Oakfield was one of several communities to host activities for families during Monday's total solar eclipse. The village had several vendor booths, children's games, a small petting zoo, food, and of course, plenty of space for viewing when the big moment arrived.

Photos submitted by Jamie Lindsley.

UPDATE 8:49 p.m.: Chief Deputy Brian Frieday confirmed that Serenity Joy Quiett has been located and is safe.

UPDATE, Press Release:

The Missing Vulnerable Adult Alert for Serenity Joy Quiett out of Niagara County has been canceled, and Serenity was located safely this evening, March 27, 2024. 

The Genesee County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the public for their assistance in successfully locating Serenity. The search was assisted by the Batavia Police Department, Oakfield Fire Department, Elba Fire Department, Genesee County Emergency Management Office, Genesee County Emergency Dispatch Center, and the New York State Police.   

Emergency personnel have been working in Oakfield searching for a missing 18-year-old woman from Niagara County whose phone was tracked to the area.

She is considered a vulnerable adult who may need medical attention.

Chief Deputy Brian Frieday said the Sheriff's Office was alerted to the trace of her phone in the Oakfield area yesterday and began a search for her. Additional search teams from Oakfield Fire and Elba Fire were brought in to assist this morning.

Niagara County is also participating in the search. 

Frieday said on Wednesday afternoon that the woman's phone had recently been traced again to the area.

"We're trying to check whatever leads we can," Frieday said.

The woman was identified in a press release as Serenity Joy Quiett and described as 5 feet 5 inches tall, 120 pounds, with black hair, brown eyes, and white.

She is described as autistic. 

She was last seen in Barker on foot wearing all-black clothing and black earrings.

The Office of Emergency Management is assisting in the search, and the command post is located at the Oakfield Fire Hall.

Anybody with information that may assist can reach the Sheriff's Office at 585-343-5000.

“We’ve Only Just Begun” Sr. Luncheon will be Tuesday, April 16 from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. at the South Alabama Firehall, 2230 Judge Rd, Oakfield (Route 63).

This will be our Welcome Back Luncheon for 2024.  Our Guest Speaker is Dan Lyon from Lifespan in Rochester.  He will be presenting SCAM 101, a very important topic in our society today.  

Every second of every day someone is out there trying to scam you out of something.  He will be discussing Fraud, Scam, and ID theft. So let's listen and get prepared. It could happen to you!

We are open to the public just ask that you bring a dish-to-pass or make a donation at the door! Enjoy lunch and an afternoon of fun with Old and New friends.

Contact LaNora Thompson (630)-888-8966 with any questions.

The Hall of Fame recognizes outstanding OACS alumni who have achieved distinction in their lives and chosen field after high school through significant contributions to their career, community or through personal achievements; to provide an incentive for current and future students.

If you know a person who meets the following criteria, please consider nominating him/her for this prestigious honor: 

Nominees must be graduates of OACS or one of its predecessors or have been active in school classes and activities during their senior year. (Nominees who left school while in good standing to perform military service are also eligible. Deceased alumni are not eligible for induction until the fifth anniversary of the year of their death.)

Nominees must have graduated before 2009.

Selection is based on achievement after leaving OACS which includes a noteworthy record in more than one, and exemplary achievement in at least one of the following categories:

• Job-related achievements
• Professional honors and awards, professional affiliations, publications
• Civic or community involvement
• Personal achievements/accomplishments
• Positive impact on the communities in the Oakfield-Alabama school district
• Other appropriate qualifications which the committee believes merit consideration

Anyone may submit a nomination for any person meeting the criteria stated above. Nominations must be made during the nomination period only (March 1 – May 15) by using the Online Nomination Form or the PDF Nomination Form (see link below). 

Electronically submitted nominations are strongly preferred over mailed-in, hardcopy nominations. Access the Online Nomination Form here.

Last week, in the wake of the death of Sgt. Thomas A. Sanfratello, the Oakfield Betterment Committee distributed blue lights to local businesses and Oakfield residents.

Betterment Committee President Jamie Lindsley stated:

The Oakfield community likes to support one of their own, as was evident ever since the line-of-duty loss of Sgt. Sanfratello, a member of the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department. Last week, caring citizen Kristen Porter decided to show support for Sgt. Sanfratello's daughter Alexis, who is a student at Oakfield-Alabama Central School, by lighting a blue light in honor of the fallen deputy. Another community member, Kate Engle, took this tribute to the entire community by engaging the assistance of Oakfield Betterment Committee members. Together, they contacted local Home Depots, Lowes, and other stores and arranged pickups and distributions to the entire Oakfield area and some surrounding communities. Joshua Schultz took it upon himself to drive all the way from Syracuse with a delivery of 50 blue light bulbs. A dozen bulbs were donated to illuminate all front windows of School House Manor in the middle of the village. In total, over 300 blue light bulbs were donated and handed out to the community, and each night, the night is brightly lit blue to honor our fallen deputy and show our support as a community for Alexis.

The committee shared these photos with The Batavian.

For prior coverage of Sgt. Sanfratello, click here.

As talk of a mass exodus — the droves of youth and others fed up with rural life and lack of opportunities in this area and New York State — has supposedly been draining the local population, there’s been at least a gain of two people recently who wanted to move back in.

Oakfield native Kevin Beuler made a purposeful choice to return to Genesee County from Pennsylvania with his wife, Brooke, as others have left the area for greener pastures.

“I’ve been craving to come back. I came back because of the exodus, but just to give back to the community because of what they put their time into me, all those teachers, all the people you grow up around, they help build you up to who you become,” Beuler said during an interview with The Batavian. “Those are very crucial years for a young person, and to be able to come back to a rural place like Oakfield or Pembroke or Batavia to be able to come to a full circle to become part of the community to give back, and then totally do the same for young ones as I was blessed with an experience with, it’s like taking pride in your roots.”

A 2010 Oakfield-Alabama High School graduate, he went on to University at Buffalo for the pre-medicine track, majoring in mathematics, a favorite subject in school. 

“I really loved mathematics in high school, and still do. To be honest, it’s the emotional connection that I would have (with) my two teachers in high school; they were phenomenal. And so because of them being such great teachers I just really love and appreciate math even more,” he said. “But I love the computation. I love plugging and chugging things. I like to be able to balance out equations and it’s just fascinating. I love numbers. I'm a numbers guy.”

Those two teachers are Wendy Bergman and Barb Harkness. They made a difference in his high school years and especially in his pursuit of all things math-related, he said.

When asked how and if that fits with his current career as a physician’s assistant, he believes it’s more about solving puzzles and making the pieces, such as one’s mental condition and a lab report, “fit part of the equation.” 

“So you start putting things together, and then it balances out in the equation, then you find out what might be the diagnosis. So I guess it’s similar,” he said.

He then went on to DeSales University in Pennsylvania for his master’s in physician assistant studies, which he completed in 2018. It was there where he met his wife, Brooke, a fellow physician assistant. 

It’s that career that has landed Beuler at Oak Orchard Medical in Pembroke. He and his wife moved to Oakfield late this winter. He is passionate about football and most sports, and as a former trumpeter in the high school jazz band, he also enjoys playing and listening to music.

It was while working as a medical scribe for Dr. Kasir Khan at UBMD Internal Medicine in Buffalo in August 2016 that Beuler first realized that he was interested in treating the entire family rather than focusing on one age group.

“I helped prepare his notes, I learned all his medical decision-making and how to just be able to be more than just a doctor taking notes, just to be able to practice great quality medicine, and being able to see all the different ages, all the different crux of a person's health care where you're organizing their endocrinologist, a cardiologist, all the specialties, but the patient keeps coming back to you, I thought that was just a huge inspiration,” he said. “But then he didn't see the kids so I missed the kids. So I realized during school when I did all my rotations that I enjoyed having the pediatrics as well. So to be able to blend and have both instead of just specializing in pediatrics or specializing in adult primary care, I thought family medicine would be the most rewarding.

 “My big focus is on education. I love being able to spend time explaining things to patients,” he said. “I feel that professionals sometimes talk at the patient, and I feel it’s very important to talk very clearly. It’s important to their quality of life.”

Common issues that he has seen lately have been stress — “that’s a big one” — and the consequences of long-term smoking, not being able to strike a work-life balance, chronic use of pain medications “is a huge problem that we face,” and “the rise of diabetes and food that we’re eating,” he said.

Do people ever question your being a physician assistant versus a medical doctor?

Beuler doesn’t mind the question, he said. 

“It's definitely always out there. There will always be that bias. And there's nothing wrong with that. I will never look down upon someone who has that bias. I feel like it's almost naturally ingrained in our culture,” he said. “But I also invite the challenge; it kind of helps push me during learning to try to learn as much as I could so that if a person saw me, they wouldn't know the difference or care about the difference of the degree.”

Beuler speaks conversational Spanish in addition to English. He is accepting new patients and works under the supervision of Dr. Mary Obear. He is also interested in managing chronic conditions, diagnosing acute medical issues, women’s health, and orthopedics. 

He is passionate about creating a positive, judgment-free environment and providing high-quality care that focuses on educating and empowering all patients. 

“I think I put a lot of pride in trying to really reflect that, even though I might not be a doctor, mid-levels, like NPs and PAs, you can definitely find a provider that you can connect with that has the knowledge to be able to to help you through any kind of a medical crisis or link you to the right people to help improve your health,” he said. “And at the same time, on the other side, knowing your limitations, that's why we work alongside doctors to help ensure that we are providing evidence-based medicine, ensuring that we're doing the best for the patient, and treating the patient and not just numbers or pushing medicines. It's very important to stress that collaborating with physicians is a very important part of the job.”

For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 585-599-6446.

Aaron J. Fix, 50, of Batavia, is charged with assault 2nd, resisting arrest, criminal mischief 4th, and obstructing governmental administration 2nd. Fix is accused of interfering with the arrest of another person during a traffic stop on East Main Street, Batavia. When a deputy and Batavia patrol officer

Chad W. Burgess, 37, of St. Paul Street, Rochester, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance 2nd, two counts of criminal possession of a narcotic with intent to sell, three counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, tampering with physical evidence, criminal use of drug paraphernalia 2nd, and unlawful fleeing a police officer. Burgess is accused of fleeing a traffic stop at 1:51 a.m. on Feb. 25 on Lewiston Road, Batavia. Both deputies and troopers pursued him before being captured on Park Road, Batavia. He was allegedly found in possession of a large quantity of narcotics. Burgess was held pending arraignment. The investigation was led by Deputy Ryan Mullen, assisted by Deputy Jeremiah Gechell.

The Dean's List at the University at Albany recognizes the outstanding academic achievements of full-time undergraduate students.

To qualify for the Dean's List, students must earn a grade point average (GPA) of 3.25 or higher in their first semester of study and a GPA of 3.50 or higher in subsequent semesters.

The following students have been named to the Fall 2023 Dean's List:

• Tania Cortes Gutierrez of Pavilion
• Carlos Melgarejo of Oakfield 
• Danica Porter of Basom 
• Lauren Reimer of Batavia
• Ashley Schiefer of Batavia
• Alexandra Zanghi of East Pembroke 

Buffalo State University is pleased to recognize the following students who have been named to the Fall 2023 Dean's List.

• Talidy Blijden of Batavia, is majoring in Social Studies Education (7-12)
• Hunter Doran of East Bethany, is majoring in Biology
• Annmarie Georgia of Batavia, is majoring in Ceramics
• Morgan Harrington of Elba, is majoring in Psychology
• Brianna Smith of Oakfield, is majoring in Childhood Education
• Amber Snyder of Batavia, is majoring in Fashion, Textile, & Technology

In general, students who have completed at least 12 credit hours and who have attained a GPA of 3.5 or higher qualify for the Buffalo State dean's list. Full criteria and grade-type exceptions can be found in the undergraduate catalog.