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Nic Ready, who recently graduated from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, where President Donald Trump singled him out and called him up to the stage -- made his professional baseball debut with the Muckdogs on Friday night.

Ready, from Poway, Calif. (San Diego County) is the son of Randy Ready, a former major league player whose career included a stint with the San Diego Padres.

Click here for a game report and video.

The 2019 season for the Batavia Muckdogs got off to the right start with 1,700 fans in attendance and a 2-0 win over the Auburn Doubledays.

Ben Hayes, the president of the New York-Penn League, the current owners of the franchise, said he's pleased with the improvements made by General Manager Brendan Kelly, Groundskeeper Cooper Thomson, and the rest of the staff during the offseason.  

Over the offseason, the league signed a three-year lease agreement for Dwyer Stadium and Hayes isn't talking like a league leader who wants to leave Batavia.

"We've been here since 1939," Hayes said. "Batavia means a lot to the New York-Penn League and there's been a lot of rumors and all that kind of stuff generated by people who are scared that the club's going to leave. But it's still here."

To keep the team here, though, the team needs community support. 

"The facility is a good facility at this point in time to play professional baseball," Hayes said. "We do need people to come and we need businesses to support the operations so that we can pay our bills, pay the bus company to transport us around, hotels -- all the different things that come along with a professional baseball team."

The team itself looks good. Several college-age players, some top prospects, lots of talent.

In centerfield this year is one of the Miami Marlins' Top 50 prospects, Milton Smith Jr., who hit .361 last year in rookie ball. He went 1-3 on opening night.

Dalvy Rosario, another top prospect, his first two hits in the league. He also stole a base and was caught stealing.

Peyton Burdick, a third-round draft pick from Batavia -- Batavia, Ohio -- started in right field and got his first two professional hits.

Nic Ready, from Poway, Calif. (San Diego County), an Air Force Academy grad (see separate video), and son of former major leaguer Randy Ready (San Diego Padres, among other teams, and for the previous three seasons, he managed in the Marlins system), started at third base. His first professional hit was a double and he scored a run.

Starting pitcher Remey Reed, a 2016 sixth-round pick from Plano, Texas, who spent part of the 2016 and 2017 seasons in Batavia, gave up only one hit over five frames to pick up the win. Cason Sherrod notched the save.

For Tim Adams, owner of Adams Welding and Manufacturing in Stafford, donating steel for a class project at Oakfield-Alabama High School is a chance to help students discover a possible career.

For the students, it's a chance to explore a trade and learn new skills.

For the Genesee County Fair, they'll receive new gate racks.

You might call it a win-win-win.

"Any chance kids have for an opportunity to learn a skill or an opportunity to if something is something they want to do in a future career, whether it be welding, electrical, plumbing, or carpentry, any kind of skilled trade, I don't see that as a bad thing," Adams said. "Perhaps they will fall in love with it and like it."

While not necessarily calling it a career just yet, Cierra Tiede said she went from being fearful of welding to really enjoying it.

"It was pretty cool," Tiede said. "I've done another welding projects before, but this was a bigger scale and it was cool to see it all come together in the end."

Instructor Todd Hofheins said it was a great project for the students to learn how to work together as a team, to divide up their labor, coordinate, and ensure all of the five racks are uniform in size and quality.

"The racks need to hold close to 2,000 pounds so they've got to be done properly," Hofheins said.

Without the donation of steel from Adams, the project wouldn't have been possible, Hofheins said.

A 31-year-old Gates resident who police believed approached two girls near Wolcott School last Saturday appears to have done nothing that warrants criminal charges, Le Roy PD officers have determined following a detailed investigation.

The man was fully cooperative with police, authorities said.

He allowed investigators to examine all of the electronic devices along with his websites and other electronic data and no concerning photos or other data were found.

The FBI assisted in the investigation.

According to Le Roy PD, the man said he understood the concerns his actions raised and realized it was an error in judgment to approach the girls, whom he thought were older than they actually were.

The man is apparently developing a portfolio of piercing photos.

He was in Le Roy on Saturday primarily to photograph the replica of the Statue of Liberty and the Oatka Creek.

The Le Roy Central School District has been thoroughly briefed on the investigation, Le Roy PD said in a statement.

"After consulting with the FBI, the District Attorney's Office and the parents of the student who allowed the photo to be taken, no charges will be placed at this time," the statement said.

NOTE: While Le Roy PD released the name of the subject of the investigation, since he is not being charged with a crime, The Batavian does not consider it appropriate to publish his name.

Continuing an annual tradition started by Frank Panepento five years ago, Batavia Middle School students wrote essays about what the American flag means to them and then three winners were chosen to read their essays today, Flag Day, at the VA Center in Batavia.

The winning essay was by Tosh Spillberg, who received a bike and a season pass to Darien Lake Theme Park. Second and third places were Landon Hamilton and Trevor Tryon, who also received season passes to Darien Lake. Panepento purchased the prizes.

Student Transportation of America provided the students with a free bus ride to and from the VA Center.

Multiple law enforcement units are in pursuit of multiple motorcycles in the area of Corfu and Darien.

The motorcycles broke up in multiple directions with at least one heading north, one south, and one heading west into Erie County.

The riders have been identified as members of a motorcycle club.

One rider sideswiped a truck and took off a mirror.

One rider entering the Village of Corfu was fleeing in excess of 100 mph. The bikes are passing on the right and on the center line.

One westbound rider is described as a black male on a red motorcycle.

UPDATE 2:04 p.m.: The northbound motorcycle turned off of Route 77 and is now west on Route 5 and entering Erie County. Erie County does not have a car close to the chase area.

UPDATE 2:05 p.m.: The deputy in pursuit of the motorcycle on Route 5 in Erie County is breaking off the pursuit. 

UPDATE 2:08 p.m.: A deputy is apparently with one rider who had been part of the group and is running his identification. There is reportedly a rider who is part of the club at the security office at Darien Lakes. One deputy reports, "I had a total of four take off on me." Another says there was a group of five he was behind, and one he stopped.

UPDATE 2:16 p.m.: At least one rider was seen stopping to change clothes and is now wearing a black jacket with an orange shirt. He is described as a black male in his mid-40s. At least one of the plates of the bikes involved is from Maryland.

UPDATE 2:56 p.m.: Another rider was spotted going into Erie County at a high rate of speed -- a black male, black helmet, red bike.

Air Force Academy grad Nic Ready is expected to make his professional baseball debut tonight with the Batavia Muckdogs, reports the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Ready, a slugging third baseman, was drafted last week in the 23rd round by the Miami Marlins. He drove in 224 runs in 216 games for Air Force.

The Muckdogs open their season at 7:05 p.m. against the Auburn Doubledays.

A search of more than four years is about to come to an end for Iroquois Trail Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

The local Boy Scouts organization has been looking for consolidated, easily accessible, visible office space since at least 2015 and now has a pending purchase offer for a commercial building at 102 S. Main St., Oakfield.

The purchase agreement is contingent, among other things, on the council receiving approval on a site plan to convert the retail space into office space.

The location was most recently the site of a secondhand store, All About Yous.

"The advantage is mainly to our customer base, which is access," said Director Jim McMullen. "And it gives us an opportunity to house each of our staff in a workable space. We're pretty crowded right now."

Currently, the council has a small space in Downtown Batavia and an office in Lockport.

The new location will combine those, giving staff more room, and giving the scouts space for leaders and parents to pick up materials. It will also provide the council with a place to hold meetings.

A couple of years ago the council thought it had found a new office on West Main Street Road in Batavia but that deal didn't come together.

"It's been tough to find, space that is appropriate to our needs and is also on an easily accessible route," McMullen said following a meeting of the Genesee County Planning Board, which recommended approval of the site plan.

Don Ames said the scouts have owned their own office space for decades.

The purchase is also contingent on the building passing an engineering inspection and the property getting confirmation for tax-exempt status for nonprofit ownership.

The property is a little more than a half acre. The building on the property was built in 1998 and is 2,400 square feet. It's assessed value is $117,000.

Also on Thursday, the planning board recommended approval of a special use permit for a five-megawatt solar farm at 5103 Ellicott Street Road, which is currently farmland owned by Donald Partridge. The location is 20 acres and the facility will be built and run by Trousdale Solar LLC and will provide sufficient solar power for 750 to 1,000 homes.

Under the Community Distributed Generation Program, the solar energy would be distributed to customers through National Grid and the customers would receive solar credits against National Grid bills and pay Cypress Creek (the company administering the program) separately for the solar power. The overall cost to customers who sign up for the program will be lower than what they're currently paying, according to documentation from Trousdale Solar.

Bill Pitcher has been an umpire for high school and youth baseball in and around Batavia for 50 years.

Judge Charles Zambito was in no mood today to give a Batavia man with prior burglary convictions and an admission to a string of burglaries in the City of Batavia late last year much of a break on his sentence in County Court.

Christopher Tyler Sprague, 25, will serve at least three and a half years in state prison and could serve as much as seven, under the terms of his sentence today.

Zambito could have given Sprague up to 15 years in prison but chose not to make his sentences consecutive on his conviction on two counts of third-degree burglary.

Sprague was arrested in January, accused of burglarizing several businesses in Batavia in December.

He also served a stint in state prison on a burglary conviction in 2012 and was arrested on burglary charges in 2016 and served a term in prison on a felony criminal mischief conviction.

Today, Sprague vowed he was ready to turn his life around and asked for a second chance.

"If you can't show me mercy, please do it for my fiancée, my siblings, and my mother," Sprague told Zambito. "Please consider a Willard (rehabilitation) sentence so I can get home as soon as possible and help me get help and get into rehab.

"Your honor," he added, "I'm sincerely ready and willing to change, to change my life around."

Sprague said he had a job on a farm waiting for him once he's out of jail and that he intended to fully compensate his victims.

"I feel horrible for the acts I did and I take full responsibility for what I did," Sprague said.

Zambito said the defendant's criminal record left him unconvinced that he could rely on Sprague to really turn his life around.

"I look at your record and you tell me you've turned a new leaf and you're going to take care of your substance abuse problem but you've already served multiple state sentences for burglary," Zambito said.

Zambito also ordered Sprague to pay restitution, with interest, of $3,897.48, in increments of $100 a month starting 60 days after his release from prison.

For the second time this year, the actions of a stenographer in the Grand Jury room is causing difficulties for District Attorney Lawrence Friedman in the Genesee County Courtroom.

Today, Friedman moved to have what had been a sealed indictment on burglary, trespass, and forgery charges dismissed because a stenographer spoke to grand jurors about the case while the prosecutor was out of the room.

Friedman must now have a new grand jury hear the case against Malik Ayala at a later date.

Ayala was in court today to deal with matters related to his pending case -- criminal possession of stolen property -- and he was also arraigned on these new charges from the sealed indictment.

The counts in the indictment were burglary, 2nd, criminal possession of stolen property, 3rd, and forgery.

Immediately after the charges were read, Friedman made a motion to dismiss the indictment because a court stenographer had jeopardized the integrity of the proceeding. 

Freidman said he had previously informed Public Defender Jerry Ader, who is representing Ayala, that he would move to have the indictment dismissed but with the court's permission to resubmit the case to a grand jury.

He gave Ader a choice -- to present it to the current grand jury, which is the one that heard the case the first time, or waits for a new grand jury to be empaneled.

Ader asked that the case be presented to a new grand jury.

In March, Friedman revealed during another court proceeding that a stenographer had been using an audio recording device on her machine to record grand jury proceedings.

Friedman had another appointment after Ayala's case and was not immediately available for questions, so we don't know if this is the same or a different stenographer.

Ayala was arrested in November along with his brother TeeSean Ayala after the two men were stopped in a car that had pulled into the driveway of County Manager Jay Gsell where they reportedly tried to dispose of a handgun.

During today's proceedings, Judge Charles Zambito told Ayala that he had been informed that Ayala had violated the terms of his release-under-supervision contract. He said that Ayala is accused of testing positive for marijuana and alcohol consumption May 7 and May 14, and for marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol May 28, and that he was arrested on a petit larceny charge June 7.

Zambito had the option to terminate his release under supervision but based on updated reports from Horizon the judge decided it was better to allow Ayala to continue treatment. He warned Ayala that if there are further violations, he would put Ayala in jail and impose bail.

Ayala's status could change when and if a new grand jury indictment is returned.

David Bellavia will not become on June 25 the first Batavia resident to receive the Medal of Honor. That distinction goes to Charles Franklin Rand, who is also considered the first volunteer to sign up to fight in the Civil War.

In this video, Ryan Duffy, director of the Holland Land Office Museum, tells us about Rand.

The Batavia Muckdogs open their 2019 campaign at home at 7 p.m., Friday, which is the start of a two-game home stand against cross-Thruway rivals Auburn.

In the video, we talk with Tom Lawless, the new Muckdogs manager, and Dalvy Rosario, a top Marlin's prospect who is 19 and is expected to be the Muckdog's starting shortstop this season.

Last year in the Dominican Summer League, Rosario hit .257 with four home runs, 42 RBIs, 42 runs scored, and 26 stolen bases in 46 games.

This will be the 12th season Lawless has worked as a minor league manager since 1994. He's also been a hitting and infield instructor at the minor and major league level and he managed the Houston Astros in 2014 (70-92).

The former big-league ballplayer is best known for his bat flip after hitting a home run in Game 4 of the 1987 World Series (video below).

The Daniel King band playing ... for this episode of The Batavian Sessions.

Daniel now lives in Rochester but is from Batavia.

Bands interested in participating in The Batavian Sessions, email howard@thebatavian.com

A rider was reported unconscious following an ATV accident at Area 51 on Harlow Road and Mercy Flight has been dispatched.

East Pembroke Fire Department is responding.

A first-responder on scene indicated the patient had gained at least some degree of consciousness.

"He's not talking much," he said.

This morning a group of farmers and farm workers gathered in the parking lot of Farm Credit East before heading to Albany to participate in a rally against a proposed bill that would give farm workers the right to join unions and restrict their working hours to eight hours a day and 40 hours a week.

A Le Roy police officer has been dispatched to the Main Street bridge over the Oatka Creek to investigate a report of "three young kids" jumping off the bridge into the creek.

UPDATE 5:21 p.m.: An officer is clearing the scene after speaking to the juveniles. 

In the case of the People v. Antwan Odom, the District Attorney wants the defense attorney to shut up -- at least when it comes talking to reporters -- and the defense attorney wants the DA disqualified from the case.

In other words, the case of the People v. Antwan Odom has been reduced to two attorneys squabbling about what happens outside the courtroom.

The attorney vs. attorney dispute dates back to May 3 when Odom's attorney Frank Housh told reporters that he would defend his client by trying to show jurors that the fellow student Odom allegedly stabbed on Ross Street on Aug. 4.

In court on May 3, Housh said he intended to file a motion to get evidence introduced, in order to mount a self-defense claim, that impeached the character of Ray Leach, the local football star Odom allegedly cut with a knife multiple times, so outside of court, reporters asked him to clarify his motion.

"The fact that Ray Leach is known in the community to be a violent person, to be a confrontational person, who confronted (Odom) -- by the prosecution's own admission -- he was the first aggressor," Housh said outside of court on May 3. "He went to my client's house and called him out and beat him into unconsciousness.

"So, under those circumstances, to say, when the prosecution is admitting that he was the first aggressor, to say that his history of violence and intimidation is irrelevant is simply absurd. We should be able to bring that up because it goes to the circumstance of his justification."

District Attorney Lawrence Friedman included the quote in a May 8 filing with the court requesting a gag order on both attorneys in the case.

In court today, Housh also revealed that Friedman filed a grievance against Housh with the state courts for "unprofessional conduct."

"Now I feel there is a parallel prosecution by the elected District Attorney of me and my client," Housh said. 

He said that raises a sufficient conflict of interest that Friedman should be disqualified from continuing as the prosecutor on the case.

That motion was continued until Odom's next court appearance on July 2.

Friedman, according to court discussions today, filed a one-sentence objection to the motion for disqualification.

Today, Friedman complained to Judge Charles Zambito that Housh was trying to get him disqualified from the case for following through on his ethical obligation to file a grievance over what he saw as unprofessional conduct.

Friedman said that as far as he knows nobody is prosecuting Housh and that he is not prosecuting Housh by following his "ethical obligation to report ethical misconduct."

"He says I'm seeking his disbarment," Friedman said. "I'm not seeking his disbarment. I followed through on the ethical obligation I have. All I wish to do is make sure he is able to remain professional and does nothing to violate professional conduct."

In his filing with the court, Friedman asserted that Housh's statements about Leach violated the rules of professional conduct, specifically the rule that prohibits attorneys from making statements could prejudice a jury, including statements relating to the character or credibility of a witness.

In the Order to Show Cause, Zambito ordered Housh and Friedman to show why they shouldn't be barred from "making statements to the media regarding anything involving this case."

The Batavian has filed a memo with Zambito objecting to the order. While judges in criminal cases can restrict what attorneys can say to the media, such orders, according to prior case law, can't be overly broad; can't apply to parties other than the attorneys in the case; and should consider how much time before the trial the statements are made.

In addition, both attorneys can use the jury selection process to identify potential jurors who should be disqualified because media exposure has tainted their view of the case. 

Gag orders can act, courts have found, as a form of prior restraint (the government censoring speech before the speech is made), which violates the First Amendment. 

While cases such as Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada have given courts leeway to restrict speech by attorneys because of their special access to information, in order to issue a gag order, courts have ruled that: a judge must make specific findings; consider less drastic alternatives; and narrowly tailor the order to address identified harm.

(For support of statements about gag orders in this story, see this brief filed by attorneys for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in another criminal case).

Courts have repeatedly found that a free press is essential to ensure fair trials, as in the 1965 case, Sheppard v. Maxwell.

"A responsible press has always been regarded as the handmaiden of effective judicial administration, especially in the criminal field," the Supreme Court said in its ruling. "The press does not simply publish information about trials, but guards against the miscarriage of justice by subjecting the police, prosecutors, and judicial processes to extensive public scrutiny.’’

In CBS Inc. vs. Young, a case that vacated a gag order, the court found that the newsgathering rights of a free press extend beyond the courtroom to include access to sources and court documents.

Asked to comment on the gag order by Zambito, an attorney for the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press, Sarah Matthews, provided the following statement:

Although courts may restrict what attorneys can say about a case outside the courtroom, it raises First Amendment concerns when courts issue broad gag orders on attorneys that go beyond what the ethics rules require and actually bar any discussion of a case.

Meanwhile, Housh has shown he's fearful of even being seen nodding in the direction of a member of the press since Zambito issued the Order to Show Cause.

A few days after the order was delivered, a reporter ran into Housh at a local restaurant and Housh made it clear he didn't want to be seen talking to the reporter, and today when that reporter entered the courtroom and gave Housh a friendly wave, Housh shook his head as if to say, "don't even wave at me."

Below, selected quotes. For the fuller context of each quote, watch the videos.

Thank you to Western and New York for love and support
David Bellavia opened the press conference acknowledging all of the Western New Yorkers who have contacted him over the past 72 hours and then discussed how the men who served in Vietnam didn't benefit from a warm homecoming, and that many veterans do not get the recognition they deserve.

"I just wish that more Vietnam veterans, Korean War veterans, everyone guys at V.A. hospitals. can feel half the love that Western York has given to me, and most importantly. the Gold Star families in Western New York and Rochester. These men and women have given up their sons and daughters and there's really, it's not just Memorial Day, it isn't one day a year for these families; it's every single day. And we still live with that and we still think about them. And you know I think about them, too."

The benefits of military enlistment
"If there's anything that can come out of this, hopefully, young people in Western New York will we'll see their country as more worthy than anything else in their life. We are a very special institution, the United States Army, and I encourage as many people to look at that as an opportunity to better themselves but more importantly better their communities and their country."

The call from the president
Bellavia said he was told in August that he would be receiving a call from a top official in the Department of Defense, though he didn't know why. When the call was repeatedly delayed, he admitted to some frustration

"I really didn't know who that could have been. It could've been Secretary of the Army. It could've been Secretary of Defense. But that senior member of the DoD was very difficult to get on the phone. So no offense to Secretary of the Army; I'm sure he's a busy person. But he can't be that busy because there was a very difficult time to get that individual to allocate time. I had no idea that the senior member of the DoD, he was the senior member of the DoD, being the commander in chief.

"It was pretty humbling. It was pretty life altering.

"I lost my dad a year ago and yesterday would've been his 75th birthday. It was pretty crazy that the White House announcement came on his birthday, but my dad was my hero. I loved him. I spent every day talking to him. When I deployed my dad would, he would type up play-by-play of the Buffalo Bills games as if I had no access to get scores in the Army. He would take the time to write me a six-page letter single-spaced (letters) on every play. I would read these no matter where I was, Kosovo, Germany, or Iraq and we just talked about the Bills no matter how bad the day was, it was about the Bills.

"My dad would always tell me something and I always thought he was just uncool because he's my dad but he'd always say, 'way to go.' He'd say, 'way to go, man.' That's what my dad would say. No one else has ever said that to me in my life because it's not something you would expect anyone to say. But as the whole conversation with the president he's going on, I'm not even listening. I'm just kind of...but at the end of it, he said. 'Good job. David. Way to go, man.' That's what the president said and I haven't heard anyone say that to me but my father and it just brought me right back down to Earth."

On being an Iraq War veteran
Bellavia acknowledged that the Iraq War is a controversial war and that many people believe the United States entered the war because of faulty intelligence.

"Listen, you know I'm not going to pretend to write -- the narrative the Iraq war as well established but the Iraq veteran has nothing to apologize for. The Iraq veteran has served with the same, in the finest traditions of any other generation at war. And, you know, there's a whole lot of men and women who -- Yeah, everything's changed. I have to represent those people because that's what we have to do.

"I can't tell you that looking back and seeing how a lot of people tend to look at the valor of a generation and say well are these good wars or bad wars. Iraq veterans are walking around with chips on their shoulder because they're regarded as part of the bad war the war of choice, the war that was based on bad intelligence and you know we're free to think and decide whatever you want. I think the narrative is written on that. But I would just caution us to not make the veteran feel the weight of that. I don't think it's their responsibility. Ninety-nine percent of these men and women served with honor and distinction and we really shouldn't have to apologize for where our nation sends us to fight."

Thoughts on the battle that led to the Medal of Honor
"When you go through a graveyard and you see someone born and died on the same day, you know, I always see that on a tombstone and think, you know, that's got to be horrible and I just imagined how someone could explain to my son why I chose to do this. I wanted someone to be able to articulate to my kid that it's not that I don't love you, it's that I love these guys, too. We're in this together and that's why it's so important to me to tell as many Gold Star families that if the roles were reversed their sons would be talking to my mom, and their sons would be talking to my kids, and their sons would be saying, 'don't forget what your son did.' "

On veterans and being a veteran
"I happen to believe that veterans make the best neighbors you can have. I think we make great employees. I think we make great teachers. I think we make great friends. 

"I'm forever grateful to the United States Army they gave me purpose and direction they gave my life meaning and value. I'm a better human being because of my service. And I think most of the people that I've served with can all tell you the same thing. And I encourage any man or woman that wants to become an individual in their community to serve the United States military."

On how he's changed since Fallujah; veterans are anti-war (from the interview)
"You know, I never saw the enemy as people. I think, now, when I have, when you have children, you think you know, obviously, you want your guys, America, the good guys, to be OK. But I also think back to, I don't want the enemy's children to take the road that their dads took. I don't want my kids to be fighting in conflicts with another generation. ... What are the things that we can do, especially when it comes to acknowledging that a lot of people think that war guys, veteran guys are pro-war, that we love this. You know, we're pretty anti-war. I mean, I don't know of any veteran that you've talked to that is like, 'this is the greatest thing in the world.'

"We're violently anti-war but with the goal, the end state is that we won't do this anymore. I mean, if you would've told me that I would join the Army because my son and daughters would also get to have this experience, I never would have done it. It's not worth it. You fight so that it stops here and it doesn't continue. And it would be heartbreaking to know that this is going to go on for another 25 years."

We also asked about his political future and he suggested he will not be a candidate for Congress in 2020. He said he believes the Army will keep him busy for the next 18 months to two years with Medal of Honor appearances.

There were dozens of vehicles on display Saturday for the Bergen Park Festival Classic Car Show. Our video features Batavia resident Darell Mase and his 1957 Ford Fairlane.