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There was only one thing to say about the fantastic weather, record numbers, dependable help and community support at this year’s Genesee County Fair, volunteer Norm Pimm says.

“It’s pretty wild,” he said to The Batavian Monday afternoon. “When last year just blew away our numbers that we hadn’t done before — for the last 13 years we had double-digit growth — we figured that no way we were going to top that. After the first Saturday and Sunday, we were already ahead of the pace.”

The fair has risen from attendance of 13,000 a dozen years ago to this year’s intake of 75,000. That’s a 15 percent increase from 2021, which was touted as a record-breaking year for the Agricultural Society’s yearly event.

Pimm believes that, at least in part, people were really anxious to get out and do something after the pandemic lockdown. Plus, the event itself has added new attractions, a midway vendor, more 4-H participants and farm animals, and the volunteer group has invested money into water, electrical and other amenities to continuously improve the grounds, he said. Its reputation has spread beyond Genesee into neighboring counties, often due to word-of-mouth praise, he said.

“I truly believe we’ve had a great county fair; it’s sort of in the back yard of Western New York,” he said. “People say ‘this is the fair I grew up on.’”

There was an impressive 1,100 animals at the fair, albeit in shifts, since they all couldn’t fit into the barns all at once, he said. The meat auction drew 60 new bidders from last year, which raised more than $320,000, and “smashed” the current total. Most of the proceeds went to each youth participant, with a “very small” percentage to help cover Cornell Cooperative Extension’s costs, he said.

“This is huge for the kids, because many of them use the money to purchase their following year’s project,” he said.

About 150 Genesee County 4-H youths participated, with 88 in the auction, and another 100 from throughout New York State in the open livestock shows, he said. Come September, 20 of those youths will go on to participate in events at the State Fair in Syracuse.

Arcade resident Thomas Keele’s steer brought in a whopping $32,000, thanks to a community that agreed to jack up the bids to help his family out after his father was tragically killed in an automobile accident. Pimm knew the boy’s father, and also knew that people had loosely set a goal to raise $10,000 before the bids just kept going and going, he said.

“People just stood up for him,” Pimm said.

In addition to the animals, there was also a baked goods auction that helped the grand total, he said.

No slacker at the grandstand, the demolition derby seated 2,500 people, and opened up the infield to accommodate the overflow.

“So that we didn’t have to turn away people,” he said. “They were excited to see it.”

He credited Bruce Scofield of Stafford for overseeing the derby and securing a 25 percent increase in attendance from last year. Even the amount of cars broke a record, with 60 entered for the smash ‘em up event.

There were problems, Pimm said, such as running out of food at least three or four times at the Chuckwagon, and other vendors reporting that they sold out of products a few times as well. That was “a great problem to have,” he said.

A mini car race was supported by area businesses that sponsored each car, which helped to cover costs and made it free for kids to do. Pig races, a dog comedy act, “fantastic” bands and Hammerl Amusements were all new or fairly new additions that kept bringing the crowds in, he said.

As for the work involved, Pimm laughed as he shared his daughter’s reaction while riding in her dad’s car with him. He kept making calls regarding next year’s fair festivities.

“She said, ‘it never stops, does it?” Pimm said. “For us to continue to grow, we have to add new stuff, and we’re tweaking some things. If it wasn’t for the businesses … and the volunteers, there’s no way we could do this.”

Top photo by Kristin Smith

Photo by Kristin Smith

Photo by Kristin Smith

Photo by Kristin Smith

Photo by Kristin Smith

Photo by Debra Reilly

Photo by Debra Reilly

Photo by Laura Luft

With more than 20 fast food-type offerings in Batavia alone, Marc and Lauren Cordes wanted to shake things up with something radically different.

The East Bethany couple, joined by children Holden, 9, Haylee, 12, and 14-year-old Hayven, friends, family and eager customers, cut the official ribbon on Monday for that something different: Batavia Total Nutrition.

“People just fall in love with the taste once they try it,” Lauren said at the site in Valu Plaza. “We’ll have specialty menus and shakes of the month. Come in and give it a try first before you judge.”

The business makes and sells an assortment of beverages, from energy drinks to protein-packed shakes. Lauren said these are delicious, unlike some nutritional shakes, which have helped her on her weight loss journey. She and Marc had been thinking about opening a business, and after they both sampled the products, they agreed to open Batavia Total Nutrition, she said.

“We realized that Batavia actually has nothing, nutrition-wise, to offer, so we decided to bring this out here. And it tastes good, looks good and offers excellent nutrition. I lost weight and maintain my weight just doing the product myself.”

About a year ago she got involved in doing healthy protein shakes as meal replacements and energy bombs. She and her husband decided to bring the Herbalife products to the City of Batavia.

“There’s nothing like it here; we decided this might be a good business venture to bring to the area,” Marc said. “I know people are looking to eat more nutritious nowadays, and I thought this might be one avenue we thought we could bring to the community.”

The menu lists assorted energy bombs, meal replacement shakes, and protein snacks, and Lauren said there will be waffle Wednesdays and fitness classes at some point. Those classes will lead participants through cardio drumming, something that no one offers here, Lauren said.  As its name implies, participants drum on an inflatable ball and use their entire bodies to make it a cardio exercise, she said.

Energy Bombs come in a variety of combinations, such as the Batavia Rush, with “a whole lotta lemon” and blue raspberry; or flavors of orange, pineapple, strawberry and blue razz of a Tiki Refresher. These drinks boast zero to low sugar content with some caffeine for that extra boost. The protein shakes sound quite similar to an ice cream shop’s varieties, with caramel macchiato, cookie dough extreme, cheesecake batter, fruity pebbles, and banana split, to name a few. Stevia is used to help keep the calories and sugar content low.

The menu states that plant-based shakes are under 300 calories and provide up to 55 grams of protein, 18 grams of carbs, five grams of fat, and nine to 15 grams of sugar, plus 21 vitamins and minerals.

“Just because it says nutritious, that doesn’t mean it tastes bad,” Marc said.

Brandon Britton of Clarence was providing some hands-on support by making shakes and talking up the business. He and his family lived in a small Ohio town with three of these shops, and his family opted to move north and open more of them in Erie and Niagara counties. He met the Cordes when they went to Buffalo to try out the products.

“We’re supporting the community, and giving them healthier lifestyles,” he said. “We hope to make a positive difference wherever we go.”

After a bleak couple of years with business shutdowns, what does a business opening mean for Genesee County?

“I think it's a good sign,” Chamber of Commerce Interim President Tom Turnbull said. “It's a different type of niche business. I think because it is healthy eating. And I got a chance to sample a couple of the drinks here today, and they're really good.”

The Chamber’s Visitors Center sees its share of folks that stop by looking for places to eat, he said, and if they are seeking a healthy option, “this is one of the places we can send them to.”

“There's a couple of other places in town also we would recommend, but it's nice to have this,” he said. “I think it's a high-traffic area. I think they should do well here, they seem to have a good business plan.”

Hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at 4152 West Main Street Road, Batavia. Click here for more information and the menu. You can text your order to (585) 432-5545.

Top photo: Marc and Lauren Cordes, with their children and other family and friends, celebrate the grand opening of Batavia Total Nutrition Monday at Valu Plaza, 4152 West Main Street Road, Batavia. Lauren serves a fudge brownie protein shake, and customers place their orders at the counter. Photos by Joanne Beck.

While many college graduates are fleeing the rural life of Genesee County for more hustle and bustle, the Town of Byron has retained generations over the years, Town Clerk Debra Buck-Leaton says.

The secret? Open fields, space between homes, a slower pace and a country lifestyle, she said. Oh, and the feeling that everyone belongs, she said.

Her husband was born and raised there, their 22-year-old daughter lives there and works nearby, and many people have watched their family generations plant roots in Byron.

“There’s a sense of community. People want a piece of property with an acre or two to enjoy time with family; they want to be in their little sanctuary; they want that small town community feel,” she said. “We’re hoping that’s what brings people to Byron, the desire to celebrate with your community members. A lot of people were born and raised their kids here, and their grandchildren live here.”

The celebration of the town’s bicentennial was originally scheduled for 2020. A planning committee began to plan it in January of that year, and the members were caught by surprise.

“None of us expected COVID to be this bad. I had it twice,” Buck-Leaton said, adding how members felt. “Just disappointed. Two hundred years is huge.”

Like it or not, COVID is still making its way into news articles, as groups resume the daylong undertaking they had intended to have two years ago. Buck-Leaton and her core group of about a dozen fellow citizens excitedly began to map out the town’s bicentennial just as COVID hit big time. They thought perhaps they could get it off the ground last year as well, but pandemic restrictions stopped them cold.

This is the year, and they promise a day full of activities, food, fun, informal history lessons, and fireworks. It’s set for August 20 at Firemen’s Park behind Byron Fire Department, Route 262.

Runners and walkers can lace up for a 5K at 8 a.m. while others are casting out lines for a kids fishing derby at Trestle Park. Hungry visitors can enjoy some syrupy pancakes at a Kiwanis breakfast that runs from 7:30 to 10 a.m. at Byron Fire Hall as vendors sell their wares beginning at 7:30 a.m. Walk over to Caswell Road for a parade at 11 a.m., and remember that voting for a garden contest ends at 2 p.m.

A car/truck/tractor show runs all day to 4 p.m. when awards will be announced. Raffle winners will be drawn and announced every hour from 1 p.m. on, and kids’ crafts and games go from 1 to 5:30 p.m. and a magician will perform from noon to 2:30 p.m. A Genesee Country Village presentation runs from 2 to 4 p.m., overlapping with a duck race at 2 p.m.

Looking for some music? Resonance Group is from noon to 1 p.m., Kelly’s Old Timers from 1:15 to 3:15 p.m., Rebels Posse from 4:15 to 6:15 p.m. and Rise Again Rocks caps the entertainment from 7:30 to 9:45 p.m. Bicentennial festivities are to be capped off with fireworks at dusk.

Or how about seeing photos of the town back in the good ol’ days? Did you see the unsightly mastodon tooth? That’s a big part of Byron’s history, Buck-Leaton said. The town is known for its early ancestors, a group of mastodons that roamed the uncivilized fields.

Mastos is for beast and odous for tooth, and the creatures embodied both, according to museum photos and relics found in Byron’s own backyard. Mastodon digs (called Byron Dig at the Hiscock Archeological Site) occurred many times in the small Genesee County town, Buck-Leaton said. The first tusk was found in Spring Creek decades ago, she said. (Previously: History's latest chapter about to close on the 'Byron Dig')

“We are known for our mastodons,” she said. “Buffalo Museum and Science Center used to do a dig every summer. I have a picture of the tooth they found.”

According to town history records, early settlers cleared the land by hand, felling trees and removing sections of forest for basic infrastructure needed by a town with a current population of 2,500 people.

Byron was divided from the town of Bergen on April 4, 1820, and was named for Lord Byron. The town of Byron in the early days was called Byron Center.

Asa Merrill was one of the earliest documented settlers, who wrote in November 1871 that “it is our pride and satisfaction that it is our once strong arms, that have felled the sturdy trees and converted these once dark forest lands into cultivated fields and smiling gardens. That it is us who have beautified and adorned nature here in old Genesee, and that we ourselves, who will leave behind us this Eden of the West, as a rich heritage to our children and after generations.”

That first pioneer of the eastern side of the county brought with him provisions to last a year. Those items included 500 pounds of beef and pork, 100 pounds of flax for clothing, 70 pounds of tallow for candles, household goods, and the Merrill family of Asa, his wife, and their three boys. Mr. Merrill paid $125 for 100 acres of land, and he and his wife remained in North Byron their entire lives. They are buried in North Byron Cemetery.

West Shore Railroad, which ran nearly east and west through the central part of the town, was removed a few years ago. The New York Central Railroad passes through South Byron, with two of its four tracks still operational.

Other Byron bits include:

• The first school was opened by Chester T. Holbrook in 1810.
• Ira Newburg operated the first inn in 1815.
• The first sawmill was owned by William Shepard in 1813.
• The first religious service was conducted by Rev. Royal Phelps, a Presbyterian missionary, in 1809.
• The first church was Baptist and was located at Byron Center in 1810. It was disbanded many years ago.

One day two other items will also be on that list: the creation of a large water district and a solar facility in town.

Buck-Leaton has learned a lot over the years as town clerk, she said, including an appreciation for the area's charm as a rural farming town. Her father was one of the original founders of the ambulance service, and the town is working hard to raise money for a new ambulance with a cash raffle.

"We're trying to raise $200,000. Any community support we can get for that would be great. And we're always looking for volunteers; if not for this event, then for something else," she said. "I hope we have a great turnout, I hope they're excited about the whole day, and I hope people learn a little history about their town."

Click here for the full Bicentennial Schedule.

Top photo: Byron's float during Genesee County's bicentennial parade in 2002; a mastodon tooth discovered at the Hiscock Archeological Site;  Dr. Richard Laub (standing), Curator of Geology at the Buffalo Museum of Science on a dig at the Byron site. Photos from Town Clerk Debra Buck-Leaton and the town website.

Listen To The Music (What the people need is a way to make them smile ... The Doobie Brothers)

Throughout my life music has been both a source of joy and a cause for regret. On thr positive side, I listen to or watch music every single day. It is one of the things I absolutely have to have in my life and I find it hard to imagine being without it. Going to see and hear live music is something I do all of the time, and I really missed it through the two years of the pandemic.

However, I constantly regret not ever learning to play an instrument and reading music. Like a lot of other things I didn’t do in my life, it was a result of shyness and insecurity mixed in with the lack of available resources. In elementary school (St. Mary’s) and high school (Notre Dame) we had no instrumental music instruction at all.

My brother Dan was a member of St. Joseph’s Drum Corps, and I was too shy to join. As an example of my reticence, when I was 9 or 10 my mother signed me up for swimming lessons at Godfrey’s Pond. When the time came to go, I hid in the closet, and she had to threaten to call the priest to get me out of there. Of course, once she got me there, I was fine and loved swimming.

When I think about being a little kid, I really don’t recall much about music then. I was more interested in sports: I can remember a football game I watched on TV in 1954 when I was 7. My parents, like everyone from the World War II era, loved Big Band music, so I probably heard some of that on the radio. My Aunts Kate and Peg wouldn’t miss “The Lawrence Welk Show” every Saturday night, but a kid wouldn’t admit to their friends that they watched that. Every weekday morning my mom had on the “Clint Buehlman Show” (“yours truly Buehly”) on WBEN Buffalo while we ate breakfast and got ready for school. But he was an avowed rock and roll hater and wouldn’t play any of that “noise.”

Vinyl Countdown

Eventually, I did start listening to some of the DJs, and I distinctly remember the first two records I ever bought. The first was “Singing The Blues” by Guy Mitchell in 1956, and then “Come Go With Me” by the Dell Vikings in 1957. I think they might have been 78 RPM records, but I’m not positive. The former was kind of country-ish and the latter was “Doo-Wop,” so I think my mom didn’t complain too much when I played them on our very basic record player.

A Christmas present which really made a big impression in my music life was a little red transistor radio with an earphone I got when I was 12 or 13. Up until then I had to share the family radio with my parents. The transistor meant I could listen to whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. And I could plug the earphone in and only I could hear what was being played.

At that time in the early '60s, WKBW 1520 on the AM dial from Buffalo was getting a reputation as a powerhouse of rock and roll broadcasting. DJs Tommy Shannon, Joey Reynolds, and Danny Neaverth were all “spinning the hits” for a wide audience, which definitely included me.

Tommy Shannon was one of the early cool DJ's who drove a Corvette and reputedly dated Ann Margaret. He wrote his own theme song which I'd bet many people could still sing today: “Top tunes ... news and weather. So glad we could ... get together. On the ... Tom Shannon show.” The group Rockin' Rebels did an instrumental version that became a top 10 hit in 1961.

Joey Reynolds (real name Joey Pinto), in between playing songs, was an early predecessor to “shock jocks” like Howard Stern. He would break records he didn't like, argue with callers, and just generally adopted an over-the-top persona. When he eventually got fired, he nailed his shoes to the station manager's door with a note that said, “Fill these!”

Danny Neaverth was a home town Buffalo boy who was on WKBW for 25 years. He made appearances at local schools including one time at a Notre Dame dance that I attended. At one point he asked for a volunteer to come up on stage, and I was too shy, but my “friends “ volunteered me by carrying me to the stage and dumping me up there. I don't recall what I had to do, but I'm sure my blushing face was as scarlet as a fire truck. Neaverth was also the public address announcer for the Buffalo Bills football and Braves basketball teams.

Regardless of their radio personalities, it was mostly these three DJ's who introduced me to Dion and The Belmonts, the Shirelles, the Beach Boys, and eventually to the English explosion of the Beatles, Dave Clark 5 and the Rolling Stones.

(L to R) Joey Reynolds, Tommy Shannon, and Danny Neaverth of WKBW 1520

Television Tunes

As far as seeing bands, the best place to do that was on “The Ed Sullivan Show” on TV. Of course, there was the infamous Elvis Presley swivel-hipped debut in 1956. Buddy Holly, The Four Seasons, and The Beach Boys all had appearances leading up to the debut of the Beatles in February 1964. I had just turned 17 and was in my senior year at Notre Dame, and I was watching with millions of others. My biggest memory of the show was an audience of screaming teenage girls who seemed to be having, in the words of “The Count Five” song a couple years later, “a psychotic reaction.” (As a side note, that crowd craziness was what caused the Beatles to give up playing live.)

There was also “American Bandstand” with Dick Clark. I think more girls watched that for the dancing. Plus, the songs were lip synced, not live. A funny part to me was when they'd choose a boy and a girl from the audience to rate a record. Practically every time one would say, “Dick, I'll give it a 10 because it's got a good beat to dance to.”

Then, in college years, there were two shows called “Shindig” and “Hullabaloo.” They had on all the famous bands (plus go-go dancers). Back then in college, no one had a TV in their dorm room; there was one in the lounge, but hardly anyone ever watched it except for when those shows came on. Then the room was packed.

Going Live

As far as actually seeing live music in person, we were pretty much limited to local teenage bands like Batavia High's Cryin' Strings in the basement of St. Mary's Church, or at school dances, due to not being old enough to drive. I have a friend I met in college who went to Toronto in 1964 and 1965 when she was in high school to see the Beatles, but that was way out of my league. She probably still suffers vocal chord problems from it.

In June 1964, though, a rock and roll show actually came to Batavia at the Mancuso Theater, and I wasn't going to miss that. I don't remember who I went with, but I'm hoping it was a girl. I did have a sort of girlfriend my senior year, but since I didn't have a driver's license or a car, I was lucky she tolerated me.

The headliners were The Searchers from England. Part of the “British Invasion,” they had a couple of hits with “Needles and Pins” and “Love Potion #9.” I remember thinking at the time, “Wow. A real English band in Batavia.” In doing some research for this story I heard from a woman (a young teenage girl then, of course) who said that she and some of her friends talked their way onto the tour bus and she kissed the drummer. There's a memory to last a lifetime! I bet she wishes “selfies” was a thing then.

Other bands on the bill were Ronnie Dio and The Prophets. I don't remember them, but years later he became the guitarist for Black Sabbath, The Dovells (a choreographed dancing boy band who had a hit with “Bristol Stomp”), and Dick and Dee Dee who sang “River Deep, Mountain High.” I was surprised to find out Dick had the high falsetto voice. There were two shows and five bands, so some of the groups must have done only two or three songs. It was emceed by Danny Neaverth, who seemed to be everywhere back then. I wouldn't put it anywhere in the top shows I've seen, but it's memorable for being the first.

The event that really turned things around for my music experience was going to college. In September 1964, I was off to St. John Fisher College (now University) in Rochester. Between the guys in the dorm and the girls at Nazareth just down the road, I became exposed to a lot of different tastes and genres. Eventually, between the two schools and being in Rochester, I got to see a lot of bands and groups. Nazareth had an especially nice theater which hosted some great shows.

When I came back home for the summer, Batavia really didn't have any national touring band venues, but about 15 miles north on Route 98 in Albion there was the Oak Orchard Lanes. For most of the week it was a bowling alley, and on weekends they covered the lanes with plywood and set up a stage and sound system. I didn't have a car yet, so I had to ride with friends who drove way too fast. Closing my eyes and gritting my teeth all the way there and back, I always thought it was worth it to see good bands.

Some of the groups I remember seeing there were The Association (“Cherish” and “Windy”), Shadows Of The Knight (“Gloria”), Los Bravos (“Black Is Black”) and the Swinging Medallions (there's a '60s name for you) which had a hit with “Double Shot Of My Baby's Love.”

There was a band from Toronto called The Mandala and dressed in gangster-styled suits and used strobe lights which I had never seen before. They had a minor U.S. hit with “ Love–itis.” All in all, no really long-lasting famous bands, but it was something to do and some pretty decent music. When I was researching this part of my story, a lady named Gail who used to frequent “The Lanes” back then had been there recently and took some photos that she shared.

Photo courtesy of Gail Williams

Burn Baby Burn

Another summer college destination was The Inferno, a big venue in Williamsville east of Buffalo. The main draw for going there was the weekly appearance of Wilmer Alexander and the Dukes. Wilmer was a black R&B singer from Geneva, fronting an all-white band. Immensely popular in the Western NY area, The Dukes drew sellout audiences wherever they played, with their signature crowd pleaser being a cover of The Four Tops’ “Reach Out.”

I also recall seeing Junior Walker and the All Stars there doing “Shotgun” and “Road Runner.” The night I saw the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, I was standing in the back watching an opening act, and glanced to my side and Butterfield was standing next to me in all of his black-leather-jacketed glory. What did I say to him? Well, it was me, so I just stood there pretending I didn't see him until he walked away. Again, an iPhone 13 would have come in handy.

Ironically, I was kind of a soul music/R&B fan at that point in the summer of 1967, and it was at that venue where soul was king that I had an experience that changed my whole musical taste. In addition to the main room at the Inferno, there was a another glass-enclosed smaller room which featured a second act. One night I didn't care for who was playing in the big room and decided to check out a band called Salvation Navy. I don't know who they were or where they were from, but the music they were playing blew me away.

That May the Beatles had released “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.” I was somewhat of a Beatles fan (who wasn't?), but hadn't seriously listened to that album yet. Well, the Salvation Navy, whoever they were, played that album note for note and chord for chord, and I don't see how the Beatles could have played it live any better themselves. I was entranced, and from then on my head went in a whole different direction in my musical taste.

Unfortunately in September 1968, The Inferno lived up to its name and burned to the ground, ending its several year reign as a go-to music venue.

A local Batavia spot I should mention — although most went there for the girls and drinking rather than the music — was Columbo's Clinton Lounge on Clinton Street Road. It was definitely misnamed, because you wouldn't go there to actually “lounge” or even drink out of a glass. But on Saturday nights, they regularly had a band from Rochester called King Arthur And The Knights. My clearest memory of them is the cover they did of The Four Seasons' “Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You,” which was great for some serious slow dancing with a certain girl.

In my final couple of years of college, and with getting a car, I really began to see a lot of big time bands, both in Rochester and elsewhere. After graduation I kept up my love of going to live music all through the '70s until the '80s when I had children. There were few shows in the next 20 years, but most of my time was taken up with child- centered activities, particularly softball.

When the kids got old enough to “fly from the nest,” and especially when I retired from a 33-year teaching career, I resumed going to concerts in earnest. I certainly don't pay $3-$5 for a ticket any more, like in the old days, but it's worth it to me to be entertained. It's also different than attending sporting events, because you don't leave sad if your team loses.

In recent years I have also become a poster and ticket collector of concerts that I have attended, and my apartment looks like a mini rock and roll hall of fame. It's fun to look back all those years ago and remember how my love of music started and developed, and grew into something that gives me so much happiness today.

I just keep asking myself one question though: why couldn't my mother have broken out the priest threat to get me to take music lessons instead of swimming?

"I've got a firecracker feeling," sings Jocelyn Arndt, lead vocalist in the brother and sister duo, Jocelyn & Chris, headliners Saturday night at Jam at the Ridge, and she certainly does.

Jocelyn lit up the stage while Chris laid down some tight groves and slinky guitar riffs during a high-energy set on a clear summer evening.

The Arndts have been writing songs together since they were in middle school in their hometown of Fort Plain, about 30 minutes west of Albany.  Since then, they've built a solid career based on hook-laden pop-rock songs highlighting Jocelyn's high-energy dynamics and her Janice Joplin-like powerful, blues-inflected vocals.  They've appeared on Paste Studio, Jam in the Van, and The Today Show.

Jam at the Ridge co-owner David Luetticke-Archbell is certainly impressed with Jocelyn & Chris, and said he intends to bring them back in future concert seasons to help them build a local following.

Previously: Brother-sister duo from Upstate to headline Jam at the Ridge on Saturday

Photos by Howard Owens.

 

Story submitted by Thomas Pitcher

In early July of 1863, Henry Clay took a bayonet in the arm. 

Clay, a slave, was trying to escape the victorious Federal army at Gettysburg. His Confederate master had either been killed or also taken prisoner by the Union Army. Following the aftermath of this decisive battle, nearly 7,000 rebel prisoners were taken to Baltimore’s Fort McHenry. Less discussed is the 64 captured African American slaves, like Clay, brought into the war to cook and clean for the southern army.

Lynne Belluscio, LeRoy’s town historian, first mentioned “the other Henry Clay” in 1998 and then with a more detailed article in the LeRoy Pennysaver in 2014. Through her research, we learned that Clay was born in Washington County, Georgia in 1849.

While the information is scarce, Clay’s place in American history is nothing short of remarkable.  

Six months before the Battle of Gettysburg, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves “within the rebellious states.”  Despite the 4 million enslaved African Americans, the order’s immediate impact was only felt by the roughly 50,000 slaves in Confederate regions occupied by the Union Army. Gettysburg’s aftermath served as an important litmus test for Lincoln’s proclamation, specifically the treatment of Confederate slaves captured in battle.  

Five weeks after Gettysburg, the commissary general of prisoners in the U.S Army, Colonel William Hoffman, declared that “captured [African Americans] are ranked as camp followers and therefore prisoners of war.”  This meant that slaves like Clay would be returned to their masters as dictated through the prisoner exchange system.  
Colonel Peter A. Porter didn’t buy it.  He believed that captured slaves “be employed in the service of the Government as paid laborers – thus rendering service to the Government and avoiding the return to slavery .” Raising the stakes, Porter suggested that the decision was beyond Hoffman’s jurisdiction and that “it be forwarded to the Secretary of War.”  

The Union Army sided with Porter. Of the 64 slaves captured at Gettysburg, half of them chose freedom and remained in the north. Sixteen joined as cooks in the regiments stationed in Baltimore.  Henry Clay, only 14 years old at the time, joined Porter’s regiment as a cook in Company I, a group of men exclusively organized in Genesee County. 

I’ve been researching the 8th N.Y.H.A for fourteen years and up until Belluscio’s discovery hadn’t come across a documented former slave within the regiment’s ranks.

From that moment onward, Clay’s life would only get more interesting. He was modest about his role in the regiment.

“It wasn’t much to be a cook in the army. I could carry water and peel potatoes and do things like that.” 

But it appears he may have done much more. While not on official muster roles, Clay was counted amongst the soldiers in several reunions held for the regiment after the war. He’s also listed as the first African American Civil War veteran in Genesee County.

By the end of 1863, Clay had already been present at several battles leading up to Gettysburg while a servant in the Confederate Army.  Colonel Porter’s regiment left Baltimore for the field that following spring. Clay would now be dressed in blue for Ulysses S. Grant’s invasion of Virginia; battles such as Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna, and the Siege of Petersburg.  

One battle stands out. On June 3, 1864, Porter’s regiment, along with several others, were ordered to charge confederate breastworks at Cold Harbor, Virginia. History has looked unkindly on Grant’s decision to send so many men to their death on that blistering hot Friday morning. Colonel Porter’s last words were “follow me boys” before he was riddled with bullets. The story concerning the recovery of his body by several members of the regiment, under heavy fire, was re-told countless times at every reunion.  According to different sources, there was either five or six men involved in that mission. As a result, one of them was awarded the Medal of Honor. Why the others were not held with similar praise is as large of a mystery now as it was when the medal was issued 34 years after the battle in 1898.

It’s not known if Henry Clay ever discussed what his role was at Cold Harbor while he was alive. However, one 1925 obituary needs attention.

“Mr. Clay was born a slave and was with Colonel’s Porter regiment when that gallant soldier laid down his life at Cold Harbor. He was a member of the detachment which retrieved Colonel Porter’s body.” 

There is a certain type of karma here that can’t be lost – one individual campaigns for the others' freedom while the latter, risks his life rescuing his dead body.   

After the war, Clay moved to Batavia, married and took jobs as a farmer, janitor, and bank teller. Through the individuals mentioned in his will, we learn that Henry Clay was born to Henry “Hugh” Mayweather and Caroline Williams, two slaves from Sparta, Georgia. They may have been sold to William Monroe Clay of Washington County sometime in the 1840s or 1850s.  He was a wealthy plantation owner who had three sons and a son-in-law who fought with the 49th Georgia, a confederate regiment at both Fredericksburg and Gettysburg where Clay was present.

In 1889, Clay returned to Georgia to visit family. Upon arriving there, he learned that his old slave master was dead. He didn’t provide a lot of details on the trip other than the fact that his “friends tried to persuade Henry to remain in Georgia, but his heart was in Batavia.”

Le Roy Police Officer Emmalee Stawicki saved a life in the early morning hours of July 22 after responding to a report of a disturbance on Gilbert Street in the village.

Stawicki secured the scene and then observed an adult male with a severe cut on his arm.  His bleeding was uncontrolled, and he had significant blood loss.  Based on her training, she suspected the victim had sustained an arterial cut, which is potentially life-threatening.

Stawicki applied her department-issued tourniquet on the victim's arm, which controlled the bleeding. EMS also arrived to assist at the scene. The victim was transported by medics to the hospital for further treatment.

Based on an investigation, it was determined that the victim put his arm through a window during the disturbance which resulted in the arm laceration, according to a statement issued by Le Roy Police Chief Gregory Kellogg.

Kellogg said, "LeRoy Police Officers are trained to use a variety of life-saving measures such as the application of tourniquets, Automatic External Defibrillators (AED), administration of Narcan for opioid overdoses, First Aid and CPR."

Editor's note: This is a continuation of a series about what's happening in the city of Batavia.

So to recap: city officials have begun to replace the mall concourse roof and pursue a new design for the four silos, or entryways, and are creating a wish list for future projects.

While nearly a million dollars have been invested in the roof, the naysayers are bemoaning such wasteful spending. The question of why not tear it down has been answered — more than once — which means to shift perspective from giving up to leaning in and finding affordable options for making the concourse more attractive, appealing, and effective for drawing in customers, city leaders say.

One action item that’s free and can be useful is just what some city officials have been doing: brainstorming.

Batavia Development Corporation’s new director, Tammy Hathaway, said she’d first like to “trip right into a giant pot of money” for the ideas she could come up with for the mall. So far, though, there have been conversations with city management and real estate agents.

“I don’t think any one of us doesn’t have it as our own personal priority,” she said during a recent group interview with city officials and The Batavian. “You know, working in the city of Batavia, actually working in this building, we work here, so we see it every day. And so it’s definitely something we think about constantly.”

Money — or the lack thereof — sort of tables some brainstorming ideas because any structural or aesthetic changes will take money to happen. City Manager Rachael Tabelski is hoping that perhaps the Restore NY grant, overseen by Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office, might consider the mall concourse for funding.

“So we’re trying to determine whether the concourse would be eligible because it serves so many businesses for those grant funds, so that’s kind of in process now,” she said. “We’re looking to work with Empire State Development to see if we’re eligible.”

Has there been any progress with filling the former JC Penney building?

Hathaway said that the property has “gotten a lot of traction out there in the world,” and Genesee County Economic Development Center has been involved by talking to various companies with possible interest, she said. The property is owned by a developer in California and is being marketed by a real estate company in Rochester.

As for using the concourse, any interested organization or business can fill out an application to rent the space for $25 and put on a special event, Tabelski said.

“We hope that there's excitement growing in Batavia; there was the development project for the groundbreaking at the YMCA Healthy Living campus and Savarino (Ellicott Station project),” she said. “Because a lot of times those types of developments are seeing companies and developers, and it piques their interest to come to have a look at what the city has to offer, and it's certainly a very large space and a very prominent location in the city.”

A big part of the aesthetic shift will be with the silo work, Public Works Director Brett Frank said.

“That'll make it more inviting to have people come in,” he said. “And exterior renovations will make a huge difference. You know, eventually as funds are made available, redoing flooring, painting, anything like that. it will make a huge impact as well. It's just going to take a lot of sweat equity.”

Hathaway believes that once Theater 56 is fully built, and the “manicuring” of different pieces within the mall, it will be a similar experience to finally seeing City Hall take shape at the west end of the former Genesee Country Mall.

“I think we all felt a little bit of relief when we saw City Hall built at the end of it, like there’s something new,” she said.

What about those oddly shaped, carpet-covered pieces of — are they furniture? — throughout the concourse; will they be removed or altered?

“That's a good question; that's probably a bridge we'd have to cross when we get there,” Frank said. “But that's not something that necessarily can't be upcycled.”

Tabelski and Frank agreed that the entire property would probably lend well to mixed-use, with perhaps a second floor for apartments, the current businesses of retail and medical services, and, ideally another restaurant or coffee shop, more retail and possibly bringing the outdoor Farmers Market indoors.

“I think it's more successful as a mixed-use that definitely has medical and insurance as mainstays of the owners, and I do think there's still retail that's going to be necessary there to support the employees who work at these medical facilities, and who are at the theater as well,” Tabelski said.

“So to me, I think it's more attractive if there's a mix of uses going on at the center,” she said.

Water and Wastewater Superintendent Michael Ficarella is looking for “an overall revitalization, or modernization” of the downtown space.

“And we can have events that benefit the community,” he said. “I think we're going to do our best to maximize what we have here in existence, and take what was left from the past and make it usable for our future.”

Top file photo from 2020: renderings of City Centre mall entryways and concourse that were considered a couple of years ago. Courtesy of LaBella Associates and the City of Batavia. 2021 file photo of City Centre with a decorative bucket in March and fixed furniture pieces behind it. Photo by Howard Owens.

Despite the calls of alarm for a scheduled ReAwaken America visit next month, Genesee County officials are hopeful, or at least reassured by the Sheriff’s Office, that the concern may be for naught.

The Batavian asked legislators for comment, and the Sheriff’s Office for a security plan, regarding the impending and irrefutably controversial tour that’s making its way to several states, including Batavia, New York.

“We’ve received a few complaints,” Legislator Gary Maha said after Wednesday's Legislature meeting. “We have no authority to stop it from coming to the church. We have spoken to the sheriff to make sure he’s aware, and that extra time is taken to make sure that the public is safe.”

County Manager Matt Landers said that of the people that reached out to him directly, the majority were on the “con side” of the pro-con issues expressing their concerns.

“However, after speaking with the sheriff, he has had one of his chief deputies, I believe, doing the investigation, speaking to other communities that have hosted these events. And I've been pleased to find out that there have not been any reported issues of the magnitude of the concerns that have been raised to me,” Landers said. “The concerns have been about the element that comes into our community, as far as any kind of disruptions, any kind of fights, any kind of lawlessness. None of those have occurred in the research done by the sheriff's office, which was heartening to me.”

Legislature Chairwoman Shelley Stein had but four words after Landers' response: "He took my words."

Brian Frieday, chief deputy on road patrol for the Sheriff’s Office, said that he has been in contact with Pastor Paul Doyle of Cornerstone Church, who agreed to host the tour, and Frieday expects additional discussions “regarding security and what is expected there.”

“Any information we receive will go toward planning for our potential presence in the area,” Frieday said.  “We have reached out to other jurisdictions that the event was held in and have had no reports of any confrontations or violence.” 

While that information has provided some relief for Landers, the actual basis of the tour is another thing altogether.

“As far as the content that goes out of the church like that, there’s freedom of speech, and the government can't take a position,” he said. “Personally, as a citizen, I'm not a fan of the rhetoric that comes out of an event like that. But as a county, the position that we're taking is that the free speech issue that they are entitled to, we have our local law enforcement … ensuring everything is gonna go smoothly, and I have all the confidence in the world that everything will go smoothly.”

Legislator Marianne Clattenburg wasn’t even certain what “reawaken even means,” she said. She does have faith in the people of Genesee County to act responsibly.

“This county tends to be very peaceful and tolerant of one another,” Clattenburg said. “Hopefully it goes off smoothly and they have their peaceful assembly.”

She, Maha, and Legislator John Deleo wondered if there would be a traffic issue, considering the possible volume of people from other counties attending the two-day event. The tour was originally scheduled in Rochester until the venue operator backed out due to protests and heavy pressure not to host — and thereby approve of — the event in Monroe County.

One potential scenario is that, in addition to those from Genesee County, flocks of other people from out of the county may also attend. It wouldn’t be the first time that parking was tight at Cornerstone, as last year’s tent meetings required extra security, traffic guards, parking up and down Bank Street Road, and an extra parking lot across the street at Batavia Soccer Park.

Maha and Clattenburg said that the soccer park would not be an option this year.

Legislator Brooks Hawley said that he has received “one email and one phone call,” and was going to respond to them Thursday. The event is at a church, and that means “it’s not really under our control,” he said.

Chad Klotzbach and fellow Legislator Gordon Dibble had little to say about the event as county officials. They didn’t feel it was in their jurisdiction to offer comment, and Dibble added that “I don't know enough about it to really give an educated comment.”

The tour is set for August 16 and 17 at Cornerstone Church, 8020 Bank Street Road, Batavia.

Photo by Lisa Casey of Genesee County legislators at Genesee County Fair this week.

Former State Sen. George Maziarz has ended his lawsuit against the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.

On Monday of this week, a “Notice of CPLR 3217 Voluntary Discontinuance” was filed in the Erie County Supreme Court, with pertinent wording as follows:

Please take notice that the Complaint in this case is voluntarily dismissed pursuant to CPLR 3217, without prejudice.

According to New York State Law, CPLR 3217 (a) CPLR 3217 (a) allows a brief window for a plaintiff to withdraw, or voluntarily discontinue, an action, without requiring either a stipulation of any appearing parties or leave of court. Plaintiff needs to serve a notice of discontinuance on all parties before a responsive pleading is served or within twenty days of the service of the complaint.

Contacted by email today through a representative of his, Maziarz replied, “My lawsuit against Western Regional Off-Track Betting has been voluntarily withdrawn at the request of a law enforcement agency.” He had no further comment.

In May, Maziarz, who represented Niagara County in the State Senate from 1995-2014, took legal action against WROTB and its leadership, following up on a state Comptroller’s Office report that officials of the public benefit company misused tickets to sporting events and concerts and provided gold-plated health insurance policies to appointed board members.

Maziarz was suing to have funds returned to WROTB’s 17 member municipalities, including Genesee County.

Attorneys for WROTB proceeded to file a motion to dismiss prior to a ruling. Earlier this month, the state Supreme Court Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department, upheld a March 25, 2021 decision by (then) Genesee County Supreme Court Justice Charles N. Zambito that Maziarz was not entitled to attorney’s fees and litigation costs incurred during a Freedom of Information Law proceeding to gain records from WROTB.

The Batavian reached out this afternoon to WROTB President/CEO Henry Wojtaszek for his reaction to the lawsuit’s dismissal.

“As we said when it was filed, this was a frivolous lawsuit and a publicity stunt. We were very confident that it would be dismissed, and it has been,” he said. “We are very happy that Batavia Downs continues to generate increased revenues and that we are able with to return that money to our member municipalities at a record level.”

Wojtaszek added that he and the WROTB board view the dismissal “as an attempt (by Maziarz) to limit his embarrassment in regard to the frivolous lawsuit.”

Maziarz was represented by Advocates for Justice, New York City, while WROTB was represented by Hodgson Russ LLP of Buffalo.

File photo of George Maziarz taken by Howard Owens.

Previously: WROTB hires Buffalo law firm to oppose suit filed by Maziarz; Park Road traffic patterns set to change

Previously: Former state senator with his own corruption history files lawsuit against Batavia Downs alleging corruption

Ricky Palermo couldn’t have been more appreciative this morning as he accepted a $20,000 check from Henry Wojtaszek, president and chief executive officer of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., to support the Ricky Palermo Foundation for spinal injury research.

The funds represent ticket sales, food vendor and chair rental fees from the "Bruce in the USA" concert that took place on June 10 at Batavia Downs Gaming on Park Road.

Palermo credited Ryan Hasenauer and the marketing department staff at WROTB for making the concert happen and the community for getting behind it.

“We've never done anything this big before,” he said in front of a small gathering in the casino lobby. “I can’t say enough how much we appreciate it. Every time we had a question either Henry or Ryan or one of the girls would get back to me. It made life a lot easier.”

He said that the foundation has raised more than $1.7 million over the past 26 years.

“It’s kind of amazing when you think about that,” he said. “We couldn't do it without the help of everybody -- everybody in our community.”

Palermo noted that people who attended the concert have reached out to him, looking for answers in regard to getting help for a spinal injury.

Contributions to the Ricky Palermo Foundation are distributed to four entities, Palermo said. Those are United Memorial Medical Center in Batavia, Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, the bicycle program for spinal injured people at the Genesee Area Family YMCA and the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.

“A small chunk goes to Strong Memorial because they took care of me when I first got hurt, so I want to make sure to remember them,” he said.

Wojtaszek said the Downs plans to host another event next year to support the Ricky Palermo Foundation.

The foundation’s 26^th annual golf tournament is scheduled for Aug. 6 at Terry Hills Golf Course on Clinton Street Road. Palermo said it will be a “golf only” event with a take-home chicken and pork barbecue dinner.

Photo: Ricky Palermo accepts $20,000 check from Henry Wojtaszek this morning at Batavia Downs Gaming. Photo by Mike Pettinella.

Batavia Downs Gaming is on its way to another year of record earnings, the chief financial officer for Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. said this morning.

“Surcharge and earnings distributions are up 175 percent this year compared to the same point in 2021 and we’re about $500,000 away from 2021’s earnings distribution of $4.9 million – which was the best ever for the corporation,” said CFO Jacquelyne Leach, following today’s board of directors meeting at the Park Road facility.

Year-to-date earnings and surcharge for 2022 are at $4,713,508, broken down as follows: $4,340,130 in earnings and $373,378 in surcharge, Leach reported. Compared to last year at this time, the total earnings and surcharge distributions were $1,716,870.

“At this pace, this will be the highest earnings year in the corporation’s history,” Leach said.

She said that the public benefit company will be distributing $2,606,704 in second quarter earnings and June surcharge to its 17 member municipalities next week.

Genesee County will receive $53,903 from the second quarter earnings pool and $951 from the surcharge pool, bringing its year-to-date earnings and surcharge distribution to $99,251. For all of 2021, Genesee County received $36,190 in surcharge and earnings distributions.

Resolutions passed by the board during its meeting include:

• Finalization of an agreement with the Western New York Harness Horsemen’s Association to add 15 racing dates in January and February 2023 to the current schedule. WNYHHA has agreed to pay all expenses associated with conducting the additional dates – expected to be around $300,000, according to WROTB President Henry Wojtaszek. The dates will be announced after approval of the contract by the New York State Gaming Commission.

• Authorizing WROTB to pay $140,000 for the Town of Batavia, through general contractor CATCO, to install a new 12-inch sewer line during the Park Road Reconstruction Project. Previously, the Batavia Town Board voted in favor of the agreement, which calls for WROTB and Genesee Park Place Associates to share the cost of about 700 linear feet of sewer pipe.

• A contract with Audio Images Sound & Lighting of Batavia for $150,000 to set up the stage, concert lighting and associated equipment for the Rockin’ The Downs Concert Series this summer. Wojtaszek acknowledged that the contract should have been presented to the board sooner, since the concert series is halfway done, but said the amount was negotiated prior to the start of the series.

• Expenditures totaling up to $130,000 for food and beverages at three Western New York venues during events sponsored by WROTB for customers. The amounts are $75,000 at Key Bank Center in Buffalo (Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Bandits, concerts); $30,000 at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, and $25,000 at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park (Buffalo Bills, concerts).

• Agreements with the WNYHHA to evenly split the cost of the purchase of a new 621 G Z Bar Case Loader from Monroe Tractor and a new T450 Track Loader from Clark Equipment Co., which will be used to maintain the harness track. The first piece of equipment costs $186,412.59 and the second one costs $54,786.63.

• A change order of the contract with Suburban Electric, Inc., in the amount of $22,709.36 for electric work associated with the lighting of the parking lot adjacent to the new warehouse and cold storage facility on the ground’s south end. Wojtaszek said the total cost of the project is around $1 million and it is near completion.

• Acceptance of a purchase offer of no less than $450,000 from Laur Properties, LLC, for the OTB branch that has been for sale on Military Road in Niagara Falls.

Steven C. Sharpe, director of emergency communications for the Genesee County Sheriff's Office, has resigned his position effective Sept. 3, according to a memo Sheriff William Sheron sent to department personnel today.

In an email to The Batavian, Sheron confirmed Sharpe's resignation but did not address a question about why he resigned.

"Search for his replacement will begin shortly," Sheron said. "There will be no interruption to dispatch services."

The Batavian did not attempt to contact Sharpe until after hours.  This post will be updated with any response we receive.

Sharpe was instrumental in migrating the Emergency Dispatch Center to the Phase II P-25 TDMA system radio system installed by Harris RF in 2013.

In 2016, Sharpe, an Air Force veteran, was named PSAP (Public Safety Access Point) Finest Director of the Year award. The award was sponsored by emergency communications company NICE.

Every part of Upstate New York, including Genesee County, will benefit from his bill to spur development in computer chip and technology manufacturing, Sen. Charles Schumer said today during an online press conference with reporters from throughout New York.

Upstate has more shovel-ready business park sites than any other region in the nation, and WNY-STAMP is among those sites drawing interest from semiconductor manufacturers with the likely passage of this bill, Schumer said.

"There are a whole number of companies that were thinking of going overseas to Europe or to Asia, that with this bill have now said they're going to locate in the United States," Schumer said in response to a question from The Batavian. "We have some of the great sites including the STAMP site in Batavia and we're going to do everything we can to lure them. And remember, they depend on the Commerce Department to get some grants for this. These are large grants, and I am going to, as Majority Leader, I think, I'll have some say with the Commerce Department."

The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 creates $50 billion in funding designed to provide financial assistance to chip manufacturers and other technology companies to build factories in the United States.

The bill passed the Senate today and Schumer, who authored the bill and has doggedly pursued it for a long time, said it will easily pass in the House of Representatives.

Schumer pushed for passage, he said, because the U.S. must beat China in chip manufacturing and because he believes spurring innovative growth in high-tech will benefit all of New York, especially Upstate New York.

"I wrote this bill with the future of Upstate New York in mind," Schumer said. "The bill creates $50 billion in federal incentives to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the US. And guess what place in America is most suited to get these plants? Upstate New York. There are places in Albany and Syracuse and Western New York that have shovel-ready sites that the big tech companies are already looking at for new chip fabs."

So far, China has been winning the chip manufacturing war, Schumer said. He wants to shift the momentum back to the United States.

"It's time to build our future in Syracuse, not Shanghai; in Buffalo, not Beijing," he said.

He said the odds are high that semiconductor manufacturers are going to look to Upstate New York for their new plants, which will employ thousands of people in high-paying jobs.

"We're gonna go all out and we're going to beat China," Schumer said.

WNY STAMP, located in Alabama near the intersection of Route 77 and Judge Road, is more than 1,100 acres set aside for advanced manufacturing.  GCEDC has been pursuing tenants for the park for more than a decade, and after coming close with 1366 Technologies in 2015 (a project that failed, according to sources, because of then Rep. Chris Collins' unwillingness to support it), the IDA succeeded last year when Plug Power agreed to make a $232.7 million investment to build a new hydrogen fuel plant at the site.

Steve  Hyde, president and CEO of GCEDC, said the agency is pleased with the passage of the bill.

"Senate Majority Leader Schumer has long-championed upstate New York as the ideal region for critical growth of the domestic semiconductor manufacturing and R&D investments due to our university research and talent, our established and ever-growing semiconductor supply chain, along with our considerable capacity of renewable, reliable, and competitively priced electricity," Hyde said in a statement. "We applaud Senator Schumer for his leadership, and stewardship in getting Congress to pass the Chips and Science Bill, which will be the catalyst to growing the high-tech economy at the Western New York Science & Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park (STAMP) and all across upstate New York."

For all prior coverage of WNY Stamp, click here.

For a press release from Sen. Charles Schumer with more details about the bill, click here.

UPDATE:  The Hill is reporting that because of a deal between Sen. Joe Manchin and Sen. Charles Schumer on a reconciliation bill, Republican members of the House of Representatives will now, as of Wednesday evening, oppose the CHIPS bill.

Top photo: Sen. Charles Schumer in a screenshot of today's press conference.

Aerial photo courtesy GCEDC showing Plug Power under construction and the WNY STAMP acreage. 

The chair of ad hoc committee charged with exploring clean energy initiatives in the Town of Byron sees the municipality’s Clean Energy Community designation by the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority as a springboard for further action.

Now, she just has to get the Town Board’s support.

“By completing the five action items as required by the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority, the Town of Byron has earned a $5,000 grant to assist with future clean energy initiatives,” Candace Hensel said today. “We are looking to use the money towards completing additional high impact actions that will help us progress in the CEC program.”

Hensel is the driving force behind the Clean Energy Resources Information Committee, an informal group that reports monthly to the town board. Active members include Kaitlyn Moucha, Sara Stockwell and Brian Stacy. Other town residents participate, depending upon the project.

The action items completed by the town to receive the CEC designation are benchmarking, energy code enforcement training, adopting a unified solar permit and an LED conversion of the town’s streetlights. Hensel said it was credited for a fifth action item for advanced benchmarking.

Points are awarded for each of the 14 action items identified by NYSERDA, with grant amounts based on the number of points.

The Town of Byron now joins the Town of Batavia and Village of Bergen as NYSERDA Clean Energy communities. Other municipalities in Genesee County participating in the program are the Village of Corfu, Town of Pembroke and City of Batavia.

Hensel said her “eyes were opened” to what was going on in New York State regarding clean energy when she heard about the 280-megawatt Excelsior Energy solar project in the Town of Byron.

“I had tried to get the town to look into some of the incentives available to communities, but I really didn’t get anywhere with the town so – about two years ago – I created a petition and got a list of names of other people who at least thought the town should look at into some of these programs,” she said.

Eventually, the town board authorized Hensel to chair a committee (CERIC) to explore the possibility of attracting grants to assist with community clean energy projects.

Hensel said she felt much better about putting a group together and pursuing clean energy opportunities knowing that she had the town board’s backing.

“In New York State, from the governor’s standpoint and to the trickle-down effect to DEC and NYSERDA and then you go on to the utilities, they’re all required to participate – to an extent – and comply with a lot of these clean energy programs that have been enacted,” she said.

Hensel said CERIC was unsuccessful in its bid to receive intervenor funds from the Excelsior Energy solar project, but that hasn’t stopped the group from its goal of “investigating incentives and reporting back to the town with our recommendations for participating (in the Clean Energy Communities program) and the advantages of doing so.”

“The town board listens to our report monthly but really, as a whole feels its capacity is limited or can’t put the time in; so, we do get stonewalled,” she said. “They did, however, let us pursue the Clean Energy Communities program, and no town funds were expended toward this CEC designation.”

She said CERIC also is looking into the Climate Smart Communities program administered by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

“The benefits of participating in the DEC program are much greater,” she said. “Grant incentives are much greater – with funding of up to 50 percent of major clean energy projects. So, we see that the carrot at the end of the stick is much greater.”

Hensel said CERIC requested that the town board vote to join the Climate Smart Communities program “because all of the actions that we completed in one, we can apply to the other.”

“Representatives of the Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council did a presentation for the board and a resolution was made, but at that board meeting, no one would second the motion to continue on for a vote for that particular program,” she said.

CERIC isn’t giving up on that, however, as it plans to approach the board again on the DEC program next month.

Town Supervisor Peter Yasses said CERIC must report its recommendations and proposals to the board but can “make no commitments” while Town Councilman Eric Zuber said his concerns center upon the stipulations for receiving the grants, especially those that include the town having to match funds for a particular project.

“There are a lot of bells and whistles – hoops you have to go through,” Zuber said. “Anything that we do has to make sense for the town in the long-term.”

Hensel said the committee currently is involved with a clean heating and cooling campaign in conjunction with Pathstone and the GFLRPC that kicked off in April at the Genesee County Home Show.

“They are following up to complete energy audits and have them as part of the Heat Smart Finger Lakes North program,” she said. “Hopefully, people will sign up with a contractor, who will evaluate their homes and make recommendations on heat pumps or geothermal and to see if anyone wants to learn more about those and the tax credits that go with them.”

At a time when there’s a big focus on equal rights, even animals — from dogs and chickens to goats, horses, and even therapy animals — and their owners have to be considered.

That was one conclusion during Tuesday’s city Planning and Development Committee meeting.

After discussing and debating issues of what constitutes a nuisance, how to enforce restrictions, and which animal species should or should not be allowed in the city, the group covered a gamut of options and repercussions.

Animals prevailed, for the most part. In the end, the group agreed to put forth a recommendation to use City Manager Rachael Tabelski’s drafted resolution, plus a few alterations. That will go to City Council for review and eventual vote. There will be a public hearing set before a final decision is made, Committee Chairman Duane Preston said.

“We only make some recommendations to the City Council. At that point the public hearing will be open for anybody that would like to come and voice their concerns,” Preston said. “So they need to set a public hearing. Those who have animals that would like to attend can come and voice their opinions to City Council.”

Jill Turner and her Burke Drive neighbor Teresa Potrzebowski each believe they have a valid argument for one side of the matter or the other. They disagree on whether Turner’s goats should remain on her property.

Turner told The Batavian previously that when she moved into the westside neighborhood, there was no law pertaining to her four goats. Her daughters spend time with the goats, one is in 4-H and the other girl uses the animal for therapeutic purposes, Turner said. Furthermore, she doesn’t believe they are destructive or threatening to her neighbors as some have claimed.

That’s not Potrzebowski’s experience, she said before Tuesday’s meeting. When she moved in, there were no goats, and “I wouldn’t have moved in if there had been,” she said. There’s noise, bad smells and goats constantly getting out of their small shed, she said. Turner also has chickens and ducks, and all three farm animal types come into her yard.

“I came home bringing groceries and two big ones walked into my garage,” she said.

The goats have eaten neighbors’ flowers and relieved themselves on their properties, she said.

“It smells like you’re living next door to a farm,” she said.

City Councilman John Canale raised the issue during a recent council meeting, based on resident complaints of those goats. He attended the Planning and Development meeting, but would not comment because he will have to vote on a resolution in the future and lives in the neighborhood, he said.

Committee member Matt Gray did his own research on “a number of towns and cities in the same boat,” and found that a lot of those municipalities came to a decision to restrict animals.

“I found a lot of them leaning the same way we are,” he said.

About 17 out of 25 cities had restrictions, particularly on roosters, Gray said. He suggested adding them to a list of animals not allowed in the city. That brought up other issues about if animals are allowed, how many should be allowed? What measures would be put in place to ensure proper enforcement when the restrictions are violated?

“The city would be responsible for quite a bit in terms of enforcement,” member David Beatty said. “I think whatever we recommend, enforcement is the biggest thing. How do you enforce it? How do you get cooperation of people who own animals? How problematic would that be?”

At one point he offered the suggestion to not allow any animals in the city.

“There’d be an uprising,” Beatty said.

Code Enforcement Officer Doug Randall explained that a law cannot just pertain to one segment of the population. It has to cover everyone, he said. Right now, however, a dog owner can receive repeated tickets for its continuously barking dog if the issue hasn’t been resolved.

For a goat?

“No tickets. We don’t have a law for it,” Randall said.

About an hour later, the committee agreed to forward a resolution with the additions of limiting chickens to six, banning roosters from being kept in the city, and requiring city residents to register their animals by a certain date, to be determined by council if it adopts the recommendation, or not be allowed to keep the animal on their city properties. Registering the animals will allow folks that already have chickens, goats and the like to keep them, and should make it easier to track who has what and where, Randall said.

The resolution "restricts people from owning, bringing into, possessing, keeping, harboring or feeding farm animals, cloven-hoofed animals, equine or fowl, including but not limited to cattle, horses, sheep, goats, pigs, swine, lamas, alpaca, ducks, turkey, geese, feral cats, ponies, donkeys, mules or any other farm or wild animal within city limits."

Exceptions include:

• Chickens, as long as they are penned appropriately, do not accumulate feces or cause odor or an unsightly or unsafe condition. The addition, if approved, would limit them to six.
• Harborage, including transport to and from race tracks and all associated grounds.
• Special events with the approval of an event application.
• Animals in transit through the city.
• Transport to and from veterinary hospitals/clinics, including short-term boarding for medical procedures/conditions.
• No person shall permit an accumulation of animal and/or fowl feces on any property resulting in a foul odor or unsightly condition that makes travel or residence in the vicinity uncomfortable, or which attracts flies or other insects of animals, thereby creating an unsanitary condition and may facilitate the spread of disease of which endangers the public comfort and repose.

The registration requirement would be for people already with farm animals on their properties. If they don’t register an animal by the deadline, it would have to go.

Potrzebowski doesn’t want to have issues with any neighbor, she said, but the recommendation didn’t fill her wish not to have to deal with the animals at all.

“It defeats the purpose to have to register them,” she said.

Top photo: City Planning & Development Committee members Matt Gray, left, David Beatty and Chairman Duane Preston discuss the possibilities Tuesday evening for what to do with farm animals kept in the city. File photo of Jill Turner, pictured with one of her daughters in front, is a city resident with goats, and some of her neighbors have complained that they don't want the smell and noise created by goats, chickens and other farm animals. Committee member David Beatty makes his case for restricting, or maybe even banning, farm animals from city properties. Photos by Joanne Beck.

Raymond Stanley, Jr., 46, of Trigon Park, Le Roy, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .18 or greater, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, and leaving the scene of a property damage accident. Stanley was allegedly involved in a hit-and-run accident reported at 10:04 p.m. July 23, at 71 Wolcott St., Le Roy.  Stanley was arrested by Emmalee Stawicki.  He was released on traffic tickets.

Benjamin Rachow, 39, of Gilbert Street, Le Roy, is charged with harassment 2nd. Rachow was arrested by Le Roy PD Officer Emmalee Stawicki at Strong Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for an injury sustained in an alleged incident reported at 1:40 p.m. July 22, on Gilbert Street, Le Roy. He was arraigned in Town of Le Roy Court and released on his own recognizance. A stay-away order of protection was issued.

Jeffrey Ellinwood, 63, of Genesee Street, Le Roy, is charged with harassment 2nd. Ellinwood is accused of continuing to contact a person on July 24 after being told to cease all communications with the individual.  He was arrested by Officer Curtis Miller. He was arraigned in Town of Le Roy Court and released on his own recognizance.  An order of protection was issued.

Name redacted upon request, 29, of Dewey Avenue, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. xxxx is accused of shoplifting $76.84 in merchandise from a store on Veterans Memorial Drive, Batavia. xxxx was processed at the Genesee County Jail and released.

James Robert Cooper, 39, of Buell Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument 1st. Cooper is accused of passing a fraudulent $20 bill at a location at Harrington's Produce on Clinton Street Road, Batavia, at 12:29 p.m. Dec. 27. He was arrested on July 22. He was arraigned in Town of Batavia Court and released on his own recognizance.

Shannon Lee Guiste, 51, of West Main Street, Batavia, is charged with burglary 3rd and petit larceny.  Guiste is accused of skip-scanning items at Walmart at 4:21 p.m. July 21. In 2015, Guiste was reportedly banned from entering Walmart. Guiste was arraigned in Town of Batavia Court and released.  

Eric Charles Dockstader, 37, no address provided, is charged with strangulation 2nd. Dockstader was allegedly involved in a disturbance at 4:55 a.m. July 24 at a location on Council House Road, Alabama. He was arraigned in Town of Alabama Court and released under supervision.

Antionette A. Pierre, 24, of Nassau Bahamas, is charged with petit larceny. Piere is accused of stealing in the Town of Batavia at 2:27 p.m., July 23. She was arrested by State Police and released on an appearance ticket. No further information was released.

Joshua D. Quaintance, 33, of Byron, is charged with criminal trespass. Quaintance was arrested by State Police in connection with an incident reported at noon July 17 in the Town of Bergen.  No further details released.

At 2.8 percent, Genesee County's unemployment rate has remained at historically low levels.

June was the third straight month this year when the county's unemployment rate was below 3.0 percent and the fourth time since November 2021.

A year ago, the June rate was 4.4 percent, and in 2020, it was 8.3 percent.

The state's Labor Department reports that there are 29,800 people employed in the county, 900 registered as unemployed and a total labor force of 30,700 individuals.

A year ago, the total labor force was 29,400, and it was 29,500 in 2020.

The state's unemployment rate is 4.4 percent, down from 7.5 percent a year ago, according to the DOL.  The nation's is 3.8 percent, down from 6.1 percent. 

There’s a lot of transition going on for Tom Turnbull, former president of Genesee County Chamber of Commerce, he says.

The Batavia resident’s wife Michelle just retired, their son T.J. graduated from college this year and is working in Buffalo, and now Turnbull is back in the saddle at the chamber — temporarily.

“It’s a temporary interim position just to fill in,” he said Tuesday. “Erik left … I’m filling in the presidential duties.”

Former president Erik Fix’s last day was Friday. He left to assume the role of assistant city manager this week. Although Fix gave notice, it still can take time to assemble a search committee, advertise, interview and hire for the position, Turnbull said.

“So they asked if I'd be willing, and I was kind of flattered, actually,” he said. “I love the staff here. And I mean, they're great to work with. So I said, sure, as long as it was gonna be temporary. So we're kind of  ballparking it for three months.”

His life for the next few months will be filled with parades, ribbon-cuttings, a chamber 50th gala celebration, the yearly Ag tour, a Leadership Genesee visit, and business after-hours mixer at The Game of Throes.

“That should be fun,” he said. “That's the type of stuff I always loved about this job. You get to go and do things and see things that you normally wouldn’t.”

He has already broached the topic of grant money and a contract that was just cancelled by Genesee County due to changes in the original proposal and fact that Fix would no longer be at the agency. Turnbull talked with County Manager Matt Landers and was reassured that the branding initiative plan and grant funding can proceed when the details are ironed out and a new president is in place.

“We’ll work with the new president so they’ll be up to speed; we’re the ones to do it,” Turnbull said of the branding initiative. “I love this staff. I mean, they're all talented. They're all professional. I've worked with them before and loved working with them, so it made it a really easy decision to fill in here for the time being.”

He will work approximately 20-25 hours a week and plans to be in the office every weekday.

Turnbull was president for seven years before retiring from his post.

While waiting for her case to be called Tuesday at City Court, Cassandra Elmore sat masked and sniffling, whispering to a companion.

She was called before Judge Thomas Burns about 10 minutes later, and slowly walked forward and took a seat. She said very little, except for yes or no answers. 

Judge Burns read brief descriptions of three charges from Section 353 of the Agriculture and Markets Law. They all have to do with her alleged abuse, torture and/or neglect of her bulldog, which was diagnosed in June of overdosing on some type of narcotics while at her residence.

Elmore had previously indicated that she wanted an attorney, and Burns needed to clarify whether she wanted to hire one or ask for one to be provided to her, per law, and represent her during this case. Elmore said that she was asking “to hire one” for herself.

Burns granted her two weeks and asked if that would be sufficient time. She nodded and quietly said yes. The judge entered a not guilty plea on her behalf and she was released on her own recognizance. Jenna Bauer, representing the county District Attorney's office, agreed to the terms.

Elmore is to return to City Court at 1:30 p.m. on August 11.

“You have to be back with or without an attorney,” he said.

He warned her that if she did not show up, he would issue a warrant for her arrest, and that bail could be modified. She was also asked to provide her full contact information and to go to the jail and get fingerprinted as other conditions of her release.

Volunteers For Animals member Wendy Castleman sat watching the continuation unfold. Castleman was there for Oddey, the canine victim in the case. Although she couldn’t offer a comment about the case specifically as a volunteer, she said, she was able to give an update about Oddey, believed to be a French bulldog.

“He’s doing really well,” she said.

Oddey was taken to Genesee County Animal Shelter after Elmore was charged earlier this month. It has not yet been determined if he will be returned to 30-year-old Elmore or signed over to the shelter for adoption.

Elmore faces three counts of injuring an animal under New York Ag and Markets Law Section 353, which states:

A person who overdrives, overloads, tortures or cruelly beats or unjustifiably injures, maims, mutilates or kills any animal, whether wild or tame, and whether belonging to himself or to another, or deprives any animal of necessary sustenance, food or drink, or neglects or refuses to furnish it such sustenance or drink, or causes, procures or permits any animal to be overdriven, overloaded, tortured, cruelly beaten, or unjustifiably injured, maimed, mutilated or killed, or to be deprived of necessary food or drink, or who wilfully sets on foot, instigates, engages in, or in any way furthers any act of cruelty to any animal, or any act tending to produce such cruelty, is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.

For prior coverage, go to Cassandra Elmore.