Morning News Brief
Written by Michael Baldwin on August 3, 2021
A Batavia man has been accused of committing a sex crime. Sheriff’s deputies arrested 22-year-old Thomas Bergman of Park Road. He was charged with forcible touching. It is alleged that he forcibly touched the intimate parts of a female Uber driver while in the parking lot of the Relax Inn. Bergman was arraigned in Batavia Town Court and released to return August 24th.
Governor Andrew Cuomo suggests that businesses should only allow vaccinated people to go inside venues and events. Cuomo says that New Yorkers should follow guidance put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention so everyone can stay safe.
The Friends of Richmond Memorial library will host their monthly book sale on Thursday from 9 am to 7 pm in the Wilber-Fox Room at the library. After more than a year without a monthly sale, the Friends are excited to welcome the community back. Thanks to many wonderful donations, there is a huge selection to choose from, including fiction, history, sports, cookbooks, gardening, children’s and many. Richmond Memorial Library is located at 19 Ross Street in the City of Batavia.
From Batavia…Peace Garden committee members spent numerous hours over two months painting and decorating 100 stones and seashells as an art project for the garden only to have it destroyed in one night by vandals. Paula Savage, the founder and director of the Peace Garden, said the final installation of the stones and shells was completed on July 20. That was a Tuesday. By Wednesday evening, every single painted stone and shell was missing.
New York’s statewide COVID positivity has been dialed back a bit. The rate has dipped to 5.53%. Still thought, hospitalizations and admissions to the ICU have increased. Four new deaths have been reported.
The price of gas is up again, on both a national and a state level, with the highest increases in our area. Triple A says there’s another month of summer travel ahead through Labor Day, and college students will begin their return to campuses in the meantime, so gas demand will likely remain high.
