Weekday top 5: Elbridge pizza shop owner arrested, city acquires Auburn diner, Owasco Street assault (2024)

New York State Police in Elbridge have arrested the owner of a pizza shop there on charges of forcibly touching a female minor at the business.

Sotirios Gotsis, 57, of Auburn, was charged Aug. 4 with forcible touching, a class A misdemeanor, and endangering the welfare of a child, also a class A misdemeanor.

State police said Gotsis had sexual contact with "a female under the age of 17 at his place of business" on June 15. The arrest was announced Wednesday afternoon.

Gotsis, who goes by "Sam," is the owner of Dimitri's Pizzeria, which opened a new location at 1124 Route 5 in Elbridge in June. The pizzeria originally opened in Elbridge Plaza in 2018.

Gotsis was issued appearance tickets and is scheduled to appear in Elbridge Town Court at 5 p.m. Monday, Aug. 21.

The Auburn Police Department is investigating an assault that took place on Owasco Street on Wednesday and sent a victim to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Police believe two suspects attacked the victim with an weapon at 110 Owasco St., Sgt. Michael Merkley told The Citizen. He did not identify the weapon that was allegedly used.

Merkley said police have not yet positively identified nor located the suspects, but "think they know who they are" and are searching for them.

Merkley added that police do not believe the suspects are a danger to anyone else, as the assault "looks like a targeted thing." The victim was taken to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse.

Police could be seen Wednesday afternoon at the residence at 110 Owasco St., which was wrapped in caution tape. Merkley said the investigation is ongoing.

Tips can be submitted anonymously to Auburn police by calling (315) 253-3231 or using the submission form at auburnny.gov/police-department/contact-us/webforms/auburn-ny-police-tip-line.

The first Chipotle Mexican Grill in Cayuga County will open this week.

A representative of the fast casual Mexican food chain told The Citizen on Wednesday that the restaurant, located on Plaza Drive off Grant Avenue in Sennett, will open Thursday, Aug. 17.

The restaurant's hours will be 10:45 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day.

Located near Staples and Panera Bread, the restaurant is approximately 2,400 square feet and will feature aChipotlane drive-thru pickup lane for digital orders, and a dining room.

Chipotle averages 25 jobs per restaurant, the representative said, and offers employees "competitive benefits" as well as debt-free college and mental health care programs.

Founded in 1993, the chain has more than 3,100 locations worldwide. The closest one to Cayuga County is on West Genesee Street in Fairmount.

In the local Mexican restaurant marketplace, Chipotle will join fellow chain Moe's Southwest Grill, also on Grant Avenue in Auburn Plaza, and the locally owned Mesa Grande Taqueriaon Genesee Street.

A local sit-down Mexican restaurant, Costa Grande, opened this spring in Grant Avenue Plaza in Sennett.

The previous owners of the Hunter Dinerant said they felt it belonged to the city of Auburn in spirit. Now it does in writing as well.

According to Cayuga County property records, the city acquired the 18 Genesee St. diner from previous owners Rachael and Bill Juhl for $0 in May. Its 2023 full market value is $145,938.

What the city plans to do with the iconic downtown diner is unknown, however, as officials declined comment on the acquisition to The Citizen this week.

The Juhls purchased the Hunter Dinerant in 2011. Aside from a brief stoppage at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, they ran the diner until it served its last burger melt on Dec. 31, 2022.

The steel railcar diner opened on Genesee Street in 1951 after being trucked there. Perched atop beams over the Owasco River, it was beloved for its neon signage and famed for its connection to U.S. President Joe Biden. His first wife, Neilia Hunter, was the daughter of the restaurant's namesakes and owners, Robert and Louise Hunter. The Biden family has visited the restaurant, most recently in 2014.

In 2020, the Juhls weren't sure they would be able to reopen the Hunter Dinerant due to COVID-19. But they were sure, Bill Juhl told The Citizen at the time, that the diner's legacy would continue.

"It's the city's diner, it never was really ours. We're just caretakers of it," he said. "The diner will be back, no matter who owns it. It will always be a part of Auburn."

The Auburn Enlarged City School District is considering changes to its policy on student usage of cellphones and other personal electronic devices while at school.

A public hearingwas held July 25 on a proposed amendment to the district's code of conduct due to the distractions those devices can cause. Ian Phillips, president of the Auburn district's board of education, said before the hearing that board members have become increasingly concerned about how cellphone use in schools has impacted students' mental health and ability to learn.

Auburn's current policy says using electronic devices is strictly prohibited except in certain authorized cases. But the policy can be difficult to enforce, the board said in a news release before the hearing.

Phillips told The Citizen the proposed changes are a work in progress as board members, district administration and community members work "toward the shared goal of reducing cellphone distraction."

The proposed amendment, which is subject to change, says students will be allowed to bring personal electronic devices like cellphones to school, but the district will not be responsible, financially or otherwise, for the security of those devices. When students are on campus, devices will need to be stored in a safe place and shall not be used or removed unless authorized by a teacher or administrator.

For first offenses against the amended policy — where a phone is seen or heard on school grounds during school hours — the device must be immediately given to the adult who witnesses the offense for the rest of the day. If not, the device will be confiscated by administrative staff. The device will be available for pickup from the administrator's office at the end of the day — by the student if they gave the device to the adult, or by a caregiver if the student did not. For second offenses, caregivers will have to pick up the device regardless, and students who did not give the device to the adult will receive in-school suspension that day. For third and subsequent offenses, students will receive in-school suspension regardless, and out-of-school suspension if they didn't give the device to the adult.

Auburn school board members discussed the proposed amendment after the July hearing. Phillips said concerns have been raised about how the policy would be enforced, and the tension of constantly having to do so. Many districts in the state that have implemented similar policies use lockable pouches to store confiscated devices, though Phillips noted that is not part of the amendment. The Auburn board's policy committee has reviewed many such policies and communicated with districts that have implemented them, he added, including the Greece and Schoharie school districts.

Phillips went on to suggest the language of the amendment be tweaked before a second discussion in August, such as the use of the term "campus" instead of "school building." He used the example of a soccer game at an Auburn school, saying the policy should be written in a way that doesn't prohibit a student from using their phone to take a picture of their friend scoring a goal.

Two parents and one student spoke at the July 25 hearing, Phillips said. The parents supported reducing student cellphone usage at school, and suggested some language changes to make the policy amendment more precise. The student spoke against the amendment, and noted that she uses her cellphone to communicate with classmates while at school.

The Auburn board plans to continue communicating with districts that have implemented similar personal electronic device policies about their successes and shortcomings, Phillips said, in the interest of reducing distractions at its schools. More discussion is expected at the board's Aug. 15 meeting, which is the earliest it could approve the amendment to the policy.