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Jose A. Rivera, 36, of Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt 1st, attempted promoting prison contraband 1st, and Ida M. Vanorden, 36, of Swan Street, Batavia, is charged with conspiracy 5th. Rivera and Vandorden are accused of conspiracy along with an unknown male, to introduce contraband into the Genesee County Jail. The contraband was intercepted by corrections officers on Dec. 26. Rivera is accused of violating a stay-away order of protection. Both Rivera and Vanorden were issued appearance tickets.  The investigation is ongoing, and deputies are attempting to identify the third suspect. Any person who may have additional information are requested to contact Deputy Nicholas Charmoun at (585) 345-3000, ext. 3258

Ledeja K. Wright, 32, of Maple Street, Batavia, is charged with torture/injure animal/fail to provide sustenance. Wright is accused of leaving a dog in an apartment after moving out and failing to provide sustenance to the animal. The incident was reported Nov. 30. Wright was arrested Dec. 15. She was arraigned in City Court and released. The dog is at the Animal Shelter. 

Vicki Lynne Manns, 52, of Brookville Road, Alexander, is charged with menacing 2nd, criminal possession of a weapon 4th, assault 3rd, and harassment 2nd.  Manns is accused of throwing a tray at a person, causing an injury. She is also accused of pointing a firearm at the same person. She was issued an appearance ticket.Robert L. Drennen is charged with criminal mischief 3rd. Drennen is accused of causing damage to a residence in the City of Batavia on Dec. 23. He was released on an appearance ticket.

Julie R. Richardson, 31, of Batavia,  is charged with grand larceny 4th, petit larceny, conspiracy 5th and tampering with evidence. Richardson is accused of stealing from a vehicle on South Main Street, Batavia, on Nov. 16. Richardson was arrested after an investigation by Officer Nicole McGinnis.

Andrew A. Crimes, 50, of West Main Street Road,  Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt 1st and aggravated family offense. Crimes is accused of violating an order of protection by contacting the protected party on Dec. 9. He was arraigned in City Court and released.

Deanna L. Yox, 37, of Clifford Street, Buffalo, is charged with petit larceny. Yox is accused of stealing from a business in Batavia in February 2020. She was arrested Dec. 21 following an investigation by officers Felicia Martinez and Wesley Rissinger. Yox was released on an appearance ticket.

Malinda J. Falk, 41, of East Main Street, Batavia, is charged with harassment 2nd and criminal obstruction of breathing/blood circulation. Falk is accused of attacking another individual on Dec. 17 at a location on East Main Street, Batavia. Falk was arraigned in City Court and released on her own recognizance. 

David L. Weaver, 32, of Atlanta, Illinois, is charged with harassment 2nd. Weaver is accused of striking another person during a disturbance on Dec. 10. He was released on an appearance ticket.

Dustin T. Forkell, 31, of Holley, is charged with petit larceny and false impersonation. Forkell is accused of stealing property from a local business on Dec. 11 and fleeing. He was located at another business in the Town of Batavia, at which time he allegedly provided a false name to officers. He was arrested, processed at Batavia PD, and issued an appearance ticket. The incident was investigated by officers Wesly Rissinger and Megan Crossett

An 18-year-old of Washington Avenue, Batavia, is charged with assault 3rd and criminal mischief. An 18-year-old resident is accused of attacking another person on Dec. 14 with an iPad, causing an injury. The youth was arraigned in City Court and released. 

Brittanee J. Hooten, of State Street, in Batavia, was arrested on two bench warrants after having failed to appear on an appearance ticket on prior arrests. Hooten was arraigned on Dec. 14 in City Court and released. 

Karrie A. Morrow, 40, of Summit Street, Batavia, was arrested on several outstanding Bench Warrants. Morrow was arrested on Dec. 14 after she was located during an unrelated incident. The warrants stem from several petit larceny cases at local businesses. Morrow was arraigned in City Court and released under supervision.

Jeffrey M. VanEpps, 45, of Albion, is charged with criminal mischief and attempted assault 3rd. VanEpps was allegedly involved in a disturbance at a business on West Main Street on Dec. 14. He was arraigned in City Court and released.

Jacob A. Richards, 34, of Rochester, is charged with possession of a forged instrument 1st and grand larceny 4th. Richards allegedly passed a forged check at a local bank. He was arraigned in City Court and ordered held on bail.

Terrance L. Falk, 24, of North Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal mischief 4th and assault 3rd. Falk was allegedly involved in a disturbance on an unspecified date in the City of Batavia. After initially fleeing the scene, according to police, he was located and taken into custody without incident. He was arraigned in City Court and released on his own recognizance. 

Byron K. Bell, 53, of Rochester, is charged with criminal possession of stolen property 3rd, aggravated unlicensed operation 3rd and speeding. Bell was stopped on Dec. 11 in the City of Batavia by Officer Josh Girvin and Officer Bryan Moscicki. Bell was allegedly driving a stolen vehicle while on a suspended license. He was arraigned in City Court and jailed.

Harry R. Silliman, 58, of Batavia, is charged with trespass. Silliman was allegedly on property on Maple Street without permission. He was arrested and issued an appearance ticket.

Zakara R. Jackson, age 19, of Trumbull Parkway, Batavia, is charged with bail jumping 2nd and failure to appear. Jackson was arrested on a warrant on Dec. 8 He was arraigned in City Court and released under supervision.

Daquan J. Butler, 26, of Ross Street, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny.  Butler is accused of stealing an iPhone 13 from another person on Ross Street on Dec. 3. He was arraigned in City Court and released.

Raymond Lunday Kelley, of Oak Street, Batavia, is charged with a false written statement. Kelley allegedly provided law enforcement with a false written statement related to an incident reported at Batavia Downs at 11:59 p.m., Dec. 16. He was released on an appearance ticket.

Douglas Wayne Logsdon, 74, of Big Tree Road, Pavilion, is charged with endangering the welfare of a child and harassment 2nd. Logsdon allegedly threw items at a person while a child was present during an incident reported at 5:41 p.m., Dec. 16 at a location on Big Tree Road, Pavilion. Logsdon was arraigned in Town of Pavilion Court and released.

Rachel B. Solomon, 30, of North Lake Road, Pembroke, is charged with criminal contempt 2nd and harassment 2nd. Solomon is accused of violating an order of protection by harassing an individual at 1 p.m. on Dec. 22. She was arraigned in Town of Pembroke Court and ordered held without bail. Solomon is also charged with aggravated criminal contempt, assault 3rd, and endangering the welfare of a child. The charges stem from an incident reported at 2:45 a.m., Jan. 2, at a location on Meadville Road, Tonawanda Indian Reservation. Solomon was jailed pending arraignment.

Joseph Michael Morelli, 54, of Orchard Street, Oakfield, is charged with DWI and driving with a BAC of .08 or greater. Morelli was allegedly found to be intoxicated at 2:02 p.m., Dec. 14, while at the Genesee County Probation Department on Main Street, Batavia, and arrested by Deputy Jonathan Dimming. Morelli was released to a third party on an appearance ticket. 

Adam Joseph Pape, 35, of Morrow Road, Pavilion, is charged with felony DWI, felony driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, aggravated unlicensed operation, driving without an interlock device, and drinking alcohol in a motor vehicle on a public highway. Pape was stopped at 8:11 p.m., Dec. 30, by Deputy Zachary Hoy and released on an appearance ticket.

Nia Hanevin Spring, 23, of Griffin Road, Tonawanda Indian Reservation, is charged with criminal contempt 2nd and grand larceny 4th. Spring was arrested on Dec. 30, processed at the Genesee County Jail, arraigned in Town of Alabama Court, and released under supervision. 

Ronald Charles Inzinna, 54, of Le Roy, is charged with criminal mischief and harassment 2nd. Inzinna is accused of subjecting another person to unwanted physical contact and preventing that person from contacting 9-1-1 during an incident reported at 6 p.m., Dec. 30, at a location on East Main Road, Le Roy.  Inzinna was arraigned in Town of Stafford Court and released on his own recognizance. 

Arthur James Felski, 45, of Tonawanda Indian Reservation, is charged with harassment 2nd. Felski was charged following an investigation into an incident reported at 3:25 p.m., Jan. 1, in Basom. He was arraigned in the Genesee County Centralized Arraignment Court and released on his own recognizance.

Le Roy rang in the New Year with the community's annual First Night celebration, including a fireworks display.

Photos by Nicholas Serrata.

 

 

A Rochester-based attorney for David Bellavia has filed motions to dismiss and seal portions of a federal lawsuit filed against him and Orleans County alleging a conspiracy to deny Bellavia's ex-wife her constitutional rights.

Attorney Donald W. O'Brien's court filings assert that the lawsuit is deficient in proving a conspiracy and was filed in part to make disparaging remarks about Bellavia a matter of public record.

The suit was filed on Nov. 4 on behalf of Deanna Bellavia (known professionally as Deanna King) by attorney Nathan McMurray.  Plaintiffs in the suit include David Bellavia, Orleans County, the Orleans County Sheriff's Office, the Orleans County District Attorney's Office, Investigator Corey Black, and a Sheriff's Office employee listed as "John Doe." 

The suit alleges that Bellavia and Black conspired to arrest King without probable cause and charge her with harassment for contacting Bellavia during their divorce proceedings in 2021.

Bellavia, a former Batavia resident who is originally from Orleans County and has resided there in recent years, received the Medal of Honor in 2019 for his actions during the Battle of Fallujah during the Iraq War.

King, who lives in Batavia, is a radio and TV broadcaster in Rochester.

McMurray has previously sought to represent Genesee County and the surrounding area in Congress. Earlier this year, McMurray filed a suit on behalf of former state senator George Maziarz against Batavia Downs that was subsequently dropped.

The federal lawsuit alleges government officials, acting under the color of law, conspired with Bellavia to have King arrested in order to discredit her during divorce proceedings.  The arrest, according to the suit, violated her rights to be free of unreasonable search and seizure and equal protection under the law.

O'Brien does not dispute that Bellavia filed a complaint against King alleging violations of a court agreement that limited contact between the parties but states that such contacts with law enforcement do not constitute a conspiracy and cites specific case law to support his assertion.

"Assuming these allegations are true, there is nothing sinister in Mr. Bellavia furnishing evidence to the Municipal Defendants upon which they based the harassment charges that resulted in Plaintiff's Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal (ACD)," the motion states. "Mr. Bellavia does not deny that he was the complainant in the underlying criminal case (emphasis retained). However, 'it has long been held that a private party does not become a willful participant by merely invoking the assistance of the police.' DeSantis v. Town of Cheektowaga, 2020 "

In his motions, O'Brien states that McMurray, in drafting the complaint filed in Federal Court, failed to identify a specific section of the United States Code on which King's claim of conspiracy was based.

He also asserts that the plaintiff's claims of a conspiracy are "based on conclusory assertions unsupported by any factual details tending to show, or even raise an inference of, an agreement to deprive Plaintiff of her constitutional rights. Rather, the conspiracy claim against Mr. Bellavia consists entirely of vague and general allegations of a conspiracy and relies upon mere connection and speculation."

To prove a conspiracy, O'Brien asserts, the plaintiff must provide details of a time and place when the conspirators reached an agreement to deny the plaintiff of her rights.  The suit, he states, fails to present such evidence. 

O'Brien is asking the court to strike and seal several paragraphs in the lawsuit as "scandalous and prejudicial" and that the claims in those paragraphs, even if there was any merit to the conspiracy claim, have no relevance to the case.

"Paragraphs 11 through 17 and 19 through 28, however, have no bearing on the single claim against Mr. Bellavia in the Complaint," O'Brien states. "Rather, these highly prejudicial allegations appear to have been included to obtain leverage in this action and to compensate for the absence of any factual allegations to support her conspiracy claims. The truth or falsity of these challenged allegations is immaterial to Plaintiff's claim against Mr. Bellavia. If Plaintiff believes that her claim is somehow enhanced by allegations that these two parties endured a contentious divorce, then Paragraph 18 adequately makes that assertion. The remaining seventeen paragraphs, however, are irrelevant and prejudicial and should be stricken."

A footnote in the motion notes that "Mr. Bellavia is not seeking dismissal of the Plaintiff's third claim for malicious prosecution since it is not directed at him. It should be noted, however, that the Plaintiff's agreement to an Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal means that she cannot establish that the underlying prosecution was terminated in her favor, as she is required to do."

When King's case was dismissed in accordance with her plea agreement in the Town of Ridgeway, the court record was sealed, and the court clerk in Ridgeway has denied there even is a criminal case on file in that court.

O'Brien also asserts that a number of claims made against Bellavia in the lawsuit violate the divorce decree's confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses. 

The divorce was final on Dec. 28, 2021.

"Plaintiff and her counsel were well aware of the restrictions placed on their ability to engage in such unrestrained and harmful public disclosures," O'Brien states.

The Batavian attempted to contact McMurray today for comment and did not get a response. He did not respond when we sought comment for a prior story on the lawsuit.  It should be noted that McMurray has previously indicated he has blocked communication from The Batavian's publisher (see related item).

None of the other defendants in the case have filed responses yet. The federal docket (Pacer account required) indicates all defendants were served prior to Dec. 9.

The filing of the lawsuit against Bellavia and the other defendants coincided with the release of Bellavia's new book, "Remember the Ramrods: An Army Brotherhood in War and Peace."

On Dec. 28, Federal Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy granted Bellavia's "motion for leave to file under seal," which allows O'Brien to file supporting documents from the divorce proceedings for the court's review while keeping the documents sealed. 

McMurray has until Jan. 13 to file a response to the motion to dismiss. A hearing has been scheduled in Federal Court on Jan. 24.

The NYS Thruway Authority has taken exception to reporting by The Batavian that the agency had no plan on Dec. 23 when it closed the portion of the I-90 going through Genesee County to route motorists away from the affected storm area.

In a Dec. 29 story about the response of the Oakfield and Alabama fire departments to rescue travelers, The Batavian reported:

The dangers of the storm were exacerbated by a Thruway Authority that shut down the I-90 with no plan to send travelers on safe routes and with Google and Apple map technology ill-equipped to warn drivers of dangerous weather conditions and send them on routes that would take them around the hazardous roads. 

In another story published that same day, we reported:

As hundreds of travelers learned on Friday, their trip on the Thruway would get abruptly cut off when a travel ban was issued and a large portion of the Thruway closed.

Jessica Mazurowski, public information officer for the Thruway cited both of these stories in an email to The Batavian on Thursday, saying she "wanted to make a few points to you about the storm."

Mazurowski wrote:

It’s unclear who is making this statement -- the paper or the County Manager. However, on Friday, when these people were traveling, and the Thruway closed, no one should’ve been traveling. Travel bans were already in effect in Erie and Genesee Counties, as well as surrounding areas. We close or issue travel bans in direct coordination with state and local entities to ensure everyone is on the same page.

All major media outlets across New York were reporting on this storm days in advance. Erie County and Genesee County both issued travel advisories on Thursday, Dec. 22 and upgraded them to travel bans on Friday, Dec. 23. The Thruway Authority announced the commercial vehicle ban on Thursday, Dec. 22 and began messaging on digital highway signs into Pennsylvania, to the Massachusetts state line and down to New York City. Messaging was also on social media, our website, and our mobile app, not just on the commercial vehicle ban but about the severity of the storm and urging motorists not to drive.   When the full vehicle ban was announced on I-90 from exit 46 to the PA state line, the messaging was on digital highway signs statewide and into PA, on social media and our website, and mobile app.

The Batavian's reporting is based on statements from multiple sources, not just County Manager Matt Landers, that the vast majority of people being rescued or seeking shelter in the homes of residents or warming shelters were from out of state and were forced off the Thruway in Genesee County with no idea of the local travel ban, the looming storm, its location, or the hazardous conditions a storm of this magnitude might manifest.

Our sources include other government officials, volunteer firefighters, tow-truck operators, residents who provided shelter, and some of the motorists themselves.

After receiving her email, The Batavian sent multiple questions to Mazurowski and received no response.

We wanted to know, If the Thruway Authority had prior knowledge of the dangers of the storm, why did it take so long to institute a travel ban?  Were travelers provided enough time to exit the Thruway before reaching the hazard zone?

Why was there no signage or traffic control at the Thruway exits to ensure travelers did not head north of the Thruway once they were in Genesee County?  Or was there signage we don't know about, and travelers just ignored it?

Our story stated the TA had no plan to deal with the unsafe conditions for travelers before dumping motorists off the I-90 onto rural roads.  We wrote to her, "Nothing in your response indicates the TA did, in fact, did have a plan in place to ensure the safety of travelers once they exited the Thruway." 

We noted to Mazurowski that it is unrealistic to expect all travelers to be aware of weather conditions, travel bans, or have familiarity with blizzards and lake effect snow (several sources told The Batavian, in fact, that many travelers had never encountered conditions such as they saw in Oakfield and Alabama on Friday and Saturday).

Motorists and passengers may not have tuned into terrestrial radio or have downloaded the appropriate apps to receive alerts. 

We asked, "Is it reasonable for the TA to assume that ALL travelers were aware of the hazards ahead?  Shouldn't it be foreseeable by the TA that some percentage of travelers will be unaware and unprepared, or engage in a blind unwillingness to listen to good advice?  Shouldn't the TA take precautions to help protect people from their own lack of knowledge and experience?"

We concluded, "So the question remains, what was the TA's plan to route travelers off the i-90 to safe locations?"

We followed up with Mazurowski on Friday and received a response that she was out of the office and to direct any questions to the general email address for the public information office.  We did. And still did not receive answers to these questions.

Once Batavia was able to slow down Merritt Holly, Jr. in the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils were able to pull away from the Oatkan Knights in the large school championship game of Lions Club Pete Arras Memorial Tournament at GCC on Thursday night.

Holly led the tournament in scoring after posting 28 points against Batavia, though he was held to just two field goals in the final quarter.

Le Roy's next highest point total came from Jean Agosto, with eight.

Carter McFollins scored 20 points for Batavia, and Rasheed Christie scored 12.

"I think our ball pressure in the second half was a key factor in that game," said Batavia Head Coach Buddy Brasky. "Merritt Holly is tough to stop and we really emphasized sandwiching him with two defenders and putting ball pressure on the guards, and I think that's what really kind of turned the game in the second half."

Brasky said he's proud of the effort of his team.

"They're playing hard, but we've got a long way to go," Brasky said.

McFollins was named the tournament MVP.

Also on the all-tournament team for the large school division were Jamel Johnson, Jr., of Roy Hart, Agosto, Holly, Batavia's Ja'vin McFollins, and Christie.

Photos by Howard Owens

Down 42-35 after three quarters, the deficit put the fight back in the Irish, spurring Notre Dame to a 29-point fourth quarter and a 64-55 win over Oakfield-Alabama in the small schools championship game of the Lions Pete Arras Memorial Basketball Tournament at GCC on Thursday night.

Scoring for Notre Dame:

• Jay Antinore, 19 points
• Hayden Groff, 15 points
• Jimmy Fanara, 13 points

For the Hornets: 

• Kyle Porter, 18 points, 10 rebounds
• Colton Yasses, 9 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists
• Brayden Smith, 8 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists

Photos by Kristin Smith.  For more, click here.

Tow truck operators don't get a lot of media attention.  They show up at an accident scene and might get in a few news photos as they hook up disabled vehicles to haul away, but they never get credit for helping to clear the roadway so traffic can flow again.

During Winter Storm Elliott, the county's tow truck operators were as essential as anybody else in getting people back on the road, and for saving stranded motorists.

And it was hard, hazardous work, some of them told The Batavian during interviews the past couple of days.

"I'm only 27," said Chad Dickinson of Dickinson Auto and Towing in Batavia. "I've never seen anything like this before, these blizzard conditions.  It was very treacherous at times, kind of scary at some points."

For Jacob Gross and Greg Lyons, who were joined in the effort by their boss, Cameron Selapack of L&L Transmission and Towing, there were aspects of the work that were just another day at the office. They found stuck cars and wenched them out and then either watched the owners drive off or brought the cars back to the shop or other safe location for storage.

"We're kind of used to it," Gross said. "But nobody should have been out on those roads. It was quite out of the ordinary."

It was bizarre at times, said Steve Grice, towing operations manager at Dan's Tire.

There were drivers in sandals, drivers with no phones, drivers who left the house with no charger and only a 20 percent charge on their phones, drivers low on gas, and drivers who put getting from one place to another a higher priority than themselves or their families, he said.

"I came across one guy, and I said, 'Sir, I'm gonna get you guys out because you are trapped in your vehicle, but why aren't you home with your family?" Grice recalled. "He said, 'Well, we need to get to the Christmas party.' I said, 'Your lives are at stake here. You need to get home.' And his wife leaned over, and she goes, 'thank you.' We pulled them out, and they went on their way."

Grice encountered a lot of people from Canada, such as the family in the story above, as well as other states.  As has been noted by county officials, most of these people wound up on Genesee County's backcountry roads because the Thruway closed, and they were following GPS maps.

"You wouldn't believe the number of people who said, 'Well, Siri said to go this way,'" Grice said. "I don't think Siri knows what's going on inside your car, you know? I mean, it's like you've got to look at the weather. You've got to know where you're going."

Gross and Lyons said they were surprised by how many people were out on the roads in the midst of a travel ban.

"We're hooking somebody up, and people continue driving by trying to get from Point A to Point B or wherever they were going, even though there was a travel ban," Lyons said.

"We even saw people out walking," Gross added.

You know things are bad when tow truck operators got stuck, and that's what happened to Grice and a member of his team on Friday.  

The Thruway Authority had asked Dan's to send a truck eastbound to check on some vehicles because they couldn't be reached from the west.  When the driver was ready to return to Batavia, he got stuck, so Grice drove out to retrieve him. He became stuck. They were out there until 10 the next morning until a truck from the Thruway authority helped them get moving again.

Grice said he had a lot of sympathy for the people who got stranded in their vehicles, and there was no way for search and rescue teams to get to them for hours.

"It was mentally just exhausting," Grice said. "And just sitting there thinking about the other people that were trapped out there and how people couldn't get to them. It was just a feeling of helplessness that was just overwhelming, you know, and it just was terrible."

Dan's ran three trucks with five crew members on Friday night, and when things cleared a bit on Friday, they had five trucks out.

Dickinson had four flatbeds and two wreckers running.

L&L had three trucks out.

The Batavian didn't have time to reach out to the other tow truck companies in the county, but they were all involved in vehicle recovery efforts throughout the event.

Winter Storm Elliott is a couple of days of work Grice said he won't soon forget.

"It was amazing," he said. "Some of the cars we pulled out, you open the hood and the engine bays were just packed. They looked like big ice cubes in there. It was just amazing. With some of the cars, the snow had gotten in around the door jams and filled them with snow. It was quite a sight to be seen."

Gross and Lyons won't forget it, either.

"Nothing compares to this one," Gross said. "This one was kind of crazy."

All photos courtesy Steve Grice/Dan's Tire.

Heading out on one of his search and rescue missions during the blizzard on Friday, Joshua Finn said he had two fears.

That they would find somebody dead in a car.  

Or that he wouldn't make it home, himself.

He came close to both tragic outcomes, he thought, around 1 a.m. on Saturday when he and another volunteer firefighter from Oakfield came across a pickup truck stuck on Judge Road. Its flashers were barely flashing, so he knew it had been there a long time. The battery was nearly dead.  Inside, they found a 60-year-old man and his 27-year-old daughter.

"They were both hypothermic, and they were completely saturated," Finn said. "The snow was blowing through the cracks in the vehicle."

With great effort, Finn, another EMT and other volunteers got them out of the pickup and into a rescue truck and started the drive back to the Oakfield Fire Hall. It was a scary trip, he said. They weren't sure they would make it back in zero visibility conditions.

"Colin and I couldn't get the interior dome lights to shut off because the door button was frozen," Finn said. "We couldn't see much because there was a light inside the cab. We had to have the windows down to look out the windows to drive. Colin says, 'Finn, go left, Finn, go right,' and we're going at one mile an hour. I got frost nip on my ears from because all I had was my firefighting hood. I was shivering by the time we got back with them."

Miraculously -- County Manager Matt Landers has called it a Christmas miracle -- there are no known fatalities in Genesee County as a result of Winter Storm Elliott, which hit the area with a ferocity unknown since 1977.

A perfect storm
The dangers of the storm were exacerbated by a Thruway Authority that shut down the I-90 with no plan to send travelers on safe routes and with Google and Apple map technology ill-equipped to warn drivers of dangerous weather conditions and send them on routes that would take them around the hazardous roads. 

Landers observed during the storm that in a situation that might have otherwise involved a handful of local people getting trapped on snow-covered roads, there were hundreds of cars that got stuck.

More than 700 people, most of them not from New York, wound up in one of 11 warming centers, and it's unclear how many others were taken in by residents who opened their doors when strangers came knocking during the storm.

The task of rescuing motorists fell to quickly assembled teams of deputies, highway crews, and volunteer firefighters.

And with winds over 35 mph and temperatures well below zero, and a forecast of storm conditions persisting for at least 48 hours, search and rescue teams didn't have the luxury of waiting until daylight or until the weather cleared.  They had to head out in the dead of night with the resources available.

Gary Patnode is both the deputy emergency management coordinator for Genesee County and the Chief of the Alabama Volunteer Fire Department.  He was right in the thick of it when the storm hit.

He praised dispatchers for helping triage stranded motorists.

Those with full gas tanks were told to keep their engines running and wait unless they could see a house nearby they could safely get to.  When they had less than a quarter tank of gas or a medical condition, they became a priority to rescue.

Among the medical conditions being reported -- "trouble breathing." 

Patnode found that understandable. You're out there not knowing how, when, or if you will be rescued.

"I think that was a direct result of anxiety, you know, from being in an unfamiliar area, it's pitch black out because there are no streetlights out there, and that snow is blowing," Patnode said.

"Every car, every window that we cleaned off, I just held my breath, you know, hoping that I didn't find a body in there," Patnode said. "That was the big thing."

It takes a village
While the brunt of the storm fell on Oakfield and Alabama, and volunteer departments in those communities had a total of more than 30 volunteers participate in search and rescue operations, nearly every department in the county sent either personnel or equipment, and usually both, such as Le Roy, Alexander, and Bethany, to the northwest quadrant to help out, along with Genesee Snopackers.

On the paid side of responders, there were Sheriff's deputies, personnel from Orleans and Livingston counties, State Police, State Parks, the Department of Environmental Conservation, and Batavia city police and fire departments.

In Oakfield and Alabama, community residents also pitched in, either by offering shelter, delivering supplies, moving snow, or cooking meals. The Oakfield Fire Hall became a warming shelter and housed several dozen people during the storm. There were so many travelers emotionally affected by the storm and being stranded that Downing took their phone numbers to follow up with them after they returned to their homes.

"We are still contacting them to find out how they're doing and that they're okay, you know, checking on their mental health," Downing said. "It's traumatizing for a lot of these people to be stranded and then have to be rescued. We want to make sure that they're okay."

During the weekend, stranded travelers also needed to be fed, so the community fed them.  One firefighter's wife baked her Christmas ham and brought it in.  Wives and girlfriends showed up to make breakfast.  Meals and supplies were delivered from Batavia. H.P. Hood donated dairy products. 

At one point, Oakfield Fire Chief Sean Downing was worried about being able to feed all these people for a couple of days and soon, he realized the community was taking care of it.

When Downing had to get home to check on his wife, Jeremy Yasses plowed his driveway so he could park.  Another community resident made sure the driveways of other volunteers were cleared so they could easily drop in and check on their families.

"People would come up to us and go, 'Oh, if I could just brush my teeth,'" Downing recalled. "then William Sturgeon thought to himself, he says, 'You know what, I have kids. We go to the dentist and they always give us toothpaste and toothbrushes, and dental floss,' so he ran home, which wasn't far from the Fire Hall, and came back with about 20 toothbrushes and the people were ecstatic that they could at least brush their teeth."

It's the little things, Downing said, that make a big difference.

"They say that it takes a village," said Downing.  "Well, it's more than the village. It was the entire town and village of Oakfield that was calling and coming together and getting us whatever we needed to be able to take care of these people. They understood what was going on and what we were going through, and they wanted to make sure that any little bit that they could do, they did."

The department had hosted a Christmas party for its members a couple of days before the storm, and there were still wrapped presents for children under the tree, so the kids at the shelter had Christmas presents to open.

Saving lives
The children were kept in the department's second-floor rec room. Downing wanted to shield them from any potential life-saving situations in the main bay of the fire hall.

"I think we had a total of three or four hypothermic patients throughout the event," Downing said. "The one gentleman that Josh was talking about was our first patient, and the medics came up to me at one time and said, 'We do not think, based on what we're seeing on the monitors and whatnot, and what we're talking about, he may not make it. But again, he pulled through. Once he warmed up, everything started to change for him. He was one of our first patients in the building, and he was the last one to leave our building after the event."

To treat hypothermic patients in a field-hospital situation, medics stripped them of all their cold, wet clothes and wrapped them in blankets.  A couple of firefighters' wives kept supplying warm blankets from the department's clothes dryer. 

Finn doesn't remember where he had seen it done before or where he got the idea from, but he suggested taking hand-warming packets and taping them to IV bags, so the fluid being given to patients was warmed.

While there were "official" warming shelters at fire halls -- such as Indian Falls, besides Oakfield, and schools, such as Elba -- there were several unofficial warming shelters, such as Alabama Hotel.  Grace Baptist Church in Batavia also opened as a warming shelter. Patnode listed off five or six homes that took in six, seven, and eight stranded travelers and one resident on Macomber Road had at least 50 people sheltering in his garage. 

"It was just remarkable how the community came together," Patnode said. "You know, even for us as an organization, when you're working with a volunteer fire department, there are so many different personalities, and everybody just sets that stuff aside and just works together."

---

See also: Stranded travelers offered a warm home and holiday hospitality by Oakfield couple

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Gratitude
There was no shortage of gratitude among the travelers who were rescued. 

Downing noted that many of the department's guests pitched in and helped, cleaning up, shoveling snow, moving supplies as needed.

The boldest gesture of gratitude perhaps came from the first woman Finn rescued.

On Friday, as the storm began to roll in, he decided he couldn't stay at his job in Batavia. He had to get home to his family and his community.

As he drove toward Oakfield, he heard a call for a stuck vehicle with a woman finding it difficult to breathe.  He told dispatchers to keep the ambulance in Batavia, where it couldn't get stuck, while he checked it out.

He found a woman from Canada, with her daughter, having a panic attack.

He told her not to worry.  He told her to follow him to Oakfield, where there was a warming shelter.

He said the drive on Route 63 was difficult. The whiteout conditions were disorienting, and at one point, he went off the road and became stuck in a ditch himself.  

"You didn't know what was up or down," Finn said. "At one point, I was going two miles an hour, and I ended up in a ditch. The only reason why I got out, and it's no joke, I swear to God, I think what saved my life was a deputy named Richard Schildwaster came along with his truck and got me out."

When they got to the hall, the woman from Canada wanted to thank Finn in a big way. She offered him a piece of jewelry.

"She kept saying you saved my life," Finn said. "You guys, you saved my life. She tried to give me this 24-karat gold ring and put it in my hand and would not take it back and I'm like, 'I can't. I can't. This is what we do. I'm not taking your ring.'

"She was, 'you have to.' I'm like, 'It's okay. I didn't do anything. I just had you follow me.' I'm like, 'I can't take this from you.' And she's like, 'You have to.'

"So I dialed my wife. I said, 'talk to my wife' because my wife was not happy that I left Batavia to come to Oakfield, and I didn't tell her what I was doing until I got to the village, and I said, 'I'm in Oakfield. Don't be mad.' So I was like, 'Here, talk to my wife.'

"I don't even know what conversation they had, but it settled down my wife."

Submitted photos.  Top photo: Justin Cooper, Tera Williams, Joshua Finn, Chief Sean Downing, Assistant Chief Chad Williams, Buck Hilchey

Near whiteout conditions outside Alabama Hotel.

Sheriff's patrols and the Snopacker's groomer clearing roads and checking vehicles along the roadway. Oakfield Chief Sean Downing noted that one convoy that started out on South Pearl in Oakfield during the height of the blizzard Saturday morning took five hours to reach the Indian Falls Fire Hall.

A Mercy EMS ambulance broke down in Oakfield at the start of the storm, stranding its medics, which turned out to be a blessing for the warming shelter at the Fire Hall, with trained medical personnel on hand during the storm event.

Josh Finn and K-9 Frankie in a search and rescue convoy.  Finn and another medic joined the convoys so that if somebody needed medical attention, there was somebody on scene with the training to provide an evaluation.

Photo by Frank Capuano.

Outside the Jerome Center. Photo by Carrie Lawrence.

A chimney fire is reported at 1279 Indian Falls Road, Pembroke.

No flames show but there is smoke in the residence.

Pembroke Fire, Indian Falls Fire, and Corfu Fire dispatched.

UPDATE 3:12 p.m.: Crittenden asked to standby in Corfu's hall to standby for anything in Corfu, Pembroke, or Indian Falls.

UPDATE 3:16 p.m.: National Grid requested to the scene to cut power.

UPDATE 3:19 p.m. Tankers from Darien and Alabama requested to the scene.

UPDATE 3:26 p.m.: "It looks like we're getting a knock on the fire."  Crews are pulling exterior walls to check for extension.

UPDATE 3:38 p.m.: Red Cross shelter requested for two adults.

UPDATE 3:49 p.m.: Fire is out. Starting overhaul.

A semi-truck has reportedly taken down wires in the area of 17 School St., Batavia.

The driver is still in the truck.

City Fire is on scene.

UPDATE 1:59 p.m.: National Grid and phone company requested to the scene.

UPDATE 2:12 p.m.: No electrical lines. "National Grid is not involved. Lots of phone lines and lots of cable lines."  City Fire is clearing.

A two-vehicle accident is reported at Knowlesville and Lewiston roads in Alabama.

Three people with possible injuries, including a child with a nose injury.

Alabama Fire and Mercy EMS dispatched. Oakfield asked to respond mutual aid.

UPDATE 1:44 p.m.: Oakfield fire police requested to Lewiston and Lockport Road.

UPDATE 1:45 p.m.: There is a pickup truck with a fuel leak.

UPDATE 1:53 p.m.: A chief on scene asks dispatch to check on the availability of Mercy Flight.

UPDATE 1:54 p.m.: Mercy Flight out of Olean is would be a 40-minute ETA so the patient will use ground transport.  Also, code enforcement requested to the scene.

The Batavia Blue Devils beat Roy-Hart 77-41 at GCC on Tuesday to win their open-round game in the annual Lions Tournament.

Ja'vin McFollins scored 17 points, Rasheed Christie, 16, and Sawyer Siverling, 13.

Batavia will play Le Roy for the large school crown on Thursday at 8 p.m.  Notre Dame and Oakfield-Alabama will face off for the small school trophy at 6:30 p.m.  Both games are being played at GCC.

Notre Dame beat Medina in its opening-round game of the Lion's Tournament at GCC on Tuesday, 67-37.

No stats are available for the game.

Photos by Pete Welker.

In the second game, Oakfield-Alabama will advance to the small-school championship game at GCC tomorrow after beating Elba in the Lion's Tournament, 69-39.

For the Hornets:

• Kyle Porter, 21 points
• Brayden Smith, 14 points, 7 assists
• Colton Yasses, 10 points, 8 rebounds

For the Lancers:

• Connor Scott, 9 points
• Jake Walczak, 10 points
• Angelo Penna, 7 points

O-A is now 5-1 and Elba is 3-4.

"I was proud of the effort of the boys tonight, especially on the defensive end," said Head Coach Ryan Stehlar. "We had a tough matchup against a well-coached league team in Elba and had to be ready to go early.  I was proud of our bench for stepping up when we needed them, as well.  Overall, it was a good team win."

Photos by Kristin Smith. For more, click here.

This is a story that should be told in black and white, like an old Hollywood screen gem about a Christmas miracle, the small town banding together against adverse conditions, saving a bunch of strangers from some dread uncertain fate as the winds howled and the snow blew on a moonless night.

But you won't find this story on Turner Classic Movies. 

This story doesn't star Jimmy Stewart.

This is the story of the Town of Alabama responding to an unexpected crisis caused by an epic storm, some unplanned turns prompted by current technology and a few broad assumptions travelers made about what to anticipate down the road.

The central characters are Joe Bradt, Brian Kotarski, Craig Alexander, and Bonnie Woodward, along with a supporting cast of rescue crews and of Alabama residents who donated blankets, air mattresses and toys to help about 140 people from all over North America who found themselves stranded in their small town during the most powerful blizzard to hit Western New York since 1977.

Our setting is a wood-framed, two-story building that has provided warmth, comfort, and perhaps a few libations to weary travelers for 182 years. That's why it's still called the Alabama Hotel.

That word hotel might explain why, when motorists found they could go no further in the midst of Winter Storm Elliott, they came to the intersection of Lewiston Road and Alleghany Road seeking shelter.

That's where they found Bradt willing to open the door to all who knocked.

"I would say that 80 percent of the people that walked through the front door, the first question was, 'Do you have any rooms around?' And I'm like, 'We're not really a hotel. We're a restaurant, but come in, let us feed you and let us keep you warm,'" Bradt said.

I'll Be Home for Christmas
Friday was supposed to be a regular work day for Bradt, Alabama Hotel owner Bonnie Woodward, and the rest of the staff, except that it would be the last day before closing for the week for Christmas and New Year's.

Bradt, the restaurant's general manager, got a call from Woodward as he drove to work on Friday morning. She wanted to discuss the forecast. She asked Bradt, "what are your thoughts?"

"I said, 'Man, I don't know. You know, last time, they weren't right about the forecast, but it doesn't sound like they're playing around.'"

For the safety of their employees, Woodward and Bradt decided to keep the doors closed on Friday and reopen as planned on Jan. 4, so Bradt continued on to work and proceed to secure the building and supplies for the planned closure.

When he was done, "I loaded up the Jeep with my Christmas dinner and Bonnie's Christmas dinner, which I was going to drop off at her house, and left here about 12:30. I didn't get a quarter mile up the road, and there was no visibility. The roads were completely covered, and there was already an accident right here. 

"I immediately turned around and said the safest place I can be is here for now. You know, I'll just wait it out here. No sooner did I put the key in the back door and unlock the back door than people were knocking on the front door. That didn't stop for two days."

The weather outside was vicious.  Heavy, lake-effect snow blown around by 35 mph winds with 70 mph gusts. The roads were no place for anybody in any type of vehicle, let alone people unfamiliar with the area in sedans, minivans and luxury SUVs. 

But when the Thruway authority decided to close the I-90 with no plan to direct travelers to safe routes, and Google and Apple proving incapable of warning drivers of hazardous conditions ahead, drivers who plotted Canada into their smartphones did what Siri or Googlebot told them to do: hop on Route 63 or Route 77 and head toward Niagara County.  Right into the worst of the blizzard.

They didn't get far.

Buffeted by high winds and snow moving vertically across their windshields, drivers couldn't see the end of their hoods, let alone the roadway, and motorists became stranded up and down the state highways (if this were a black and white movie, we would mention "hood ornament" and cut to a shiny chrome object weaving through a field of white while trombones honk ominous tones).

Holiday Inn
Some made it on their own as far as Lewiston and Alleghany. Others were brought there by rescue teams or area residents. All of them were a lot better off sheltered from the elements with hot meals and warm blankets.

Shortly after Bradt opened the doors to all who showed up on the restaurant's front porch, he was joined by Brian Kotarski, who lives just a bit more than a mile down the road but thought that as long as his wife and small children had power, they were safe, and he wouldn't necessarily be safe if he tried to make it home, and his friend Joe and all these people at the Alabama Hotel needed help.

Kotarski has no training in the hospitality industry. None. Nada.  He owns a construction company.

"I've never cooked," Kotarski said. "Never. I've always been on the other side of the bar or in the dining room. It was definitely a new experience, you know, cooking on the grill and serving at the bar. You know, I've never done that before."

But he quickly became Bradt's right-hand man.

They were joined by Craig Alexander, the co-owner of Holly Farms, the small grocery store across the street famous for its meat counter.

For the next 48 hours, the three of them led the effort to keep all of the unexpected visitors well nourished.

Bradt said they started off with a buffet of chicken and biscuits because that was something that could be put out quickly and was an easy self-serve meal, giving them time to plan their next move. 

They made chili for dinner, another easy meal.

"We didn't sleep over that whole 48 hours," Bradt said. "When everybody settled down that first night, we dimmed the lights at probably 11 o'clock  and Brian and I walked in the kitchen and were like, 'hey, what's next?' And next is breakfast. And we're like, what do we have? So we started going through the freezer. We pulled 20 pounds of bacon, 20 pounds of sausage, Brian stood over the grill and made 350 pancakes.  When these guys got up between six and seven, we had the buffet set up."

There was no worry about supplies, Bradt said. Not only was the restaurant well stocked, but with Alexander's help, there was a ready pantry of meal ingredients less than 50 yards away.

"He didn't even think twice," Bradt said. "Like, 'what are we going to eat next?' 'Roast beef.' 'I'll be right back,' and he goes next door and comes back with 40 pounds of roast beef. Those guys were a godsend to us."

Alexander is on the quiet side, and when interviewed, he said he was happy to help and "it was a fine Christmas."

It's a Wonderful Life
Everybody that made it to Alabama Hotel signed in so there would be a record of who was safe in case somebody wanted to go looking for them.  Looking at that list, Bradt notes, "there are people from Canada, New Jersey, Niagara Falls, LA, Toronto, Ohio, Delaware; there's a few from Shelby and Oakfield and Lancaster, but 75 percent of the people that were here were from out of the state."

There was never a thought about charging these travelers for lodging, such as it was, or food.

Bradt doesn't have an exact estimate of how much serving all those people, all that food, cost the restaurant. He's told national media outlets -- yes, the Alabama Hotel's Christmas hospitality has become national news -- it cost about $5,000. He said the price is somewhere between $4,000 and $6,000. But who's counting?

The lodging consisted of people pulling chairs together to sleep on, or sleeping on the floor or finding space upstairs.  Families with kids got the somewhat remodeled rooms upstairs, including the ones with a couple of couches.

Blankets and air mattresses came courtesy of a few of the residents in the hamlet.

"One lady down the street, she put on her snowsuit, she grabbed two sleds out of her garage, and she strapped totes and bags of blankets and air mattresses to them," Bradt said. "She literally came with flashlights on her forehead, trudging through the blizzard right up to our front door and was like, 'Here's some supplies.' That continued on for the whole two days. Just random people walking here with supplies."

When travelers didn't have blankets, they grabbed eight-foot long table cloths.

"I've never seen so many people from so many different nationalities in one place," Bradt said. "And all they cared about was each other. There was no politics. There was no arguing. There was no fighting. It was just, 'how do I help the person next to me?'"

Kotarski added, "It's pretty humbling to have that many people, no arguments. If somebody needs something, somebody figured it out."

There were two Canadian families with teenagers who became the bus and wait staff.

"They pitched in as if they knew me and Joe forever," Kotarski said. "They were washing dishes, cleaning up out here. I mean, there was one burden we didn't have to worry about. They catered to everybody. They made coffee the whole time, tea the whole time."

Bradt interjected, "The only time they came to us was to ask, 'where is this? Where is more toilet paper? Where is more coffee?'"

If you've followed the story this far, you may have noticed the meals being prepared were pretty heavy on meat -- chicken and beef. That's our next plot complication. In a group of travelers, not everybody is going to eat animals.

That soon became another problem that solved itself.

"Somebody came up and said, 'We're from Canada, and we're Indian, and we are vegetarians,' Bradt said. "And I'm like, I am not a chef. I'm not sure what to make. So we opened the salad bar. They're saying, 'Hey, what do you have for vegetarian options? And I said, 'What I have is I have a lot of ingredients.' And they were like, 'do you mind if we come back there and cook?'  It was absolutely mindblowing. Mindblowing."

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
When Christmas Eve rolled around, Bradt mentioned to an Alabama resident that they had 10 kids in the group.  Pretty soon, people were showing up with wrapped presents, wrapped toys, so the kids would have something to open on Christmas morning.

Woodward didn't venture from her home during the storm, but Bradt stayed in contact and let her know what was going on, and on Christmas Eve, he wondered what he should do for their patrons.

"I called her at about 4:30, and I said, 'Listen, we've served chicken and biscuits. We've served chili. We've served pizza. We've served wings, breakfasts, roast beef, I mean, you name it, we served it.' I said, 'Well, how do we make Christmas Eve special for 115 people that are here together? And she said, 'I want you to walk out to our walk-in cooler and I want you to take out the 60 pounds of prime rib that is in there. I want you to make a prime rib dinner.'"

So that's what Bradt did.

"We didn't just make prime rib and throw it out there," Bradt said. "We made it special. We served them. I stood right there at the end of the table and carved the prime rib as each person came up, and the first thing they did was stop and take a photograph. Everything we did, there was clapping and excitement, and we just really made the best of it, you know, absolutely made the best of it. It's definitely a Christmas that none of us -- that none of them -- will ever forget."

At about 3:30 in the morning on Christmas Day, Bradt ventured out and could see things were starting to clear up, and he knew that pretty soon it would be time for him and all these people who had bonded over meals at the Alabama Hotel to head home.

In the morning, Bradt started giving people a ride in his Jeep to the travel center, to Oakfield-Alabama, to side roads, wherever their cars were parked. When he dropped them off, they would try to stuff money in his pockets. He would refuse but they would persist.

"I got home and started talking to my family, and I was like, 'oh, yeah,' so I started emptying my pockets out onto the dining room table."

He counted $1,700.

There was another $300 left in the restaurant's tip jar.

"I called Bonnie, and I'm like, 'this isn't my money,' Bradt said. "This money is coming back to the restaurant, and we're gonna find a way to use it. On the way here today, I was thinking, 'You know what, maybe we use some of that money to go out and buy 100 blankets, you know, and set up upstairs so we can be prepared.' Hopefully, we never need them."

Then his thought shifted.

"It's been a very, very humbling, very humbling experience. These are the times when you figure out who your friends are and who's got your back."

And that's how the story ends, it seems, with more than 100 holiday travelers who passed through a small town in Upstate New York on Friday and Saturday to find out that total strangers can be their friends just when they might need them the most.

Photos: Inset photo of Joe Bradt and Brian Kotarski by Howard Owens. All other photos courtesy of Alabama Hotel.

A message left on a social media post by Alabama Hotel.

Merritt Holly, Jr., unloaded on Attica for 27 points on Tuesday evening in the opening game of the 2022 Lions Tournament at GCC to lead Le Roy to a 48-30 win over Attica.

Jean Agosto scored 12 points for the Oatkan Knights.

Cole Harding scored 18 points for the Blue Devils.

Other opening-round games today:

• Elba vs. Oakfield-Alabama (started at 5:15 p.m.)
• Medina vs. Notre Dame (started at 6:30 p.m.)
• Roy-Hart vs. Batavia (starts at 8 p.m.)

On Thursday, the small school championship game is at 6:30 p.m. and the large school championship game is at 8 p.m.  Both games are being played at GCC.

To view or purchase photos, click here.

Photos by Steve Ognibene

The Batavian was out in Oakfield and Alabama today for follow-up stories for Winter Storm Elliott (watch for more coverage over the next day or so) and we stopped a few times for storm-related photos along Judge Road (Route 63).

Above, a snow-covered residence at Judge and Wight roads, Alabama.

Photos by Howard Owens.

A motor vehicle accident with possible injuries is reported in the area of 7914 Lewiston Road, Batavia, which is just south of Galloway Road.

Town of Batavia Fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.

UPDATE 6:50 p.m.: Both lanes are blocked.

UPDATE 6:51 p.m.: No injuries.

UPDATE 7:09 p.m.: Fire police are stopping traffic.  "We just had one blow through. An orange Jeep." "Yeah, they're not going anywhere."