave., Batavia, was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and promoting prison contraband Sunday, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said. Williamson was allegedly found with a bag of marijuana in her purse while she was being processed for a previous charge by the Batavia city police.

All above reports were issued in published releases from the various departments.

Joe Mesi got us his thoughts late last night on the impending victory in the Democratic run for endorsement in the 61st Senate District. Here's what he had to say:

"I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I've never been afraid of hard work. Tonight is about the future of Western New Yorkers, and I'm looking forward to continuing to run a campaign that is about the issues and my ideas. I know we've got a huge fight ahead of us, but the team of grassroots supporters has already been incredible, and I'm looking forward to focusing on the challenges that face our families. That's what this next election in November should be about."

The St. Louis Cardinals seem to like what they see about Batavia so far as far as player development goes. The team announced yesterday that it renewed its contract with the Muckdogs for two more seasons, according to Scout.com.

“We’ve enjoyed our two years in Batavia,” stated Cardinals Vice President and General Manager John Mozeliak. “We are grateful for Naomi Silver and Dan Mason as they look to build a successful franchise in Batavia. We look forward to the next two years there.”

UPDATE (Philip): We received comments from Naomi Silver, Muckdogs Manager Mark DeJohn and the Cardinals VP of Scouting, John Luhnow on the contract extension.

Naomi Silver:

“We are very pleased to be able to extend our agreement with the Cardinals. When you are fortunate enough to affiliate with such an outstanding organization, you certainly hope to see it continue. We are gratified that they are eager to remain in Batavia. We have been very lucky to be with an organization which has provided us with extremely talented young players. There’s nothing better than playing in the post-season, and this year has been extremely exciting for all of us and the Batavia community.

“The Cardinals are a class organization, and we couldn’t ask for a better partner. They know how important their role has been here and they deserve a lot of credit for the great team they’ve fielded for us. They have been great to work with and we’re looking forward to continuing this relationship.”

Mark DeJohn:

“I’ve really enjoyed my time here the last two seasons and I enjoy working with the front office and stadium staff. I appreciate the improvements made to the ballpark and operation prior to this season and I look forward to working here with our young players for another two seasons.”

John Luhnow:

“The Cardinals are excited about staying in Batavia. We believe in small town minor league baseball; for our players and staff as well as the community."

Batavia (1-1) stormed back from a 8-2 deficit to take down Lowell (1-1) 13-9.  Arquimedes Nieto (1-0) earned himself the win, pitching two and two thirds innings with five hits, one run, one walk and two strikeouts.  Jason Buursma got his first save of the post-season, retiring the last Spinner of the night.  Lowell's Wang-Yi Lin (0-1) blew the save and got the loss in his one inning with three hits, four runs and one walk.

The Muckdogs took the lead early in the bottom of the 1st as they scored two runs.  Colt Sedbrook was hit by a pitch, then Charlie Cutler and Jermine Curtis both singled to plate one.  After Shane Peterson walked to load the bases, Edwin Gomez had a sacrifice fly for the other RBI.  However, the Spinners answered right back with three runs of their own.  Ricardo Burgos doubled, Will Middlebrooks tripled and Kade Keowen and Casey Kelly had back-to-back base hits in the rally.  Keowen came home on a wild pitch for the third run.  They added one more in the 3rd on a walk, stolen base and a single, and another in the 5th in the same fashion.

Lowell scored three more runs in the 6th to make it a 8-2 game. Keowen singled and Kelly and Ryan Dent doubled to score two; Ryan Lavarnway hit a sacrifice fly for the other run.  But it was Batavia's night of winning, as a big six run 6th inning tied things up.  Frederick Parejo and Xavier Scruggs both walked to start the rally.  Both advanced on a wild pitch, enabling Parejo to come home when Sedbrook reached on a fielding error.  RBI singles by Cutler and Peterson continued the onslaught.  Gomez doubled to plate two before coming home himself on a Chris Swauger double.

And the Muckdogs were not done there.  They scored five more runs in the next inning to put the game out of reach.  Sedbrook was hit by a pitch, moved around the bases on a Cutler single and came home on a wild pitch.  Peterson then came up with another RBI single.  Gomez walked to load the bases for Swauger to come up with a bases-clearing double to left.

Cutler was perfect at the plate, going 4-for-4 with a RBI and three runs scored.  Peterson went 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored, and Swauger went 2-for-5 with two doubles and four RBI.  The rubber match to decide who will continue on the playoff quest will be Wednesday at 7:05 at Dwyer Stadium.

*I may not have a write-up for tomorrow's game right away; I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon to go to Pennsylvania to cover the events in Shanksville, PA (the site of the crash of Flight 93) for our campus TV station, and I won't be back until late Thursday.  I'll try to get something done after the game, but I can't promise anything!

We just received the full vote results for Genesee County for the primary elections. Click here to download the file.

UPDATE (by Howard): Here's the D&C story on Kryzan's win, which characterizes her as "surprised" by the victory.

We just now received this statement from Alice Kryzan:

“I am honored that the Democrats of this District have chosen me to represent them in the upcoming general election to be their next representative in Congress. From day one this campaign has been about you and the serious issues facing the 26th District and the country. Today, you sent a clear message: You want an independent voice in Washington, one that will focus on the issues, one that will put you before the Washington special interests and tired old-establishment politics.

As we look towards November, I am excited by the promise in our District. We have so many wonderful assets in our community, the most important being our hardworking men and women who have persevered through good times and bad, never losing sight of the core values we share.

As I’ve said many times in the past, I pledge that as your Congresswoman, every morning I will look at my schedule and ask, “Is what I’m doing today going to benefit the people of the 26th District?” If the answer is no, then it’s coming off my agenda. I look forward to ensuring in November that the men and women of this District finally have a representative they can be proud of.”

Alice also congratulated her opponents, Jon Powers and Jack Davis on a hard fought race and is looking forward to working with them to ensure this District has the representation it deserves.

Alice Kryzan is an environmental attorney and lifelong Democrat who has lived and worked in Amherst for more than 30 years. She has been in the forefront of change for her entire career, becoming the first woman partner at what was then Buffalo’s largest law firm. She is a long-time community volunteer who has been involved in environmental, energy and women’s issues. She currently lives with her husband of thirty-five years, Bob Berger. They have one son Sam, who is a law student.

It's still unofficial, but it looks like Alice Kryzan will take home the party nod for the Democrats in the 26th Congressional District and face off against Republican Chris Lee in the general election this November. We have not received notice from the Genesee County Board of Elections, but culling the numbers from Niagara and Monroe counties, we show Kryzan with between a four and six percentage point lead over Jon Powers. Jack Davis trails in a distant third.

Fellow bloggers WNYMedia in Buffalo are hosting a live blog tonight with real-time video feed and chat. Until we hear back from the campaigns about their thoughts on the race turnout, the bloggers may be a good source for info and perspective.

Erie County's Board of Elections is showing Joe Mesi with a commanding lead and a likely vitory in the race for the 61st Senate. mesi is holding strong with 52 percent of the vote. Michele Iannello is in second place with 35 percent. Dan Ward is in third with 13 percent.

Locally, the Republican primary for Batavia town justice was not much of a contest, according to figures posted on WBTA by Dan Fischer (no source cited). The final results are in and Thomas Williams is the winner with a total of 318 votes. Dennis Rider pulled in 62 votes.

Dan Fischer also posted the results specific to Genesee County in the races for the 26th Congress and the 61st Senate. Powers led with 621 to Kryzan's 524 votes in the 26th. Mesi commanded with 1,042 votes.

Other races...

61st Senate (Independent):

• Michael Ranzenhofer: 70 percent
• William Walters: 30 percent

We're still waiting on messages to the campaigns. Some we have just had no luck in reaching. We'll do our best to post more perspectives, reactions and statements as they come in. For more in the meantime check out some of our other area blogs: the Fighting 29th, Buffalo Pundit, WNYMedia and the Albany Project.

Alice Kryzan is leading right now in the Democratic primary race for the 26th Congressional District with just shy of 40 percent of the vote. That's according to the Niagara County Board of Elections which shows 67 of 80 machines reporting. Jon Powers is in a not too distant second place with just over 32 percent. Davis trails in last lace with nearly 28 percent, dropping further from contention than only an hour ago, when he was not even two percentage points behind Powers.

Area bloggers have converged at the WNYMedia site for a round of live blogging, led by a real-time video feed coming out of Buffalo (I believe). It's a must for political junkies looking to get in on the immediate conversation. We hope to hear some substantial commentary once the results solidify in the hour or so—right now it's more about the price of beer and the dysfunction of portable hardware.

As for the Democratic primary for the 61st Senate, Joe Mesi is commanding a comfortable lead with about 52 percent of the vote and more than 80 percent of the districts reporting. Those numbers are coming from the Erie County Board of Elections, where you can track other races, as well. Michele Iannello is in second with 35 percent, followed by Dan Ward who has about 13 percent of the vote.

Please note that all of these figures are unofficial and incomplete. We will report later with the more complete yet still unofficial results, which should be coming in from the Genesee County Board of Elections. We also hope to get some commentary from the Democrats, and hopefully a statement from the projected winners.