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News roundup: Changes at the Fair

By Philip Anselmo

What's going on in today's Daily News? Let's take a look...

A former Orleans County resident, who is considered a "person of interest" in the shooting death of Oakfield man William Fickel in 2005, was jailed in West Virginia a couple weeks ago. James M. Nichols, 55, was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison for possessing firearms that he should not have had since he's a convicted felon. While the charges do not relate to the murder, they were discovered as a result of its investigation. Read the article by Scott DeSmit for the full details of Fickel's unsolved homicide and the $100,000 reward for information leading to a conviction.

Reporter Tom Rivers takes a look at some changes in store for the poorly attended Genesee County Fair. Fair organizers hope the changes will bring in more bodies. Genesee has had the second poorest attendance out of eight upstate counties over the past several years, second only to Livingston. Changes this year will include:

  • Charging admission by the carload rather than per person: $5.
  • Offering an "Everything Pass" for $12 that gets you admission, rides and events.

In addition to the typical fair events, folks should expect live music daily and fireworks Friday and Saturday. The fair opens Tuesday and runs through Sunday.

A public hearing in Oakfield tonight will be the first to get input into a potential merger of the courts in Oakfield, Elba and Batavia.

A story in today's local section about a Genesee Community College $4 million capital project was featured in the WBTA news roundup on The Batavian this morning.

God's Helping Hands and Project Hope are looking for more volunteers for another neighborhood cleanup that runs from 10:00am to 1:00pm Saturday on South Spruce, Prune and Jerome Streets. Call (585) 344-2997 to join up.

Nothing local in sports news today.

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