Stories from

The Obama stimulus package includes $7.2 billion to help rural America access the Internet more easily, and officials in Genesee County would like to ensure some of that money benefits the region.

Known as "Title VI--Broadband Technology Opportunities Program," the allocation is a mere 1 percent of the entire stimulus program.

County Manager Jay Gsell clued me in a couple of weeks ago about the County's efforts to attract some of that money to help areas of the county that do not yet have broadband access. He said the broadband effort is one of many tasks on the County's to-do list related to bringing as much stimulus money to the county as possible.

Stephen Zimmer, Genesee County Director of Information Technology, said the county is participating in a state program to map current broadband availability and identify areas of need.

New York Farm Bureau President Dean Norton applauds the effort to help rural residents access the Internet more easily.

"Farmers in rural, agricultural areas need broadband," Norton said. "Support for broadband has been in our policy book for years. Technology is necessary to keep agriculture viable. Your business (The Batavian) thrives off of technology and agriculture is needing technology more and more."

Much is unknown even at this point about how the broadband program will be administered, and it may not be until 2010 before we see any results. This PCWorld article explains some of the unresolved questions about the program.

The broadband stimulus program is also not without controversy.

Former FCC economist Michael Katz has been acerbic in his dismissal of rural American and the need for spending $7.2 billion on improving Internet access.

Katz listed ways that the $7.2 billion could be put to better use, including an effort to combat infant deaths. But he also spoke of rural places as environmentally hostile, energy inefficient and even weak in innovation, simply because rural people are spread out across the landscape.

"The notion that we should be helping people who live in rural areas avoid the costs that they impose on society … is misguided," Katz went on, "from an efficiency point of view and an equity one."

According to the same NPR piece, a New York Times article has referred to the rural broadband initiative as a "cyber bridge to nowhere."

But others say the package could help another 20 million Americans get broadband access, and high-speed access does help create and retain jobs.

A study of 3,000 people in Michigan, Texas and Kentucky found those in areas that received broadband Internet grants from the federal Rural Utilities Service quickly signed up for service, matching the penetration rates in cities. That happened where network investment was coupled with community programs aimed at convincing people about the benefits of Internet access.

Home broadband users were more likely to start businesses or take classes online, and less likely to move away, the researchers at Michigan State University found.

Norton said a lot of farmers in Genesee County are still stuck with dial-up, which hurts their productivity. It also keeps them from accessing more advanced online-software that help them run their businesses.

"(Broadband) will help the more progressive and larger enterprises the most," Norton said, "but with the smaller ones, there lies another opportunity to educate people and help them."

In a statement issued last night, Assemblyman Steve Hawley said the elimination of VLT money (video lottery terminal funds) is going to cost both Batavia and the County some big bucks.

Today we asked City Council President Charlie Mallow (who, along with Rose Mary Christian, apparently will be a candidate for the County Legislature) about the impact of the state budget on local governments.

Charlie sent along this statement:

The city never planned for the VLT money to continue. We have always looked at the money as a short term windfall that was used to pay down the city’s debt. This year we used most of the money for designs to plan for infrastructure repairs.  On the bright side we were able to dodge a bullet that would have taken $40,000 in state aid that helps support our Youth bureau. We lobbied hard to change the governor’s mind about those block grants.  As far as I am aware at this point, some careful planning has helped us in the long run and this budget shouldn’t have a major effect on the city.

Hawley's statement about the VLT cuts:

The budget will also include a 50% reduction in VLT funding that will leave municipalities that depend on this money left holding the bag. The City of Batavia will see a cut of $314,849, the Town of Batavia $114,563, and Genesee County $143,137.  This lack of funding will force municipalities to pass along the added burden to taxpayers.

Reltated but out of the area: In an editorial, The Canandaigua Daily Messenger  recently said Farmington was wise not to count on keeping VLT money, which has been targetted for potential cuts before.

Local dairy farmers are hurting, according to Dean Norton, president of the New York Farm Bureau.

Prices have plummeted -- because of decreased demand for dairy products at home and abroad -- while costs have increased substantially. 

Currently, milk is selling for $10.50 to $11.50 per 100 weight (about 8.5 gallons), while the cost of production is $15 and $16 per 100 weight.

Last year, milk sold for about $20 per 100 weight.

"The area economy stinks and it's a tough year," Norton said. "Receipts are down and individuals might be exiting the dairy industry."

Exports have dropped and domestic demand has been driven down as people eat out less during the recession, so there is shrunken demand for dairy products.

To help address the plunging prices, Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has initiated a herd retirement program, which will help reduce the number of milk-producing cows and lower supply.  Bids must be postmarked by May 1.

Dairy farmers throughout the nation are hurting according to The Rural Blog:

“The number of dairy cows being sent to slaughter has risen by about 20 percent from last year, as desperate farmers cull their herds and sell at fire-sale prices,” Sue Kirchoff writes for USA Today. “Adding to the problem, banks are less willing or able to extend farmers’ loan payments amid the financial turmoil.” John Murawski reports for the News & Observer in Raleigh, "Several dozen dairy farms in North Carolina are expected to go under this year." (Read more)

The National Dairy Federation has called on President Obama to aggressively address the problem, or thousands of jobs could be lost.

“There are several reasons for the implosion: oversupply, falling export demand and continued high prices for supplies such as feed,” Kirchoff explained. “The dairy sector in the past has been less prone to huge price swings than other areas of agriculture, but that’s changing as the industry relies more on the markets and less on government programs.”

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a program to buy 200 million lbs. of nonfat dry milk surpluses for domestic low-income programs.

Neighboring Wyoming County is being especially hard hit by the downturn in the dairy market, according to a story by Tom Rivers.

The $60 million in reduced revenue is compared to 2008 prices, when dairies averaged about $17.50 per hundredweight. This year the prices are forecast to average $12.80 for the year. The prices are expected to climb above the current $11 level and top $14 in September, which is still below most farms' production costs.

The county's 47,970 cows, which outnumber the county's residents, produced $178.9 million worth of milk products in 2007, by far the most in the state.

"The market is saturated and these prices are likely to be with us until mid-summer," Norton said.

According to our internal statistics, these were the most viewed posts in March.

• Ralph Wilson is not dead, by Brian Hillabush
• BataviaAmbulance.com poll currently shows sentiment running against reinstating service, by Howard Owens
• Ambulance Clarification, by Rose Mary Christian
• List of city's top 15 wage earners includes 10 union fire fighters, by Howard Owens
• Daughter of county manager found dead in Rochester apartment, by Howard Owens
• Hysteria, Fabricated Information, Fear Tactics and the Ambulance, by Charlie Mallow
• Buffalo to Albany rail line getting Obama Administration attention, by Howard Owens
• A new chapter for The Batavian, by Howard Owens
• Member of County Legislature posting on The Batavian under assumed name, by Howard Owens
• There's a variety of interesting regional foods available in New York, by Howard Owens

And since I forgot to post this list for February, here it is:

• South Beach owner "was forced to close" restaurant, says sister-in-law, by Philip Anselmo
• Member of County Legislature posting on The Batavian under assumed name, by Howard Owens
• Batavia's South Beach restaurant closed abruptly and without warning, by Philip Anselmo
• Steve Hawley calls for study on split New York into two states, by Howard Owens
• A Look Back At The World Record Tiger Shark: The Story Behind The Catch, by Jim Nigro
• Genesee County Democrats have a ball on Valentine's Day, by Philip Anselmo
• A new chapter for The Batavian, by Howard Owens
• Sunnys offers to honor unused South Beach gift certificates, by Howard Owens
• Corfu man will be charged in brutal murder of Pembroke man, by Philip Anselmo
• On the Beat: Inmate nailed with felony contraband charges, by Philip Anselmo

Residents of LeRoy are asked to attend a community forum tonight to discuss the issue of teenage alcohol abuse.

The meeting will be held at LeRoy Village Fitness, according to WBTA.

Over the past six years, there has been a 250 percent increase in incidents involving under-age drinking. Most recently, a 21-year-old man was found in the Village so intoxicated, allegedly, that he had to taken to the hospital. He allegedly bought and served alcohol to an 18-year-old in the Village.

WBTA posted an audio quote from Cindy Herzog, superintendent of LeRoy Central Schools.

The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m..

Batavia-based Graham Corp. announced new orders worth about $3.5 million for surface condensers to be installed in two oil refineries in India and South Korea and a fertilizer production facility in the United States.

The orders follow quickly another $5 million in sales for the company's ejector systems, according to the Democrat and Chronicle.

CEO James Lines said:

"While we expect the global recession and tight credit markets to continue to affect the pace and timing of new order placement ... we view the potential bookings pipeline favorably," Lines said. "We believe the long-term fundamentals supporting increased global demand for energy are solid."

Two Rochester residents and a Batavia man are in custody after an investigation last night by Drug Enforcement Task Force members into the sale of crack cocaine in Batavia.

Arrested where Mark H. Gissendanner, 24, or Rochester, Aileen Nieves, 21, of Rochester and Shawn M.Walburn, 35, of Batavia.

Gissendanner was arrested in the parking lot of 21 Liberty Street, while Nieves and Walburn were picked up in the parking lot of Van Detta Stadium on Union Street.

All three suspects were arraigned in Batavia City Court and are being held without bail.

Gissendanner reportedly sold a quantity of crack cocaine to task force members on two occasions and then was allegedly in possession of more of the drug when he was arrested. He is charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance  in the third degree.

Nieves reportedly sold crack cocaine to an undercover office while in Batavia and was allegedly in possession of more crack when she was picked up. She is charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance  in the third degree.

Walburn was allegedly in possession of crack when his vehicle was stopped by task force members in Batavia. He is charged with criminal possession of a controled substance in the forth degree.

Participating in the investigation were members of the Genesee County Sheriff's Department, the Batavia Police Department and the LeRoy Police Department.

Pictured above in order are Gissendanner, Nieves and Walburn.

Don't forget to submit your date-specific events to The Batavian's Calendar.

If your business, civic group, sports organization or church group has an upcoming event, you should be sure it's in our calendar.

Click on the "add event" link under the calendar on the right side of The Batavian's Web pages.

If you tag the post "announcements" it will also show up in our announcements section.

We just received the following statement from Assemblyman Steve Hawley. 

I did not know until I read it here that the proposed budget shifts money from local governments to the state, which as Hawley points out, is going to only mean increased local taxes (or severe cuts in services).

I've tried to keep my comments on the budget as non-partisan as possible.  The shipwreck of a budget could have just as easily been produced by a GOP-controlled Albany -- maybe not the same, but I have no confidence the Republicans could do any better. That said, I think it needs to be said: Local Democrats tend to be pretty active commenters on The Batavian. It's noteworthy, then, that in two days of raising the budget issue on The Batavian, none of the usual Democratic stalwarts have stepped forward to defend Paterson, Smith and Silver.  Maybe my noting this will bring forth some sort of intelligent defense. I would love to hear it. But I suspect strongly that any common-sense Democrat also recognizes this budget proposal is exceptionally indefensible.

Hawley's statement follows the jump:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,I,C-Batavia) today expressed his displeasure with the 2009-10 State Budget and the secret negotiations used to hammer out a deal.

"The budget was agreed upon in secret closed-door meetings that involved the state's three legislative leaders, Governor Paterson (D - Harlem), Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith (D - Queens) and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D - Manhattan/Chinatown) - all downstate New York City Democrats - with no input from other elected representatives.

"The state budget, details of which were hashed out at the last minute under a cloud of secrecy, lacked the transparency and openness that New Yorkers deserve. Albany's dysfunction once again reared its ugly head at a time when the state is in the midst of a recession and is struggling to survive with a $17 billion budget deficit.

"The $132 billion spending plan calls for a ten percent increase, or $10.5 billion in spending, over last year and includes $7 billion in new taxes and fees. In addition, the budget eliminates the critical STAR Rebate program that provides middle-income homeowners with $1.7 billion in relief from skyrocketing property taxes. More taxes and no property tax relief is the last thing that New Yorkers need right now. Raising taxes through "hidden" fees will force more New Yorkers to flee the state in search of less expensive areas and will further erode the state's tax base.  The governor is retaining $1 billion from the federal stimulus program (newly printed money) and I challenge him to use it all to reinstate the STAR Rebate program.

"The budget will also include a 50% reduction in VLT funding that will leave municipalities that depend on this money left holding the bag. The City of Batavia will see a cut of $314,849, the Town of Batavia $114,563, and Genesee County $143,137.  This lack of funding will force municipalities to pass along the added burden to taxpayers.

"The budget spends too much, taxes too much and does nothing to solve the state's fiscal problems. New Yorkers are struggling everyday to pay their bills and put food on the table and placing additional tax burdens on their backs will only further the struggle. New Yorkers deserve better, and for this reason I have voted no on the entire 2009-10 state budget."

Kevin L. Madden, 24, of Albion, was charged with DWI and issued traffic tickets for unsafe speed and moving from lane unsafely, following a rollover accident on Transit Road, off Route 63 in Bethany  (reported on The Batavian yesterday), Madden was transported to UMMC, treated for minor injuries, and released to State Police. He is scheduled to answer the charges in Bethany Town Court on April 7 at 7 p.m.

Rory Howe, 21, of Attica, is charged with petty larceny. Howe is accused of shoplifting at the Wal-Mart in Batavia. According to a Sheriff's Office report, loss prevention officers at Wal-Mart apprehended Howe Monday with $55.25 worth of merchandise on her person as he exited the store.

A black Mazda SUV pick up was involved in a single vehicle accident on Transit Road off Route 63 at about 3:40 p.m.  The driver told emergency personal he was unhurt, but was placed in an ambulance and checked over as a precaution. State Troopers on scene estimated the driver tried to make turn off southbound Route 63 onto Transit at 55 p.m. Skid marks arched across both lanes of Transit from Route 63 to the crashed truck. There were no passengers. Dispatchers had received a report of an erratic driver heading south on Ellicott Street in a black truck with a ladder rack, possibly a Nissan, at about 3:30 p.m. The driver was allegedly driving in the oncoming traffic lane, nearly causing at least one head-on collision.

Albany Watch reports on Gov. Paterson defending the "three men in a room" budget:

“None of this makes sense,” he said when asked if the new taxes and fees make sense in the face of the state’s economic woes. “We don’t want to tax the wealthy, we don’t put these taxes in to raise fees, we don’t want to hold our school budgets at zero increase at a time when our children need education. We don’t want to in any way jeopardize anyone’s ability to get health care.

“We don’t want to lay workers off. It’s a response to a crisis.”

Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, said “this is not a happy budget” and defended the need to negotiate the budget behind closed doors, saying “Difficult times call for different approaches” but that transparency is still important.

Elizabeth Benjamin, blogging for The Daily News, also carries a portion of Paterson's defense of the budget.

The governor started out by arguing it's unfair to characterize this budget as dramatically increasing spending because the bulk of the additional cash going out the door - about $7.2 billion - is federal stimulus aid.

The only reason state spending isn't being reduced, Paterson maintained, is due to increased allocations for things like Medicaid, food stamps and unemployment insurance - all going up as a result of the economic crisis - things over which, according to the governor, the state has "no control."

The blog Open Left praises the increased tax on the wealthy as a victory for progressives.

This is the Make Him Do It Dyanmic on the state level - in this case, progressive groups, led by the Working Families Party, forced Democratic Gov. David Paterson (D) to accept a commonsense, progressive budget/tax solution. It shows that movement pressure - whether you want to denigrate it as  "anger" or "outrage" or "insufferable stridence" - can actually create significant concrete results.  

The Niagara Times takes the position that Paterson, Smith and Silver are once again "sticking it to update."

And despite the enormous fiscal pressure the state faces, the budget contains $170 million in financing for pet projects — an amount unchanged from last year — suggesting that Albany’s appetite for with what critics call pork-barrel spending appeared to be undiminished.

Listed in the budget were grants to gun clubs, an upstate museum dedicated to bricks and brick-making, the Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta and an organization known as the Urban Yoga Foundation.

The Buffalo Niagara Partnership Blog says the budget is not terribly helpful to small businesses.

It's interesting - we're spending an awful lot of energy as a nation looking into how companies such as AIG and GM are using stimulus money - which is good (at least it would've been good had it been done proactively instead of after all hell broke loose). Let's hope that Washington begins to put the same scrutiny on states, because it's pretty certain that this "three men in a room" budget misses the boat on the intent of the historic federal aid.

You have to go back only a couple months to remember Gov. Paterson saying that everyone will have the "share the pain." Well, this budget is painful for a lot of people - small businesses, students, everyday citizen taxpayers... The only entity that seems to have come away unscathed is New York State, itself - to the point, even, that they've left $170MM in pork for the state legislature to divvy out. A week ago, there was a threat of layoffs in state government. Nope. There's been talk of a cost-saving Tier V level of the state employees' pension system. Nope.

The Albany Project offers up a round of news coverage.

Officials at Batavia Downs are trying to figure out what to do after Rocky Ferrando won a 2009 Dodge Challenger over the weekend.

Great for Rocky, but the problem for the Downs is that Ferrando is a full-time OTB employee.

According to Dan Fischer at WBTA, officials are researching Batavia Down rules about employees entering and winning contests.

Listen to WBTA this morning and afternoon for more on the developing story.

UPDATE: WBTA has an audio interview up with Marketing Manager Marty Biniaz. The prize has been rewarded to Melanie Rahlston  of Mount. Morris.