Le Roy

A Wal-Mart store in the works for the village of Le Roy may be the company's first ever to be shrunken down from its original size, according to the Daily News. Of course, that doesn't mean it still won't be a "Supercenter"—retail's answer to the question: What if people could buy socks, tomato sauce, a new bike and a gardenia all at the same store? So yes, the store planned for West Main Street in Le Roy will still be a Supercenter, only getting reduced from 163,700 square feet to 138,000.

Claims made in the article that this will be a "more environmentally-friendly" Wal-Mart seem somewhat dubious. Check out this quote from Le Roy's Code Enforcement Officer Gene Sinclair:

"It's still going to be a Supercenter, just smaller," he said. "The parking lot is more environmentally friendly, with four islands and a natural filtration system of trees and shrubs."

"We're told it's a new design for their stores and the first in the United States like this."

It's wonderful that everybody has caught the going green bug—especially the marketing departments of massive corporations—but I think we have to draw the line at "environmentally-friendly parking lot." Hasn't anyone ever listened to Joni Mitchell? What did they pave to put up a parking lot? Yep, that's right: paradise.

Anyway, good for Le Roy. Now they've got a Wal-Mart to go with the new Walgreens. Speaking of the Walgreens... construction of that is on hold now owing to a "blizzard of asbestos" encountered during the demolition of the old Masonic temple and its neighbors. (Hmm. Is there any connection between this blizzard of asbestos and the blizzard of words Charlie Gibson attributed to Sarah Palin last night?)

In other news, Tom Rivers paid a visit to the Rochester Public Market where a lot of Genesee County farms head every weekend to ply their wares before the big city crowds. It's another great article from a talented writer about a fun topic. So read it.

Attica resident Roddy Harris wrote a postapocalyptic novel about a brother and sister who try to rebuild their lives after 99 percent of the world is killed by terrorists who release "vast amoiunts of chemical and biological agents into the atmosphere." The article's headline is misleading: Attican pens 9/11 book. That's just not true. While the article begins by saying that Harris "turned his thoughts and feelings about the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, into a novel," the novel is not about 9/11 at all. The book is titled: After Terrorism: A Survival Story. It's available from Publish America.

Former Chairman of the United States Chamber of Commerce's Board of Directors Paul S. Speranza told an audience at Genesee Community College yesterday that if the state wants to fix its economy, communities need to join together.

Speranza said New Yorkers need to move beyond parochialism and regional feuding. Speaking with one voice and forming coalitions among groups with divergent views is the way to get the state's economy back on track and to improve its quality of life, he said.

Paul Mrozek does an excellent job covering the speech, so be sure to check out the article if you're interested.

We encourage you to get out and pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

Le Roy has two weeks to act on the promise of a state grant for $350,000 to use in the restoration of Oatka Creek, according to the Daily News. One member of the Oatka Creek Ad Hoc Committee (Jack Bradbury) told the Village Board last night:

"Nothing has been done for over two years. New York State Parks has not heard from us in two years and the crisis now is that they said they were considering immediate cancellation of the grant."

Whoa! Two years? That sounds like a bit of a blunder, and that the homeowners in the village are angry with the board for not getting moving on the project only renforces that status. It turns out that the village last worked on the creek in 2004, but there is still much work to be done to "stablize" it.

This grant that may now get nixed was approved in 2006 as a match grant, which means the village would have to put up $350,000 of its own funds. Engineering proposals were approved at the meeting last night, a move "that may stave off the state's threat to cancel the grant."

Congratulations to Scott DeSmit for getting this story together and packaging it well, getting the facts out concisely and without ambiguity.

Genesee County's Economic Development Corporation recently closed on a pair of real estate deals: 200 acres of land in the town of Batavia ($800,000) planned for the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park; and another 59 acres of farmland in the town of Alabama ($212,000) to be incorporated into the 1,200-acre Western New York Science & Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park.

An increase in recording fees for the Genesee County Clerk's Office was approved by the Legislature last night. Also passed at that meeting was the $1.8 million budget for the county's workers compensation program, which marks an 8 percent increase in that budget over last year.

Batavia Downs will be hosting the top dogs of harness racing every Wednesday for the next couple months in an effort to raise money for the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester. Racers such as Howard "Pacing" Parker, who was strapped up and circled the track in eight races yesterday, will donate their driving commissions to the coalition. Silent auctions each week for racing memorabilia such as bobbleheads of the drivers will also help benefit the cause.

We encourage you to get out and pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

We've had a few conversations recently about shopping locally, eating locally... living life in the microcosms of city, village, neighborhood, town, and rather than buying your corn at Tops, say, picking up some ears from a roadside veggie stand or hitting up the farmer's market. For more on that, check out Howard's post about the locavore.

That being said, I would like to introduce folks to the first in a new video series here at The Batavian. We're calling it: Genesee's Treasures. Unless you have a better name for it, and if you do, please send it along. Every couple of weeks or so, we will travel to some spot in Genesee County—be it a farm, a shop, a studio, a park—that we feel is a real treasure in Genesee County. In fact, I've already done a couple of these, only I just now thought of the title and dubbed it a series: check out our video on Enchanted Forest Alpacas, for example.

This, our first official episode of Genesee's Treasures, highlights the philosophy of live local, love local, buy local. It's about the Hobby Horse, a fun everything kind of store on Main Street in Le Roy. The Hobby Horse sells antiques, model rocket kits, handmade pot holders, greeting cards, candy sticks, alpaca wool socks, emu eggs, locally-made mustard... like I said: everything. It's a great place in a great village. Here's a little more for you:

Next episode: Herbly Wonderful.

A visit Saturday to the LeRoy Farmer's Market yielded more than the fresh produce that I brought home.  This is a community gathering that brings together neighbors and friends along with our local growers.  We purchased goat milk soap from Darien, rhubarb chutney from Hill and Hollow in Pavilion (delicious, by the way), my friend Mary Margaret's yummy pumpkin bread, sweet corn from a farm a mile from my house and the sweetest cantaloupe that I have ever tasted.  I also learned about heirloom tomatoes which have more nutrients than the genetically altered tomatoes that we grow today.  It was fascinating to interact with the vendors and learn about the foods and homemade items that are produced in our own neighborhoods.  I also ran into many friends and enjoyed the camaraderie of being part of a community.

As the movement to eat local and sustainable food grows in popularity, the more we will learn how valuable this is. The "buy local --buy fresh"  movement creates a low carbon footprint that fits into a sustainable renewable lifestyle that is one of the good consequence of the end of cheap oil.  It will benefit our farmers and producers. It also provides nutritional value which promotes a healthier alternative to eating processed foods or foods shipped in that may lose nutrients on route.  A tomato picked in the morning and eaten the same day is far better than one that has been in cold storage for a week or more. Eating local protects us from bio-terrorism.  Food with less distance to travel from farm to plate has less susceptibility to harmful contamnination. Finally, purchasing locally conserves energy on a large scale as the produce is not packed and shipped from far off places.  I would much rather buy my corn from MacKenzie's or Pullyblank's -- growers that I know -- than from hundreds or perhaps thousands of miles away. A win-win for everyone.

Kudos to the LeRoy Farmers Market steering committee.  The Farmer's Market operates every Saturday in the parking lot behind Pontillo's from 8:00 until noon. This is truly a community venture that the farmers and the local consumers will benefit from greatly.  I also would encourage people to stop in at the permanent farm markets and stands.  These established stands need our support, too, and provide the same local flavors.

Le Roy will host a rabies clinic for cats and dogs today from 3:00 to 5:00pm at the village Highway Department on North Street, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. The clinic was scheduled following the discovery of a rabid cat in the village earlier this week.

WBTA story: The county Health Department is warning that a rabid cat was found in Le Roy and they want to speak to anybody who may have come into contact with the feline.

The black cat lived on Summit street and health officials are looking for people who may have come into contact with it between Aug. 14 and Aug. 24.

Two people were either bitten or scratched and are being treated for rabies.

Contact: Genesee County Health Department at 344-2580, Extension 5569.

Police in Le Roy are looking for anyone with information about an apparent break in at the Little League concession stand in the village, according to WBTA. At some point over the past few nights, someone had forced open the door and got inside. Anyone with information should call (585) 768-2527.

Assemblyman Steve Hawley told WBTA's Dan Fischer that most of the $450 million that the state legislature recently agreed to cut from its spending are "un-spent member items, the so-called pork that legislators use to win points with their local constituents." (Quote from Fischer.)

Who among you can look upon these faces and not feel that all too human sense of pity and awe that only an animal can excite in us?

They're as silly as they are cute, and they've got cute too spare. They're alpacas, close cousin of the llama, though much smaller and a lot easier to keep in a pen on a farm and manage without too many outrageous episodes.

Although, from what I understand, there are plenty of shennanigans going on at an alpaca farm, especially when one of them gets loose and tears hide all over the place, looking for all the world like some crossbreed of the roadrunner and a camel, hurling front legs over back legs over front legs. Then there's the neck wrestling among siblings or peers. Don't forget the spitting of regurgitated alfalfa or the trancelike naps in the sun when even a blowhorn wouldn't rouse the beasts. Oh, oh, and the bugle calls and the humming and the funny faces and the exaggerated underbite.

Here to tell us all about alpacas, why they're great and what they're doing in Le Roy, New York, instead of Peru or Bolivia, is Martha McCutchen, owner of Enchanted Forest Alpacas.

Noblehurst Farms of Pavilion just bought Le Roy Lake for $500,000, according to the Daily News. Water from the lake will be used to irrigate crops on the 2,200-acre farm. Reporter Scott DeSmit tells us:

Lake Le Roy had been the source for village water until 2004, when Le Roy hooked up with Monroe County Water Authority to provide water to residents. The property, a 70-acre lake, 40 acres of land and a caretaker's house, had been listed for $3.8 million in 2004.

Village trustees even tried to sell the property on eBay! But no one was interested. From $3.8 million, the price dropped several times, until it was set at just under $1 million. But still, no takers. Not until Noblehurst picked it up for a fraction of the initial cost. Village trustees said they plan to use the money to "reduce debt."

In today's sports section, there's an interesting story by Christ Metcalf about a wrestler from Warsaw who is in high demand from college coaches. The profile of the wrestler, Ian Paddock, spans the whole front page and another half page inside.

In other news:

• Robert Morales, 52, of 113 Bank St., was sentenced to 1 1/2 to 4 years in state prison after pleading guilty to a second-degree assault charge and admitting that he stabbed a man in the arm during an argument earlier this year.
• Batavia's 25th anniversary of National Night Out drew about 100 people to St. Anthony's Parish Center last night. Genesee Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse (GCASA) sponsored the event. GCASA Prevention Educator Kevin Keenan told reporter Scott DeSmit: "Parents need to find out who their child's friends are, where they're going, what they're doing."
• Tom Rivers packs produce in the latest installment of his farm labor series.

You can pick up your own copy of the Daily News wherever the paper is sold. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

About a year ago, the owners of the Le Roy Masonic Temple on West Main Street near the intersection with Lake Street "agreed to an option to Walgreen's" to tear down the temple and the buildings on either side of it—including a vacant gasoline station and a numismatist—to make way for a retail pharmacy. Residents in the village were understandably shaken by the news. Village historian Lynne Belluscio admitted that she was overwhelmed by requests to know more about the historic temple that was at least a century old. She responded via an article that was run in the Le Roy Pennysaver last July.

The building is pictured in the book The Architectural Heritage of Genesee County, New York. It is described as a "simple Romanesque revival design in vogue in the mid-nineteenth century. Stylistic features include the arcaded decorative molding at the roofline, the ocular window in the gable end and the use of the Romanesque arch for window and door openings." Those of you who remember the difference between a Gothic arch and a Roman arch, know that the Roman arch is rounded and the Gothic arch is pointed.

Plywood boards now occupy that Roman arch. Chain-link fence runs the length of the sidewalk in front of the temple and its neighbors and wraps around the corner, around a pair of vacant homes on Lake Street. Demolition is set to begin on Monday. Walgreen's plans to start construction in about a month, once the debris is cleared.

In her article, Belluscio tells about the history of the site, tied in even to the fate of the notorious anti-Mason William Morgan. I can't say if anyone plans to visit the site Monday to bid the structure adieu. But surely, I hope, someone will be there.

The history of a building, (writes Belluscio), allows us an opportunity to examine the history of our community and the Masonic Lodge in Le Roy has played a significant role in the history of Western New York.

LeRoy has seen an increase in crime over the past week or so, especially over the weekend. LeRoy Police Detective John Condidorio told WBTA's Dan Fischer that the burglaries — one car was stolen, several others were broken into — may be related. Police do have one suspect, described as a white male, slender, between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-9, wearing white shorts and a tee-shirt. Residents are advised to lock their homes and cars and report to the police any suspicious activity.

Note: The Batavian will not be posting a Daily News roundup this afternoon. We will be in video training all morning and afternoon. Please, if you see any news, report it. Get on the site, post a blog, put up video. We'll be back in full force soon.

LeRoy resident Michael Perry was named senior vice president and chief financial officer of the Friendly Home, a non-profit nursing care and rehabilitation center for aging adults. Perry has held positions with United Memorial Medical Center and the Genesee County Nursing Home in Batavia.

Friendly Home, established in 1849, is located on East Avenue in Rochester. It "offers a variety of health care services including 24-hour skilled nursing care, rehabilitation, and specialized care for individuals with Alzheimer’s and related dementias."

So... the whole back page of the A-section in today's Daily News is devoted to coverage of two out-of-town festivals happening this weekend: a Taste of Buffalo and the Sterling Renaissance Fest. Both are fine guarantees of a good time, I'm sure. I know I plan to head down to Sterling later this summer. Probably for the Pirate Revel. Argh!

But we're here to say that you don't have to go that far.

LeRoy, everybody's favorite world capital of Jell-O, will be hosting its annual Oatka Festival this Saturday and Sunday. Buffalo and Sterling are both Thruway stops away. heck, you can almost throw a stone from Batavia and hit LeRoy.

LeRoy's Oatka Festival, held on the banks of the lovely Oatka Creek, began in 1989. Its organizers did all they could to ensure the event would be "an old fashioned community gathering" — and they've kept it that way ever since.

You could say the festivities kick off at 11:00am Saturday with a parade down Main Street in LeRoy. That same day, you can expect no less than a backyard family circus, a chicken barbecue, brass bands and "cookie song writing for kids" — not sure what that means but it sounds fun.

And that's just Saturday.

Sunday will keep the music going — including a high school talent show under the tent. For the readers out there, the Woodward Memorial Library will continue its used book sale throughout the weekend. Then, of course, there are the crafts, the food, the 5K Walk/Run and the Vietnam Veteran's Duck Derby.

Click here to download the full schedule of events as it was printed in the LeRoy Pennysaver, or check it out on the Web site.

From today's Daily News:

• Scott DeSmit reports that Le Roy trustees voted Wednesday to merge its dispatch operations with the county. Trustees hope to transfer some jobs to county dispatch, but recognize that may difficult since Batavia agreed to the same consolidation previously and is already slated to transfer two jobs.
• Cold War veterans may get a tax break. The County Legislature is pursuing a 10 percent tax credit on the first $60,000 of a home's accessed value for Cold War veterans.  The Batavian posted on this story two weeks ago.
• Holli Gass, 17, when she graduates from Pembroke High School, will represent the fifth generation from her family to graduate from a school in the Pembroke district.  Kristen Kotz, a Daily News intern, wrote a nice feature story on the family.  It's the center package of today's paper.  Nice clip, Kristen.
• The Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council at 201 E. Main St. will host a "Building a Vibrant Community Identity" workshop from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., June 5.  It's all about "building a brand" that people remember is geared primarily toward non-profits, but writer Joanne Beck suggests that some commercial businesses are participating.  The deadline to register is Monday.
• Hot Shot's Caffe has opened a second location at 56 Harveter Ave., according to an article on page A2.
• Scott DeSmit passes along a reminder from fire officials to check your smoke detector.  You want to make sure your smoke detector doesn't have a dead battery or otherwise won't function properly in an emergency.
• A letter to the editor from Rose M. Ruhlman praises Lt. Eugene Jankowski and questions the wisdom of passing him over for the chief-of-police role.  She makes good points.  The Batavian broke the story last week that Jankowski was apparently out of contention for top post.
• Former Buffalo Bills guard Joe DeLamielleure will be at Terry Hills Golf Course from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday signing autographs.  Joe D. is in town for the Jim Kelly Celebrity Golf Classic, which takes place Monday at Terry Hills.
• Former Batavian Patric Donaghue was inducted into the Rochester United States Bowling Association Hall of Fame.  Before moving to Rochester in 1981, Donaghue started his bowling career at Mancuso Lanes.

The Daily News is available at local news stands, including at Main Street Coffee, and you should subscribe, and can do so on the Daily News web site.

A one-vehicle crash in LeRoy early this morning claimed the life of Gerhard McBride, 56, of Rochester, the Genesee County Sheriff's office reported.

McBride was reportedly driving on Oatka Trail Road when his car left the road, struck a sign and several trees before coming to rest down an embankment.

He was pronounced dead at the scene by the coroner.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.