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Timothy Freeman Edgerton, whose distinguished life as a citizen of Genesee County included winning a Golden Gloves championship in 1977 in Texas, died at age 62 at home in Oakfield on May 7.

He is the last known boxer with roots in Batavia to have won a championship.

His obituary was released today.

Edgerton was born Aug. 6, 1960 in Batavia. He graduated from Byron-Bergen and attended GCC for a year. He then transferred to Sam Houston State University in Texas, where he majored in Criminal Justice.

As a youth, Edgerton was captivated by boxing stories of his uncle Norman, who once battled for a Golden Gloves title and lost. In 1976, he took boxing lessons in Rochester. He was unable to get on a Golden Gloves card in Buffalo -- for some reason, the only names drawn were all Buffalo residents, so he hung up his gloves for a little bit.

He moved to Houston, and while there, he decided to try again to compete for a Golden Glove title.  While signing up, he was recruited by a boxing team, Cut and Shoot, Texas.

They were a few boxers short for the team, Edgerton told The Batavian in 2013 in an exclusive interview. They could provide people to work his corner. That way, Ederton got help, and if he scores any points, the Cut and Shoot team gets the points.

That sounded like a fair deal, Edgerton said.

"Of course, they had no idea what my skill level was," Ederton said. "They just went into it blind, kind of like I went with them blind."

From The Batavian's 2013 story: 

Then this man from Cut and Shoot, Texas, had another proposal for the 174-pound fighter.

"The guy says, 'What would you think about fighting as a heavyweight?' and I said, 'Are you kidding me?' "

Edgerton would be giving up at least 25 pounds to every fighter he faced.

"You'll be giving up a lot of weight, but you're quick, you're fast," the man said. "Jab and move, stay away from them, try to score some points. Your chances are better as a heavyweight. I know some of the kids in the lightweight division. They're really good. I don't know you, but that's the best I can offer."

Edgerton and Lettie talked it over. The man, whom Edgerton still didn't know from a fence post, seemed to know what he was talking about.

After winning the preliminary bouts, Edgerton was facing a man 45 pounds heavier in the finals.

"He had had to go 220, maybe 225 pounds," Edgerton said. "He was bigger. He was taller. And I won. I don't know how. Maybe out of fear. But I was able to take it to him pretty good.

"It did work out where he was bigger and stronger, but he was slower," Edgerton added. "I could outmaneuver his punches, you know, duck. A couple of times, he swung, and I could just literally feel the air rush overhead. If he ever hit me, I would have been gone. They would have been carrying me out."

The fight went all three rounds, and for a moment, Edgerton thought he could score a knockout.

"In the third round, I almost had enough to put him down," Edgerton said. "He was stumbling back into the ropes, but I didn't have enough.

"In my corner, they yelled out, 'stick and move, stick and move, you got the fight won, just stick and move,' so that's what I did," Edgerton added. "I got on the bicycle, and started sticking, moving, moving, sticking. He couldn't catch me. He was tired. I was in better shape, thank God, and I ended up winning."

With the victory, Edgerton won his Golden Gloves title, and as a heavyweight. Those points also put the team from Cut and Shoot, Texas, over the top for a team championship.

That was Edgerton's last fight. He finished with a career record of 19-6.

Edgerton married Lettie, whom he met in Texas. 

He wanted to return home, but couldn't land a crime-fighting job in Genesee County. He went to work for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, living in Detroit for a while.

Eventually, the job brought him back to Batavia

In 1993, he developed Operation Child Intercept, which has been adopted nationwide, to combat the illicit transportation of missing and abducted children across the international borders into the U.S.

Edgerton served on the Oakfield-Alabama Central School District board for 15 years and was an advocate for student rights, improved school nutrition, and diversity and inclusion. He also served as President and a key member of the Elementary Community School Organization (ECSO), where he helped bring skating parties, winter carnivals, public speakers, and countless other special events to the students and larger community each year.

In Girls Softball on Friday, the Alexander Trojans kept their season going with a 20-5 win over East Rochester.

Freshman Ava Yax, along with Sophomores Faith Goodenbury and Brianna Neyman, led Alexander at the plate as the three hits each for a combined 9-11 on the day. 

Ava Yax was 3-4, with four RBIs, two runs scored, and two stolen bases, while Faith Goodenbury was 3-3 with a two-RBI double, one run scored and one stolen base and Brianna Neyman was 3-4 with a double, two RBIs and one run scored. Madison Boyce, Melissa Sawyer, and Carley Shepard all contributed with Multi-hits games.  Emily Pietrzykowski extended her hitting streak to 13 games with a triple to right center. The 17 team hits pushed Alexander over 200 team hits on the year. 

Madison Boyce picked up her sixth win (6-2) on the bump with another dominant performance where the hurler tossed six innings, allowing five hits, one earned run,  and one walk. She whiffed 11 batters.  It was her fourth double-digit strikeout outing of the year and brought her strikeout total to 86 through nine starts.

Next up for Alexander (#5 seed) is the Section V Quarterfinal matchup with Oakfield (#4 seed) on Monday at 5 p.m. in Oakfield.

“The girls did a great job in the box again today," said Head Coach John Goodenbury. "Any game that your team can come out and get 17 hits while your pitcher tallies double-digit strikeouts is going to be a good day.  Today was nice for the girls, but we all know what lies ahead of us Monday with Oakfield.  We will try to focus on the game at hand, but we all had Oakfield on our minds today. That’s going to be a fun game, and they did beat us twice this season by one run each time, so we just want to go in there, play solid defense and let the chips fall where they fall. We’ve had a fantastic season so far, and we just don’t want it to end.”

Submitted information. Photos by Cathy Sawyer.

Batavia Players premier A Cabaret Showcase: Opposites Attract at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Main St. 56 Theater in City Centre, Batavia.

The show is a smorgasbord of songs showcasing true opposites -- love and hate, dead and alive, in and out, big and small, and more.  All of the songs come from popular Broadway shows.

The show goes on again at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. 

Tickets are $18 for adults and $16 for seniors and students.

Photos by Howard Owens.

In response to a possible plan by New York City Mayor Eric Adams to relocate undocumented migrants from New York City to Upstate New York, Genesee County has issued an emergency declaration banning the acceptance of immigrants from out of the county for at least five days.

The ban was effective at noon today, County Manager Matt Landers told The Batavian's Joanne Beck.

UPDATES coming.

UPDATE: State of Emergency to stop immigrants from landing on county's doorstep

The latest attempt by Scott F. Doll to get his 2010 conviction for murder overturned has failed to persuade another judge and his appeal based on what his attorney claimed was new evidence has been denied.

Attorney Michael S. Deal, from the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, filed a motion to overturn the conviction earlier this year. A hearing on his motion was heard by Judge Sanford A. Church on March 10.

Deal argued that he had uncovered new evidence related to the failure of the Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office to collect fingernail scrapings from Doll's victim, Joseph Benaquist, and new DNA tests of people who might have had access to the murder scene should lead to Doll's conviction being overturned and a new trial granted.

Church ruled that the defendant did not present a factual assertion that the two pieces of "newly discovered evidence" could not have been available for the 2010 trial. 

"As discussed below, a sound defense trial strategy could have been to avoid further scientific testing and emphasizing the prosecution's failure to test some evidence," Church wrote. "The defense was aware, for example, of the drops of blood on the victim's boot before trial and that it had not be subjected to DNA profiling. All they had to do was ask that it be tested."

The defense could have also asked that fingernail scrapings be tested.  If the defense had made the request, the attorneys would have learned that clippings and scrapings had not been collected.

As for a bit of third-party DNA found on the victim's boot, that evidence could have been available at trial, Sanford said. There were photographs available to the defense that showed a possible bloodstain on the victim's boot.  The defense, he said, could have insisted that the bloodstain be tested.

Prior court rulings have found that for evidence to be considered "new" in an appeal, it must be evidence that could not have been discovered by the defense through diligence. 

It's also not readily apparent that the DNA comparisons would change the outcome of the trial, Sanford ruled.

For these reasons, Doll has failed to prove that his "new evidence" could not have been discovered before trial.

Church, an Orleans County judge, heard the appeal because Genesee County Court Judge Melissa Lightcap Cianfrini formerly worked for the Genesee County District Attorney's Office and had been involved in prior appeals, so she had a conflict of interest.

Doll was sentenced to 15 years to life for the 2009 murder of Benaquist. He has consistently maintained his innocence since his arrest.

On the night of Feb. 16, 2009, Doll was found walking in Pembroke in blood-soaked clothing by a deputy and questioned.  Due to the suspicious nature of his appearance and a van he identified himself as operating earlier in the evening, he was questioned by investigators who feared there was a seriously hurt or dead person in the area.  Those emergency circumstances allowed investigators wide leeway in questioning Doll and searching for a possible victim. Several hours later, Benaquist's badly beaten body was found in the driveway of his home in Pembroke.

Benaquist and Doll, a prison guard, had been partners in a used car business.

For all of The Batavian's prior coverage of Scott Doll, click here.

Press release:

Yesterday at the Genesee County Office For The Aging, “Quilts of Valor” were presented to three local Veterans. A Quilt of Valor is a quality, handmade quilt awarded to a Service Member or Veteran who has been touched by war. AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP Volunteers in the OFA Quilt Group made and presented the Quilts to Robert Swanson, David Dumuhosky, and Wilbur Easton.

Submitted photos.

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Reader Jeremy McClellan spotted the Goodyear Blimp flying over the Genesee County Park on Wednesday afternoon.  It is apparently in the Rochester area for the PGA tournament.

A controlled burn at 7833 Walker Road, Pavilion, is now reportedly out of control and spreading toward a barn.

The fire is about 20 feet from the structure.

Pavilion Fire dispatched.

The spring burn ban has been lifted, but the National Weather Service has an advisory for dry and windy conditions in place warning of elevated fire danger.

UPDATE 4:22 p.m.: Le Roy Fire asked to standby in the Le Roy hall.

The Alexander Girls Softball team capped a winning season on Tuesday, beating rivals Attica in Attica. 

Alexander was down 5-0 until an eight-run fourth gave them the lead 8-5.  

Attica tied the game in the fifth at eight.  Both teams added a run in the sixth to tie it again at nine.  With one out in the top of the eighth inning, Madison Boyce delivered the knockout blow for Alexander when she tripled to right field and later scored the go-ahead and winning run.  

Emily Pietrzykowski nailed the win by retiring the side in order in the eighth to notch her sixth win of the season. She allowed eight hits, three earned runs, delivered four walks and whiffed seven Attica hitters. 

Alexander finished the regular season with a 12-6 record and potentially locking up the fifth seed for sectionals just behind potential fourth seed Oakfield in Class C1.

Pietrzykowski lead Alexander's batting, going 4-5 with two triples, two RBIs, two stolen bases and one run scored.  Melissa Sawyer was 2-5 with an RBI and a run scored.  Maddison Boyce was 2-5 with a triple and two runs scored.

“We started out this game flat and made three errors that lead to three runs for them right away," said Coach John Goodenbury. "They tacked on two runs with Robinsons' long ball, and we found ourselves in a 5-0 hole going into the fourth.  I told the girls they could make a choice right then, in the moments before we went up to hit.  They could choose to just lay down and lose or get in the box and fight like heck for it.  What I told them landed, and they made their choice to fight for it as they exploded for eight runs.  It was a loud and intense finish, at the end of the game, every girl in our starting lineup came away with at least one hit, proving that we can overcome adversity if we have faith, dig deep and play for each other.  I’ve said it before, we have a young team with talent and heart, and when it mattered most, they chose to fight and showed again what the future for Alexander softball holds."

Photos by Cathy Sawyer.

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Strong winds, no fire hydrants, and the ongoing shortage of volunteer firefighters made today's barn fire in Darien a bit more challenging to fight, said Tim Yaeger, emergency management coordinator for Genesee County.

The fire was reported at about 8:30 a.m. at 2044 Sumner Road, Darien, a 9.4-acre residential parcel owned by David Keller that contained multiple barns and other out structures, all mostly built in the 1950s and 1960s.

Yaeger said an investigation found that the source of the fire was a fire started by the homeowners to the southwest of the barn that caught fire.  Yaeger said the wind changed direction, and embers flew into the barn causing combustible items in the barn to catch fire.

The barn was in disrepair, Yaeger said, and damage to the west side of the barn exposed the interior to the flying embers.

The fire spread and expanded quickly because of the wind, Yaeger said.

There were no injuries, either to residents or firefighters, Yaeger said.  There were no livestock or domestic animals involved in the fire.

Darien Fire was initially dispatched to the fire (follow the link for more photos).

Multiple tankers for surrounding departments, including Corfu, East Pembroke, and Alexander, were dispatched.  The tankers were necessary, Yaeger said, because that part of Darien does not have public water, and there are no fire hydrants in the area.

The need for tankers increases the need for volunteer firefighters, and those are in short supply at the start of a weekday workday, so getting enough manpower to the scene today was an issue, Yaeger said.

Darien Fire, in particular, has been dealing recently with a lack of volunteers.

The lack of volunteers, he said, again illustrates the crisis situation for local fire companies.

"It's still a real concern of mine," Yaeger said. "I applaud the City of Batavia Fire Department for being a real partner with us.  We've got to do something to increase the number of volunteers."

He said a lot of volunteers are aging out, and many who are showing up have been volunteers for 30, 40, or even 50 years, and they do what they can.

"They're still proud of their service to their communities, but we need a new message to bring out younger volunteers to join their ranks," Yaeger said.

Still, even with the challenges, the fire departments on scene were able to have half of a secondary structure that caught fire, as well as the rest of the structures on the property, including the house.

"The house wasn't damaged at all," Yaeger said.

Vincent S. Kovach is indicted on five counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, a Class D felony, and two counts unlawful purchase of body armor, a Class A misdemeanor. Kovach is accused of possessing an AR-15 pistol, serial number 21004302, on April 21 in the Town of Le Roy that was semiautomatic with the ability to accept a detachable magazine and the capacity to accept ammunition magazines that attach to the pistol outside the pistol grip. The pistol also allegedly had the capability to accept a barrel extender, flash suppressor, forward handgrip, or silencer, and a shroud that would allow a person to hold the barrel of the gun without being burned, that had a manufactured weight of fifty or more ounces while unloaded, and of being a version of an automatic rifle. He is accused of possessing two pieces of body armor, one from May 2022 to April and the other from January to April.

Andrew W. Taylor is indicted on counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, a Class E felony, and petit larceny, a Class A misdemeanor. Taylor is accused of filing a false business document at Pawn King in Batavia on Nov. 21.  He was allegedly attempting to pawn a an item he stole, an Oral B Pro 500 and WaterPik water flosser.

A two-car motor vehicle accident is reported at Richmond and Oak, Batavia.

Minor injuries reported.

A deputy on scene reports a patient with chest pain and "shook up."  A dump truck may be involved.

City Fire and Mercy EMS responding.