This time of year when I drive down Jackson Street, I always enjoy the yellow magnolia tree with the Doty Mansion as a backdrop.

This is certainly a beautiful time of year for Centennial Park. The trees are budding and the dandelions and forget-me-nots are in bloom.

An honest bit of history was parked at the Genesee County Airport for a time this afternoon. Whiskey 7, a Douglas C-47 that actually dropped paratroopers on the beaches at Normandy, June 6, 1944, stopped for refueling on its way back to Geneseo. 

The aircraft "has been all over" said Naomi Wadsworth, the pilot. It's currently owned by the National Warplane Museum in Geneseo. After the war, it was sold to Capital Airlines, then Frontier Airlines, and then it was flown commercially in Alaska then South America before returning to the U.S. to be displayed in museums. The folks in Geneseo acquired it in 2006. 

Wadsworth said they've actually located one of the paratroopers who jumped from the plane on D-Day.

The plane is returning to Normandy on Thursday for the 70th Anniversary of the famous battle. The crew has raised enough money for fuel to make the trip there but still needs to raise money for the return flight. Six bucks buys a gallon of gas. To find out about making a donation, visit www.rtn2014.org.

 

The Genesee County 4H Swine Club hosted its annual BBQ pulled pork lunch today at the Fairgrounds. The event is the largest fundraiser for the club.

Samantha Weber

Cole Carlson

Twins Kyle and Ryan Sage

Habitat for Humanity of Genesee County has made good progress on its latest project, a home on McKinley Avenue for Muriel Austin and her daughter Brooklyn, who were on the job today to help with the restoration.

Alicia Calcote, a student at RIT, with Sarah Harley and Brooklyn.

Batavia Players sponsored a Mother's Day Madness Shopping Spree & Flower Fundraiser outside their playhouse at 56 Harvester Avenue this afternoon.

While I was out and about this afternoon, I thought it would be fun to take in an inning of Little League baseball.

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This very nice photo came in this morning from Larry Trnka. It's of yesterday's storm. He said it's of outside John Riley's farm on Galloway Road, Batavia.

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The Burke family were among the local residents who came out this morning for the community garden open house at the Batavia Youth Bureau. Master Gardener Bob Gray explained how the program worked. The Burkes are Scott, Jennifer, Lilyana and Noah. Denise Young also helped with the open house.

In our story Thursday about Jerald Shea and the winter flooding of his property, we failed to clearly state that part of Mr. Shea's complaint is that the town pumped water onto his property.

Mr. Shea feels this is a significant action by the town that contributed to the damage to his house.

Bethany Highway Superintendent Paul Fleming confirmed the town did pump the water, however, it was to prevent Paradise Road from flooding. The drainage pipe under Paradise Road was frozen solid, Fleming said, so instead of the water flowing under the road as it normally would, it flowed over the road. Either way, Fleming said, the water would flow south to north onto Mr. Shea's property.

 

Photography students at Genesee Community College have created a series of photographs called "environmental portraits." The photos are currently on display at Genesee County Park and Forest Interpretive Center in Bethany. Above, students Jason Dieter and Lynn Homer hold examples of their work during a reception held this evening.

The students were assigned to photograph a subject in an environment that helped illuminate that subject's life and surroundings.

"Creating a portrait of a subject in its natural surroundings adds elements to their character, and therefore portrays the essence of their personality, rather than merely a likeness of their physical features," said instructor Joe Ziolkowski. 

The works will be on display through August.

A lot of snow and ice meant a lot of salt use on roadways this winter, and the nearly century-old Bethany Center Bridge over Route 20 didn't fare well.

The damage is said to be cosmetic, but the sidewalk is chewed up enough that the State Department of Transportation posted a sign and put up barricades closing the bridge to pedestrian traffic.

The bridge isn't scheduled for replacement until next year at the earliest and a spokeswoman for the DOT was out of the office this afternoon and said she couldn't provide immediate information on the bridge's current status.

We also spoke with County Highway Superintendent Tim Hens. He also wasn't in his office at the time and couldn't double-check the paperwork, but said he wasn't aware of any change in plans.

Hens said he doesn't believe the bridge is in any danger of falling down.

Following a student Mass at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church today, Bishop Richard Joseph Malone toured St. Joe's and Notre Dame, meeting with students and faculty along the way.

At St. Joe's, his tour guide was Principal Karen Green; at Notre Dame, it was Principal Joe Scanlan. His aide Rev. Ryazard Biernat accompanied the tour.

As near as anybody could remember, it's been more than 20 years since a bishop came to Batavia to celebrate Mass and tour a Catholic school. Malone said in Maine, there were 20 schools in his diocese and he made a point of visiting each one at least once a year, but in the Buffalo Diocese there are 40 schools. It would be hard to maintain that annual schedule with so many schools, he said, but when a student asked him if he would come back next year, he said, "if you invite me I will."

Before he left St. Joe's, Principal Green gave Bishop Malone a plate of chocolate from Oliver's.

A car fire is reported on the westbound Thruway at mile marker 394. East Pembroke Fire Department is responding along with mutual aid from Oakfield and Indian Falls. Mercy medics are also responding. It's unknown if there are injuries.

UPDATE 5:50 p.m.: East Pembroke command reports the vehicle is unoccupied. Oakfield is put back in service.

UPDATE 5:55 p.m.: Fire knocked down. Mercy medics are back in service.

A severe thunderstorm warning has just been issued for Genesee County by the National Weather Service in Buffalo. It is in effect until 6:15 p.m.

At 5:21 p.m., the Doppler radar indicated a line of severe thunderstorms capable of producing damaging winds in excess of 60 mph.

These storms were located along a line extending from eight miles west of Waterport to Arcade, and moving east at 50 mph. Strong winds are pushing out ahead of this line and winds will begin prior to any rain or lightning.

Some locations in the warning include Batavia, Pavilion and Le Roy.

Wind damage with these storms will occur well ahead of any rain or lightning. Don't wait for the sound of thunder before taking cover. Seek shelter immediately inside a sturdy structure and stay away from windows.

Press release:

Responding to the need for skilled food processing workers in Western New York, Genesee Community College will begin offering a new degree program in Food Processing Technology in Fall 2014. The College recently received final approval for the Associate in Applied Science Degree program from the State Education Department.

Food Processing is a fast-growing industry in Western New York where the state Labor Department says companies find abundant dairy, strong infrastructure and close proximity to population centers in the Northeast. There are more than 650 food processing operations in the region and new jobs are being added yearly. The industry has a need for trained workers and this program will respond to that need.

GCC has developed a two-year, 63-credit curriculum that includes general education coursework as well as specific training in food safety, sanitation and hazard analysis; food and dairy processing operations; analytical methods and food labeling. Graduates of the program will understand basic principles of food science including the chemical, physical and microbiological properties of food, as well as the technology used to create an abundant supply of safe, nutritious and delicious food.

"We worked with food processing companies and other educational institutions, including Cornell University and Cornell Cooperative Extension, to develop this program," said Rafael Alicea-Maldonado, Ph.D, dean of Math, Science and Career Education. "They told us what they need and this program will provide them with the trained workers they are seeking. For graduates, that means excellent prospects for well-paying jobs upon completion of the degree."

In addition to classroom lectures and science lab experiments, students in the program will complete an internship at a Food Processing operation as part of the program.

"This also enhances opportunities for job placement," Maldonado said.

The Genesee County Economic Development Center indicates that trained workers are paid significantly higher than those who don't have advanced skills, with annual salaries ranging from $30,000 to $60,000.

Those interested in enrolling in the new Food Processing Technology AAS Degree program can find more information online at http://www.genesee.edu/academics/programs/tech/Food.

Press release:

In a monitoring system that has evaluated 2,300 local governments fiscal condition statewide, the City of Batavia has been ranked better than most cities across Western New York. Last week New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced the completion of the initial scoring for all local governments and school districts in New York in the Fiscal Stress Monitoring System.

Last week the Comptroller issued Batavia a fiscal stress score of 0 percent for 2013, the lowest possible score. Other scores for fiscal years ending in 2013 that were released last week included Buffalo (15.8 percent), Corning (15.8 percent), Olean (11.7 percent), Rochester (20 percent), Syracuse (34.2 percent) and Watertown (9.6 percent). Other Western New York communities included the cities of Canandaigua (1.7 percent), Geneva (28.8 percent) and Oneonta (15.8 percent).

The system uses a 100-point scale to classify whether a municipality is in significant fiscal stress (65 to 100 percent), in moderate fiscal stress (55 to 65 percent), is susceptible to fiscal stress (45 to 55 percent), or no designation (below 45 percent).

“This confirms that the City has and continues to take the necessary steps to ensure the City is on solid financial footing,” said City Council President Brooks Hawley. “Building a solid financial foundation has been a priority in the City’s Strategic Plan and provides the City with the ability to accomplish more in the future, and build a stronger community long-term.”

The Fiscal Stress Monitoring System was created by the Office of the State Comptroller to identify local governments and school districts that are in fiscal stress as well as those showing susceptibility to fiscal stress. The Fiscal Stress Monitoring System is based on financial information provided to the Comptroller’s Office by local communities and uses financial indicators that include year-end fund balance, cash position and patterns of operating deficits, to create an overall fiscal stress score. To date the Comptroller’s monitoring system has identified a total of 142 municipalities in some level of fiscal stress. This includes 16 counties, 18 towns, five cities, 16 villages and 87 school districts.

The City of Batavia’s Strategic Planning process is the foundation from which the City’s Business Plan for services and annual budget are based. The intent of the Strategic Plan is to allocate City resources to best meet the needs of our residents, while balancing the environmental factors that may affect the City in the future. The City’s reassurance that they were on the path to financial recovery was seconded in July 2012 when Moody’s upgraded the City’s bond rating from “A2” to “A1."

Third Ward City Councilmember John Canale, and a member of the City’s Audit Advisory Committee, shared his thoughts on the City’s score, “Once again we have received confirmation that the City is headed in the right direction financially. I think accomplishments like this only contribute to the City’s efforts to improve services, strengthen our infrastructure and provide greater opportunities for Batavia.”

The Audit Advisory Committee was established to provide oversight to the financial and compliance reporting process and external audit process. The Committee will be responsible for meeting with the auditors prior to the audit, reviewing risk assessment, reviewing the draft financial statements and making a recommendation on acceptance of the external audit reports to the City Council.

Residents interested in applying for the Audit Advisory Committee can obtain an application from the City Clerk’s Office or can visit our Web site at www.batavianewyork.com/Files.

Bishop Richard Joseph Malone is visiting Batavia today. The bishop attended the student Mass at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church this morning, then went to St. Joe's School for lunch with students before a brief tour. He will tour Notre Dame High School this afternoon.