Farmers and farm equipment buyers from throughout the area were at the old Empire Tractor location on East Main Road (the business moved at the beginning of the month to a new location on East Main Road) to get bargains on used farm implements, from combines to tractors and even riding mowers. Empire Tractor was selling off used equipment from the longtime East Main Road location, but brought in used equipment from its other locations as well. President Tim Call said it was a chance to clear out some unsold inventory. 

Saturday was the first day of 30-percent off prices at Lowe's for its close-out sale and it probably seemed like all of Genesee County turned out. The parking lot was full and the aisles around the checkout counters were wall-to-wall people and shopping carts. (I have no pictures from inside the store because I did the polite thing and asked the manager for permission, even though legally I could have just snapped away until told to stop, and he said no (at which point, I had to comply) -- so just take my word for it, the place was jammed.)

There was another big turn out Saturday for the Batavia Kiwanis Club's annual Pancake Day breakfast at the Presbyterian Church in Batavia.

Robert Frost wrote that "Good fences make good neighbors."

Mr. Frost never met James Pontillo (pictured above) nor Tom Englerth.  

The two Stafford residents and fellow small business owners are in the midst of a dispute that has led to at least three visits by police and is making it more difficult for Pontillo to get his building renovated and a new business open.

"He drew the line," Englerth said. "He put up a fence. He said, 'you stay on your side,' so I told him to stay on his side."

In August 2010, Pontillo purchased a historic building at the intersection of Morganville and Main roads, Stafford. For as long as anybody can remember, there's been a store there that met community needs, but then Englerth put up a new building on land next door.

Shelley Macan-Mouery moved her business, the Stafford Trading Post, to Englerth's new structure. 

With his key commercial tenant gone, the owner of the former Stafford Odd Fellows' Hall, Terry Platt, decided to sell the building. He put it up for auction.

The Stafford Historical Society was concerned that the highest bidder -- possibly Englerth -- would tear down the 120-year-old building. The society secured $35,000 in financing to try and buy the building.

Englerth bid on the building, and the historical society bid on the building, but so did Pontillo and Pontillo won with a bid of $37,500.

And that, according to Pontillo, is part of the reason that Englerth is bent on disrupting his restoration efforts.

Plus Pontillo plans to open a store that will compete directly with the Stafford Trading Post.

Nonsense, says Englerth.

"I own the building," said Englerth. "I rent the store. The rent's the same regardless of what they do."

For Englerth, it's all about fences, he said.

First there is the fence that Pontillo put up, but then there is the fence that Englerth was forced to cut down from eight feet to six feet.

When Pontillo applied for a permit for his fence, he needed a variance to construct an eight-foot-high fence. Part of his argument for the variance was that Englerth had been allowed to construct an eight-high-foot fence.

But it turned out that Englerth never applied for, nor received, a variance for a higher fence than allowed by code.

Englerth accuses Pontillo of turning him in for the out-of-code fence, but Pontillo said that he spoke in favor of Englerth keeping his fence at a town planning board meeting. If Englerth had been granted a variance, Pontillo would likely also get a variance.

Neither got a variance, and Englerth had to take a chainsaw to the top of his fence.

Pontillo is convinced that Englerth has certain town officials on his side, such as Code Enforcement Officer Lester Mullen, whom he accuses of making random inspections on his construction work and roadblocking his efforts.

Mullen has been out on medical leave and wasn't available for comment.

Pontillo is planning to open a pizza shop that will include a deli, ice cream stand and grocery items (much like Stafford Trading Post) called "Talk of the Town." The new building name, which he said he's already trademarked, is "Pontillo's Place."

Other problems Pontillo has faced, he said, has come from the NYS DOT.

Pontillo said he's also been hassled by a guy named "Dan" from the NYS Department of Transportation over parking for the building, even though his parking plan is right in line with the parking that has always been available at the building.

But his problems with the DOT don't stop there. The DOT resurfaced Morganville Road (Route 237), creating a drainage problem that has caused his basement to flood (see photo below). The flooding has caused the hardwood floor on the first level to buckle in several areas -- after the restoration on the floor was almost complete.

The DOT, Pontillo said, has refused to either discuss compensation or fix the drainage issue.

Nonetheless, Pontillo is pushing forward with restoration.

This week he's had workers on the roof ripping off the old shingles with plans to install an entirely new roof.

Which brings us back to the two latest State Police responses to the location.

Pontillo rented a high-lift so his workers could safely get atop the three-story high roof and safely remove old shingles and bring materials to the rooftop.

When it came time for workers to work on the west side of the building, Pontillo asked Macan-Mouery for permission to park the high-lift on the west side of his building.

Since the property line is right at the edge of the building, the only place to park the high-lift was in the parking lot of the Stafford Trading Post.

Englerth reportedly called in State Troopers and accused Pontillo of trespassing.

The troopers said they believed Macan-Mouery had given Pontillo permission to park the high-lift where he did, but after Englerth complained, withdrew permission.

On Friday afternoon, the troopers had Pontillo move the high-lift from the Stafford Trading Post parking lot.

To work on the west side of the building, Pontillo's crews will need to use ladders, which is far less safe and will slow down work.

Meanwhile, on Friday and Saturday, Englerth parked his truck next to the west side of Pontillo's building.

On Saturday morning, he called State Police to complain that debris falling from Pontillo's roof damaged his truck.

Troopers responded but took no action on the complaint.

"The bottom line is he doesn't care about the safety of my workers," Pontillo said Saturday morning. "They could fall and get killed and he wouldn't care."

Notre Dame had no trouble running the ball against Geneseo in their Class D Section V championship match up, but when Geneseo needed a big play, a play action run or option, it seemed to get the job done more often then not.

The tone was set in the first four minutes of the first quarter. Andrew Mullen capped a Notre Dame drive with a 7-yard run to give the Fighting Irish a 7-0 lead. Before another 30 seconds had ticked off the clock, Geneseo's Jon Ridler, on the Blue Devil's first play from scrimmage, bolted 79 yards, and with a two-point conversion, Geneseo was up 8-7.

"Good teams make big plays and they made the big plays when they needed them," Coach Rick Mancuso said.

By the half, Notre Dame was down by three, 24-21 and the two teams combined had rushed for more than 400 yards.  

Sophomore Andrew Mullen scored all three of ND's first-half TDs, one on a 59-yard run.

The Irish took a leg up in the seesaw scoring battle when Doane McCulley took the opening half kick off 82 yards to put ND up 28-24.

True to form for the game, Geneseo countered with another big play. Xavier Copeland scored on a 55-yard run, but the Irish answered with another grind-it-out drive capped by a five-yard run by Nick Taylor.

Score, 35-32, Note Dame with 4:53 left in the third quarter.

Then the game took a decisive turn in Geneseo's favor.

After stopping the Blue Devils on their possession following Taylor's score, Notre Dame was moving the ball down the field again when QB Tim McCulley took off on a keeper. After gaining about 10 yards, he was gang tackled by Blue Devils defenders.

As the photo above shows, McCulley was in possession of the ball as his knees were down, but there was no whistle. This gave Geneseo's Ridler a chance to strip the ball from McCulley.

The Blue Devils recovered the "fumble."

"I thought his forward progress would stop," Mancuso said after the game. "I was waiting for the whistle. He was being driven back on his way down. I thought we’d get the whistle and we didn’t and they got the ball and that deflated us.

"We went from being very, very high and being very energized to being somewhat deflated and I think that kind of took a little wind out of our sails."

Geneseo scored 12 unanswered points and led 44-35 with 9:47 left in the game.

A fourth Mullen TD, on a seven-yard run, pulled the Irish within two points, but with two minutes left in the game, Copeland ripped off another 56 yard TD run, and with the two-point conversion, the Blue Devils cemented a 10-point win, 52-42.

In all, Notre Dame gained 394 yards on the ground and Geneseo ran for 409 yards and gained another 145 through the air, giving the teams a combined offensive total of 948 yards.

For Notre Dame, Mullen scored four TDs on 15 carries and gained 160 yards. Nick Taylor scored one TD and gained 221 yards on the ground.

Tim McCulley attempted 10 passes, completed four for 48 yards. He was intercepted once.

Xavier Copeland carried the ball 17 times for Geneseo, gaining 234 yards and scoring four touchdowns. He also passed for 145 yards on four completions. Jon Ridler carried the ball 18 times and gained 154 yards, scoring twice. Wes Smith had three catches for 118 yards and one TD.

On defense, Kyle Morse, Nate Woods and Andrew Mullen each had seven tackles. Jacob Tschiderer had 11 tackles for Geneseo. 

Anthony Paladino was Notre Dame's defensive player of the game. Aaron McDonald received a lineman award.

Time of possession tipped in Notre Dame's favor, 29:25 to 18:35.

"I've been very, very proud of the effort of all the kids throughout the season and today was no different," Mancuso said. "I really felt they left everything out on the field. I don’t think we got cheated at all in what we brought to the game and I think they’ve got a lot to be proud of."

If you have trouble viewing the slide show below, click here.

The Redskins capped off a perfect season by topping the Steelers on Saturday. Despite the cold temps, a good crowd was on hand to witness the season finale of Batavia Youth Football's B division.

The Steelers backfield reacts as their QB takes the snap.

Redskin's running back slips past the Steelers' defender...

and breaks into the open for a long gain,

much to the delight of Coach A. J. Martino.

Obviously, it takes more than one tackler to bring down this guy!

Steelers offense getting set prior to the snap. The Steelers played tough, but in the end...

they spent a great deal of time chasing down #32.

Three TD carries by sophomore Andrew Mullen hasn't been enough for Notre Dame to keep pace with three counter strikes, with two-point conversions, by the Geneseo Blue Devils in the first half of their Class D championship game at Shlen's Stadium in Rochester.

At the half, the score is 24-21.

Mullen has scored on runs of 15, seven and 60 yards (approximately), but after each of Mullen's first two scores, Geneseo has answered with long running plays in the first series from scrimmage.

The game so far has been almost all run and no pass by either offense. Notre Dame has 277 total yards on the ground, and none in the air, compared to 244 rushing yards for Geneseo (and a bit more than 40 through the air).

UPDATE 11:33 p.m.: Final, 52-42 Geneseo. The two teams combined for 803 yards on the ground and more than 1,000 yards total offense. Andrew Mullen scored four TDs.

The entire staff of South Beach is dressed up for Halloween tonight. Do you recognize owner Ken Mistler?

Following an investigation into an alleged assault of a 14-year-old at a party on Cleveland Road in Pembroke on Aug. 23, a Portageville man is facing two felony charges.

Arrested on Oct. 21 was Joshua J. Ebersole, 25, of State Route 19A, Portageville. Ebersole is charged with strangulation, 2nd, and assault, 2nd.

He was jailed on $10,000 bail.

Also charged was David M. Snyder, 25, of Genesee Street, Warsaw. Snyder is charged with assault, 3rd, a misdemeanor.

The case was investigated by Deputy Jason Saile and Investigator Roger Stone.

While you may still be thinking about Halloween candy, the folks at Oliver's need to think decidedly further ahead -- like Christmas. Candy cane production started today. Here's a few photos of the process.

Workers continue to make progress on the roof replacement of County Building #1 at Court and Ellicott streets.  The $214,000 project was awarded to Elmer W. Davis, Inc., of Rochester.

Everything was nice and frosty this morning. It could have made some good photos if I'd gotten out of the house sooner.  

I did head up to Centennial Park just before 9 a.m. hoping for some frost still on the ground and leaves. There wasn't but I took a few pictures anyway. It was still a beautiful morning, and just enough fall left to provide some color.  

The bottom photo, however, is some of the frost I found outside in our own front yard.

Catherine R. Bater, 20, of 112 Lake St., Le Roy is charged with grand larceny and endangering the welfare of a child 1st. Bater was arrested by Le Roy Police on two separate cases. In the first case, Bater is accused of stealing a laptop computer, digital camera and multiple DVDs from a residence on Lathrop Avenue on or about Sept. 25. The camera and computer were recovered. In the second incident, Bater is accused of switching out a prescription of generic Ritalin belonging to a juvenile with high blood pressure medication (Clonidine). The switched medication was subsequently administered to the juvenile causing the youth to lose consciousness. Batar was arraigned and jailed on an unspecified amount of bail.

Eric Bratcher, 22, of 7 1/2 North St., Le Roy, was arrested on a bench warrant. Batcher is accused of violating the terms of his release under supervision contract. Bratcher was originally charged Oct. 16 with burglary, accused of breaking into a Gilbert Street residence and stealing a video game system and games. Bratcher was jailed on an unspecified amount of bail.

Uriah Ian Charles Smoke, 26, of Bloomingdale Road, Basom, is charged with reckless endangerment, 2nd, and criminal mischief. Smoke is accused of throwing a glass coffee mug at a minivan while his girlfriend and their child were in the van. The impact caused the glass of the sliding door window to shatter, spraying the infant with glass. The infant was not injured.

Andrew Joseph Lennox, 23, of Webber Avenue, Oakfield, is charged with trespass. Lennox is accused of being on College Village property after being banned from the property.

A cement truck reportedly dumped two or three yards of concrete on West Main Street Road in the area of West Main Mini Mart.

A witness reports that the driver got out of the truck, fixed the truck's shoot, and then continued westbound.

The truck turned left on Wortendyke and has now reportedly stopped at Cargil on Wortendyke.

Law enforcement is responding.

UPDATE 8:26 a.m.: Truck driver says that his company was notified and is responding to clean it up. A deputy reports that it's just a small portion actually in the roadway and a quick response from either the company or DOT can get it cleaned up. Shortly after that message, the deputy reports that a Town of Batavia highway employee is on scene and is going to sweep it up before it adheres.

Previously: Proposed county budget cuts local spending, lays off workers, raises taxes

The NYS DOT has been dispatched to the Route 98 bridge over the Thruway after an apparently minor injury accident.

A deputy on scene reported black ice conditions after responding to the accident.

A flatbed tow truck has been requested to the scene to deal with the disabled vehicle.

Mercy EMS is on scene tending to at least one injured person.

Town of Batavia Fire Department also responded.

UPDATE 7:21 a.m.: A trooper informs dispatch that DOT should also be notified that the Route 63 over the Thruway is also "pretty slick."

UPDATE 7:35 a.m.: A patient was transported to UMMC with only minor complaints of pain. Town of Batavia fire is back in service.

Residents of 400 Towers enjoyed a Halloween party on Thursday night that included a costume contest, karaoke and sweets.

An Oakfield man already accused of other thefts is facing new burglary and larceny charges following an investigation by Sheriff's investigators into a recent series of crimes in the Oakfield and Elba area.

Benjamin W. Muntz, 22, of 6966 Knowlesville Road, Basom, is being charged with burglary, 3rd, grand larceny, 3rd, and petit larceny.

Muntz is already being held in the Genesee County Jail on a third-degree burglary charge.

Investigators suspect Muntz of stealing an ATV, a dune buggy and a dirt bike from a residence in the Town of Oakfield between June 20 and June 26. The value of the three vehicles is reportedly more than $2,500.

He's also suspected of stealing a large quantity of tractor weights from a location in Elba between Aug. 1 and Sept. 7 with a total value of more than $8,000.

Muntz is also suspected of stealing tractor weights from outside a building in Alabama around Sept. 1 with a value of about $500.

The ATV, dune buggy and dirt bike have been recovered, officials report, but they believe the tractor weights were sold for scrap metal.

In early September, Muntz was arrested and accused of entering a barn in Alabama and stealing a small child's dirt bike. He's also been accused of trespassing and attempting to steal items from a property in Byron.

On the two new felony charges, Muntz was ordered held without bail.

Local law enforcement agencies will again participate in the DEA Prescription Drug Drop Program on Saturday.

The program allows local residents to drop off any sort of prescription drug for proper, safe and legal disposal -- no questions asked. 

The locations: 

• Batavia PD, 10 W. Main St., Batavia
• Pembroke Highway Garage, routes 5 and 77, Pembroke
• Le Roy PD, 3 W. Main St., Le Roy

Pictured are Deputy Chris Parker, Genesee County Sheriff's Office; Det. John Condidorio, Le Roy PD; Det. Charles Dudek, Batavia PD.

A young woman worked an agreement with Jeremy Almeter, owner of Glass Roots on Center Street, to avoid criminal charges after she was caught on video making an art heist from the shop. The woman walked out the front door with two paintings on the very first day Almeter was using a video surveilance system installed by Rich Clark of Computer and Phone Repair (CPR). Almeter and the woman made an agreement not to release her name. She walked in front of the store for two hours today carrying the sign reading "I stole art from Glass Roots."