Law enforcement will be closing Clinton Street at East Main Street to traffic until wires and tree branches in the roadway by Grandview Cemetery can be safely removed.

UPDATE 2:21 p.m.: The traffic lights are out at that intersection, too.

Three primary power lines / poles are down in the roadway in the area of 1428 Main Road in Pembroke, just past Boyce Road. The wires were arcing and smoking. Cables lines are also hanging low across the roadway, and a fallen tree is laying on them. Tractor-trailers will be stopped by fire police at routes 5 and 77.

Pembroke, East Pembroke and Indian Falls fire departments are responding. National Grid and the cable company have been notified.

UPDATE 1:22 p.m.: National Grid and Time Warner reps are on scene. Once the low-hanging cables wires are disconnected, tractor-trailers will be allowed through.

UPDATE 1:29 p.m.: All traffic can proceed; roadways reopened.

UPDATE 1:33 p.m.: Pembroke and Indian Falls are back in service.

Scott Edwin Mckenzie, 26, of South Main Street, Oakfield, was reportedly driving a 2011 Troy-Bilt Lawn Mower on North Main Street, Oakfield, last night when he was stopped by a Sheriff's deputy and found to allegedly be under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

Mckenzie was charged with operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs, DWI, unlawful possession of marijuana and failure to display slow moving vehicle emblem.

Deputy Joseph Corona stopped Mckenzie at 11:16 p.m. in the area of 107 Main St., Oakfield.

Pavilion Fire Department is being requested to Route 63 to shutdown all southeast traffic into Livingston County due to a serious injury accident on Route 63 near the York Central School.

A one-car MVA is reported at Lewiston and Salt roads, Alabama, with a minor injury.

The driver has been on the phone with dispatchers. A passerby reports seeing blood on the driver.

Alabama Fire Department and Mercy EMS dispatched.

UPDATE 6:01 a.m.: Call back. The car is now on fire.

UPDATE 6:03 a.m.: Deputy on scene reports the vehicle is fully involved.

UPDATE 6:20 a.m.: Sounds like the car was completely destroyed. It's been difficult for law enforcment to get identifying information, such as the license plate number, from it.

UPDATE 6:46 a.m.: Alabama is in service.

Press release:

Press release:

The Sheriff’s Office will participate in the statewide seat belt enforcement mobilization, which will run from May 20 through June 1, which is designed to further improve highway safety. The initiative will urge motorists to buckle their safety belts or face receiving a ticket. The message is simple: “Click It or Ticket." The Buckle Up New York “Click It or Ticket” enforcement and education initiative sends a clear message that seat belts and child safety seats save lives. New York State has been a leader in passenger safety restraint since enacting the very first seat belt law in the country in 1984 by utilizing efforts that combines public education with increased police enforcement of New York’s seat belt law.

Under New York State law, safety restraint use is required for: all front seat occupants regardless of age; all rear seat passengers under 16 years of age; children under age 4 who must be restrained in a federally approved child safety seat. New York’s zero-tolerance policy for seat belt violations means that violators will receive a ticket if stopped for not using a safety restraint. The fine for such violations is up to $100 if a motorist is stopped for having a person less than 16 years old unrestrained, plus 3 points on their license.

According to state law, motorists can be stopped in New York by a police officer for not wearing their seat belts; another violation is not necessary to initiate the stop. Properly secured children will be a priority for the Sheriff’s Office during this enforcement effort. If there is any question as to the proper installation of your child’s safety seat, call the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office at 585-343-5000 to set up an appointment to have your safety seat and its installation inspected by a certified technician. Please help us make the highways of Genesee County the safest they can be.

Like a bad dream that keeps recurring, New York farmers are once again fighting legislation that could put many of them out of business, or radically change the way they do business.

Assembly Democrats yesterday pushed through a farm labor bill similar to one defeated two years ago that would require overtime pay, require at least 24 consecutive hours off each week and allow for collective bargaining.

The bill passed the Assembly 82-53 and moves to the GOP-controlled Senate, where it was defeated two years ago, but the fight isn't over, said Dean Norton, president of the NY Farm Bureau.

"Anytime a law this bad for us is passed in one house with the closeness of the leadership in the Senate, we're concerned," Norton said. "We still need our farmers to contact their senators and let them know how they feel about it."

Many of the arguments being made in support of the bill are disingenuous, Norton said. Farmers already pay minimum wage or higher, provide housing and are covered by workers compensation.

"What we have now is Downstate legislators who have no experience with farms telling us how to run our farms and trying to put in protections that are already in place," Norton said.

New York is ranked 27th in farm production in the nation, but number two in labor costs. New York's labor costs are 56 percent higher than the national average.

New York farmers pay an average of $26 per acre in property taxes compared to a national average of $6 per acre.

Supporters of the bill like to compare New York to California, Norton noted, but California is the number one agriculture state in the nation and has a 10-month growing season. New York's season is five months at best.

As Assemblyman Steve Hawley said during yesterday's floor debate, "There's an old adage -- when sun shines you have to make the hay."

In New York, crops don't wait for the next eight-hour shift to ripen; Harvest time is harvest time.

But neither do workers work all year long. There's a short period of time for them to make the most money they can.

If New York institutes a 40-hour work week for farm labor, Norton said, many labors won't work fewer hours, they'll just get a second job because they know harvest time is the time to make money.

Hawley also argued that if working conditions are bad on a farm, a farmer will have a hard time finding and retaining workers. 

Below is a five-minute video produced by the Farm Bureau about the legislation.

Two years ago it was the work of North Country Democrat Darrel J. Aubertine, who used his power as chair of the agriculture committee to keep the bill from a floor vote. Aubertine was repaid by the GOP with a campaign to win his Senate seat. 

Without Aubertine, Norton still believes farmers have enough powerful friends in the Senate to defeat the bill, but it won't go down without a fight.

UPDATE: Here's Hawley's floor speech.

A two-car accident, also involving a pedestrian, is reported at 10271 Alleghany Road, between Sumner and Broadway. One person is said to have a minor head laceration. There was air bag deployment. A Sheriff's deputy on scene says one of the vehicles struck a flagman helping control traffic at a construction site. He was taken directly to the hospital by the construction company's personnel and there's no word about his condition. Darien Fire Department and Mercy medics are responding.

UPDATE 1:29 p.m.: The Corfu Fire Department is called to the scene.

This giant American flag was flown on Main Street in Batavia this morning, made possible by fire truck ladders, in honor of 20-year-old Kailee Bridges, a local Marine who died last week of cancer.

Her funeral procession -- including 4-month-old daughter, Lilly, and Marine husband, Justin -- went under the flag to Grandview Cemetery on Clinton Street Road.

Photos submitted by a reader.

Lauralee Pacer, 28, of Jackson Street, Batavia, is charged with disorderly conduct and aggravated unlicensed operation, 3rd. Pacer was stopped by Deputy Joseph Corona for alleged equipment violation and found to be wanted on a bench warrant out of Batavia City Court for alleged disorderly conduct (fighting/violent behavior), and she was allegedly driving without a license. Bail was set at $200.

Eric J. Martin, 41, of Caledonia, is charged with DWI, speeding and failure to submit to chemical test. Martin was arrested by by Le Roy PD.

New York Times: Phone Records of Journalists Seized by U.S.

Former Village of Corfu Justice Robert Alexander is being threatened with civil action if he doesn't pony up $10,628 by May 31 for funds the village believes went missing during his tenure as justice.

The board of trustees approved a letter threatening legal action at its Monday night meeting.

It's the second letter the village has sent this year to Alexander demanding payment, but the first to threaten him with litigation.

Mayor Ralph Peterson voted against sending the letter to Alexander. Trustee Keith Busch abstained, with trustees Art Ianni, Ken Lauer and Dave Bielec all voting yes on the motion to send the letter.

The letter was drafted by village attorney Mark Boylan.

The letter reserves the right of the village to seek further compensation should an ongoing investigation uncover more missing funds.

Text of the letter:

Back in February I was instructed by the Village Board to write to you to demand payment for the “cash shortage” in your justice court accounts. To date the Village has yet to receive payment from you.

I have now been instructed by the Village Board to write you to inform you that unless you pay the entire amount owed ($10,628.00) by May 31, 2013 the Board has authorized me to commence litigation against you to collect that amount.

Please note that this demand does not release you from any future obligation to reimburse the Village for any funds determined to be missing pursuant to any pending investigation.

Former Batavia PD lieutenant Eugene Jankowski was honored Monday night by the Batavia City Council for his 34 years of service to the city.

Among Jankowski's many accomplishments was creating the Emergency Response Team (commonly referred to in other jurisdictions as SWAT).

Jankowski was forced to retire earlier this year when the lieutenant positions were eliminated from the Batavia police force.

Two weeks ago, the City GOP committee endorsed Jankowski for one of the three at-large council positions up for election in November.

Two four-wheel ATVs have been stolen from a residence in East Pembroke and the owner is offering a cash reward for their return.

They belong to Parker Dean, who has been racing motocross and flat track on the local and national circuit for eight years. The theft comes at a particularly bad time -- the start of the season.

One is a blue 2001 Yamaha Raptor 660 with ITP Holeshot  front tires and ITP mud lite rear tires, DG front bumper, TCS front shocks with black PEP shock covers and carbon fiber hand guards.

The other ATV is green Suzuki Ltr 450 with a custom black and green Quadtech seat, gunmetal hinson clutch cover, Quadtech carbon fiber shock guards, 127 number plate.

The reward will be paid upon return of the quads and "conviction of the scum who sold them," according to the flyer we were sent.

Call the Sheriff's Office at (585) 343-5000 with any information that may assist in the investigation.

The one-lane, metal-mesh bridge crossing the Tonawanda Creek at South Lyon Street was put in place in 1984 -- as a temporary bridge.

But Highway Superintendent Tim Hens told county legislators on Monday that it won't be replaced any time soon.

There's been a 40-percent cut in federal aid for roads and bridges and the South Lyon bridge replacement -- originally slated for 2014 -- had its funding slashed by the state.

The earliest it could be replaced is 2018.

Using grant money now to design a new bridge would start a 10-year clock on getting the bridge built, with no promise that it could be built by 2023. So, the design money for South Lyon needs to go to other projects, Hens said.

Those projects include the North Pembroke Road bridge, the Hopkins Road bridge and the Griswold Road bridge.

The current replacement cost for the South Lyon bridge is $1.7 million. The current bridge is known as a "Baily bridge," a design developed during World War II for pre-fab, easily installed bridges.

The bridge handles 2,500 cars a day and if it were simply closed, crossings at Oak Street and River Street, which already have heavy traffic, would take on the overflow.

(COR Development out of Syracuse was recently granted tax abatements by Genesee County Economic Development Center of $1.7 million for renovations at Batavia Towne Center.)

A proposal to require pawn shops and precious metal dealers to make daily reports of items bought to local law enforcement cleared its first hurdle today.

The Public Service Committee set a public hearing for 7 p.m., June 12, which is required before a proposal can become law.

The 10 businesses local officials believe will be directly impacted by the proposed law will receive direct notification of the meeting.

Det. Sgt. Pat Corona and Chief Deputy Jerome Brewster joined District Attorney Lawrence Friedman in presenting the proposal to the legislative committee.

The law covers any business that takes in metal of value -- whether it's a gold dealer or pawn shop handling gold and silver or a scrap dealer recycling iron and copper.

It doesn't cover second-hand dealers that don't buy and resell metal, though a pawn shop that buys gold would need to record and report all of its purchase transactions.

Pawn shops are already required to record the identity of sellers, but the new law would also require them to file a daily report with the Sheriff's Office.

"If we're given a description of somebody that we know is a thief and has recently turned in some gold rings and we can relate that to a recent crime, it's going to help us tremendously to recover the property," Brewster said.

Both Brewster and Corona said that over the years, as pawn brokers have come and gone, they've found some who are easy to work with and others who were quite clearly willing to take and dispose of stolen property quickly.

The law would help with those who seem to know they're buying stolen goods.

"We had a recent residential burglary and because we had a good relationship (with a local broker), we were able to quickly put a case together and make an arrest for burglary in the second degree," Corona said. "If we have a good relationship, fine, it works out, but it depends on who is running the establishment. I've had some experiences where the relationship wasn't that good. This would take that element out of it because there would be a requirement that you provide a report to the Sheriff's Office."

Friedman said the proposed law went though four drafts -- though no local shop owners were consulted during that process. It's designed to deal with very specific kinds of second-hand brokers.

Those business owners will be given their chance to chime in on the new law at the June 12 public hearing.