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Deputy injured in two-vehicle accident in Alabama

By Howard B. Owens

A Sheriff's deputy was injured in a two-vehicle accident on MacComber Road this evening.

Deputy Kevin McCarthy suffered minor cuts and a possible concussion in the accident which occurred at 5:26 p.m..

McCarthy's patrol car struck a 1999 Ford pickup truck that three people pushed out onto MacComber Road a mile north of Townline Road in Alabama.

The three people managed to jump clear of the truck before the collision. A 17-year-old, Chase E. Winkstern, of 8344 Powers Road, was reportedly behind the while of the disabled pickup truck. He was not injured.

The disabled pickup truck was being pushed out from the front lawn of 7286 MacComber Road. A second pickup truck was parked facing north in the northbound lane with its headlights on. It was not struck.

Both trucks are reportedly owned by Del-Mar Farms, 3111 Pratt Road, Batavia.

McCarthy was transported by Mercy EMS to UMMC where he was treated and released.

The accident remains under investigation. The Sheriff's Office press release listed no possible charges and didn't say whether charges are being considered.

Batavia girl injured in fall from second floor window

By Howard B. Owens

After a fall from a second-story window, a two-year-old girl has been taken to Strong Memorial Hospital by Mercy Flight.

The unidentified girl fell at 8:50 a.m. from the window of a residence at 45 Central Avenue.

(Via WBTA)

Police Beat: Felony DWI charges filed against Oakfield man

By Howard B. Owens

Jason John Reed, 33, of 33 Sunset Parkway, Oakfield, is charged with felony DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, aggravated unlicensed operation and endangering the welfare of a child. Reed was stopped at 2:06 a.m. Thursday near 18 Coe Ave. in Oakfield by Deputy Jason Saile.

Tersa M. Kabel, 36, of Batavia was stopped by State Police on Route 33 in Bergen, Thursday at 11:29 a.m. and charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and aggravated unlicensed operation.

Daniel P. Callahan, 25, of Batavia, is charged by State Police with unlawful possession of marijuana. Callahan was arrested this morning at 12:10 in Batavia.

Biggest Ever, Black Friday Deal of the Day - 20 items

By Howard B. Owens

Great Kutz, in the Valu Plaza, 4152 W. Main St. Road, Batavia, NY: Men, enjoy a $5 haircut again with this offer exclusive to The Batavian. (gift card can be applied toward other services, but not products).

Matty's Pizzeria, 4152 W. Main St., Batavia, NY: Matty's is another Batavia favorite for pizza and wings. We have a $20 gift certificate for $10.

Sallome's Italian Deli, 40 Oak St., Batavia, NY: Wraps, subs, paninis and pasta, Sallome's offers a tasty variety of Italian deli items for eat-in or take-out.

Kravings Kafe, Valu Plaza, W. Main Street, Batavia, NY: Recently opened, it offers soups, salads and sandwiches, fresh and flavorful; Monday through Saturday. We have $10 gift certificates for $5.

Margarita's Mexican Restaurant, 15 Jackson St., Batavia, NY: When you're looking for an authentic Mexican meal, Margarita's is the place to go. The food and atmosphere are perfect and the service is always outstanding.

Adam Miller Toy & Bicycles, 8 Center St., Batavia, NY: Feel like a kid in a toy store again, or treat your kids to the greatest toy store they will ever see. We have a $25 gift certificate for $12.50.

Main St. Pizza Company, 206 E. Main St., Batavia, NY: Pizza, wings, subs and even hamburgers and hot dogs, Main St. Pizza makes everything deliciously. We have a $25 gift certificate for $12.50.

Alex's Place, 8322 Park Road, Batavia, NY: People come from all over the region for a fine dining experience at Alex's. It's best known for its ribs, of course, but Alex's seafood is also a favorite of the restaurant's diners. We have a $25 gift certificate for $12.50.

Delavan's Restaurant and Tavern, 107 Evans St., Batavia, NY: To me, Delavan's is one of those restaurants where you want to eat frequently until you try everything on the menu. We have a $20 gift certificate for $10.

South Main Country Gifts, 3356 Main St. Road, Batavia, NY: Handcrafted items, gifts with a regional flair, candles, teas and spices -- South Main has a wide selection to please most any interest. We have a $20 gift certificate for $10.

Present Tense Books and Gifts, 101 Washington Ave., Batavia, NY: Whether your taste runs to local authors, the finest in fiction or nonfiction or you're looking for a unique and special gift, this charming store in a cozy Victorian house on the edge of downtown is a great place to stop and shop. We have a $25 gift certificate for $12.50.

Clor's Meat Market, 4169 W. Main St. Road, Batavia, NY: For the best, most flavorful, juiciest chicken or hamburger in town, hands down, stop by Clor's. Oh, and the steaks are great, too. And the sausage. Clor's also serves lunch and dinners from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. We have a $15 gift card for $7.50.

The Mane Attraction, 99 E. Main St., Batavia, NY: The Mane Attraction is a spa and salon offering pedicures, manicures, hair styling and massage. We have a $20 gift certificate for $10.

O'Lacy's Irish Pub, 5 School St. Batavia, NY: In Irish pubs, it doesn't get more authentic than O'Lacy's. Be sure to try the homemade chips. We have a $25 gift certificate for $12.50.

Carlson's Studio, 39 Jackson St., Batavia, NY: Family photos are more than just photographs. When you need photos for that special occasion, Carlson's is a great choice in Genesee County. We have a $50 gift card for $25.

T.F. Brown's, at 214 E. Main St., Batavia, NY: T.F. Brown's is a great place for a good meal, good friends and to catch up on what's going on in the sports world. "If it happens in sports, it happens at Brown's." We have a $20 gift card for $10.

Center Street Smoke House, 20 Center St., Batavia, NY: Authentic Southern BBQ, from ribs to brisket with all the fixin's. We have a $25 gift card for $12.50.

Settler's Restaurant, 353 W. Main St., Batavia, NY: Settler's has a 25-year history of serving great, affordable breakfasts, lunches and dinners to Batavians. We have a $20 gift certificate for $10.

Jackson St. Grill, 9 Jackson St., Batavia, NY: Try the fresh, skinless haddock fish fry on Fridays. We have a $10 gift certificate for $5.

Total Image - Dawn Williams, 226 Ellicott St., Batavia, NY: Dawn offers clipper cuts for men, women and children, as well as coloring, highlights, perms and waxing. We have a $22 gift certificate for $11.

NOTE: If you've never bought Deal of the Day before, or are otherwise unfamiliar with the rules and process, click here.

Black Friday shoppers shooed out of Walmart for apparent small fire

By Howard B. Owens

Black Friday shopping at Walmart was disrupted this morning by a small fire in the back of the store, according to County Legislator Jay Grasso, who was there shopping.

The entire store was evacuated, he said, with people leaving behind shopping carts of merchandise.

"It was orderly, but people were not happy," he said.

We have no further information available at this time.

Woman wounded by handgun during domestic incident in Le Roy

By Howard B. Owens

The Sheriff's Office is investigating a shooting that occurred at 8800 Keeney Road, Le Roy, last night at 9:41.

The victim was shot in the arm and transported to Strong Memorial Hospital by Le Roy Ambulance. She is scheduled to be released following treatment.

The shooting occurred during an apparent domestic dispute but is characterized as non-intentional.

Wounded was Michelle L. Baumgart.

The gun belonged to Robert M. Jackson, according to the Sheriff's Office. Jackson was holding the gun during a struggle with Baumgart when it discharged, according to the report. The gun discharged during the struggle.  From the report, It's not clear who was holding the gun at the time.

Jackson and the two children in the house were not harmed.

No charges were listed in the Sheriff's Office press release.

The investigation is ongoing and being conducted by Deputy Christopher Parker, Deputy Chad Minuto and Sgt. Gregory Walker.

Happy Thanksgiving

By Howard B. Owens

Whatever Thanksgiving means to you, Billie and I would like to wish you and your family a happy and good day.

We're grateful that we can spend the day with our family.

While we are many miles away from our new home in Batavia, we are also grateful to all the people who have welcomed us to the community and become our friends.

Thank you to all the readers of The Batavian. We appreciate your support.

And, of course, without all of the businesses -- the owners of many of these businesses have also become our friends -- there would be no Web site. 

We're thankful for all of this support.  We're having a great time doing what we're doing. For me, it's probably the best job I've ever had. There simply is nothing else I would rather be doing. Thank you.

We invite you to use the comments on this post to tell us what you're thankful for.

Police Beat: Pembroke teen allegedly found with marijuana and fireworks

By Howard B. Owens

Michael Todd Dibble, 18, of 1313 Indian Falls Road, Pembroke, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and unlawful dealing with fireworks. Dibble was stopped by Deputy Patrick Reeves in Pembroke for alleged traffic violations. During the investigation, Dibble was found to allegedly possess marijuana and fireworks.

Timothy P. Young, 47, of Batavia, was arrested by State Police at 8:45 p.m. and charged with unlawful imprisonment, criminal mischief, criminal possession of a controlled substance, unlawful possession of marijuana, harassment, and two counts of acting in a manner to injure a child. He was jailed without bail. No further details were released.

Batavia Police looking for hit-and-run driver who sent cyclist to hospital

By Howard B. Owens

A 55-year-old Batavia man is in the hospital tonight after being struck by a hit-and-run driver on Center Street.

The unidentified victim was riding a three-wheel bicycle at about 5:52 p.m. on Center near School Street.

He was transported to the hospital via Mercy Flight and suffered internal injuries.

The vehicle that hit the cyclist was described as a dark colored, possibly black, older pickup truck. The driver fled the scene and may have turned south on Jackson Street from Ellicott Street.

Anybody with information about the accident are asked to call the Batavia Police at 345-6350.

Photo courtesy WBTA.

Schumer uses Batavia visit to call on America to become a nation of producers again

By Howard B. Owens

Sen. Charles Schumer was in Batavia yesterday to tell local dairy farmers that he is working to bring in federal dollars to help their beleaguered industry.

But he also gave a pep talk for America. WBTA posted the audio (MP3).

Here’s the truth. People do’t like to hear it, but it’s the truth. For the last 15 years under Democratic and Republican presidents, here’s what America did: We consumed more than we produced. We borrowed more than we saved. We imported more than we exported.  We were the great production giant of the world. In the last 15 or 20 years, you know what we were? This big giant, big muscles, strong, astride the globe, stuffing our face with candy.

Schumer said Americans need to become a nation of producers again -- saving and exporting, rather than spending and importing.

But America has one advantage, Schumer said: there's no barrier to any person doing whatever he or she wants with his or her life.

We’ve gotten off track. We’ve gotten too fat. We can get back on track. Only America has the system that says, ‘I don’t care who you are, how much money you have, what your daddy did, or mom, you can achieve the stars if you work hard.' So the $64,000 question is, what are the policies that get us back and we’ll be giant again.

Photo courtesy WBTA.

Batavia Police issue warning about alcohol sales to minors

By Howard B. Owens

As we wind into the holiday season, Batavia Police are reminding businesses that sell alcohol that it's illegal to sell wine, beer and liquor to people under 21 years of age.

There will be compliance checks during the holiday season, the Batavia Police Department announced this morning.

"The Batavia Police are reminding all establishments where alcohol is served or sold to remember to be carefully checking for the proper ID of the customer or consumer who is purchasing the alcohol," reads the police statement "The police along with the community’s goal is to deter underage persons from purchasing alcohol without proper identification."

Employees are encouraged to carefully check IDs.

They should also be on the look out for customers of legal age buying booze for minors. A common practice to look for, according to police, is a customer who buys a large amount of alcohol with small bills and then delivers the packages to a waiting car. Employees who observe such activity are encouraged to contact police.

Alexander woman allegedly tried to evade arrest

By Howard B. Owens

An Alexander woman reportedly heard Sheriff's Deputies were looking for her at a house on Griswold Road, so rather than return that residence Sunday evening, she parked her car on Attica Road and ran off into the woods.

After her car was spotted on Attica Road, Sheriff's deputies searched the wooded area, but that's not where they found Brittany L. Frey.

The 19-year-old woman was allegedly hiding in an apartment in Northside Meadows in Batavia.

Frey, whose residence is listed as 9568 Alexander Road, Alexander, was wanted on a bench warrant for an alleged violation of probation.

After learning that Frey was at Northside Meadows, deputies responded to that location and reportedly saw Frey inside the apartment, but Frey allegedly refused to come to the door. Eventually, she did come out and was arrested.

Frey was jailed Sunday night without bail.

Police Beat: factory employee arrested, accused of fighting co-worker

By Howard B. Owens

Morima Custodo, 27, of 65 Mead St., Rochester, is charged with harassment. Custodo was arrested yesterday following an alleged fight between employees at Allen Canning in Bergen. She is accused of grabbing the other employee's hair and pushing her head to the ground.

Matthew Thomas Holmes, 30, 14 W. Main St., Batavia, was arrested on a bench warrant for allegedly failing to pay fines and restitution. Holmes was arrested following his release from Monroe County Jail.

Joseph Lee Shanley, 37, of 7199 Dublin Road, Bergen, is charged with harassment. Shanley is accused of threatening a person while using his mobile phone.

A 12-year-old boy from Bethany has been arrested by State Police and charged with sexual contact with an individual under 11 years old. No further details were released.

New York politicians lobby for stimulus money to pay for trains

By Howard B. Owens

A group of Western and Central New York lawmakers continued to push yesterday for up to $4.7 billion in federal aid to construct a high-speed rail system across the state.

The proposed rail system would connect Niagara Falls and New York City.  Moving at 110 mph, it would cut travel time from Buffalo to Albany by nearly two hours.

The rail system would likely bypass Batavia.

Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, and Dan Maffei, D-DeWitt are among those pushing to get the project funded.  Maffei called it "the Erie Canel of the 21st Century."  Slaughter said the track could be laid along an unused CSX line.

The competition is stiff for the announced $8 billion in funding.  California is also seeking $4.7 billion to fund part of its proposed $45 billion project.  Florida and Texas are also seeking funding.

Suggestion to switch to fee-based system for garbage collection stalls

By Howard B. Owens

Councilman Sam Barone's effort to push for a new fee system for garbage collection is stalled.

WBTA reports that the proposal went nowhere at last night's City Council meeting, and the issue has been delayed until the new council is in place at the first of the year.

Councilman Frank Ferrando said there is no public demand for changing the current method for paying for garbage collection, which is part of the city property tax.

Barone argues that a fee-based system would be more equitable, since under the current system the city's non-profit agencies that own their own buildings and land don't pay property tax. Those agencies get free garbage collection.

Live Racing in the home-stretch at Batavia Downs Casino

By Howard B. Owens

Press Release:

Batavia, NY --- When racing resumes on Wednesday night (Nov. 25) there will be only five live racing programs left in the 2009 season at Batavia Downs Casino. This will also be the final Wednesday of the meet. Post time is 7:05 p.m. The 63rd Summer-Fall meet concludes on December 5.

“We’re expecting a nice crowd tomorrow night,” Michael D. Kane, Vice President of Live Racing said. “The night before Thanksgiving has always been a good night for us, and with our Wednesday night clubhouse special still going (purchase one clubhouse buffet at the regular price and get $10 back in Casino free play) I expect it to be busy.”

“We’re also playing the $500 Odd/Even Challenge on Wednesday,” Kane added. This is a handicapping game where one Player’s Club member could win up to $500. Sign-up begins at 5:30 p.m. at Players Club.

October award winners

Jack Flanigen, Sherri Holliday and the talented pacer New York Prime were honored as October driver, trainer and horse of the month.

The 43-year-old reinsman Jack Flanigen led all drivers in October with 33 wins. He also had 25 seconds and 15 thirds in 164 starts. His UDR was .316 and his drives earned $114,811.

Flanigen missed the entire 2008 Batavia Downs meet due to an injury suffered at Buffalo Raceway. He’s currently the second leading driver at the 2009 summer-fall meet, behind only Kevin Cummings.

Sherri Holliday continued with her hot hand and was named trainer of the month for the second month in a row. A perennial leading conditioner on the Western New York circuit, she won 16 races with seven seconds and five thirds from 62 starters. Her win percentage for the month was 25.8 and her UTR was .348. She’s currently the leading trainer at the Summer-Fall meet.

New York Prime took home horse of the month honors. The 6-year-old son of Bettor's Delight had a spectacular October. In five starts he had four wins and a second. Two of those wins came in the Open Handicap.

New York Prime is currently tied for the most wins at the summer-fall meet with seven. His 18 wins this season makes him one of North America’s winningest horses.

New York Prime is owned Richey Edward Myers, Jeffry Myers, Robert Marsjanik and Robert Stern. Alex Guiliani is the trainer.

Tim Bojarski, President of the Upstate New York Chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association, made a special winner's circle presentation. Each award winner receives an embroidered tote bag with their name on it.

Many thanks go out to Tim Bojarski and everyone associated with the Upstate New York Chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association for making these monthly awards possible.
 
Todd Haight
Promotional Marketing Specialist
Batavia Downs Casino

Photo: Alex Guiliani, Robert Marsjanik, Robert Stern, Richey Edward Myers, Todd Haight, Sherri Holliday, Jack Flanigen, Tim Bojarski. Photo by Paul White.

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