byron

It took six quarters of football, but the Elba Byron-Bergen Lancers finally got fired up Saturday to turn a 12-0 half-time deficit into a 13-12 victory of the Alexander Trojans.

After a blistering 32-7 loss to Barker last week, Coach Mike Cintorino said the Lancers needed a spark to turn things around, and Zack DuBois, helped by some key blocks at the line, did that in the third quarter with a 95-yard run for a score.

"Our guys came out in the second half excited to play and we had some success to get us moving in the right direction," Cintorino said. "We've been waiting, knowing that Zach is due, and he popped a big one for us today. This is exactly what our team needed today just to show us that we are as good as we were last year and now we can build on that."

Alexander, playing under new head Coach Jack Rennolds, and coming off an injury-plagued 2010 season when the team went 1-6, played a pretty dominant first half.

The Trojans converted a turnover into a touchdown when Austin Heberline punched it in from two yards out.

Patrick Crawford helped lead the next drive, including darting in on a 12-yard TD run to put Alexander up 12-0 at the half.

Alexander had 213 yards on the ground, most of it gained in the first-half of the game.

But the momentum seemed to shift in the second half, sparked, of course, by the DeBois run, but defensively the Lancers seems to come to life, making it much harder for Alexander to move the ball.

Zac Gillard helped put his team ahead with a 35-yard TD pass to Matt Ramsey with 10 minutes remaining in the game.

From there, it was just a matter of a fired-up Lancers' defense keeping the Trojans in check.

Rennolds said he saw a lot of positives in his team, especially during the first half of play.

"We played really well in the first half and I was really happy with our play, but we seemed to drop our coverage a bit in the second half," Rennolds said. "We came out a little flat and Elba came out definitely ready to play."

The Lancers move to 1-1 and Alexander is now 0-2 on the young season.

Stats:

Offensive Stats - Elba Byron Bergen
RB - Zack DuBois (So.): 24 Carries for 175 yards and 1 TD (94-yard run)
QB - Zac Gillard (Jr.): 6-10 for 79 yards and 1 TD (35 yards)
WR - Matt Ramsey (Sr.): 1 reception for 35 yards and 1 TD (35 yards)

Offensive Stats - Alexander
RB - Pat Crawford (Sr.): 3 Carries for 51 yards and 1 TD (12-yard run)
RB - Austin Heberline (Sr.): 5 Carries for 6 yards and 1 TD (2-yard run)
RB - Mark Farnsworth: 48 yards rushing
RB - Luke Phillips: 42 yards rushing
RB - David Schmeide: 22 yards
QB - Mark Farnsworth (Jr.): 3-11 for 22 yards
QB - Nelson Burke: 3 completions for 31 yards
Lineman Nick Mrucza was used on an offensive play and carried the ball for 38 yards.

Defensive Stats - Elba Byron-Bergen
Cody Naylor (Sr.): 10 tackles, 3 for a loss
Nate Jonathan (Jr.): 10 tackles, 2 for a loss

Defensive Stats - Alexander
Lucas Phillips (Sr.): Forced fumble
Austin Heberlein: 8 tackles and 4 assists
Nick Mrucza: 6 tackles
David Patrick: 5 tackles and 2 assists

Photos from this game can be purchased by clicking here.

If you can't view the slide show below, click here.

A driver said he blacked out before his car struck a tree at the intersection of Cockram Road and Transit Road, Town of Elba, at 6:04 p.m., Saturday.

The driver, Eric J. Harter, 36, of South Byron, was transported by Mercy Flight to Strong Memorial Hospital.

Sgt. Thomas Sanfratello wrote in his report that alcohol may be a factor in the accident and charges are pending.

Harter was westbound on Cockram when his truck proceeded through the intersection at Transit Road. His truck struck a stand of trees.

Byron and South Byron responded to the scene and extricated Harter from his truck. Elba fire police handled traffic control.

A car has struck a tree near the junction of Cochram and Transit roads in Byron. Byron and South Byron fire departments and Mercy medics are responding.

Law enforcement is also en route. The driver is alert but combative.

UPDATE 6:15 p.m.: The accident is actually in Elba's fire district. Responders request Elba's fire police to the scene.

UPDATE 6:16: Extrication is required.

UPDATE 6:19 p.m.: Mercy Flight is called and a landing zone is being set up.

UPDATE 6:20 p.m.: The landing zone is going to be on Cochram Road, just south of Transit.

UPDATE 6:24 p.m.: Mercy Flight on the ground.

UPDATE 6:58 p.m.: Patient being transported to Strong. Byron and South Byron and Elba fire police are about to clear the scene.

A caller in the area of Bank Street Road and Route 262 reports an unknown, unusual odor in the area.

There is also a truck parked along the road -- unknown if it's occupied.

Law enforcement first on the scene to secure the area.

Byron Fire Department is being dispatched.

Hazmat caution is advised.

The deputy on scene says there isn't much of a chemical smell in the area. The truck has Texas plates.

UPDATE 8:40 p.m.: The truck appears disabled. There's nothing suspicious in it, no containers. A source has told a deputy that there was a crop-duster in the area earlier today. South Byron fire is standing down. Byron units continuing nonemergency.

The driver says it was Saturday morning's fog that caused him to miss a stop sign on Freeman Road, South Byron, but that didn't stop a deputy from charging him with DWI.

Charged was Brian R. Dilcher, 25, of Clinton Street Road, Batavia, who was also cited for alleged failure to stop for a stop sign.

Dilcher was eastbound on Freeman Road at 5 a.m. in a 1994 GMC pickup when he allegedly went through the sign at Coward Road, Byron.

His truck struck a Verizon utility box and then a tree.

Dilcher suffered minor injuries, but did not require ambulance transport.

The accident was investigated by Deputy Eric Seppala.

More than 13,000 years ago, a bit of history sunk in the mud of what is now a small swamp off a back road in Byron, and unearthing that archeological record has been the life's work of Richard Laub.

A chapter of local history closes some time in the coming week when Laub wraps up his final dig at a place he calls the Hiscock Site and most local residents know as the "Byron Dig."

Laub started archeological work at the site in 1982 and that work has continued unabated for 29 years. 

Several factors, Laub said, have led to the tough decision to shut down the dig. While being non-specific about all the factors, he acknowledged that financing the effort has become increasingly difficult in recent years.

"It’s been such a wonderful project, such a wonderful experience, especially working with these people (the volunteers at the site), that I used to wonder, ‘How do I let go?' to say, 'OK, it’s time to quit,'" Laub said. "Fortunately, with these factors converging, other forces are telling me it’s time to quit, and I’m looking at the whole situation and going, ‘Yeah, it’s time to let go.’ I guess you could say providence gave me a little kick in the pants."

The dig is probably among the top three archeological sites for uncovering mastodon remains in the world, and it's also given up a treasure trove of human habitation finds.

More than 70 scientific papers have been published related to the dig, Laub said.

The significance and the history of the research at the site will probably mean that at some point in the future -- who knows how far into the future -- another paleontologist will want to take over excavation of the dig, Laub said.

Complete excavation will take decades.

"This is a site that is known internationally," Laub said. "It’s been extremely productive and very rich in terms of what it taught us, so I would think there would be other people who are interested in it."

The name, the Hiscock Site, comes from Charles Hiscock, the land's former owner, who in 1959, decided to dig a pond and instead dug up a mastodon tusk.

Hiscock notified the Buffalo Museum of Science and that was as far as the discovery went. Hiscock kept his mastodon parts and nobody at the museum seemed much interested in the site until the early 1980s.

In 1982, an anthropologist at the museum, Richard Michael Gramly, Ph.D, heard from another staff member about the site and thought he should do a sample dig to see if he could find evidence of human and mastodone co-existence.

He did a sample dig and was dissatisfied with the results (evidence of human habitation would eventually be found there).

"So I figured things had gone that far," Laub recalled, "that with that opening crack in the doorway, I had an obligation as a paleontologist to take a look."

Typically, Laub said, property owners are reluctant to let archeologists keep what they find in excavations, but unless the artifacts are properly secured, there isn't much point in digging them up.

"Hiscock was extremely cordial," Laub said. "I was just absolutely bowled over."

Not only would Laub be allowed to keep what he found, but Hiscock turned over to the museum the tusks and bones he had already unearthed.

"We could not have started our research if he had not allowed our institution to keep those things," Laub said. "...that was a very generous thing and it made all the difference in the world.

In 1989, Hiscock donated the land to the museum.

"We became close friends," Laub said. "We spent a lot of evenings together after a day's digging and I miss him very much."

The significance of the dig can't be understated, according to Laub.

"I don’t know too many collections in museums (like this)," he said. "There are collections in museums of rodents from a particular cave or pottery shards from a particular site, but something that takes into account the human and the non-human and the environmental aspects, I don’t think there are a lot of places like this."

As clouded as the future is for the dig, so it is for Richard Laub.

Beyond the next few months, his future is "completely opaque."

But he said he does know there is a future for him, just as there is for the dig.

"There’s a saying, 'If all you are is what you do, you’re not very much,'" Laub said. "So if my being is defined exclusively by this, then basically I’m dead after it ends. And I know that life goes on, so the important thing is to appreciate what has been done here and build upon it."

Below, slide show of photos taken at the site on Friday. Be sure to click the button in the lower right to view in full-screen mode.

It's been a beautiful day for a picnic in Byron and residents went to the park for hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream, live music, prizes and a parade of classic cars.

Above, the Ghost Riders perform, one of several live acts in the pavilion today.

More photos in the slide show below -- be sure to click on the "enlarge" button in the lower right.

I've driven down Route 262 in Byron dozens of times. I don't know why I noticed today for the first time a memorial set up to the victims of a May 2008 fire. The fire claimed the lives of four people, Sherri Reis, 51, along with her three children: Timothy Reis, 17; Emily Reis, 19; and Virginia Reis, 21.

An area resident told me, "the memorial just keeps growing year after year."

A resplendent peacock is reportedly in the roadway at Tower Hill and Cole Roads in Bergen. Law enforcement is investigating.

The officer was unable to locate the bird and is moving on to his next assignment.

UPDATE (by Howard): The peacock above may or may not be the same one reportedly seen in the Tower Hill area. This picture was taken by Laura Scarborough on on Cole Road near Route 19, Le Roy, not Bergen. A friend of Laura's describes the bird as very tame and has been knocking at her door for days. Laura said she's afraid the bird will get hit by a car. It stands right next to the roadway. Laura said the friend has called every agency she can think of and each says a tame, loose peacock isn't their issue.

A 29-year-old meth cook from South Byron accepted a plea bargain today that could lead to a three- to five-year prison sentence, rather than the maximum 10-year sentence he was facing.

Matthew Zon pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance, 2nd, for his part in the meth lab operation at 6319 E. Main St., South Byron (inset photo from the search).

His accomplice, Tricia Tundo, 24, of Byron, also entered a guilty plea, admitting to a lesser felony count of unlawful disposal of methamphetamine lab material.

Tundo faces a passible one and a half years in prison and a year of supervised release.

Zon and Tundo were were arrested April 14 during a traffic stop that was the culmination of a months long investigation by the Local Drug Enforcement Task Force.

Lead investigator Sgt. Steve Mullen said at the time of the arrest that the trail that led to Zon and Tundo weaved its way back through a series of related meth lab busts starting with one -- the first one in Genesee County -- Nov. 12, 2009, in Alabama.

The South Byron raid uncovered a working meth lab and an amount of completed product.

Today, Zon satisfied multiple counts pending against him with his guilty plea. He is being held without bail and will remain in jail until his sentencing Aug. 24.

Tundo's guilty plea also satisfies a number of pending charges against her as well as charges that Asst. District Attorney David Gann said could have been filed against her. Gann indicated the Sheriff's Office has sufficient evidence to charge Tundo with all of the counts laid against Zon.

Tundo remains on release under supervision pending her sentencing Sept. 27.

Both Zon and Tundo face a possible $5,000 fine each as well as the suspension of their drivers' licenses.

William R. Green, 52, of Batavia-Elba Townline Road, Elba, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Green was reportedly involved with a dispute at 10:15 p.m., Thursday and during the dispute, Green allegedly grabbed his neighbor by the neck and punched him. Green was jailed on $200 bail.

James R. Tydelski, 55, of 7800 Hewes Road, Bergen, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and failure to stop at a stop sign. Tydelski was stopped at 1:06 a.m. at the intersection of Mill and Lake streets in the Village of Le Roy by a Le Roy Police officer.

Joshua Todd Fullmer, 18, of West Main Street, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Fullmer is accused of shoplifting $34.98 worth of merchandise from Kmart.

Warren Walter McClure, 40, of Hamilton Road, Buffalo, is charged with burglary, 3rd. McClure is accused of entering a business in the Town of Batavia while it was closed on Feb. 6 and stealing money, checks and surveillance cameras.

Todd F. James, 48, of School Road, Byron, is charged with disorderly conduct. James allegedly refused to turn down his radio creating "unnecessary noise" in his neighborhood for more than three hours.

Kelsey Marie Davis, 19, of unreleased street address, Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Davis was arrested following an investigation into a fight during the Tim McGraw concert at Darien Lake Theme Park on June 25.

Samuel Robert Thompson, 55, of Shady Lane, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Thompson is accused of stealing a bicycle from a parking lot.

Three suspected drug dealers were taken into custody in Byron on Wednesday after at least one of them was allegedly involved in a drug transaction with an undercover agent.

The undercover operation in Byron was the culmination of a two-month long investigation by the Genesee County Local Drug Enforcement Task Force and the Orleans County Major Felony Crime Task Force.

Arrested were Richard L. Conte, 19, of 723 S. Main St., Medina, Reynoldo Melendez Jr., 23, of 75 Arnett Blvd., Rochester, and Louis Staples, 17, of 75 Arnett Blvd., Rochester.

All three were transported to the Genesee County Jail and held on $50,000 bail each.

Following those three arrests, a fourth suspect was arrested in Clarendon. 

Investigators executed a search warrant at 4955 Holley-Byron Road, Clarendon, where Kristina A. Brongo, 19, a resident of that address, was taken into custody.

The four alleged dealers are suspected of illegally selling mostly prescription drugs in both Orleans and Genesee counties.

Task force members seized a quantity of drugs, including oxymorphone, also known as opanas, oxycontin and morphine with a street value in excess of $3,000.

Also seized was a quantity of marijuana along with $1,000 in cash, scales, packaging and other drug paraphernalia.

Besides the four suspected drug dealers arrested, two teenage girls, whose names were not released, were apprehended during the investigation and cited for alleged unlawful possession of marijuana.

Conte, Melendez and Staples were all charged with one count each of criminal sale of a controlled substance, 3rd, criminal possession of a controlled substance, 3rd, and criminal possession of a controlled substance, 4th.

Brongo was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, 3rd, and criminal sale of marijuana.

Photos: Conti, top, Melendez and Staples.

Genesee County volunteer firefighters were called to the scene early this morning of a tanker truck fire that claimed the life of the truck's driver in Barre, Orleans County.

The tanker was carrying ethanol and the fire reportedly spread quickly into the wooded area around the accident.

To fight an ethanol fire, fire fighters must use foam, so Genesee County units that have foam cabability were called to the scene.

Units responded from Town of Batavia, Elba, Byron and Oakfield, along with Genesee County Emergency Services Unit and the county's hazmat team.

The fire is now out and clean up work along is in progress.  

One Elba tanker along with the hazmat team and ESU remains on scene at this time. Emergency Coordinator Tim Yaeger said the remaining Genesee County personnel wlll be on scene yet for quite some time.

Byron resident Amber D. Thorman, 23, died early this morning at Strong Memorial Hospital, according to the Genesee County Sheriff's Office.

Thorman was injured in a rollover accident at 4:05 p.m., Monday, on Freeman Road in Byron.

A 23-year-old Byron resident is in guarded condition at Strong Memorial Hospital after being involved in a rollover accident on Freeman Road at 4:05 p.m.

Speed is believed to be a factor in the accident, the Sheriff's Office reports.

Injured was Amber D. Thorman, who had to be extricated from the vehicle. She was airlifted to Strong by Mercy Flight.

Her 1999 Chevy Tahoe was eastbound on Freeman when the SUV went off the north shoulder and struck a tree. The Tahoe then struck the guide wire of a utility pole, causing the vehicle to over turn three times before coming to rest on its roof.

Thorman was wearing a seat belt. 

Byron and South Byron fire departments responded to the scene and handled the extrication. Mercy EMS also assisted at the scene. 

The accident investigation is being handled by Deputy Joseph Graff, Sgt. Greg Walker and Investigator Kristopher Kautz.

(initial report)

A pickup has rolled over and crashed into a tree at 6478 Freeman Road in South Byron. It landed on its roof.

Byron and South Byron fire departments are responding along with Mercy EMS.

Bergen fire's rescue equipment is called to the scene.

The location is between Ivison Road and Route 237.

UPDATE 4:22 p.m.: The availability of Mercy Flight is requested.

UPDATE 4:24 p.m.: A landing zone is set up and Mercy Flight out of Batavia is called to the scene. The driver has been extricated. Bergen is told to stand down.

UPDATE 4:36 p.m.: Mercy Flight landed several minutes ago. National Grid is called because a pole with a transformer was hit during the accident, tilting it at a 45-degree angle.

UPDATE 4:56 p.m.: Mercy Flight is airborne with the victim and headed to Strong Memorial Hospital. National Grid is expected at the crash site shortly.