Amanda Coggiola submitted these photos of a bald eagle at the Tonawanda Creek off South Main Street Road, Batavia.
She said, "My kids and I saw this eagle at our house this morning. They asked if I could send the pictures to you because we know sometimes you post the pics on your website. Merry Christmas: Amanda, Ben, Lilly, and Jake Coggiola"
Funeral home owner Michael S. Tomaszewski, arrested in July after an investigation that uncovered multiple incidences of potential fraud, was arraigned in Genesee County Court today on more than 200 counts of grand larceny, falsifying business records, offering a false instrument in filing, scheme to defraud, and failure to deposit.
As he did when first arrested and arraigned in Town of Batavia Court, Tomaszewski entered a not guilty plea.
Tomaszewski waived his right to have a grand jury review the evidence against him and potentially issue indictments against him. He was arraigned on what's known as Superior Court Information (SCI) that lays out all the charges in the same form as a grand jury indictment.
It is 101 pages long.
Tomaszewski is accused of taking money people used to prepay for funerals and instead of depositing the money in appreciate bank accounts then using the money for other purposes.
The SCI indicates the majority of customers lost from more than $2,000 up to $15,500 each.
The charges include: 67 counts of third-degree grand larceny; 28 counts of fourth-degree grand larceny; four counts of falsifying business records; 93 counts of failure to deposit; seven counts of petit larceny; and counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree; and scheme to defraud.
During the virtual arraignment today, the attorneys discussed the possibility of reaching a plea deal within the next six weeks.
Tomaszewski remains released from custody on his own recognizance. His next scheduled court appearance, which will also be virtual, is 1:30 p.m., Feb. 2.
Alecia Kaus/Video News Service contributed to this report.
Previously:
A 52-year-old Batavia man already previously convicted on child pornography charges has been indicted once again in Federal Court.
Matthew Barber is charged with receipt and possession of child pornography, which carries a minimum mandatory penalty of 15 years in federal prison.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office of Western New York was previously convicted in 2007 and was sentenced in 2007 to 74 months in federal prison. He was given five years of supervised release but he failed a sex offender treatment program.
Barber reportedly had a job in Batavia. He was dismissed after allegedly placing a USB flash drive into a work computer. He May, he was charged locally with unauthorized use of a computer.
As a condition of his parole, Barber was required to notify NYS Parole if he was terminated from employment. That day, U.S. Probation and NYS Parole searched his residence and seized a cellular phone and a flash drive.
According to the U.S. Attorney's office, investigators found 1,100 images and 40 videos of child pornography on the drive. Several hundred other images and 200 videos were allegedly found on the phone.
Barber was arraigned today in Federal Court.
The indictment is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Stephen Belongia; the Cheektowaga Police Department, under the direction of Chief Michael Sliwinski; and the Batavia Police Department, under the direction of Chief Shawn Heubusch.
Genesee County's unemployment rate was 4.6 percent in November, still a percentage point higher than a year ago, but a bit better than it was with October's 5.0 percent rate.
There are 27,000 county residents with jobs. There were 28,400 a year ago in November and 26,800 in October of this year.
There are 1,300 people actively seeking employment compared to 1,100 a year ago and 1,300 last month.
President Donald Trump, in the final month of his one term, issued 15 pardons today, including a pardon for former NY-27 congressional representative Chris Collins, who entered a guilty plea more than a year ago to federal crimes stemming from insider trading activity.
Collins also admitted to lying to the FBI about using information that wasn't available to the public about Innate Immunotherapy to tip his son and other associates that led them to dump stock in the company before news of a failed trial reached other investors.
Even while under federal indictment for the crimes, Collins ran for reelection and won.
Collins was the first member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump for president in 2016 and served on the transition team after Trump beat Hillary Clinton.
The second member of Congress to endorse Trump was Duncan Hunter Jr., of El Cajon, Calif. Hunter was also convicted of federal crimes related to his misuse of campaign donations for his personal benefit. Today, Trump also pardoned Hunter.
Photo: File photo: Collins, with his wife standing beside him, at a press conference in August 2018 when he denied the insider trading charges that had been filed against him that day in New York City.
John Spyropoulos spotted a pair of bald eagles feasting on a deer carcass this morning along the Tonawanda Creek along South Main Street in Batavia. He submitted this photo where you can see one of the eagles at the top of a tree.
Mark Ryan, 65, a partner in the Washington office of the Mayer Brown law firm and a leader in its global antitrust and competition practice, died Nov. 30 at a medical center in Lewes, Del. The cause was complications following heart surgery, said Stacey Berkowitz, a spokeswoman for the law firm.
Mr. Ryan, a resident of Chevy Chase, Md., was born in Batavia, N.Y. In 1981 he joined the legal staff of Mayer Brown’s Washington office, where he later became managing partner. From 2012 until 2015, he was director of litigation for the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, then returned to the firm. He was a coach of boys and girls athletic teams at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Washington. (Source: Washington Post)
A motor-vehicle accident is reported at Lewiston Road and West Main Street, Batavia.
Town of Batavia fire and State Police are on scene.
Mercy EMS dispatched.
At least two vehicles involved and traffic is blocked.
Chris Crocker submitted this photo taken on South Main Street in Batavia of geese lounging on the Tonawanda Creek.
In a Zoom press conference with reporters from throughout the region this morning, Genesee County officials pleaded with residents to try and help bring down the local COVID-19 positivity rate so the state doesn't put us in an Orange Zone, which would mean business closures.
"Our numbers are still," said County Manager Matt Landers. "They're rising to an unacceptable level, and it is very concerning to myself, to Legislative Chair (Shelly) Stein and Paul (Pettit, public health director), because we know what an Orange and a Red (Zone) does to a community. We know that it will negatively impact our businesses, and that's the last thing we want to see."
The seven-day rolling positivity rate for Genesee County is 9.2 percent. The 14-day rate is 8.3. That puts the county dangerously close to another lockdown order.
Landers noted that local residents, when going to bars, restaurants and local retail establishments they are doing a good job of following CDC guidelines: keeping their distance and wearing masks as directed. However, most of the local positivity rate is being driven by social gatherings on private property.
The contact tracing health workers do when a new positive case is identified is revealing a strong trend, Pettit said. People are going to private gatherings and getting infected. The secondary trend more prevalent recently is people coming home and infecting another member of the household.
"There's a lot of effort, a lot of communication going out, but ultimately, we need people to know, it comes down to choices and what people choose to do," Pettit said. "And, you know, we're asking folks to choose to try to minimize, and really from our perspective, do not get involved or not go to any nonessential gatherings that you don't have to."
Stein also asked people to be more cautious in the choices they make.
"Unfortunately, we have to step up our vigilance even more, cautious as the temptation is for gatherings, as it becomes stronger during Christmas and New Year's right around the corner," Stein said. "We cannot relax our social distancing to have our normal gatherings. At the same time, I don't want to be sending mixed messages, but Christmas and the holidays are important for our local businesses who are already suffering. Please, please take the proper precautions as you go about your shopping, practice, safety protocols, shop online locally if possible, be mindful of every action that you take."
There is light at the end of the tunnel, Petit noted. One COVID-19 vaccine has arrived and another is nearing approval for distribution. Even so, it will take months to get enough people vaccinated to make a difference. In the meantime, the message remains the same: follow the guidelines.
As local media reports the rising number of COVID-19 cases, there are still people on social media who try to downplay the critical nature of the current surge of identified coronavirus cases.
We asked Pettit about some of these common myths and misconceptions.
What about the flu? How come we never hear about the flu?
"The flu is obviously a concern, right? I mean, we have flu season every year," Pettit said. "Flu is different than COVID. They're not the same thing. There's a lot of comments and conversation around there that it's just the flu or they're not reporting flu numbers. We've had a very comprehensive flu tracking system for a long time. Flu is starting to pick up. People can go on the state's Department of Health website and actually look and see a number of confirmed flu cases all across the state.
"We do have flu cases locally. It's not widespread yet, so obviously every year we get a declaration from the commissioner of health at some point when flu is pervasive and widespread through New York State, and that's the official start of flu season."
Pettit also noted that just like there are some people with COVID-19 who don't get tested, it's common for people with the flu not to get tested so you can't really compare COVID cases, which is more frequently confirmed during this pandemic, than flu cases.
What about the false positives?
"I can tell you that all of our positives we report in Genessee and Orleans county are positive for the case that there's a confirmed lab test that shows they're positive," Pettit said. "When you look at the tests that are being done for confirmation purposes. Again, the PCR test is a lab-based molecular test, the sensitivity, and the specificity. So that confirmed positive. ... We're pretty comfortable and confident that our positive cases are positive cases.
"There is a chance of more false negatives with some of these rapid tests particularly. They're not quite as good, but most of them are around 93 to 95 percent accurate on the negative side."
Aren't other diseases are getting reported as COVID-19 positive case?
"We're not mixing up diseases," Pettit said. "We're not reporting flu as COVID. They're completely different viruses. There are different tests that detect the virus. So there really is no mix-up. I mean, we're specifically testing for specific diseases."
There are only 220 active cases in a population of 57,000. Aren't we overreacting?
"The big deal is, and again, I'm gonna go back to what I talked about earlier, the hospitalization rates in our most vulnerable folks to go with a high positivity rate. The big deal is we don't want to see anybody die if we don't have to -- if we can prevent it. ... If you look at positivity in cases, the viral load in our community, the better chance we can have of not impacting one of these folks that may be higher at risk.
"The more positives we have in our community, the more activity, the number of active cases that just tells us it's a snapshot of look under the hood, that we have a lot of transmission going on and that transmission's based on behavior. Sometimes we can't pick and choose who gets exposed to that. Ultimately, the goal is to try to get that lower. We want to see less active cases. We want to see a lower positivity rate."
There are COVID-19 patients from Rochester at UMMC. Isn't that contributing to our higher numbers?
Pettit said it's true that there are Monroe County residents being treated at UMMC. There are also Genesee County patients being treated in Monroe County. The 24 people currently listed as hospitalized are Genesee County residents, regardless of where they are currently located and no Monroe County residents are included in that number.
What about Batavia Downs? Why is it open?
"When it comes to businesses, again, we're following the state's guidelines on who can be open and when they can be open and what capacity they can be open at," Pettit said. "Obviously, when you get into different zones or reductions of different sizes and gatherings, essential nonessential services. Ultimately, when it comes to any of these types of areas, the most important things people look at are their risk, their potential exposure, and how COVID may play out for them personally. But any of the businesses that are open currently are operating at whatever the governor in the state has deemed appropriate and safe for them to operate.
"Ultimately there's risk wherever we're going out, which is why it's important to continue to remember, to mask in the distance and stay home if you're sick. So ultimately, we're not dictating locally what businesses are open or closed. It's all done through the state guidelines. And that's been that way since last spring."
And we asked Pettit address the oft-repeated phrase: "Don't live in fear."
"I don't think we should live in fear," Pettit said. "I've never been a proponent of living in fear, but I do believe we need to have respect. It's about respecting the virus. It's about respecting what the virus can do to not only us, but our loved ones and those in our community. And it's about respecting each other. And ultimately, as we've said many times, we are in this together, whether we like it or not. We are in this as a community and we need to respect each other's feelings and positions on things and ultimately do our best to come together during this time to get us through the finish line."
Yesterday, the first members of UMMC's staff received the COVID-19 vaccine.
The video was shot by Rochester Regional Health staff and edited by Howard Owens.
Le Roy's varsity girls swimming team hosted Notre Dame for their season and home opener on Thursday, winning 102-74.
Highlights:
Information and photos by Tim McArdle
Press release:
Sunday is the inaugural "Bob's Christmas Car Day" created in honor of Bob Zeagler, who used to decorate his Jeep Wrangler in different themes for each holiday throughout the year with a special effort for Christmas.
The event is being organized on Facebook by a group of local residents.
Zeagler died in November 2016.
Residents are encouraged to decorate their car in a "Bob-inspired" way and drive around Batavia starting at 4 p.m. For those who want to be part of a group of cars, there will be a starting point at Ficarella's Pizzeria on Liberty Street in Batavia. It appears some of the details, such as routes, are still being worked out. Check the Facebook group for more information and updates.
Photo by Steve Ognibene.
The OHMS Band recorded The Band's Christmas Must Be Tonight and asked us to post it for you.
A two-vehicle accident is reported at South Lake Road and Telephone in Pavilion.
The accident is blocking and injuries are reported.
Pavilion fire is responding. Pavilion requests a Le Roy ambulance emergency, an ALS ambulance emergency, and a BLS ambulance, nonemergency (ALS: advanced life support; BLS: basic life support).
UPDATE 7:33 p.m.: There are a total of four ambulances responding.
UPDATE 7:33 p.m.: There is no entrapment.
A fully involved garage fire is reported at 590 Main Road, Pembroke.
The detached garage is about 50 feet from the residence and has multiple cars in it.
The residence has been evacuated of people and pets.
Pembroke fire, Indian Falls fire, and the City's fast team dispatched.
UPDATE 5:38 a.m.: A second alarm requested. Alabama fire, Town of Batavia fire, Corfu fire, Darien fire, requested to the scene. Route 5 is being closed between the county line and just east of the Pembroke Fire Hall.
UPDATE 5:47 a.m.: Firefighters have two lines on the garage and the fire is knocked down. The house was not involved though some vinyl melted. Alabama is being diverted from the fire to a fill in at Indian Falls Fire Hall.
UPDATE 5:53 a.m.: State Department of Transportation requested to standby. The road will need to be salted after the fire response is completed.
UPDATE 5:54 a.m.: The garage is all metal. "We're going to need to pull it apart to get it out," a chief reports. The house is fine and "all cooled down." Minimal damage to one vinyl window.
UPDATE 5:58 a.m.: Town Highway is responding in about 45 minutes for the icy road. "Perfect timing," a chief responds.
UPDATE 6 a.m.: Alabama did have a tanker responding to the scene. It can go back in service. Darien fire can go back in service.
UPDATE 6:15 a.m.: Town of Batavia and City Fire Engine 11 can go back in service.
UPDATE 7:22 a.m.: East Pembroke is back in service.
The Western New York Gas & Steam Association held a drive thru County Christmas Light Display, along with a drive-thru food court last night at their property in Alexander.
Saturday night was packed with vehicles -- socially distanced of course -- wending their way through the displays.
This will be also held this coming Friday and Saturday, too, Dec. 18 and 19, from 5 to 9 p.m. both nights. Admission is $10 a vehicle.
Expect to take a half-mile ride through their grounds and enjoy thousands of Christmas lights and unique/ amazing displays.
And purchase some carnival-type food that you may have missed this summer. How does Italian sausage, Philly cheesesteaks, French fries, funnel cakes, deep-fried cookies, and cotton candy sound? Only naming a few there will be much more -- all served drive thru!
It's a COVID-19 friendly fundraiser for WNY Gas & Steam Engine Association -- maybe the start of a new holiday tradition.
Enter at 3000 Walker Road, Alexander, just off Route 20.
For more details visit www.alexandersteamshow.com.
A three-vehicle accident, unknown injuries, is reported at West Main Street and Wortendyke Road, Batavia.
East Pembroke fire and Mercy EMS responding.
A deputy just arriving on scene reports a large debris field.
UPDATE (By Billie) 11:42 a.m.: This accident involved a car and a pickup truck. The third vehicle referred to initially was that of a witness to the accident. An older female driver was making a left onto Wortendyke from West Main Street Road and said she did not see the oncoming pickup truck. She was shaken up by the collision and being evaluated by medics at the scene. The pickup driver was not injured. The East Pembroke assignment is back in service.
There isn't much to change in Batavia PD policy, members of Batavia Police Stakeholders Group indicated at their bimonthly meeting on Thursday but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be a change in the relationship between the department and the community.
There should be more communication, less misunderstanding, and more personal interaction between police officers and members of the Black community so that both police officers and members of the community see each other as people and not just numbers and uniforms.
The stakeholder's group was formed in response to an executive order signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo instructing every municipality with a police department to open a community dialogue about police policies, procedures and practices in an effort to reduce the incidences of police brutality.
There seems to be unanimous agreement on the committee that police brutality isn't an issue in Batavia. Chief Shawn Heubusch was praised for his presentation of the previous meetings outlining police department policies and procedures that already address proper police officer conduct.
No votes were taken, nothing committed being part of the final report that will go to the governor's office after being approved by the City Council, but there was an apparent agreement that some sort of ongoing focus group that would bring to light the concerns of Black residents about police conduct would be formed.
Committee member Anibal Soler Jr., superintendent of Batavia City Schools, said such a focus, however, needs to be constructed in a way that members of the Black community would feel safe to discuss issues. A police presence in the group might chill speech, he indicated.
Nathan Varland, Batavia Housing Authority director, referenced comments made earlier by Brandon Armstrong, a local business owner, and said perhaps a list of such concerns should be made so they can be addressed. He suggested the wider Black community be surveyed to gather other examples.
What Armstrong discussed was the perception -- if not the practice -- of Black residents being pulled over for minor traffic law infractions.
"We have to look at what's happening to people of color here in Batavia," Armstrong said. "It's not on the surface. There are just things that are used against us. There is a certain law, I think it's obstruction of view, if having something hanging from your rearview mirror. I've been pulled over for that for a Glade air freshener. It is illegal, but are they pulling over every single person who has a handicapped or air freshener thing on their rearview mirror? See, those things are used to target people of color to pull them over, to see what they have going on."
He said he's hearing from people visiting his barbershop that the latest tactic is people not using their signal within 50 feet of making a turn.
"People aren't looking at those but I know because I can ride down the street and within two minutes I can see about four people with something hanging from their rearview mirrors and they're not being pulled over," Armstrong said. "You see what I'm saying?"
In response to comments made early in the discussion by Raelene Christian about police being vilified and attacked, Greg Munroe said people misunderstand the concerns Black citizens have about the police.
"We have to stay on task," Munroe said. "Defunding the police does not mean we're not going to have a police department. It doesn't mean that at all. It's just defunding is a scary word. I understand but it's not. What it means is very simple. There are mental health issues that primarily happen in the Black community. Black people are targeted. It seems like they are targeted because they seem not to be understood. If the defunding, or whatever word you want to use, take that and help the police get more resources on how to deal with different situations, so things like what happens in the country do not happen."
There is a lot of misunderstanding, Victor Thomas said, about what Black concerns are about police.
"I just wanted to touch on what Greg was saying about Blacks being misunderstood," Thomas said. "I think that's a big part of it. The police brutality in Batavia doesn't happen as much as the Black people being misunderstood in Batavia."
Matt Wojtaszczyk, a detective with Batavia PD but on the committee representing the Batavia Police Benevolent Association, told members police officers want to know how to do their jobs better and connect better with community members.
"Whenever someone asks us to do an event, we really try to make an effort to do so," Wojtaszczyk said. "What else can we do? What are some other ideas out there? What else can we do to reach our minority communities? What can we do better? Tell us, because I think we really want to. We truly do."
Thomas's answer was: Get to know people.
"It's really a personal thing that has to happen between the Blacks and the police officers," Thomas said. "The police have to show these Blacks that they're not just a number in Batavia. They're not just a sentence getting ready to get slapped down on a judge's desk and sent up the road for years. The Black community feels that way deeply in Batavia."
It's that kind of distrust, Soler noted, that would make a focus group that included police officers potentially less productive. However, he said, both Blacks and police officers, as well as community members, need to work on themselves as well, educate themselves about each other. He suggested a number of documentaries and books both sides could watch or read.
Both Munroe and Soler noted it was kind of eye-opening to hear Heubusch talk at the first meeting about the arrest process and the fact that when a police officer tells someone they're under arrest, the conversation is over. It's time to comply with the officer's orders.
Munroe said he's had the same conversation with members of the Black community since that meeting and they all the same response he had, that they didn't know that.
"One thing that I learned from the chief was, man, once a police officer tells you those things, game over, you have to comply," Soler said. "Once you're told you are being put under arrest, that's it. Our community doesn't understand it. That's work we've got to do in our community of color. Once the police officer's -- 'I'm now placing you under arrest. You can't go. 'Now, wait a minute. Let's talk about it.' It's already too late. To Raelene's point, then you've got to go to court and go through through the process.
"We don't get taught that. We're taught, you know, 'I'm going to fight. I'm going to keep fighting until I can get my say. Then it becomes that we've put our officers sometimes in these really tough positions. But I just want to make sure that our police officers are really checking their own implicit bias in terms of trying to keep themselves educated, trying to understand some of these stories and narratives."
The topic of implicit bias came up several times during the evening's discussion.
The open dialogue started with Christian raising the issue of police being attacked in recent years.
"I'm also concerned with minorities and how they're treated as well," Christian said. "I'm also concerned about how everyone is treated as a whole. But who I'm really concerned with a lot of times as our police officers, they're being vilified. They're being shot execution-style.
In a long opening remark, she added, "The mainstream media doesn't tell you about all the unarmed white men that are shot. It happens. And I'm not saying it's right. And what happened to George Floyd, let me just be clear, was egregious. It was disgusting and despicable. And our police officers, most of them, I would say 99 percent of them agree with what happened to George Floyd was despicable and a disgrace. And Derek Chauvin, the police officer, did that, killed him. And I know he killed him because he did. He deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail and prison period. But I also feel like our police, they're being vilified and our police are being brutalized. Molotov cocktails are being thrown at them. They're being shot at. They're being shot execution-style, and there's no provocation for that. "
Later she added, "There's a broader picture here that, you know, yes, we can address police brutality. Does it happen? Yes. And is it going to continue to happen? Yes."
Her remarks elicited a calm response from several other committee members, among the more pointed from Director of Mental Health Service Lynda Battaglia, "I want to say to that -- this is the entire point of this meeting. It is the entire point of the executive order to end police brutality, so to say. Will it continue? Yes. Is unacceptable. It has to stop."
Munroe said, "This group was put together because of police brutality, period."
After addressing Christian directly, Soler said, "The reality is an implicit bias that many people who don't have a choice of how they look every morning when they wake up (deal with). I think Victor made a good point. Police choose to wear a blue uniform that, you know, historically has been designed to keep order and guidance in a community. Black people just wake up. Unfortunately, their communities are often the most targeted for patrols, for a variety of things to do, commingle with socioeconomic status. And so some of the comments that were made show your implicit bias. You don't really realize it."
W/hen next she had a chance to speak, Christian told Soler she wasn't biased and she took exception to being judged.
Soler apologized.
"I just want to be real quick and apologize again," Soler said. "If you think I was passing judgment, I was just more commenting on the overall feedback that was provided. So I apologize if you think I made a judgment. You're right, I don't know you. I was just trying to comment on this. I want to make sure we're clear that I'm not judging you at all. I just wanted to point out implicit bias is not something you necessarily know you have. That's why it's implicit."
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