Tracy Zakes found this friendly lost chap up by the U.S. Gypsum Co. plant in Oakfield during the rainstorm today. Tracy took him home and dried him off and is keeping him safe.
If this guy is your pal, call Tracy at (585) 507-6054.
The Firing Pin hosted a “22 to None Fun Run” in support Mission 22, an organization dedicated to assisting veterans in getting treatment when they need it most.
The event included a 2.2K fun run, raffles, food and beer.
“I have personally lost seven friends that I was deployed with to veteran suicide,” said Patrick Kimball, TFP Advanced Training director and combat veteran. “Together, we can help our veterans get the help they deserve before it’s too late.”
A Le Roy PD officer is in a foot pursuit of a dirt bike rider in a quarry off of Circular Hill Road in Le Roy.
The rider failed to yield when the officer tried to make a traffic stop.
Deputies are arriving on scene to assist in the search for the rider.
UPDATE 3:16 p.m.: A deputy is with a dirt bike on Gulf Road. Unclear if it's directly related to the previous report or if there is a rider with this bike.
UPDATE 3:20 p.m.: It sounds like at least one person is detained.
First the Blue Devils lost Josh Barber then they suffered a lopsided upset at Honeoye Falls-Lima the next week, but last night they bounced back for a convincing 44-7 win at home against Geneva.
"Last week, obviously, it was our first game without Josh Barber," said Head Coach Brennan Briggs. "You know it's kind of the shell shock a little bit. We didn't have that MIC linebacker-guard in there. And you know that's a tough toll for a high school kid to deal with. I think it was still we were a little bit shell shocked.
"They punched us to the mouth last Friday and we didn't respond but I think we found ourselves this week. We got some pieces in place, moved some guys up, and everybody played for the name on the front the jersey tonight and they were willing to sacrifice whatever it took to win for the name on the front of the jersey and I'm just proud of these guys."
Terez Smith was the offensive star of the night going for 276 yards on 22 carries. He scored three touchdowns. Cody Burns added two touchdowns on 16 carries for 126 yards.
Jesse Reinhart took over at quarterback, with Alex Rood moving to fullback, and was four of seven passing for 72 yards and a touchdown.
Rood caught three passes for 66 yards and a TD. He also had 29 yards on five carries.
On defense, Burns had seven tackles. Matt Beach and Cam White each had four tackles and Beach also forced a fumble and had a fumble recovery.
Near the end of the game, Kam Culver took over at running back and had four carries for 40 yards.
In other Friday night action:
Notre Dame beat Clyde-Savannah 34-12. Gabe Macdonald rushed for 231 yards on 16 carries and he scored twice. He had 25 reception yards and on defense had an interception and six tackles. Jed Reese carried the ball 20 times for 157 yards and two TDs. He had six tackles. Mark Sanders had an interception and a 25-yard kick return for a TD. Dakota Sica led ND with; 13 tackles; Mason Randall had eight tackles and a sack.
Alexander 24 beat York/Pavilion 0.
Cal-Mum/Byron-Bergen won 47-0 over Mynderse/South Seneca. Bryce Yockel had 160 yards on 14 carries and scored on the ground three times. Joey Laursen was 11 of 23 passing and connected on two TD receptions. Adam O’Donoghue had a 66-yard pick-six.
Le Roy's game against Avon was moved to Saturday night.
In eight-man football, Oakfield-Alabama/Elba beat Frewsburg 66-14.
Photos by Steve Ognibene.
To view or purchase photos, click here.
An ATV accident with possible serious injuries is reported on a trail across from 9932 Seward Road, Alexander.
Alexander fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.
UPDATE 12:48 a.m.: A landing zone is being set up for Mercy Flight.
UPDATE 2:45 a.m.: The patient was transported to ECMC via Mercy Flight. Her name has not yet been released. An investigator at the scene described her injuries as potentially life-threatening. She is a woman in her 30s who lives in the area but apparently was not familiar with the trail she went down. Deputies have yet to determine if she went down the trail by mistake, thinking it was another trail, or exactly what happened. At this time, investigators believe her ATV hit a chain in the private laneway that was stretched across the trail. The driver was wearing a helmet. She was with another person who was also on an ATV at the time of the accident. The Sheriff's Office will issue a press release with further information sometime this morning.
UPDATE 9:45 a.m.: The operator was Michelle G. Buckenmeyer, 33, of Alexander. She was pronounced dead by the Erie County Medical Examiner's Office at 4:06 a.m. The crash remains under investigation. The investigation is being conducted by Investigator Howard Carlson, Deputy Nicholas Chamoun and Deputy James Stack. Assisting at the scene were members of the Alexander Volunteer Fire Department, Mercy EMS, Mercy Flight and Ron and Newt's Towing Service.
While officials have declined to discuss thus far the specific nature of a threat made on Snapchat overnight that led to the closing of the schools in Le Roy today, Superintendent Merritt Holley did indicate during a press conference this morning that it was more than just the words used in the Snapchat post that caused concern.
"From my end of it right now, I think because we know what the threat was, we know who the person is, I think from that end, this is exactly -- I'm not going to use the word, there's nothing textbook when you get into these, but I think if you have a situation where we have finality to what we know -- I think that's exactly where you want to be, and I think if we could have gotten that, we think about the time frame of where we're trying to get that information and go," Holley said. "I think closing the school today looks very small in the big scheme of things."
A reporter at the press conference suggested that Holley was saying there was more context to the situation than just what was posted on Snapchat and Holley said, "you can interpret that."
Neither Holley nor Le Roy Police Sgt. Emily McNamara would discuss details about the content of the Snapchat post, nor why police and school officials determined the threat should be taken seriously and considered credible.
The school district was alerted at 5 a.m. by a service set up two years ago to field anonymous tips about safety threats at schools, and Holley said he immediately contacted Le Roy PD. By 8 a.m., the Junior-Senior High School student who made the post had been identified.
Holley said both the student and the student's family are cooperating with the police investigation.
The situation is resolved, both Holley and McNamara said, and school activities return to normal on Saturday.
"This was an isolated incident and I really want to emphasize to the community and to the students at the school that we don't believe that there's any cause for any further concerns or alarm," McNamara said.
She said this is still an open investigation and while charges are possible, it's too soon to say what those charges might be.
As a result of the Snapchat posting, both Wolcott School and Le Roy Junior-Senior HS were closed and all school activities, including tonight's football game in Avon, were canceled.
"This is far from a prank," Holley said. "I think with the investigation going on, I don't want to get specifically into what was said and what was put out, but 'credible' is the key term and with any threat in this day and age that we're in right now, any school district, not only here in Le Roy but across the state, across this country, it's our duty and responsibility to look into every possible situation, and we have to do our due diligence and I think we did that in this in this situation."
Jill Pettigrew puts the finishing touches on a sidewalk mural she painted on the walkway leading into the new musical garden in the side yard between the Seymore Place (GO ART!) and the YMCA on East Main Street.
Installation of the musical instruments in the grant-funded musical garden is nearly complete. No word yet on when it will be open to the public.
This afternoon, Sarah and Casey Stockwell install a display for the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce on East Main Street, Downtown Batavia, as part of the Business Improvement District's annual scarecrow contest.
Sarah is in accounting and HR at the Chamber. Steve Falitico, the chamber's membership development director, helped design the display.
Photographer Ray Williams shared these photos with us that he took today at the sand wash at DeWitt Recreation Area in Batavia.
Autumn Miles, a survivor of domestic abuse and an advocate for adoption, was the guest speaker Thursday night at the annual All Babies Cherished banquet at Quality Inn & Suites.
She is the founder of Autumn Miles Ministries, an organization based in Dallas devoted to spiritually challenging the way women think.
Miles covered a range of topics, including her Biblically based pro-life message, saying at one point, "God is pro-life."
All Babies Cherished is a pregnancy center on Ellicott Street in Batavia.
Taken yesterday evening.
Press release from Chief Chris Hayward, Le Roy PD:
The School received a report of a possible threat and we are currently investigating. The School received it early this morning and given the hour, made the decision to close to allow us to try to determine if the threat was credible or not. Given the ongoing investigation, we will not be making anyone available for on-camera interviews.
Via text message this morning, Hayward said there will be a press conference at a time to be determined.
A parent in Le Roy tells The Batavian that her household received a robocall from the school early this morning informing them that both Wolcott School and the Junior-Senior High School were closed for the day and that all after school and extracurricular activities were canceled because of a "credible" threat on SnapChat made last night.
WBTA received a call from the school's athletic director informing them that tonight's football game in Avon in is canceled.
The August unemployment rate for Genesee County was 3.5 percent, according to the state's Department of Labor, up 2/10ths of a percent from the previous August.
While up slightly, it's still well below the recession peak of 7 percent in 2012 and below this year's highest rate of 5 percent in February.
The state reports there are 30,100 local residents in the labor force, unchanged from a year ago.
Also unchanged is the 29,100 people counted as employed year-over-year. (Working the calculation backward to find the difference between a 3.3 percent and a 3.5 percent unemployment rate would yield 1,050 people, approximately, seeking work who haven't found it. The state releases only round numbers for workforce participation).
There was also an uptick in the state's unemployment rate -- from 4.0 percent to 4.2 percent.
The nation's unemployment rate dipped from 3.9 percent to 3.8 percent.
There were 200 few jobs being filled by workers in Genesee County in August, dropping from 23,900 in August 2018 to 23,700 this year. The decrease in 200 jobs was split equally between the private sector and the government.
Reader Brandan Smith submitted this video of hail falling in Bergen.
Batavia also got hit with some thunder and lightning and hail though there was no prior alert from the National Weather Service of a heavy storm passing through the area.
A suspected shoplifter accused of leading police on a high-speed chase from Rochester to Batavia more than a year ago entered a guilty plea to attempted assault in the first degree in Genesee County Court on Wednesday afternoon in exchange for a guaranteed prison term of no more than 10 years.
Andrew A. Said, 49, and a native of Buffalo and a resident of Florida at the time of his arrest Aug. 3, 2018, entered his plea on an Alford basis. That means he would not admit in open court to the underlying events of the charge but acknowledged that if the case went to trial, he would likely be found guilty by a jury.
Said was indicted in May on counts of: attempted aggravated assault upon a police officer; first-degree attempted assault; first-degree reckless endangerment; third-degree criminal mischief; second-degree criminal mischief; unlawfully fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle; driving while ability impaired by drugs; aggravated unlicensed operation in the third degree; reckless driving; operating an unregistered motor vehicle; operating a vehicle without insurance; and uninspected motor vehicle.
The plea satisfies all of the counts, including a count pending in Batavia City Court stemming from an incident in the jail.
In county court yesterday, Said he would only factually admit to being in Batavia and driving a vehicle in Batavia at the date and time specified in the indictment.
As for the rest of the facts of the case, as part of the Alford plea process, First Assistant District Attorney Melissa Cianfrini recited the narrative the prosecution would present to a jury at a trial.
She said Said is accused of driving a 1997 Mercedes into Genesee County sometimes at speeds in excess of 100 mph in a reckless manner that forced some other vehicles, including State Police patrol vehicles, off the roadway.
After Said's Mercedes exited the Thruway in Batavia, Cianfrini said State Police were able to execute a "box-in" maneuver at Exit 47, but Said threw his car into reverse, slamming into a patrol vehicle. Then the defendant is accused of putting the car in drive and accelerating quickly and driving straight toward a Trooper who had exited his vehicle. The action forced the trooper to dive out of the path of the car for his own safety.
Said then led troopers on a high-speed chase over city and town streets, again hitting speeds in excess of 100 mph at times, until he tried to ditch his car at a property on Kelsey Road in the Town of Batavia.
As part of the plea, Said was required to agree to pay restitution to the State of New York to damage to patrol vehicles, which exceeds $7,000. There may also be a claim for restitution from the property owner on Kelsey Road where Said and a passenger were apprehended.
Press release:
The City of Batavia Fire Department’s origin and cause team under the command of Captain Martin Hinz has determined through a systematic process of comparison examination, reconstruction of the fire scene, witness statements and a detailed examination of fire debris the cause of the following incidents in 2019:
- July 4 -- 13 Hutchins St.: Under investigation
- Aug. 26 -- 337 Bank St.: Accidental, cooking related
- Aug. 31 -- 18 East Ave.: Accidental, electrical
- Sept. 17 -- 511 Ellicott St.: Accidental, cooking related
- Sept. 18 -- 11 Garfield Ave.: Accidental, mechanical failure
- Sept. 23 -- 1 City Center (Island Hawaiian Grill): Accidental, spontaneous combustion
Chief Stefano Napolitano commends Captain Hinz and the other members of the investigation team for their dedication and diligence in determining the origin and cause of these fires.
The process of investigating is never easy, however, it is imperative that a determination is made so as to bring closure as well as enhance the possibility of not repeating the cause if possible.
The City of Batavia Fire Department was assisted in part by City of Batavia Police and the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control.
Tuesday, at the fairgrounds, more than 800 students from schools throughout Genesee, Livingston, Orleans, and Wyoming counties had a chance to try out several skilled trades first hand in the region's first-ever "GLOW With Your Hands" event.
Todd Jantzi took these photos this morning at the corner of Pike Road and Beaver Road in Alexander.
Pembroke Intermediate School in Corfu is promoting community and wellness this week with a program called “Start with Hello."
On Tuesday morning students were greeted by police and firemen saying hello and handing out apples. The event today is part of a weeklong effort to promote emotional wellness at the school.
The Sheriff's Office is investigating the strange case of bags full of dead animals being left in a cornfield near the intersection of Merriman Road and Cook Road in the Town of Byron.
With little information to go on, the Sheriff's Office is asking the public's assistance to help investigators determine where the animals came from and why the remains wound up where they did.
Deputies responded Friday after receiving a call about the garbage bags in the field. Deputies located several bags filled with dead animals, including pigs, two small calves, along with other animals.
It's not clear how the animals died.
Animal Control officers along with investigators from Lollypop Farm Humane Society in Monroe County and Orleans County Dog Control are assisting in the investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at (585) 343-5000.
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