City station is being dispatched to 400 Towers, 400 E. Main St., Batavia, for a general fire alarm.

There's a light haze hanging over Batavia. It reminds me of smog, which I've seen plenty of in San Diego, Los Angeles and Bakersfield -- a place with the distinction of having the worst air quality in the nation.

There is an air quality alert here in effect until 10 p.m. today, issued by the New State Department of Environmental Conservation.

The air-quality index is at 125.

According to Wikipedia, when the API is between 100 and 200: "People with existing heart or respiratory illnesses may notice mild aggravation of their health conditions. Generally healthy individuals may also notice some discomfort."

The Department of Health recommends limiting strenuous outdoor activity. People, especially the very young or those with asthma or heart disease, should consult with a physician immediately if any adverse symptoms arise.

Danielle Eckert 22, of Batavia, has volunteered more than 500 hours in Genesee County and the number keeps rising.

Batavia High School gave Eckert a scholarship for college based on good character, commitment and community service. Today she has been nominated by her employer, Target, as "Best in Community." One nominee out of each Target district will be chosen to visit the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennesee.

"I was shocked because I didn't even know about this program," Eckert said, "but I was extremely happy and thankful."

She hopes she is selected so she can change the life of a child.

Her love for helping others started when she was in fourth grade. She helped out at a game night at Robert Morris Elementary.

"I just remember really enjoying helping other kids and getting to meet a lot of new people. It made me want to keep volunteering."

Eckert has a special place in her heart for volunteering and said it comes from her mother.

"In sixth grade I started doing the Walk for Juvenile Diabetes because my mother suffered from it. When she died, I was in seventh grade and I knew that I really wanted to continue doing what I could. It was sort of a remembrance for her, and it just grew from there."

While she maintains a busy schedule juggling work and events, she also makes time for her church, The Pentecostals of Genesee: United Pentecostal Church, in Batavia.

"The most important thing I gain is knowing I've made other people happy."

She is currently working on a talent show through Target to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy.

"It's still in the works and (needs) a lot of ironing out."

Volunteering isn't just about the rewarding experience for yourself, but also the effect it leaves on those you help.

" I remember one time when I was at work, a child around 10 ran up to me and asked, 'Do you remember me? You were the person in charge of my group at church.' She reassured me how much fun she had and (said) she was hoping to come back and work with me again. It's a nice reward when people remember you and look forward to seeing you at another event."

Eckert believes everyone should volunteer at least once in their lifetime. She said although she may be young, it seems everyone in general is too consumed with themselves.

"I've noticed people don't even really smile at each other or appreciate others. I think it's good to work together in a group, get to know people in your community, and help others."

She has a passion for art as well and is working on starting an art club with kids in second to fifth grade.

Here is a glimpse of some of the events she has volunteered for: YMCA Healthy Kids Days; Jackson School's Breakfast with Santa; Quiznos Subs; Children's Christmas event; craft fairs; Christmas in the City; National Night Out, Genesee County Fair; juvenile diabetes; Light of Hope (cancer support); fundraisers for troops/military support; and various church events

Disclosure: Tasia Boland is employed by Target.

City firefighters are being dispatched to the city schools administration building at 39 Washington Ave.  Initial report is that a four-year-old accidentally pulled the alarm.

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A former Batavia firefighter who operates a train museum in Medina is accused of sexually assaulting a 27-year-old woman Friday at the museum and may have installed a videotaping system in the building.

Martin Phelps, 67, is accused assaulting the woman at 4:30 p.m.. Medina police have also removed an "extensive" videotaping system from the building.

Phelps bought the museum in 1991 and opened it in 1997 after spending six years remodeling the location.

He was remanded to Orleans County Jail on $5,000 bail.

(Source, the Batavia Daily News)

A motorcycle group out on a fundraising ride through Alabama on Sunday was confronted by a shotgun-wielding motorist when he apparently didn't like an intersection being closed by members of the group while the caravan passed.

William E. Buncy, 64, of Depew, was arrested by State Police and charged with a misdemeanor count of menacing.

The shotgun, which was reportedly unloaded at the time, along with three other unloaded firearms, were taken from Buncy at the time of his arrest. Buncy was returning from an event at a local gun club at the time of the incident.

The motorcycle group had 150 riders, and a few members of the group blocked the intersection at Lewiston Road and Route 63 to make it easier and safer for the entire group to pass through the intersection.

Titled the Jonathon Cote Memorial Motorcycle Run, it featured 150 riders and began in Amherst and was headed to Wilson Boat House in Wilson.

Buncy will be arraigned on the charge on Aug. 25 in the Town of Alabama Court.

There's a new enterprise in the former Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co.'s distribution site in Batavia, which was based in the Crickler Business Building. SolarX now occupies this property, located at 319 W. Main St., as its primary distribution center.

SolarX sunglasses and ornaments are sold in mall kiosks nationwide.

Ben Mancuso, managing director at Chas. Mancuso & Son, Inc., represented both sides of the transaction.

"We have repositioned the facitily as a full-service business center," Mancuso said, "since the transition we have signed deals (with) 35,000 ft. of warehouse/distribution space and 4,000 ft. of executive office suites.

Tenants share a receptionist, conference rooms and lunch rooms. Given the current climate, we are pleased with the activity and very happy to have SolarX operating in Western New York."

Two men from Medina were taken into custody at 1:46 a.m. Monday on McAlpine Road in Pembroke after being found in possession of a number of reportedly stolen items.

All of the items appear to have been taken from parked cars.

Raymond J. Molina, 23, of 332 W. Oak Orchard St., Medina, and Shawn R. Wisniewski, 20, of 400 Erie St., Medina, are charged with criminal possession of stolen property.

They were jailed on $10,000 bail each.

Both Molina and Wisniewski were allegedly found with stolen GPS units, stolen purses and assorted stolen currency.

The case was investigated by Deputy Jason Saile, with assistance from Deputy John Weis and Sgt. Brian Frieday.

UPDATE: Chief Jerome Brewster clarifies that the items allegedly stolen were taken that night in the Pembroke area.

The Six Star Body Shop at 101 Lehigh Ave. Batavia, was apparently hit by a burglar on Thursday night or early Friday morning.

Batavia Police Officer Andrews is investigating the incident, in which a person or persons kicked in a door and ransacked the office.

The owner of the business is taking an inventory to determine what items are missing.

Beaver Road, between Pike and Dodgeson roads, in Alexander will be closed for the next week. A bridge is being replaced.

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Chad M. Johnson, 23, of 15 Fairway Drive, Batavia, is charged with obstructing governmental administration. Batavia Police Officer Frank Klimjack reports that he encountered Johnson as a suspicious subject on South Main Street and when Klimjack requested to pat him down for weapons, Johnson allegedly refused. At that point, Johnson allegedly tried running away. After being ordered to stop, Klimjack used his Taser, at which point, Johnson stopped running. Upon further investigation, Batavia Police learned Johnson is reportedly on parole and was allegedly in violation of his terms of release from a state correctional facility. State parole officers were notified and further action is pending.

William Lyons, 36, of unknown address, Medina, is charged with harassment. Lyons was allegedly involved in a fight with another family member at 149 Ross St.. He was jailed on $1,500 bail.

Shane D. Vandenberg, 29, of 20 S. Main St., Batavia, is charged with harassment, menacing and endangering the welfare of a child. Vandenberg allegedly choked a female in front of the couple's child.

A 16-year-old boy is charged with criminal contempt. The boy was arrested at a roadside check point on Clinton Street Thursday night after allegedly being found in the company of a person whom he's been ordered not to contact.

Steven R. Goodrich, 27, of 649 E. Maine Road, Johnson City, is charged with DWI following a stop at a roadside checkpoint Friday night on Pearl Street. He is also accused of driving an uninspected vehicle.

UPDATE: The item below came in later this morning.

Andrew R. Miles, 20, and Benjamin M. Rogalia, 19, residences not given, were arrested at Darien Lake Theme Park on Monday at 3:07 a.m. for allegedly stealing a golf cart and running it into a locked gate. Both the gate and the cart were damaged. Both were jailed on $1,000 bail.

UPDATE II: More items that came in later in the day.

Darren W. Spencer, 26, of Springville, is charged with assault in the third degree after he allegedly punched the driver of another vehicle during a road-rage confrontation.  Spencer and the other driver confronted each other after an incident took place between the two of them on the roadway. The victim suffered a dislocated jaw in the incident.

Lawrence R. Laude, 22, of Corfu, is charged with robbery, criminal mischief and harassment in connection with a domestic incident last night. Laude was jailed in lieu of bail.

Valerie R. Mullen, 20, of Batavia, is charged with DWI following a property damage accident Thursday at 4:25 a.m. at 6835 Knowlesville Road in Alabama. Mullen was also charged with driving with a BAC of .08 percent or greater.

UPDATE III: And just missed this one this morning:

Charles P. Yaeger, 69, of 17 Madison Ave., Akron, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08, endangering the welfare of the child and violations of moving from a lane unsafely, failing to keep right and having an unsafe tire. Yesterday at 4:25 p.m., the Sheriff's Office received a complaint that a car had struck two parked cars at 1288 Little Falls Road, Pembroke, and then fled the scene. Yeager's car, which suffered a broken axle and flattened tire, reportedly left skid marks over eight miles of roadways, which Sheriff's deputies Patrick J. Reeves and Timothy Wescott said they followed from the scene of the accident to Yaeger's Akron home. Upon investigation, Reeves and Wescott found that Yaeger reportedly had a 17-year-old passenger in his car.

(UPDATED 9:41 a.m. with information on passenger)

A 49-year-old Hamlin man is charged with drunken driving following a one-car accident on North Byron Road yesterday at 2:23 p.m..

Thomas G. Lentz, of 4 Locust Drive, was reportedly driving on North Byron Road when his car went off the road and struck a tree.

His passenger, Daniel F.  Morabito, Jr., 59, of 25 Locust Drive, Hamlin, suffered a minor head wound and was transported to Strong.

He is charged with misdemeanor charges of DWI and aggravated DWI, as well as violations for allegedly driving too fast, having an open container and making an unsafe lane change.

His passenger is not identified in the report released by the Sheriff's Office.

Investigating the accident were Deputy Joseph Graff, Deputy C.W. Mower and Sgt. T.A. Sanfratello.

This is an upate to an accident we reported yesterday.

The following arrests were made during the Brad Paisley concert at Darien Lake Theme Park on Friday night:

Timothy Meade, 20, of 7326 Lakeshore Road, Derby, is charged with trespassing for allegedly re-entering the concert after being ejected.

Garrett Lang, 23, of 7195 Fish Hatchery Road, Bath, is charged with trespass after allegedly climbing a fence and going for a swim in the Grizzly Run Ride.

Batavia (28-29) held Staten Island (33-23) to just three hits to avoid the sweep and to inch back closer to .500 in the 5-0 win.

Scoring started early as the Muckdogs plated one in the 1st.  Alan Ahmady reached on a walk and came in to score on the next at-bat on a double by Matthew Adams.

They broke the game open by scoring four in the 6th.  Devin Goodwin started off the inning with a double and scored on a RBI single by Adams.  After Jon Edwards walked, Luis De La Cruz hit a double down the left field line to score both Adams and Edwards.  De La Cruz came home later in the inning on a wild pitch.

Chris Corrigan (2-2, 2.89) got the win in the start going five innings with three hits, three walks and one strikeout.  Justin Smith followed him to get his first hold of the season.  Smith went three innings with one walk and five strikeouts.  Tyler Lavigne closed out the 9th with a strikeout.

Adams finished 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI.  Goodwin and De La Cruz both had doubles.

The majority of the New York-Penn League now has two days off for the All-Star break taking place in State College.  Good luck to Muckdogs Alan Ahmady, Luis De La Cruz and pitcher Santo Maertz in the game.

Emergency crews are enroute to a serious one-car accident at 6137 North Byron Road. A car apparently struck a tree. Two persons are trapped inside, one of whom was briefly unconscious.

Mercy Flight in on air standby.

UPDATE 1:56 p.m. (by Howard): Mercy Flight canceled. Both patients out of the vehicle alert and conscious.

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George posted last night that he had taken advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program. It pains me to see good cars crushed and taken off the market when many could be rehabilitated and passed on to deserving people and it got me to thinking about a local organization

I was a founding board member of Men of the Harvest, a local 501C3 charity started by Judge Robert Alexander of Corfu.  This ministry takes donations of cars and with the help of local volunteer mechanics, rehabs them and gives,yes I said gives them to deserving local families and individuals.  The ministry gets by totally on donations from the public and assistance from area churches of all denominations.  Every dollar given to Men of the Harvest stays in out local community, helping local people.

It also got me to thinking about Howards tremendous support of local businesses.  We also need to consider giving and volunteering local as well.  Men of the Harvest is but one of many local organizations, charities and ministries that support themselves on the gifts, donations and volunteer time of local citizens.

My family and I are currently volunteering with Care-A-Van ministries.  You see regular updates here on the Batavian from Robin.  Care-A-Van is another locally founded and run ministry that relies solely on donations for support and again every dollar given stays in our community.

Other locally "founded and funded" organizations are:

Crossroads House - compassionately taking care of those with terminal illness

All Babies Cherished - assisting local moms and infants in need.

Genesee Cancer Assistance - coming alongside local cancer patients with much needed support both physical and emotional.

I know there are more, but I have highlighted the ones that I have either volunteered with or support.  There are many great national organizations that do a tremendous amount of work for people in need, but I want to promote organizations that with very little overhead, return almost every donated dollar back into our local area.  Help me out fellow Batavian readers by testifying to other local organizations that you know of that could use our support or if you can share a story about one of the ones I've already listed and how they've impacted our community (please remember to honor the privacy of recipients).  The unfortunate by-product of a weak economy is that charitable dollars are directed towards other necessary expenses.  These and all local helping agencies need our support now more than ever.  Remember, I'm looking for locally "founded and funded".

Today, Billie and I drove around Genesee County a bit just to look around.  After lunch at the Darien Cafe, we spotted a roadside fruit stand, and upon looking more closely, Billie saw a woman in the barn just behind it sitting and weaving, so we stopped.

Dale and Mary Jacobs sell their handcrafted blankets, towels, shoestrings and place mats from their barn -- all the items are handmade from locally grown material.

They also sell vegetables from their garden -- everything organically grown.

"I was a weaver already and Dale was a gardener, so when we retired, we just expanded on what we already did," Mary said.

Dale, is, in fact, a master gardener through the Cornell Extension.

They've had their business about 10 years.

Crooked Creek Farm is located at 1438 Broadway Road in Darien Center.

Billie and I stopped by Kutter's Cheese in Pembroke today, and while I waited in the car with our dog, I started looking at this old tree and decided to snap a few pictures. It wasn't until after I got home and opened this shot in PhotoShop that I notice what looks like the face of an angry old man in the knotted bark.  Can you see it?

The Amazing Kayden grabs a tennis ball after leaping through hurdles at top speed.  He was part of the fun at the Festival of Fur today on West Main Street Road in Batavia.

The event was co-sponsored by Genesee Feeds, Dave's Ice Cream and Volunteers for Animals. 

Dogs could enjoy the day with some ice cream and making new friends, as well receive a microchip for more reliable identification if lost or stolen.