Community

In Years Past

In 1915, for the 46th time in as many years, Memorial Day was observed in Jamestown under the auspices of James M. Brown, post, No. 285, Grand Army of the Republic, the first observance of the day here taking place away back in 1869, four years after the close of the Civil War. Jamestown had always been known as a community in which the patriotic feeling ran strong and the surviving veterans of the great war of half a century ago had never been left to alone do honor to the memory of their comrades who had fallen on the field of battle or who, since Appomattox, had fallen by the wayside in the march of life. Not hundreds but thousands of flags of all sizes were this day displayed from the homes of this city.

Twenty-eight runs, 26 hits, including seven two-base hits and a triple; 14 bases on balls, 14 stolen bases, three sacrifice hits, one wild pitch, a passed ball, two balks and seven errors told the whole story in a few words of Jamestown High School’s overwhelming victory over Edinboro Normal School on Saturday afternoon on the high school campus. The game was a farce from start to finish and when the smoke had cleared away, the locals had scored 28 runs to a big goose egg for Edinboro.

In 1940, Miss Twyla Maxine Hinman, 28, of Dunham Avenue, Celoron, was instantly killed at about 3 a.m. Thursday and Christopher Shanahan, 33, of Wellsville, N.Y., was injured when they were struck by an automobile as they were running across the West Lake Road about a half mile west of Jamestown. Coroner Samuel T. Bowers said that he would probably issue a certificate of accidental death in the case of the Hinman girl. The coroner learned that Miss Hinman and Shanahan were running across the road from Mallare’s restaurant when the accident happened.

Three airplanes that were destined for service in training pilots behind the front lines in France, took off from the Jamestown municipal airport on North Main Street Extension at 7:30 o’clock this morning, headed for New York, Halifax, Nova Scotia and France. The three ships were all Stinson 105s – fast, three-place monoplanes of a type considered ideal for training pilots. They had been sold to the French government by Neil R. McCray, manager of the municipal airport. At the controls of the three machines were Mr. McCray, Francis Drake, flight instructor at the Jamestown port and Robert Coverdale, Erie, Pa., pilot. All three planes were to be placed on board a ship bound for Europe and the war.

In 1990, United Refining Co. officials said they soon would work on a plan to clean up an undetermined amount of tarry material that leaked from a ruptured storage tank at the eastside oil refining plant in Warren over the weekend. No major environmental damage was reported to have occurred because all of the tarry material, technically called liquid asphalt, was confined in an earthen containment dike around the 240,000 barrel storage tank. United Refining crews used four bulldozers to reinforce the dike to make sure it held.

Aquatic weeds had built up in Burtis Bay on Chautauqua Lake, one of the lake’s problem weed areas. Chautauqua Lake Association and the state Department of Environmental Conservation were negotiating in an attempt to agree on a herbicide treatment program for weeds in the coming summer. No such program had been in effect for the past two years.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, everybody in Jamestown and in the surrounding country was invited to join with the local committee of the New York state branch, Commission for Relief in Belgium, in securing a large stock of food supplies for the people of Belgium by donating a pound or more of food at the vacant store in the Bradshaw-Bailey building at 310 Main Street, just above Third Street. Members of the local committee would be at the store and it was hoped that the contributions would reach the total of 36,000 pounds or one pound for every inhabitant of Jamestown. The following food supplies were suggested: Whole wheat flour, barley flour, rice, rolled oats, yellow corn meal, salt, bacon, lard sealed in pails, breakfast foods in bulk, split peas, corn meal, granulated sugar, California prunes, dried beans, dried raisins, etc.

Both the Chautauqua Traction Company and the Jamestown, Westfield and Northwestern announced the withdrawal on May 31 of the round trip fares which were allowed under the old tariff. This meant that the reductions allowed for the purchase of return trip tickets under the old tariffs would not be allowed under the new. This step was one which had been generally taken by the railroads within the past year or two and most railroads charged twice the price of a single trip fare for a round trip ticket. A special rate on the Chautauqua Traction Company had been made for Ashville. The fare one way from Jamestown to Ashville would be 15 cents as it always had been.

In 1940, Assistant Fire Chief Bert Ryan who had served with the fire fighting forces of Jamestown since May 1, 1905, submitted his resignation from the department to Chief Rudolph H. Swanson. The resignation would become effective June 1 on which date Mr. Ryan would have served as a fireman for 35 years and a month. He would retire on a full service pension. Bert Ryan was born in Jamestown on Aug. 22, 1875 and had always resided in this city. Mr. Ryan’s reputation as a handler of horses became widespread during the days before the department was mechanized. For many years he drove the team which carried the fire chief to the city’s fires.

Sentiment for going to war with Germany had increased in this country since the Nazi invasion of Holland and Belgium May 9 but the increase had been less than four percent. A nation-wide survey found the country still more than 13 to 1 against American entrance into the conflict. For many months studies by the American Institute of Public Opinion had found two basic aims governing the attitude of the American people toward the war – first, to do everything possible to aid the Allies but second, to stay out of the war.

In 1990, “Mommy! Look! Army guys!” one little boy shouted, jumping up and down as a huge green tank rumbled toward him along Fourth Street in Jamestown. The rest of the crowd broke into applause and a few cheers as the tank passed. Cheering and applause filled the air again a few moments later, competing with the music of the Jamestown High School Red Raider Marching Band. And near the beginning of the parade, the people cheered when Mayor Donald W. Ahlstrom and a group of city, county and state officials marched by. At one point, when the politicians were forced to walk very slowly, a voice in the crowd shouted, “That’s the fastest we’ve ever seen you guys move!” The weather was sunny and brisk, perfect on Monday morning for the hour-long Memorial Day parade.

Dr. Patrick Farrell had opened the Russell Veterinarian Hospital on Route 957, about one mile west of the Route 62 intersection. Farrell received his veterinarian medicine degree from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and was inducted into Phi Zeta, the National Veterinarian Honor Society. In January 1990 he bought the Route 957 property from Bud Neidig and had entered into his own business. He renovated the building next to the house into a full-service veterinarian hospital for family and farm animals, horses and cattle included.

Community

In Years Past

Thomas A. Edison said his new invention, the telescribe, as he had named it, cost him thirty-seven years’ work. It was a device which combined the telephone and phonograph, a long distance dictating machine that doubled back. Two persons, even though 3,000 miles apart, might hold a telephonic conversation and the instrument would give each a record of what both said. It would also take down a message for an absent person and tell it to him when he returned. Keen as the human ear and highly sensitized, the recorded message did not miss the slightest vibration.

Dr. and Mrs. C. A. Hanvey and Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Beck would leave Jamestown Monday morning on an automobile tour across the United States, returning to this city about the first of September. The party would tour the country in Dr. Hanvey’s six cylinder Jeffrey car which had been equipped with a complete camping outfit, including tents, cots, cooking utensils and other necessary paraphernalia. It was the plan of the party to stay in the open air as far as possible, camping each night in tents. The party would go by way of Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio, to Chicago, then by way of the Lincoln highway through to San Francisco.

In 1940, Carl Morris Wilson, 13 and Richard Farley, 13, both of Jamestown, were seriously injured when the roof on one of the buildings at the old brick yard collapsed while they and two other lads were playing on it. The condition of both boys was good according to authorities at Jamestown General Hospital. The two boys fell through the roof for a drop of about 13 feet when they stepped backwards to a point where the roof of one building joined the wall of a higher adjoining structure. A shower of bricks and concrete mortar fell with the lads, injuring them.

Mrs. Palmer K. Shankland made her annual pilgrimage to the graves of the six Revolutionary soldiers at rest in Lake View Cemetery, with the wreaths of Jamestown chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. Mrs. Shankland had performed this beautiful rite for the chapter almost continuously since she joined back in 1904. The chapter also held in loving remembrance, a former member who was a real daughter of the Revolution, Mrs. Maris Cheney Hall, whose grave was also decorated each year.

In 1965, the new laundromat at the Randolph Plaza, Main Street, was badly damaged by an explosion at 3:45 a.m. this day. The front wall remained standing, minus its glass doors and windows and the wall to the adjacent Quality Market was undamaged. Force of the explosion toppled a large produce stand in the grocery store but that damage had been repaired by 10 a.m. The laundry, which was the end unit of the plaza structure, had been in operation about two weeks. A witness said the interior of the laundry was a pile of rubble, cinder block and twisted metal. The Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Department was investigating the cause.

The long Memorial Day weekend had begun, heralding the start of the summer season, offering a forecast of heavy traffic on the highways and highlighting the traditional services in honor of the nation’s war dead. In Jamestown, the annual tribute would begin at 10 a.m. Monday when the first units stepped off in the familiar Memorial Day parade. The procession of bands, military groups, veterans organizations and other marchers would start at Fourth and Washington streets, proceed along Fourth to Prendergast Avenue and march out Prendergast to Lake View Cemetery.

In 1990, legal proceedings between Chautauqua County and the state Department of Environmental Conservation relating to operation of the county’s town of Ellery landfill were on hold as both sides reviewed their positions. Members of the Chautauqua County Legislature defeated a resolution calling for the county to agree to a consent order from the DEC that called for a civil penalty payment of $10,000 for alleged violations of the agency’s operating requirements at the landfill.

A second body was recovered by Vermont State Police divers from the wreckage of a plane that crashed in Lake Champlain four months previously. The body was found on the lake floor in what was believed to be the fuselage of the plane. The wreckage was in 80 feet of water near Colchester Point. The twin-engine, six-seater Cessna plane that crashed Jan. 16 was carrying pilot Malcolm French, 48, of Grand Island, NY; his brother Livingston French, 50, of Oakland, California and a friend, Zsolt Szekely, 45, of Dunkirk, NY. The three were flying from Dunkirk to Burlington for a Stowe ski trip.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, the annual Memorial Day exercises were held at the Jamestown High School on this morning, the pupils assembling in the junior and senior study halls. Rev. Dr. George L. MacClelland, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church addressed those in the senior study hall and Rev. Dr. Gardner Eldridge, pastor of the First M. E. Church, addressed those in the junior study hall. Dr. MacClelland made a strong plea for the pupils of the high school to try to “find themselves,” in order to make their high school courses worth more to them.

The opening of Celoron Park for the season of 1915 would take place the following day and the Celoron Amusement Company was making arrangements to handle large crowds throughout the afternoon and evening. The grounds and the various attractions had been placed in better condition than ever before and with excursions from all parts of western New York, northwestern Pennsylvania and even from Ohio, the coming season promised to be a record-breaker as far as attendance was concerned.

In 1940, the theft a week previously of a valuable fur neckpiece and a suitcase containing many valuable articles of clothing from the room of a patron at the Hotel Jamestown was believed solved by the arrest at Cleveland of a man giving the name of Louis Levine. Cleveland police arrested Levine after he had attempted to pass a bad check. The man’s connection with the Jamestown theft was disclosed when Cleveland police searched his hotel room in the Ohio city. The fur neckpiece was identified as stolen, through insurance papers issued to the real owner. The papers were found in the stolen suitcase.

Assurance that Jamestown would have regular airmail service in and out of the municipal airport on or before July 1, was expressed by two mail-flying pilots for All American Aviation, Inc., at a luncheon meeting sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce at the Hotel Samuels. Jamestown would be the northern terminal of a Pittsburgh-Jamestown airmail pickup route when the new service was started, according to Pilot Cammy Vinet. He emphasized his statement that the service would be started and started soon.

In 1965, the Rev. Harold Schwab, executive director of the Gerry Homes, said a preliminary expansion program had begun to double its capacity for the care of the aged. The Home was operated by the Free Methodist Church. At the same time, he said the Home’s facilities for children would close down in the coming summer, ending nearly 80 years of operation in child care. The Home presently had 53 residents in its senior citizens division. One of the factors in the closing of the children’s division was a change in child care philosophy, calling for the placement of children in foster homes to provide a family type atmosphere.

Miss Janis Ruth Carnahan was the valedictorian in the Jamestown High School class of 621, graduating June 29. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Martin F. Carnahan of 5th St., Jamestown. She ranked first scholastically in the class, was the winner of several awards and was an outstanding athlete. Next highest, giving him the rating of salutatorian, was Jeffrey Bruce Loomis, son of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald H. Loomis of Baker Street, Jamestown. He was a twin to Jerry Loomis, who also ranked high scholastically.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, Charles E. Dodge, superintendent of the poor of Chautauqua County was chairman of the program committee of the Association of County Superintendents of the Poor and Poor Law Officers. They would hold their annual convention at Alexandria Bay at the Thousand Island House from June 22 to June 25, inclusive. Among other topics to be discussed were Address of Mental Deficiency as a Cause of Dependency; The Problem of the Colored Child in the State of New York and Institutional Food Problems.

The Jamestown Board of Commerce was formally organized at the first annual membership meeting in the Eagle Temple auditorium on Tuesday evening and the same spirit of enthusiasm which marked the campaign for members was again in evidence. Between 350 and 400 members of the organization and their guests were in attendance and the new executive secretary, Fred Clayton Butler, was greeted in such a manner as to leave no doubt of the loyal support which he was to receive from the rank and file of the board. The meeting was arranged for the purpose of completing the organization according to legal requirement and also to afford the members an opportunity to meet Mr. Butler.

In 1940, Celoron Park would open for the summer season on Memorial Day, Thursday, May 30, with many new improvements and concessions. For the past few weeks carpenters, decorators, gardeners and other artisans had been working like beavers rebuilding and beautifying the play resort. The Pier ballroom had been enlarged, remodeled and redecorated and would open Wednesday. The management planned to present the finest acts and entertainment for its patrons during the coming year.

Construction of the proposed flood control weir near Hartfield for the purpose of draining surplus Chautauqua Lake water through a canal to Little Chautauqua creek and finally to Lake Erie would be the ideal engineering solution for the Chautauqua area flood problem but there was little hope that funds for such a project would be available for many years to come, was the opinion expressed by W. E. Ashcraft, an associate assistant engineer of the United States Army Engineering Corps. Mr. Ashcroft recommended dredging the Chadakoin River and more efficient control of dams within the city of Jamestown as the most feasible immediate solution of the high water problem.

In 1965, there was little relief from hot, sticky weather in sight for the Jamestown area this day following thunderstorms and a twister warning here the past night. As heavy rain fell throughout the area, the Severe Weather Forecast Center at Kansas City issued tornado warnings about 10 p.m. for southeastern Chautauqua County and the extreme southern portions of Cattaraugus and Allegany counties. A hail storm struck Warren at 10:30 p.m. yesterday and lasted about 20 minutes according to police. Tornadoes and thunderstorms hammered eight states in the nation’s midsection, killing at least two persons and causing extensive property damage.

The fourth annual Chautauqua Lake Summer Festival sponsored by the Lakewood Area Jaycees would be held June 18 through June 20. Marshall Mattison, festival chairman, announced the scheduled program which would include ground, air and water spectaculars. Mr. Mattison said the festival would begin at 6 p.m. Friday with events scheduled for each day through the evenings with the Grand Finale, Sunday at 10:30 p.m., being an hour fireworks exhibition held at the Lakewood Village Beach. The annual parade would form at the Lakewood Elementary School field on Bentley Avenue at 5:30 p.m., Saturday. According to George L. Barone Jr., parade chairman, interested marching groups could contact the Jaycees in Lakewood for information regarding the parade.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, James Hall Camp, Sons of Veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic, met Monday evening in G. A. R. hall in Jamestown with a large attendance. A new member was mustered in the camp. The following were named aides for the Memorial Day parade: M. L. Clapp, L. W. Emory, S. S. Taylor and M. A. Bliss. Members of the camp would assemble at the cemetery Saturday, May 29, at 5 p.m. to place flags on the graves of the soldiers and sailors buried there. Sunday, May 30, the members of the camp would meet at the hall at 7 p.m. to march to the First Presbyterian Church to attend services.

A rather peculiar accident happened the previous noon on Main Street between Second and Third in Jamestown. Two automobiles and a motorcycle figured. The Chevrolet and Overland cars owned by Dr. Ernesto Loffredo of Fairmount Avenue and M. Otte of Newton Avenue and the Excelsior motorcycle owned by Roland Rosendahl were standing in a row on Main Street while their owners were occupied otherwise. In some manner the brakes on the Loffredo car became loosened and the car started on its course down the hill where it ran into Mr. Otte’s car. The impact was so great that the Overland struck the motorcycle and then ran up on the sidewalk.

In 1940, from two rowboats, eight members of the Celoron fire department fought a fire while crossing Chautauqua Lake Friday afternoon. It was probably the first time that a conflagration had been extinguished on one side of the lake after it originated on the opposite shore. Members of the Celoron fire department reported receiving the alarm at 2:10 p.m. Upon reaching the boat livery of Neil Ensworth, Celoron, they found that a cabin cruiser was burning from a motor backfire. The cruiser had been pushed out into the lake and a strong wind was carrying the boat toward the easterly shore. With four men in each rowboat, the firemen attacked the burning boat with cans of chemicals and Indian water pumps carried about the shoulders. The cruiser was beached across the lake, the front portion burned to the water line. Firemen jumped into the boat and extinguished the blaze. Early in the evening another call sent firemen to the livery where a motorboat had caught fire. Both boats were owned by Mr. Ensworth and were being inspected by prospective purchasers when the fires broke out.

A coronation ball Friday evening in the Falconer High School gymnasium marked the successful conclusion of the annual spring festival of the school in honor of the May king, Wayne Fraizer, and May queen, Ethel Ecklund. During the ball the Corridor, school year book, was distributed with the May king and queen receiving the first copies. The next copy went to Miss Greta Sackett, head of the English department for several years running who was not to return in the next school year. Prior to the ball, an amateur show was held with Don Buck as master of ceremonies.

In 1965, participation of the Jamestown school system in “Project Head Start,” the federal program to help prepare pre-school children of low income families to cope more effectively with studies when they enter kindergarten in September, was approved by the Board of Education. The action was taken after Dr. Harold O’Neal, superintendent of schools, read a letter from Sargent Shriver, director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, sponsor of the nationwide program, informing the local board that a federal grant of up to $7,485 to underwrite cost of the program had been approved.

Basil T. Caprino of Jamestown was released from WCA Hospital after treatment for injuries he received in a two-car accident at the Big Tree-Sugargrove Road and Baker Street Extension intersection the previous afternoon. Police said the Caprino car was proceeding north on the Big Tree-Sugargrove Road after stopping at the intersection and the right center of his automobile was struck in the intersection by the west bound auto driven by Alfred M. Murdock of Erie, Pa., who was traveling on Baker Street Extension. According to Town of Busti police officer Steven Showers, no charges were placed against either driver. The accident was the first after the new large traffic signs were placed at the intersection the day before by the Chautauqua County Highway Dept.

In 1990, rain was expected to dampen things this day and Sunday but the weatherman said area residents could expect partly sunny skies for Memorial Day activities. Meanwhile, local police warned motorists to be extra cautious during the holiday weekend, especially when driving in bad weather and advised that extra patrols would be out over the following three days to make sure people obeyed the laws of the road. Mostly cloudy skies, an 80 percent chance of rain and a possible thunderstorm were on tap for this day.

The geographic and political line that separated New York from Pennsylvania – Jamestown from Warren – continued to present some real obstacles to regional educational concepts, such as the college program Jamestown Community College coordinated and managed in Warren. Terms such as “artificial boundary,” “TAP PHEAA,” “reciprocity,” remained some of the unresolved geopolitical factors that complicated the effort JCC began in Warren in 1986. Those factors hadn’t stopped success. Nine Warren County residents would receive associate degrees this day – earned by taking classes JCC provided exclusively in Warren.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, Daniel Dohnegey, 20 years old, was dead, nine persons were in the hospital with broken limbs or other injuries and nine others were suffering from severe cuts and bruises as a result of an accident on the “dip-the-dip” at Idora Park in Youngstown, Ohio. Thousands of pleasure seekers witnessed the accident. Three filled cars had shot down the first grade and had almost reached the top of the next ascent when the train suddenly began backing. The train following, also packed, had started down the first grade. The two trains crashed together at the bottom.

The Brush and Pencil Club was holding its annual exhibition of work this day in Room 520 of the Chadakoin building, West Third Street, Jamestown. Pen and ink, wash, pencil and charcoal were the mediums used by the club and the results which had been attained displayed the remarkable ability of this body of zealous students. There were many studies in constructive anatomy done from life and some beautiful work in designing.

In 1940, National Guard armories in New York state, with a few exceptions, were closed to all but members of the military in a move which one commanding officer said he presumed was to prevent use of the buildings by “subversive organizations.” Instructions covering the “care and safeguarding of armories” were issued to commandants by Brigadier General Ames T. Brown. He insisted, however, the precaution was not taken because of any fear of “Fifth Column” activities.

Stimulated industrial employment and a general business upsurge in Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Cleveland areas were counted on by Chamber of Commerce officials and others to promote increased resort business and summer travel in the Chautauqua Lake region during the coming summer season. While authoritative spokesmen minimized the possibility of a large improvement in patronage because the European war would compel vacationists to stay in their own country this year, they attributed the prospect of a fair-sized boom to the business pickup already evidenced in metropolitan areas whose people were partial to the Chautauqua Region.

In 1965, intersections of the Big Tree-Sugargrove Road with Hunt Road and Baker Street Extension had received additional traffic signs. Both intersections had been the scene of personal injury accidents, including two fatalities at Hunt Road and were the subject of Post-Journal editorials. A new sign posted on the Big Tree-Sugargrove Road warned of the approach to the Hunt Road intersection. A marker erected on Baker Street Extension near the Big Tree-Sugargrove intersection also warned of an approaching intersection. The signs were put up the previous day at the direction of the Board of Supervisor’s Highway Committee, headed by Ellicott Supervisor Frederick E. Mattison.

Only minor damage was caused by a fire early this day in a fifth-floor room at the Hotel Jamestown. Occupants of the floor were undisturbed, despite the spread of smoke through the hallways. Jamestown firemen answered the alarm at 12:09 a.m. to find a davenport burning. The firemen quickly put out the fire and carried the sofa from the room. Damage was confined to the davenport, a dresser and a rug in the room, although the spread of smoke through the fifth floor required ventilating fans be used to clear the air. Fire officials believed the fire might have been caused by a discarded cigarette.

In 1990, developers of the Galleria of Chautauqua mall project should seriously consider building the mall some place other than Strunk Road in the town of Ellicott, according to an environmental consulting firm. Acres International Corp. was hired by Chautauqua Concerned Citizens. The findings were released by attorney Mark Bargar. The consulting firm listed other alternatives that should be considered because of the overall environmental impacts of the mall project. The findings were in response to a public scoping document created for developer George Zamais of Johnstown, Pa.

Directors of Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce had named Carol Lorenc as its executive director in announcing an intention to expand the chamber’s role in the area’s development efforts. She would succeed Charles Turcotte who had served as its acting executive director for the past six years. He would resume his full-time position as executive director of the Manufacturers Association of the Jamestown Area.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, Mrs. Cynthia Buffum had been sentenced to serve an indeterminate term of from 20 years to life in prison for the murder of her husband, Willis E. Buffum. Her decision to give up her fight for freedom followed an all night conference with her lawyers. They believed that the showing made on the stand by Jim Colf on Thursday afternoon and the letters written from Auburn by Mrs. Buffum herself had dealt their case a crushing blow and when Mr. Moore suggested a compromise plea they readily agreed to take it up with Mrs. Buffum. Her life was still sweet to her. Behind all the difficulties that had piled up in the past 24 hours stood the specter of the electric chair. So she gave up.

For the third time within the brief space of a year the store at Levant owned and operated by Otto P. Bohman had been burglarized and about $50 worth of jewelry and clothing taken. The discovery that the store had been entered was made Sunday morning by Robert Blanchard, a farmer who lived about a mile from Levant. He stopped at the creamery nearby and noticing that the large double doors of the Bohman store were open he entered. Mr. Bohman was notified. Clothing and jewelry was missing and the 75 pennies which had been left in the cash register were gone.

In 1940, Governor Lehman said New York’s 1939 record of 504,257 industrial accidents, involving 764 deaths and 76,593 disabilities “reads almost like a casualty report from the front.” He made the assertion in a message read at a meeting of the Policyholders Advisory councils of the state insurance fund, composed of more than 80 representatives of various industries carrying workmen’s compensation insurance with the state. Lehman pointed out $65,000,000 of premiums collected from employers the past year was practically all paid by the consumer and said the way to reduce cost of accidents “is to prevent their occurrence.”

Mrs. Henry Stuyvesant Dudley of New York City, the former Jane Rundquist, who in her twenties was one of the first Jamestown girls to go on the stage, died the past Monday at Palm Beach, Florida, at the age of 68 years. The elder daughter of the late Andrew Rundquist, for many years city assessor here, she was survived by her husband, her mother and a sister, Mrs. Leon Johnson of Warren. Taking up a theatrical career under the stage name of Jane English in the late nineties, she was frequently publicized by the New York World as one of the best dressed and most beautiful women in New York.

In 1965, three persons were killed in a two-car head-on collision at 3:50 p.m. Saturday on Cattaraugus County Road 305, about 1 1/2 miles south of Route 17. The victims were Edward Smith, 67 of St. Marys, Pa., driver of the southbound car and his wife, Beatrice Smith, 68 and Charles Frederick Boller, 81 of Port Allegany, Pa., who was a passenger of the northbound car driven by his wife, Lillian Boller, 80, the lone survivor. She was in serious condition at Olean General Hospital. The accident brought the Cattaraugus County highway toll to 18 compared with five a year ago. Mr. Boller had been president of a Port Allegany bank, state police said.

Persons seeking souvenirs of a pioneer past were expected to be active this week when excavation for a small boat mooring area in Barcelona continued. Digging the past Thursday uncovered a large number of small clay smoking pipes several feet under ground and approximately in the area of what appeared to be remains of an old wharf. One individual was reported to have collected about 100 of the pipes, some intact but many with their brittle stems broken off at various lengths. Also found were a few Indian arrowhead and skinning stones. There was some belief the clay pipes might be of Dutch or Irish origin. The finds hark back to pioneer days when Barcelona served as a landing point for Indians crossing lake Erie from Canada in small boats.

In 1990, Uncle Sam, Salamanca wanted you. Salamanca business owners and the city were calling on the federal government to help pay the $800,000 annual lease to the Seneca Nation of Indians. Business owners predicted a gloomy economic outlook for the city if help was not given to the community. The city and the Senecas had tentatively agreed to an annual lease payment of $800,000 and an up front payment of $60 million from New York state and the federal government.

Was a new community park, at no taxpayer expense, in the village of Lakewood’s future? The answer was yes, if enough people and organizations pulled together to make the park a reality. The Lakewood Community Park Project would try to use donations and grants to build a $900,000 park on East Terrace Street. “It’s a project that’s going to take some time. There’s no question of that. We hope to do it without taxpayer money,” Lakewood Mayor Anthony Caprino said.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, the Fredonia fire alarm system gave another demonstration of inefficiency at 10 o’clock Thursday evening when an alarm from Temple Street wheel 15 was turned in. Instead of giving the signal properly, the mechanism failed and the result was a prolonged single blast which finally died out in a despairing moan. The whistle failed a few weeks ago on the same number and also on giving signal for wheel 31. On Thursday night, the firemen lost little time in learning the proper direction and started down Temple Street to the home of George W. Evarts where a fire had broken out in a chicken brooder. They had proceeded but a part of the way when they were informed that their services were not needed and the return was made to the fire station. A bucket brigade had been formed and the fire extinguished before the firemen could arrive.

The Fanny O. Bailey Woman’s Christian Temperance Union held its regular meeting Friday afternoon in the rooms of the YWCA building at Jamestown, the president, Mrs. C. E. Treat, presiding. The union first considered the matter of Sunday moving picture exhibitions and protested against the law or its interpretation in such manner as to make this lawful. The fact was deplored that there could not be one day set aside for other more devout things. In recognition of the efforts of Mayor Carlson and the common council to prohibit Sunday “movies,” the secretary was instructed to send them letters of commendation and to express the union’s regret at the existing situation.

In 1940, the Somme cemetery at Bony in northern France in which were buried several of the Jamestown men who served in the 108th infantry 27th division, during the World War, was right in the midst of the military operations being held in Europe, being situated only 12 miles from St. Quentin, held by the Germans at last reports. The Company E dead who lay buried in this cemetery were killed or mortally wounded in action on Sept. 29, 1918, when the 108th, with other units of the 27th division, broke through the famous Hindenburg line. In that action, the local company sustained its greatest loss of the war, 13 enlisted men being killed and many wounded, several of them fatally. The Stars and Stripes wave – or did wave – over the Somme cemetery where lay some 2000 American soldier dead.

A steady stream of cars continued to pour through the traffic safety lane on Clinton Street in Jamestown between East Fourth and East Fifth streets this day, a total of 325 machines being tested between 8:30 and 2:30. The grand total of cars tested since the lane opened Monday morning reached 1,529 this afternoon. Several hundred more machines would probably pass through the lane before it closed at 9 o’clock this night. The testing would also be run for two more days. The safety lane was being operated cooperatively by the Police department and the Jamestown Automobile Club. Approximately 40 percent of the cars tested were being found defective in some particular. Stickers pronouncing the machines OK for safe driving were issued only after the cars were found to be void of defects.

In 1990, a fuel or hydraulic leak could have caused a blacktop paver to catch fire Tuesday afternoon on Route 394 in Ashville, said Ashville Fire Chief Bob Fredrickson. The road machine was heavily damaged after it caught fire about 4:15 p.m. just east of the BOCES building. Firefighters contained the fire within 20 minutes, Fredrickson said. There were no injuries. The paver, owned by Union Concrete and Construction of Jamestown, cost about $300,000 and would have to be rebuilt.

Despite concerns of some residents, public response to the proposed lease agreement between the Seneca Nation of Indians and the city of Salamanca had been generally supportive and positive, Salamanca Comptroller Linda Rycheik told The Post-Journal. Associated Press reports that many local residents were angered by the increase in lease payments were false, Ms. Rycheik said. She claimed most of the “angry” residents were interviewed before the city released the estimated lease increases. “What we found, generally, is that most people said, ‘Oh, that isn’t too bad.’ There are people who were upset but this is just an attitude thing. On some people it will cause a hardship, I’ll admit, but overall the comments have been positive.”

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, Mrs. Cynthia Buffum, the Little Valley woman who had been on trial in supreme court for two weeks on a charge of murdering her husband, Willis Buffum, by giving him repeated doses of arsenic, pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree the previous morning, thus bringing the trial to an abrupt and dramatic end. Attorney Patrick Collins, counsel for the accused woman, entered the plea, having arrived at a conclusion that the unexpected developments of two days previously spelled a conviction if the case was permitted to go to the jury.

The interest in farm tractors to take the place of teams for the heavy work on the farm was increasing very rapidly in Chautauqua County in this year and already there were at least two different makes of tractors which were receiving tests and demonstrations in this section. Their power and efficiency was said to be little short of remarkable. Recently, several Jamestown men were the guests of Glen P. Waite of this city at a demonstration of tractor work in vineyards and orchards near Westfield. The machines were seen at work in the Rood farm vineyards and orchards and on the Johnson farm. One satisfied user told the party that he had disposed of two heavy farm teams as soon as he saw the work the tractor would do.

In 1940, several first and second grade pupils at the Fairmount Avenue school in Jamestown were under observation by public school and city health department physicians after having eaten an unknown quantity of rat poison which they mistook for candy. Police Lieutenant Elmer Lee, who investigated the case, said the children, about eight in number, reported finding the small transparent sacks of poison resembling cocoa on the rear porch of a grocery store at Fairmount and Lakin avenues on their way home from school at noon. The proprietor of the grocery told police he had placed the poison there for removal to the city dump. When he noticed it was missing several hours later, he notified authorities who immediately began an investigation to determine its disposition. Allison Galbraith, principal of the school, said that inquiry disclosed about a half dozen children had admitted taking the poison and eating it, believing it was candy.

Civil aeronautics authority examiners recommended that application of the All-American Aviation Company for an airmail pickup route between Pittsburgh and Buffalo, including Jamestown, be dismissed on the grounds that authority to grant such an application rested with the post office rather than with the CAA. The examiners denied the application as it related to the transportation of persons because they stated, passenger service along this route was not a matter of public convenience and necessity.

In 1965, wreckage of a private plane which had been missing since Sunday, May 16, on a flight from Beaumont, Texas to Tulsa, Oklahoma, was found the previous day near the East Texas city of Jacksonville. Bodies of the three occupants were found in the wreckage. The twin-engine craft was piloted by H. T. Morris of Bradford, Pa. Also aboard were his daughter, Lynn, 17, and the daughter’s friend, Kathy Madden, 18. Morris was president of the Bradford Motor Works. The plane disappeared while much of East Texas was under a severe weather alert.

Congressman Charles E. Goodell completed another round of his regular meetings with constituents throughout the 38th Congressional District and participated with two of his sons, Roger and Michael Charles, in the Little League parade and opening ceremonies in Jamestown. At the Little League ceremonies Congressman Goodell said “Baseball is one of the great loves of my life. You’re lucky,” he told the youngsters, “to have the chance to play on a flat field with umpires, uniforms and all the equipment. When I was your age, we used to play on some fields so rough and hilly that the outfielders would go right out of sight chasing the ball.”

In 1990, a proposed 375-unit residential housing development for Camp Chautauqua would be the subject of a meeting in the Stow Community Building on Old Bridge Road. The project was proposed to be 60 percent housing and 40 percent open space. The zoning requirements for such a project called for 75 percent housing and 25 percent open space. The proposed 40 percent open space area was more aesthetic, according to Town Clerk Sally Carlson. “What this project is doing is proposing more open space area than is required. It will give it a more park-like atmosphere, instead of like row houses.”

A squirrel was blamed for causing a power outage Monday evening that left 450 electric customers of Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. without power for about an hour. Among the customers affected were the Chautauqua Mall and radio station WJTN. The squirrel somehow found itself caught on top of a transformer on Linden Street in Lakewood and attempted to jump from one transformer lead to another. “He didn’t quite make it,” said Ronald Sochnlein, the utility’s Lakewood District manager.

Community

In Years Past

• In 1915, Charles Gron suffered severe injuries by falling down the cellar stairs at his home in Lakewood the past evening. He was unconscious for some time and was in a serious condition this day as the result of the accident, although his son-in-law, Dr. L. H. Snow, of Jamestown, who was in attendance, stated that unless internal injuries developed, the accident was not necessarily fatal. Mr. Gron was 78 years old and was in the livery business for many years in Jamestown. He was widely known throughout this section. He was also a veteran of the Civil War and a member of Post James M. Brown, G. A. R. Since coming to Lakewood he had made his home on Ohio Avenue.

At a special meeting of the Jamestown board of health held in the City Hall on this morning, action was taken strongly approving the work of dredging the Chadakoin River through the city to prevent further floods and with special reference to the danger of sewer overflow and health menace in case the floods were permitted to continue. A full membership of the board was present and it was decided to draft a telegram to Governor Whitman urging him in the interest of public health to sign the bill for reappropriation of the state money to continue the work.

In 1940, state police who investigated the fatal shooting the past April of Miss Pearl Spinks, spinster housekeeper in the home of Supervisor Fred C. Davis, of Busti, were apparently convinced that the case should be marked closed as a suicide. In a report prepared by Dr. Bradley H. Kirshberg, director of the state police laboratory at Schenectady and made public this day, evidence was listed which indicated that Miss Spinks plotted her own death with the intention of giving it the appearance of a homicide. “Although every wisp of evidence has been probed exhaustively and scores of persons questioned, there are still many questions which remain unanswered,” said Coroner Bowers, ” and I feel it would be a mistake to close the investigation once and for all at the present time.”

A total of 316 motor vehicles, passenger automobiles and trucks, went through the safety lane inspection on Clinton Street between West Fourth and Fifth streets in Jamestown on Monday according to Traffic Lieutenant William Stahley. The lane was being held by the police department and the Jamestown Automobile Club. Lieutenant Stahley said that after this week, motor vehicles not bearing inspection stickers would be stopped for inspection and if found defective, the owner would be prosecuted.

In 1965, the Democratic controlled Legislature in Albany would send another $1.50 minimum wage bill to Gov. Rockefeller the following week in a new but apparently futile effort to win his approval. The Republican governor vetoed the first bill on the grounds that it could drive business out of the state. Senate Democrats failed in a move to override the veto. But they passed a new bill and sent it to the Assembly for final passage the following week. The only difference between the new measure and the vetoed one was the effective date – Jan. 1 in the new bill and Oct. l5 in the old. Democratic leaders said they proposed the extra 2 1/2 months to allow time for Congress to act on pending legislation to raise the federal minimum wage from $1.25 to $1.50.

The 98th annual commencement of Jamestown High School scheduled for Tuesday, June 29, would be held in the Amphitheater of Chautauqua Institution instead of Merton P. Corwin Auditorium, Meade G. Anderson, principal, announced. The shift from the traditional commencement setting in the school auditorium was dictated by the prospect that an all-time record of nearly 600 students would be eligible to receive diplomas at this graduation – an increase of nearly 50 percent over the 410 who graduated in 1964. The school auditorium, with a seating capacity of 1,600 persons, was the largest indoor place of public assembly in Jamestown.

In 1990, the rain let up early Sunday afternoon in Jamestown just long enough to allow some 2,500 residents to stand united and hold hands to symbolize the fight against drug and alcohol abuse. People held hands to the tune of singer Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror,” broadcast by Jamestown radio stations WJTN and WKSN. The human line extended from Stowe and East Second streets, over East and West Third streets through downtown Jamestown and across the Third Street bridge, Russell Diethrick, event co-chairman and city parks and recreation director, said.

A tax that started small but which was proposed to reach gargantuan proportions was seen as sounding the death knell for the small winery industry. It was only in a proposal form in Washington at this time but its effect, if implemented, was seen as virtually wiping out the small wineries. It was known as the occupational tax and had been in effect for a number of years at a much lower cost than was now proposed. For stores selling only beer, the tax was $24 to start but was raised to $250 as of Jan. 1. 1988. The tax as currently constituted was imposed on all handlers of alcoholic beverages. Since the tax was quite small and so many businesses were subject to it, many of them failed to pay it and the law was difficult to enforce.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, after this day’s opening game at Celoron Park the Jamestown and Warren Interstate league clubs would go to Warren to crack the season open in that city Friday afternoon and again they would be tendered a rousing reception. Warren had declared a half-holiday, a parade would precede the game and a record breaking crowd was expected to be on hand. The Jamestown team would make the trip to Warren Friday morning in automobiles and would start about 11 o’clock. Manager Webb was not certain just who he would start on the mound in the game but said the choice would lay between Horne and Ludden. Following Friday’s game the Rabbits would return home and would again play Warren on Saturday after which they would clash with Gus Dundon’s Olean White Sox on Sunday.

Walter Rabbit, thirteen years old, of Erie, Pa., locked himself in his home the previous day and refused to let anyone in. He was wanted for truancy. When Policeman Brown arrested the youngster, he had to do it by force. In the Detention Home the past night, Rabbit caused more trouble and the police were called in again. He was taken to the county jail, where he calmed down. The boy had not attended school since January with the exception of fifteen days, according to Earl Stokes, truant officer. Yesterday, while passing the Rabbit home, Stokes saw the youngster and called him. Instead of answering, Rabbit ran into the house and locked the door. Having a court order for his arrest, Stokes called the police and that settled it. Mrs. Rabbit, the boy’s mother, promised that thereafter her son would be forced to attend school.

In 1940, the French army would have to do without the scouting services of 13-year-old Joe Goodwin of Elmira. With one cent and two small American flags in his pocket, Joe hitchhiked as far as Towanda, Pennsylvania before nightfall caused him to change his plans of stowing away on a European-bound ship. Local police arranged a ride back home for him.

Two highly significant changes in American thinking had been reflected in the nationwide surveys of the American Institute of Public Opinion since the collapse of Allied resistance in Norway and since the beginning of the campaign in the Low countries. There had been a sharp drop in the number of Americans who felt confident in the ultimate Allied victory. There had been an increase in the number of Americans who thought the United States would be drawn into the war before it was over. Taken together, these two facts indicated that American thinking on all phases of the European war might have reached an important turning point. They revealed an attitude sharply at variance with the easy confidence of most Americans during the opening days of the war that the Allied sea power, plus the strength of French fortifications and the blockade would insure the success of England and France.

In 1965, would the old red mill in Busti become just a memory or would it be restored to its original purpose and charm, an attraction for tourists and local gentry alike? This was the question facing the Busti Town Board, a group of five men who hesitated to have the mill torn down, timber by timber, and let it disappear into oblivion, as have so many rural enterprises of a century ago. Board members envisioned the mill, a landmark for at least 125 years, renovated and once again the center of the town’s activities. Whether restored as a grist mill of 100 years ago or repaired to provide meeting and dining rooms, the mill would be the focal point of a community park which the Town planned to develop on the adjacent 40 acres. The land and mill were the property of the Town. The picturesque location of the mill along Stillwater Creek was the same as it was a century ago. Once again there could be skating on the frozen mill pond and picnics in the quiet shade under the willows.

Eric George “Swat” Erickson, 73, of Matson Road, one of Jamestown’s outstanding old time baseball players, died the previous day at WCA Hospital. Mr. Erickson was a pitcher for three major league teams – the New York Giants, Detroit Tigers and Washington Senators – from 1914 to 1922. Before retiring from baseball in the late 1920s he also was a member of San Francisco, Toledo, and Minneapolis teams in the American Association and the Toronto team in the International loop. One of the greatest feats in baseball occurred in 1930 in Celoron following his retirement as a professional player when he pitched a one-hitter for the Celoron Spiders to humble the barnstorming Boston Braves 3 to 0 in a contest in which he also accounted for all of his team’s runs by hitting a bases loaded triple.

Community

In Years Past

• In 1915, Mayor Samuel A. Carlson of Jamestown was putting forward a plan for municipalizing the milk supply of this city. The plan was attracting wide attention not only from students of municipal health but also from practical dairymen and milk dealers. The chief points in Mayor Carlson’s plan were: First, collection of the milk needed to supply the city from approved dairies, by automobile trucks manned by city employees; second, a municipal plant for testing, bottling and pasteurization; and third, distribution by scientifically arranged routes. Mayor Carlson maintained that it was unreasonable to demand twelve to fifteen cents a quart for pure milk. “Five milkmen peddle milk in one short block in this city,” he said. “We can distribute milk as the post office distributes mail.”

• A communication from Frewsburg to The Journal on this afternoon stated that the people of that village were becoming so indignant over the continued bad condition of Foote Avenue from the city line that they were beginning to boycott Jamestown for business and trading purposes. “Our people are so disgusted with the way this street has been left impassable” said The Journal’s informant, over the telephone, “that they are going to Warren to do their merchandising.” Investigation disclosed the fact that the street had been torn up for sewer laying and was being torn up again to put in the return pipe for the pumping station.

• In 1940, seven local horse betting establishments were wiped out with a single stroke when the Jamestown Telephone Company, acting upon the request of Chief of Police G. Harry Nelson, removed a race wire teletype machine from a home on Water Street. Police made the request to the telephone company after definitely establishing that seven bookie joints in as many parts of the city were receiving relayed race information from the teletype track wire at the home. According to Chief Nelson, police were powerless to enter the home to attack the organized horse race gambling from that angle as no betting activity was apparent there. The entire racket was believed to have been squelched, at least for the time being.

• Jamestown High School’s 61-voice a cappella choir walked off with the highest possible rating in Class A mixed choir competition in Albany the previous day. The adjudicator awarded the choir a one-plus rating, which was equivalent to “superior-plus.” The highest rating ordinarily given was that of “superior.” The choir appeared in competition with eight other Class A mixed choirs, none of which received ratings in the first division. Miss Ebba H. Gorenson was director of the choral unit.

• In 1965, selection of Jamestown Municipal Airport for the installation of a new high density runway lighting and guidance system at an estimated cost of $110,000-$125,000 had been approved by the Federal Aviation Agency, Peter Kote, chairman of the City Airport Commission, announced. Mr. Kote said he had been informed by Charles Johnson, head of the F.A.A.’s Light Guidance Systems Section, that the project had been okayed with actual installation tentatively scheduled to get under way early in August.

• An offer to sell the city of Jamestown 158 acres of land north of the Jamestown Community College campus for $64,500 had been withdrawn because of City Council’s failure to take action on its purchase. Mayor Fred H. Dunn said he was informed by David S. Lawson, whose family owned the property formerly known as the Curtis farm, that he no longer wished to sell the property to the city. Mr. Lawson’s decision not to sell the land to the city apparently caught some city officials by surprise. According to a report published elsewhere, plans were being made for a tour of the property on June 8.

• In 1990, Mayor W. Earl Minckler of Sinclairville was more than a little irritated with state officials and at Wednesday night’s Sinclairville Village Board meeting he made that fact very clear. Because of the state’s failure to come up with a budget, many communities, including Sinclairville, had not yet received state aid money, Minckler said. The village was operating with a narrow budget surplus of less than $10,000.

• The list of volunteers for the “United We Stand” human chain to be formed Sunday along Second and Third streets in Jamestown to demonstrate a stand against alcohol and drug abuse in the greater Jamestown area kept growing. As of Friday afternoon, more people from businesses, civic and fraternal organizations and families had signed up to hold hands on Sunday.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, Frank Lauster, aged 33, of Yatesboro, Pa., while driving a six-horse team and walking beside the team, was kicked by one of the horses and knocked down in front of an automobile driven by W. H. Cogley of Echo. Lauster stumbled out of the way of the machine but the horse kicked him again, this time knocking him under the automobile, which dragged him several yards. He was injured internally and was bruised on both sides where the horse kicked him.

Celoron was to have an uprising this night in the interest of law and order. Just how big the uprising was to be remained to be developed when the ladies of the W. C. T. U., who were in charge, deployed their forces at the regular meeting at the Celoron Village Hall this night to present to the Village Board for a second time their petition for the appointment of two special police officers, a man and a woman, to keep Celoron free from the scenes they alleged had disgraced the resort every previous summer for some years.

In 1940, the bid by Sprinchorn & Company of Jamestown for furnishing and installing air-conditioning equipment in the five operating rooms of the new maternity annex at the Jamestown General Hospital was accepted by the Health and Hospital board at a meeting in the office of Mayor Leon F. Roberts. The installation would cost $3,652. Miss Dorothy Dotterweich, superintendent of the hospital, was authorized to purchase two mobile window air-conditioning units at a total cost of $279.

A warning that the Republican party must shed “smugness,” complacency and over confidence to win the 1940 presidential election opened the annual convention of the New York State Association of Young Republican clubs. Warner F. Thompson, Lockport, cautioned in a prepared keynote address “It will do no good to wave the flag, repeat certain statements uttered in the past by Washington and Lincoln and tell the people the election of a Republican president would automatically solve all our national problems over night.” Republican State Chairman Edwin F. Jaeckle of Buffalo asserted Thomas E. Dewey’s chances for the Republican nomination for president were “much better than even” and added, “Without the slightest disparagement of other Republican aspirants, as sure as November comes, if your distinguished colleague is the candidate he will win decisively.”

In 1965, a violent storm which slashed across southwestern Chautauqua County Sunday night left damage unofficially estimated at $250,000 in its wake. The estimate included the cost of removing the hundreds of trees slammed down by the pile driver winds. In Jamestown alone, between 80 and 100 large trees were uprooted. Roger C. Burgeson, director of public works, said crews would be kept busy “for at least a week” in clearing up the debris. Major damage was caused by the storm north of Clymer, near Open Meadows, in Lakewood and on Jamestown’s north side. The heaviest damage was created at the intersection of the Panama-Stedman Road and Baker Road.

An undetermined amount of cash and checks was taken by safecrackers the previous night in the office of Ten Pin Lanes, 512 Falconer Street., Jamestown. The theft was discovered late in the morning when the safe was found tipped upside down in the office. A hole had been chiseled through the bottom of the 2 1/2 foot square safe and all contents removed, detectives said. The amount taken had not been determined. Lt. Earl L. Thies, chief of detectives, said entry was made through a side window of the building and a door to the office containing the safe was broken.

In 1990, Belknap Business Forms of Westfield had been recognized among the top 100 privately owned businesses in Western New York in an annual program co-sponsored by Key Bank of Western New York. The company was founded in 1961 and specialized in continuous print, multi-page business forms. It had more than 100 employees.

Strong winds late Thursday morning blew down a large tree onto the roof of the home of Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Neckers on Lakeside Drive in Bemus Point. Several other trees were reported downed by storms in late morning and late afternoon, many of them bringing down utility lines. Area highway and utility crews continued cleanup operations this day in the aftermath of the storms. Gusts of up to 61 miles an hour were recorded at the Buffalo office of the National Weather Service.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, at the home of Dr. William Goucher on East Fourth Street in Jamestown Sunday afternoon, was paid the final tender tribute to the memory of Dr. Goucher’s wife, MaBelle Wade Goucher, who gave her own life and drowned while saving the life of the little daughter of her friend whom she accompanied on a visit to Stillwater to gather flowers. The funeral sermon was preached by Rev. Laird W. Snell, rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in the presence of a company of friends who completely filled the house. Rev. Mr. Snell spoke of the difficulty of reconciling the taking away of one in full health and the best of life yet to be lived, with the thought of a loving Father ordering all things for good.

Timothy Canty lay at the WCA Hospital in a very serious condition as the result of spending Sunday and Sunday night lying in the ditch beside the tracks of the J.W.&N.W. railroad about half a mile east of Fluvanna. Several people noticed him beside the tracks Sunday but thought nothing of the matter thinking he had not been there long and so passed him by. It was not until about 9 o’clock in the morning that he was brought to Jamestown. He was chilled through and through and although not unconscious, could not talk and was in a dazed condition. It was not known how Canty got to the place where he was found, it being probable that he either took a car to some nearby place or wandered up the tracks.

In 1940, Mrs. H. A. Frank, about 65 years old, was instantly killed about 9 o’clock the previous evening by an Erie freight train on the Center Street crossing in Corry. Mrs. Frank, who lived on Mott Street, Corry, was returning to her home from a motion picture show. It was raining and she was carrying an umbrella. Deputy Coroner Lawrence Davidson, who investigated, reported that he was told the crossing gates were lowered and apparently the woman did not notice the fast westbound freight. No witnesses could be found.

Dr. Hilding A. Nelson, Jamestown city physician, would be requested to give an explanation of the fact that more than half the work of his office was being done by his assistant, Dr. Peter Vitanza, as a result of a resolution adopted by the board of public welfare. The accounting was demanded by Mayor Leon F. Roberts after he had informed the board that he had received many complaints against the city physician.

In 1965, a small tornado, part of a fast-moving thunderstorm system, Sunday night, tore a furrow across southwestern Chautauqua County, leaving a swath of destruction along a line from Findley Lake to Falconer. Damage was reported heavy but the only injuries reported were a mother and her child who received bumps and bruises when their trailer home was wrecked. Mr. and Mrs. Clair Donelson Jr., and their infant son were in their trailer home, located at the intersection of Baker Rd. and the Panama-Stedman Rd., when the storm hit. The violent winds picked up the trailer, ripped it apart and scattered its occupants and contents as far as 250 feet away. Mrs. Donelson and her child were thrown into a farm pond from which they emerged, miraculously, with only scratches and bruises.

Miss Peggy Querreveld, 16, was crowned 1965 Tulip Queen Saturday by Miss Janet McCourt, reigning queen. Miss Querreveld was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wayde Querreveld. She was sponsored by the Clymer Central School P.T.A. First runner-up was Miss Carol Cooper. The new queen was the 10th to be crowned in the tulip festivals sponsored by the Clymer Community Club in the predominantly Dutch Settlement.

In 1990, extensive efforts were under way to bring about a major expansion by Cherry Creek Woodcraft, the largest employer in the town of Cherry Creek. Plans for a $3.3 million project were outlined at Wednesday’s luncheon meeting of Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency at Webb’s Captain’s Table. “This is a company we have had a long history with,” said David G. Dawson, executive director of the IDA. “It has grown to be an absolutely essential employer in the town and is the town’s largest employer.” “We have been most eager for them to build the project in Cherry Creek,” Dawson said.

Acceptance of a $30,000 grant from the state Department of Social Services for a homelessness prevention program in Chautauqua County had been backed by the County Legislature’s Human Services Committee. The action was taken at the committee’s Tuesday night meeting at which the homelessness program was explained by John O’Brian, energy/housing coordinator with the county’s Department of Social Services.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, an alarm of fire at about 1 o’clock in the morning called the firemen to a blaze in the barn at the rear of the residence of John Guinnane, 39 West Eighteenth Street in Jamestown. The building was practically destroyed. Mr. Guinnane estimated his loss at about $1,000, partially covered by insurance. The origin of the fire was unknown, although it might have been caused by tramps who intended to spend the night in the building. No evidence of the presence of such visitors, however, was found. The fire was discovered by John Guinnane, Jr., who was awakened by the crackling of flames. Some mason’s tools as well as some hay were destroyed.

Coroner B. F. Illston started an investigation Friday afternoon into the circumstances surrounding the death of little Dorothy Bloomstrand, killed by a street car at Newland and Barrett avenues on May 12. The first witness was Herbert Vollentine, and the second was Roy McCain, the two men making up the crew of the Newland Avenue street car under which the little girl came to her death. Motorman Vollentine was very straightforward in his statement, telling how the child had run out from behind a team and ran across the track. He was sure she stumbled and fell. The inquest was adjourned until 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Hilmer Bloomstrand, father of the little girl, was present.

In 1940, work preparatory to an inquest into the fantastic fatal shooting of Pearl E. Spinks, 56, spinster housekeeper for Busti Supervisor Fred C. Davis, was still proceeding according to Coroner Samuel T. Bowers and no date for the inquest would be set until all preliminary work was complete. Miss Spinks was found fatally wounded on a staircase in the Davis home just five weeks previously. She died at Jamestown General Hospital three days later. Dr. Bradley Kirchberg, director of the State Police laboratory at Schenectady had prepared a report on his investigation of the case upon which the coroner’s final finding would be based, in part.

The only way in which the United States could avoid sending soldiers to Europe in the event that Hitler was not stopped otherwise, was to send guns, airplanes, ammunition and other materials to the British and French now, regardless of pay and all other considerations, declared S. Miles Bouton, local newspaperman who served as a press correspondent in Berlin and Stockholm and at the front with the German army in the World War. He addressed the Kiwanis Club at its weekly luncheon meeting at the Masonic Temple at Jamestown this noon. “If we could treble all the sums owed us by them, not as loans but as outright gifts and thus make it possible for the defenders of Christian civilization to crush Adolf Hitler and his fanatical followers so thoroughly that they could never rise again, it would be the best investment ever made by this country in all the century and a half of its existence,” Bouton said.

In 1990, the Chautauqua Lake Association received a mandate Tuesday night to find some method of controlling weeds in the lake. And the majority of those speaking at a public hearing favored the use of herbicides as the best method. Some 200 area residents crowded into Jamestown City Council chambers in City Hall to voice opinions about a proposed Chautauqua Lake management plan and in particular, the use of herbicides to control weeds. Most of those who spoke said they favored controlled use of herbicides.

Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, died unexpectedly at a Manhattan hospital. He was 53. Henson died from a massive bacterial infection, said Kathleen Robinson, a spokeswoman at the New York hospital. Henson was admitted to the hospital a day earlier, she said. Henson created the Muppets in 1954 but they became immensely popular after their debut 15 years later on Sesame Street. The puppet creatures grew into a multi-million dollar industry that was purchased by Walt Disney Co. for a reported price of $100 to $150 million. Henson was also the voice of Kermit the Frog, one of the most popular of his creations.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, crows, whose propensity for thieving and mischief had become proverbial, were causing so much devastation at the River Ridge farm of Hon. Joseph Sibley near Franklin that it had been found necessary to station men armed with shotguns at the enclosure in which the ducks and turkeys were allowed to range. Hundreds of eggs were dropped on the ground by the ducks while some of the hens in the big flocks of turkeys did not seem to care particularly for a nest in which to lay eggs. It did not take the crows long to learn the location of the unprotected eggs and they appropriated many of them for themselves.

The arrival of two more buyers from the cities to attend the furniture exposition in Jamestown brought the total number in attendance up to 66. This was a good attendance. Charles Riley, one of the salesmen, said to Journal representative that it was a most gratifying attendance. Considering the state of business in the country it was all that could be expected. The manufacturers were very much pleased with the interest that had been shown.

In 1940, nearly a full house at the Jamestown High School music organization’s concert Tuesday night, assured the trip of the J.H.S. a cappella choir to the national regional finals in Albany on Friday. In fact, everything was all set and waiting for the conductor to bellow “all aboard for Albany.” Treasurer E. Herman Magnuson said the necessary funds were raised at the concert to finance the Albany trip. Much of the expense money was raised at previous concerts during the year.

Dr. Bergen F. Illston, formerly of Jamestown and a coroner of Chautauqua County for 20 years, died on this morning at the United States Veterans’ Hospital at Batavia. Had he lived until June 23, he would have been 62 years of age. Dr. Illston left Jamestown over 10 years previously, going first to his mother’s home at Ithaca and later to Utica. His death followed a long illness. Dr. Illston was born at Ithaca in 1878 and was a graduate of the University of Buffalo Medical School. A man of keen intellect and brilliant education, he came here at the age of 25 and subsequently served for over 20 years as coroner.

In 1965, a thrilled and excited Ashville girl, the applause of 1,100 spectators ringing in her ears, was crowned “Miss Jamestown of 1965.” She was Terry Ellen Emanuelson, 18, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Keith Emanuelson of Quigley Park, Ashville, whose coronation climaxed the Jamestown Jaycees annual Miss Jamestown Pageant held in the auditorium at Jamestown High School. First runner-up in the competition was Janelle M. Hoff, 17, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hoff of 6 Brook St., Lakewood. Wendy Lee Anderson, 17, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Luther Anderson of School Street., W.E., was named second runner-up.

The Lakewood Branch, First National Bank, a $65,000 building designed by Beck, Tinkham and Byer Architects, would be constructed on the corner of Chautauqua Avenue and East Third Street. It would be at the north end of a new block-long development which would also include a Quality Market Store and the Niagara Mohawk Area offices. Ground breaking ceremonies were expected to take place the following week with construction to begin as soon as possible. Plans were being made for October occupancy.

In 1990, when Kathy Roschy, owner of Nellie’s Deli on Main Street in Jamestown, opened her store Monday morning, she knew something was wrong. Something was also wrong for 13 other merchants in Jamestown that morning – burglars had spent the night entering and stealing from three stores on Main Street, a business on Third Street and as many as 10 stores in the Commons Mall, according to Jamestown Police. Mrs. Roschy said she found the lights on and the fan turning. “We don’t leave them on,” she said. “I came up front and all my money was gone. They had some sandwiches while they were here,” she said. “They left out the ham and a dirty knife.”

The Public Works Committee of Chautauqua County Legislature had recommended paying a $10,000 civil penalty for alleged violations of state regulations at the town of Ellery landfill. The agreement came at Monday night’s committee meeting after considerable discussion on a resolution amended in an effort to keep the landfill open after July 1. The state proposed the consent order in lieu of court action in the matter and called for the penalty and a discontinuation of use of the disputed west slope area by July 1.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, a telegram had been received from Secretary Giles of the New York state grange stating that the executive committee of that organization had definitely decided in favor of Jamestown as the place for holding the 1916 state grange meeting. More than eight thousand members of the Patrons of Husbandry living in Chautauqua County, received their first information of this favorable decision which would bring to the west end of the state the first state meeting of this body in more than a quarter century. This convention would be the biggest gathering of its kind in Western New York in some years, bringing over a thousand delegates and officers in addition to at least another thousand candidates for Degree work. Important matters of legislation would be considered and officers would be elected.

C. H. Piersons, master of Cassadaga grange, died at the Brooks Memorial Hospital the past night from injuries received when his carriage was struck by a Nickel Plate railroad train at the Washington Avenue crossing in Dunkirk. He did not regain consciousness after the accident. John Wagner, crossing watchman, declared he attempted to stop Piersons. He said he signaled him but the man evidently tried to clear the danger point. He whipped up his horse to cross the tracks before the arrival of the train. Piersons was fifty-five years old. He was at one time county deputy of the Chautauqua County grange. A wife, three daughters and a son survived him.

In 1940, the body of John E. Gruninger, 29, of Warren, Pa., who disappeared after renting a rowboat from the Erickson Boat livery at Celoron the past Nov. 24, was recovered from Chautauqua Lake not far from the boat livery, on the morning of May 12. It had apparently been trapped under the ice throughout the long winter. Buster Barber, 26, of Chandler Street, discovered the body at about 7:45 a.m. as he was starting out for a morning of fishing. It was believed that he was eligible for the reward of $100 posted by Gruninger’s father, Frank Gruninger, also of Warren, following his son’s disappearance the past fall.

The Lakewood Fire Department’s motor-driven rescue boat would be unceremoniously launched this night off the Lakewood shore. The little craft had been completely overhauled preparatory to its second season of safeguarding lives on Chautauqua Lake, having recently received a complimentary license No. 888, which, incidentally were the identical numbers which were used by the public to call out the rescue boat from the Chautauqua Lake Navigation Commission. The boat had received a coating of white paint and had been trimmed in red with the license numbers in red letters on the bow and a red cross, symbolizing first aid, on the stern.

In 1965, state forest rangers and Steamburg volunteer firemen battled a forest fire for five hours before it was brought under control the previous day. The fire was discovered at about 2:30 p.m. Firemen fought the blaze until 7:30 p.m. They were assisted by nearby construction workers from the Kinzua Dam. They used their bulldozers to help combat the fire. District Forest Ranger Harold Madison, Falconer, said the flames spread across 25 to 30 acres, damaging most of the second growth trees in that area. Ranger Madison said “we were lucky, there was little wind, or else the fire might have spread into nearby Allegany State Park wood land.”

One of 11 Jamestown area beauties would be crowned “Miss Jamestown” in ceremonies this night in the Merton P. Corwin auditorium at Jamestown High School. Contending for the “Miss Jamestown” title were Maryanne Verleni, Virginia Bell, Wendy Anderson, Iris Fowler, Betty Jo Roselle, Genevieve Guido, Carol Kellogg, Linda Horton, Marie LaMarca, Janelle Hoff and Terry Emanuelson. The Jaycees had announced prizes valued at more than $1,400 would be awarded to finalists in the pageant.

In 1990, snuggling under warm blankets to ward off the cold and rain at Saturday’s invitational high school track meet at Panama Central School were Gale, Gavin and Mary Jan Svenson. Unseasonably cool weather made it necessary to don heavy jackets and shirts but since the temperature was expected to soar to 80 degrees by mid week, spring clothes shouldn’t remain tucked away very long.

Rough waters on Lake Erie caused two boats to capsize and resulted in the drowning deaths of two men, authorities said. Donald Roble, 54, of Washington County, Pa., died after he and his 16-year-old son, Charlie Brooks, were swept into the lake when their 14-foot boat tipped over. The boy was able to swim to shore and survived. The other man who drowned was volunteer firefighter Mark Wunch, 32, of Erie, Pa., who was one of five rescuers aboard a Pennsylvania Fish Commission boat that capsized while trying to reach the overturned craft. The other four rescuers reached shore unharmed.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, a team of horses hitched to a milk wagon, belonging to Nicholas Norby, who lived on the South Main Street, ran away on Prospect Street in Jamestown about 10 in the morning and caused no little flurry in that neighborhood. They wound up by colliding with one of the stone piers in front of the factory of the American Aristotype Company with sufficient force as to knock the pier over. One of the horses was badly bruised in the collision. Mr. Norby had left the horses standing in the road while he was pouring some milk from one can to another. As he went to climb back into the wagon, the horses started down the hill. He grabbed the reins but succeeded in securing only one. He failed to stop the horses with only half the tiller.

William J. McNamara, son of James McNamara, who had the contract for excavating for the new Essex Glass plant in Dunkirk, was kicked by a horse shortly before noon the previous day and seriously injured. He was struck by both of the animal’s rear feet, one striking his jaw and breaking his jawbone and the other landing on his chest. Just how serious the injuries were was not yet determined. Mr. McNamara was at work with a team excavating at the glass factory grounds when the team, both young animals, started to run. Mr. McNamara had hold of the reins when one of the horses let its heels fly, striking and knocking him down. He was picked up and carried to his home on West Third Street in an automobile where Dr. Joseph Rieger attended him.

In 1940, meeting in special session this day with Chairman Paul L. Vittur presiding, the executive committee of the Chautauqua County American Red Cross decided to open its War Relief Fund campaign with the receipt of voluntary contributions by Treasurer Brewer D. Phillips at the Bank of Jamestown. The chapter’s quota of the national $10,000,000 goal was $7,000, according to Chairman Vittur, who asked fraternal, church, civic and industrial organizations interested in the movement to send in their group contributions. General Charles Bailey, vice chairman of the chapter, stressed the need of prompt response on the part of the public. He stressed the seriousness of the situation abroad.

Returning home late Saturday night, the group of 18 Jamestown and Lakewood school boy traffic patrol members completed a two-day trip to Washington D.C. for the annual School Boy Patrol conference held Friday and Saturday, featured by a personal interview with J. Edgar Hoover, head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The visit with the head G-Man came as a surprise to the local delegation which was the only group from the 18,000 patrol members and chaperones who talked with him.

In 1965, Omar Crowell, 74, and his wife, Zilpha, 72, of Corry, Pa., well known area couple, were found dead in a resort cabin in the mountains of central California. Mr. and Mrs. Crowell were retired and visiting relatives in Arizona and California. They had rented a resort cabin in the Wilsonia area of King’s Canyon National Park where the bodies were found by the manager of the cabin park. Tulare County, Calif., authorities stated the cause of death was probably gas escaping from a heating stove.

Evidence of a growing controversy over the sale of property near Allen Park would be highlighted at a City Council meeting on May 17 when opposing recommendations would be presented by two council committees. The parks committee approved a recommendation to forestall the sale of five lots on East Virginia boulevard and Hughes Street and to make the property into a buffer zone between an Allen Park ball field and any future residential area. The lots in question were directly across the street from the park. City Council’s tax sale committee recommended the sale of the lots to Jamestown Construction Co., Inc. The building firm planned to erect homes on the lots, initially a residential development, which might number as many as 200 new dwellings.

Community

In Years Past

• In 1915, Alfred S. Vanderbilt’s secretary, Mr. Ware, arrived in Queenstown, Ireland, and had made a complete but vain search of all the morgues. He had seen everybody possible from the head of the admiralty to the Cunard officials and was finally convinced that there was no longer any hope for Mr. Vanderbilt. Captain Turner, the Lusitania commander, told him that Mr. Vanderbilt was in his cabin following his usual custom after lunch. There was a second explosion, Captain turner said, and it occurred directly beneath Mr. Vanderbilt’s cabin. He was not sure whether or not the second explosion was caused by a torpedo. Mr. Ware had told the officials that he was instructed by the Vanderbilt family to attempt to recover any and all bodies still found. They were anxious that everything should be done.

• Sunday morning while the church bells were calling the faithful to worship in Warren, ten young men, residents of the West End, decided that they would forego their churchly duties and engage in a game of “stud poker” instead. Underneath the piles of lumber in the yard of the Wetmore Lumber Company made an ideal place to pursue this pastime and soon the game was under way. Some of the residents of the neighborhood noticed the crowd making its way into the lumber yard and suspected that something was “doing.” They notified the police. Chief Hagg and Officers Olson, Willy and Wholeben went to the scene and surprised the devotees of this pastime and took them all into custody.

• In 1940, with public sentiment overwhelmingly against American entrance into the war, it was almost certain that both political parties would take a vigorous stand to keep the country at peace. On this issue there was likely to be little debate or controversy. The real issue, which was almost certain to be debated in the coming presidential campaign was the extent to which the United States could or should help England and France short of going to war herself. Many GOP leaders were trying to assess isolationist sentiment in their party and in the country.

• The 174th infantry, New York National Guard, of which Company E of Jamestown was a unit, was under orders to proceed to Rensselaer Falls, a small village in St. Lawrence County near Ogdensburg, August 4, for three weeks of field training in connection with the maneuvers of the First army, made up of regular army and National Guard troops in the eastern part of the country. The maneuvers would cover a large section of territory in northern New York and would simulate actual war conditions as nearly as possible.

• In 1965, hundreds of local residents over a wide area were mystified about 10:50 a.m. this day when buildings trembled and vibrations were felt from an unexplained source. Airport officials in Jamestown and in Cleveland, Ohio, said the “boom” could have been caused by a jet plane breaking the sound barrier but added they had no way of confirming this. A spokesman at Jamestown Municipal Airport said he called Cleveland to check on the possibility of a plane causing a “sonic boom” but they had no information. However, they did report that many jet aircraft were operating in corridors over the Jamestown area.

• All motor vehicles in New York State would undergo annual inspections under a measure approved by the Senate, 41-14, and sent to the Assembly. Currently, only vehicles over four years old had to be inspected. Prior to Monday’s action, the Senate had passed a measure to require safety inspection of all new vehicles before they may be sold in the state. That bill, too, was pending in the Assembly.

• In 1990, a radically different, apparently unbreakable computer security system created by a 22-year-old Jamestown Community College graduate might provide jobs and a shot in the arm for the area’s economy, said JCC President Paul Benke. The business was based upon a major breakthrough in computer access coding developed by Michael C. Wood of Jamestown, Benke announced during a morning press conference. While several governments and major universities around the world were still racing to develop an unbreakable computer access code, Wood had created what experts believed might be the real thing.

• Motorists would be hit with hefty new taxes to help finance a new $50 billion state budget, which legislative leaders said might not be in place until the following week. That would give New York its tardiest state budget ever. Legislative leaders decided to sock motorists with new taxes to replace “obnoxious” plans to broaden the sales tax to New York’s growing service industries. The new taxes would hit truckers, automobile renters and people at the gas pump.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, Jamestown’s second furniture exposition opened this day with encouraging prospects. It would continue until May 29. Buyers were here from various big cities, particularly New York. They were hopeful for the future. They believed there was going to be a larger demand for furniture than ever before and thanks to the activity of the Jamestown furniture manufacturers in holding an exposition for the proper display of furniture, they were unquestionably going to make more extensive purchase of Jamestown furniture than they had ever made before.

Beginning about noon, Journal office telephones were kept busy for two hours by persons calling in to have verified a strange and startling report which seemed to spread as if by magic over the city that President Wilson had been shot. There was no foundation of any kind for the rumor. A rumor explanatory of the rumor but equally unverified, was that there was some stock wire report to this effect. No one could be found who saw or heard such a stock wire report. Another possible explanation was the headline in a morning paper which said “Attempt Life of President.” This was a story about some attempt to assassinate the president of Mexico and was entirely unimportant.

In 1940, election of a successor to Dr. Frank P. Graves, New York state education commissioner, was expected within six weeks but his identity, if a choice had been made, remained a board of regents secret despite mention of numerous prominent educators. Dr. Graves reached the customary retirement age of 70 years the past July 23. The regents asked him, however, to remain until the following July 1, while a six-member committee combed the educational field for a man to replace him.

Jacob H. Swartzfager, 71, of Sheffield, former employee of the Central Pennsylvania Lumber Company, retired on a pension a year ago, was instantly killed under the wheels of a car attached to the factory switch engine. It was believed he became confused when his hat started to blow off while he was standing near the rails in the yards as the train passed by. It appeared that Swartzfager was crossing the tracks from his home to a garden to pluck some flowers when he met his death. Charles Mauk, fireman on the train, said he saw the aged man leaning on his cane, tottering. Suddenly he made a grab for his hat and Mauk turned to the engineer, Charles Snyder, and called for him to stop the train.

In 1965, Dr. William N. Fenton, considered one of the best authorities on the Iroquois Indians, would speak at the second annual meeting of the Fenton Historical Society of Jamestown, Wednesday evening, May 19, in the Fenton Mansion. The meeting would be open to the public. Dr. Fenton, the assistant commissioner for the State Museum and Science Service of the NYS Education Dept. was a member of the executive board of the American Anthropological Association.

A NYS Dept. of Commerce official warned that only communities which protected and improved their water resources would grow and prosper. Thompson Pyle, manager of the Buffalo Regional Office, spoke on the economic aspects during a Clean Water Institute. The all-day seminar, held in the Hotel Jamestown, was sponsored by the Jamestown Jaycees. “One does not need a crystal ball,” Mr. Pyle said, “To predict that the communities which protect and improve their water resources will be the communities which will grow and prosper.”

In 1990, proposed changes to the park ordinance were presented to the Carroll Town Board by council member Jerry Johnson. It was requested of the town attorney , Paul Webb, to draft and insert into the ordinance, in regard to groups using the park, to show a certificate of insurance in special cases such as horse shows or other activities in which insurance coverage could not be maintained by the township.

Opponents of the Galleria of Chautauqua mall at Fluvanna were calling a trade magazine advertisement about the proposed mall inappropriate, saying the ad could lead people to believe the mall had been approved and was ready to be built. Attorney Mark Bargar, a spokesman, representing the Chautauqua Concerned Citizens non-profit corporation, said the advertisement was inappropriate because the project review was far from over. The advertisement appeared in the May issue of Shopping Centers Today.

Community

In Years Past

• In 1915, A. A. Walker, a contracting painter and decorator, who had been a resident of Jamestown for 36 years, died suddenly at his home on West Eighth Street at 11:30 o’clock Friday evening. He had apparently been in his usual health all day and ate supper as usual. About 10:30 o’clock, however, he complained of sharp pains and died an hour later. Acute indigestion was the cause of death. Mr. Walker’s age was 63 years. For several years he had conducted a paint shop at Main and First streets and did a general contract business in painting and decorating.

Miss Ida M. Tarbell, the well-known magazine writer, was to pay a visit to Jamestown in the course of the next few weeks, coming here for the purpose of inspecting the plants of the Art Metal Construction Company in order to gain material for her series of articles on The Golden Rule and Business, now running in the American magazine. She would pay particular attention to the methods of educating the employees along the lines of greater efficiency which had been adopted by the Art Metal Management. She was expected to remain here several days. During her stay, she would address the Jamestown Board of Commerce and this would be an event in which the entire membership of the new organization would doubtless take great interest.

In 1940, state police captured two escaped prisoners from the Little Valley jail in the Cattaraugus County community of Humphrey the previous day. The pair, Fred Smith, 20, and Rudolph Jablowski, 22, both of Olean, surrendered after Troopers of the Allegany substation apprehended them near the Pennsylvania railroad tracks between Ischua and Hinsdale in the town of Olean about 30 miles from the jail they had fled. Sheriff Morgan L. Siegel assisted in the capture. A longer term of confinement than the one they originally were sentenced was given them. Police also accused the pair of entering the home of Ralph Keir at Humphrey Center and stealing a quantity of clothing to replace their prison garb.

A gleaming silver Wheel of Fashion whirled for 426 women guests in the ballroom of the Hotel Jamestown at the annual bridge luncheon and spring fashion promenade of the Creche. The proceeds would go toward the upkeep of the Creche children’s ward at the WCA Hospital. The affair, always a gala occasion of the spring, was honored by the presence of a distinguished Creche member, Mrs. Robert H. Jackson, now of Washington D.C., wife of the attorney general, who remained over after sharing the tribute paid him at the testimonial dinner the night before. She was favored with a corsage bouquet by the Creche. The mannequins paraded from the stage along a central runway out into the ballroom, artistically appointed in a lane of scarlet geraniums loaned by the Heelas Flower Shop.

In 1990, the civil disobedience that had frustrated efforts to inspect potential sites for radioactive waste dumps in Allegany and Cortland counties could spring up in West Valley as well, residents said. Carol Mongerson, a leader of the Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes, said the state Low Level Radioactive Waste Siting Commission was wrong if it thought it would find less opposition at West Valley where residents had lived in the shadow of nuclear waste for years.

Changes in middle-level education at Westfield Academy and Central School were recommended at Monday’s school board meeting. Among the topics discussed was the possibility of drafting a resolution to the state Board of Education that Westfield middle school be granted experimental status. The plan would eliminate sixth-grade graduation and replace it with an eighth-grade graduation ceremony, beginning June 1992. Also, it would alter the time schedule of classes for students in grades 6-8 to 35 minutes, allowing them an extra period when they could take band and chorus. This would help students take required or extracurricular activities without having to arrive early or stay late in order to participate.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, overshadowing all other events of the European war was the appalling sea tragedy reported briefly the previous afternoon and greatly amplified this day. The liner Lusitania was torpedoed off the Irish coast and went down in a few minutes after she was struck. Approximately 1,364 persons lost their lives. The exact number could not, as yet, be determined but the rescue boats so far as known had reported and there was that number of the passenger list missing. There were 703 known survivors. Among those who had not been heard from was Elbert Hubbard and his wife of East Aurora. Official Washington was shocked and appalled at the catastrophe. High officials did not try to conceal the fact that this was the greatest international complication that President Wilson had faced since the outbreak of the European war.

The enthusiasm and pride with which the announcement of plans for a Chautauqua free library was made had but one tempering element of humility – the admission that Chautauqua had been so long without a library. For forty years Chautauqua’s influence had been second to none in creating a love for books, for the encouragement and the building of libraries everywhere, public and private. Yet an unusual combination of circumstances had resulted in making Chautauqua’s own free library a late comer. At last a very definite beginning was at hand.

In 1940, fire about 5 o’clock daylight savings time on this morning destroyed the big dairy barn owned by Herman Johnson and located on the Wellman Road halfway between Ashville and Sugar Grove. Three yearling cows and one calf died in the blaze. The dairy herd of about 15 cows was unharmed. The fire was discovered by a neighbor, Gust Larson, who lived directly across the road from the Johnson house. He was awakened by what he thought was a heavy rain storm. Arising to close windows, he discovered that the noise he heard was the crackling of flames in the Johnson barn. He immediately spread the alarm and roused the neighborhood. The origin of the fire was not known.

Jamestown’s most distinguished citizen, United States Attorney General Robert H. Jackson, received the homage of his hometown Tuesday night when more than 800 persons gathered at a non-partisan testimonial dinner held in the crystal ballroom of the Hotel Jamestown. Tributes to Bob Jackson were spoken by his friends and neighbors from many walks of life in a program that sparkled with wit and humor as brilliantly as it shone with the sincerity of the community’s great affection and pride in its first member of a cabinet of the President of the United States.

In 1965, little Thomas Feeney of Buffalo was safe this day because iron worker Norman Jamieson made a perfect catch. Jamieson’s catch was 16-month-old Thomas, who fell Friday night from a third-floor window. He had been spotted hanging by his fingertips from the window sill. A neighbor yelled to Jamieson, who sprinted across the street and arrived under the window just as Thomas lost his grip. Jamieson, 41, snatched the boy to safety inches above a cement sidewalk. The boy was one of six children of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Feeney. Mrs. Feeney said Thomas had the measles so she left him in a bedroom of their third floor apartment. Jamieson, an employee at the Bethlehem Steel Corp. plant, kept calm during the crisis. “Then I got a little shaky,” he said.

In saluting its beloved Mrs. Casper T. Jones as its Mother of the Year and of All Years, The Post-Journal paid tribute to the mothers of the community who were confined to hospitals and nursing homes or were being cared for in their own homes. There were many of these mothers, once busy at their household duties, caring for their loved ones and taking active part in church and community affairs, but they were physically unable to do these things any longer. They were the mothers whom The Post-Journal especially saluted this day on the eve of Mother’s Day.

In 1990, the weight of the second-longest budget delay in state history seemed to be forcing a new budget out of Albany’s political pipeline in drips. The state Senate gave final approval to a budget bill to fund state agency operations and also pay state employees for the rest of the fiscal year. The Senate passed the bill after Gov. Mario Cuomo refused to approve any more emergency spending measures. This day was the 38th day of the new fiscal year without a budget.

A proposal to include West Valley as a possible site for a low-level radioactive waste dump was a desperate move on the part of a state panel searching for a place to put the unpopular dump, opponents said. “They’re grasping for straws. They’re really scrambling,” Cindy Monaco of Cortland County, said of the state Low Level Radioactive Waste Siting Commission. The Legislature would have to approve the West Valley addition, since state law already prohibited the dump from being there.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, by far the most startling news in the day’s dispatches from Europe was the confirmed report from an agent in England that the Cunard liner Lusitania had been torpedoed off the Irish coast. German submarines had sunk several small boats which were found within the blockade limit prescribed by the Germans but the swift passenger liners had been regarded as able to elude the submarines because of their superior speed. They had run on their usual schedules and had escaped damage. The New York office of the Cunard line announced this afternoon that the Lusitania had been sunk. Brief dispatches received indicated that the passengers were saved.

Few citizens of Jamestown had been interred with more fitting honors than those accorded Judge Abner Hazeltine by his associates in the Jamestown Bar Association and the Jamestown Masonic fraternities and his many friends and neighbors. The funeral took place the previous afternoon from the home at 7 Allen Street and the home was completely filled with friends and neighbors. A number of the organizations of which he was a member attended in a body. There were also many friends and associates that took the last opportunity to view the familiar features as the body lay in state from the hours of 1 to 2 o’clock.

In 1940, the executive committee of the Jamestown Retail Merchants Association, division of the Chamber of Commerce, adopted a resolution favoring the installation of penny parking meters and requested city council to give them a trial period of at least six months in the traffic congested downtown district. It was pointed out that the installation of the parking meters involved no expense to the city, the purchase of them being arranged on a revenue basis. They would be installed by the company whose meters were selected. Samples of the various types were on display at the Chamber of Commerce.

West Sixth Street in Jamestown would be repaved with brick from Washington Street to Murray Avenue and with Type 3 bituminous base and a Colprovia surface from Murray Avenue to Fairmount Avenue, according to a resolution adopted by City Council. The determination to use brick over most of the stretch to be repaved was reached by the director of public works and members of the highway committee because of the need on that street for the most durable type of surface obtainable. West Sixth Street had borne a tremendous flow of traffic since completion of the West Sixth Street bridge.

• In 1965, Hugo Lindgren, president of Jamestown Metal Products, Inc. and Lloyd A. Dixon Jr., president of the AVM Corp. announced that the AVM Corporation had acquired the manufacturing assets of Jamestown Metal Products, Inc., located at 178 Blackstone Avenue. Founded in 1943 by Mr. Lindgren at a time when the nation was locked in World War II, Jamestown Metal Products had grown from a small company of half a dozen men to its present standing of 100 employees. Its principal products, metal kitchen cabinets and stainless steel sinks, were largely responsible for its steady growth. Custom-built Jamestown Kitchens, synonymous with beauty and efficiency, had became famous symbols of prestige with housewives throughout the United States.

A set of 160 color slides of Jamestown with accompanying narration had been sent to Jamestown’s sister city, Jakobstad, Finland, by the Foreign Study Group, Jamestown Chapter of the American Association of University Women. This had been a two year project and gave a most complete story of Jamestown, its homes, schools churches, hospitals, industries, recreation areas and holiday celebrations. Some of the slides had been duplicated to be included with others taken by Miss Rosella Agostine to be sent by the committee to Jamestown’s second sister city, Cantu, Italy.

In 1990, Jamestown Fire Department personnel surveyed the scene after a car fell nose-first into a 15-to-20 foot sink hole at 1:12 a.m. Saturday in the area of 211 to 217 W. Second Street near the old train station. City police said the owner of the car, Shannon D. Roberts, 22, of Terry Road, Sinclairville, had just parked in the private parking area and was 10 feet away when it started to sink. Officers said “no parking” signs were posted throughout the area. The property was owned by King’s Windows of Jamestown.

Without a recycling contract between Chautauqua County and various recyclers, what was happening to all the newspapers, cardboard, glass bottles and metal cans collected by municipalities? Newspapers were being taken to Rebecca and David Smith in Sugar Grove. The Smiths turned the newspaper into livestock bedding and were accepting newspaper at no charge, County Executive Andrew Goodell said. Cardboard had been going to Phoenix Recycling in Lancaster and cans had been sent to O’Brocta’s in Dunkirk. There were several markets being considered for glass, Goodell said.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, the inquest held in Olean by Coroner Cassar Smith into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Harry Wakeman, Helen Donahue and Margaret Donnelly, who were drowned April 18, developed the fact that the bridge on which the accident occurred was a private one, owned probably by the New York Transit Co. and that the signs which warned persons from using it had been shot away several years ago. There was also no fence preventing persons from reaching the bridge. Louis Van Houten, the only one of the party of four who escaped death, testified that just before the bridge went down, three little girls, who were at one end of the bridge, had been shaking the wires and that Wakeman had told them to stop it.

The various schools of the city of Jamestown had made plans to observe Arbor Day in an appropriate manner. The grammar and district schools would celebrate the day in the usual manner with special programs either in the morning or the afternoon and several of the primary grades would take short walks if the weather permitted. The pupils of the High School, including the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior classes, were planning a big clearing bee at the Hundred Acre lot during the afternoon. The high school would close at the usual time at noon and at 2 o’clock the boys would mobilize at the grounds prepared to spend the afternoon in clearing up the brush and dead branches of the school park.

In 1940, sixteen boys from Jamestown and two from Lakewood were among the 16,000 schoolboy traffic patrolmen due to arrive in Washington Friday, May 10, from all parts of the country to participate in the ninth annual School Traffic Patrol assembly, the American Automobile Association announced. Main feature of the two-day gathering would be a parade Saturday, May 11, at which there would be a band contest, a drill contest and a contest for slogans and floats. Proceeding up Constitution Avenue, the parade would be led by boys from all parts of the country who had won A.A.A. honor medals during the past year for performing some outstanding act of bravery or service in connection with their patrol work. Senators, congressmen and government officials would be present in the reviewing stand to cheer the boys who guarded their school fellows at street crossings and who, as a group, had been responsible for reducing traffic fatalities by 13 percent during the past five years for the five to 14 age group.

The grave danger of “mass thinking for the youth” of the world was stressed by Earle Champ, general secretary of the YMCA in an address before the Rotary Club at the weekly lunch meeting at the Hotel Jamestown. Mr. Champ discussed the problems of youth between the ages of 18 and 25. He said that without intending to suggest that the operations of any of the agencies of the movies, radio, magazines and newspapers were necessarily improper, he did cite them as agencies for tremendous influence on youth and that every care should be exercised to avoid mass thinking.

In 1965, about 250 persons heard a progress report on Cockaigne, the new recreation center being developed near Sinclairville, at a public meeting held the past night at the Hotel Jamestown. N. C. Barnes, president of Cockaigne, Inc., conducted a color slide presentation which illustrated the accomplishments and plans of the company. He explained the capital structure of the company and showed the master plan for land utility of the 2,080 acres owned by the developers. He explained that 10 million people resided within a 3 1/2 hour drive from Cockaigne.

The James Prendergast Free Library would participate in a unique exchange program on Wednesday, when Bradley Kelly would be in Jamestown to present the library with copies of two books by Mark Twain, written in the Russian language, to be placed in the James Prendergast Free Library’s collection. He would also give the library a book of Twain’s work written in English to be presented to the Lenin Library in Moscow. The exchange was called the Mark Twain Plan for the Exchange of Books and Goodwill between American Libraries and the Lenin Library in Moscow. The plan was originated by Mr. Kelly, vice president of King Features Syndicate, New York City. The James Prendergast Free Library was made a part of the plan through the efforts of Miles L. Lasser, president of the Board of Trustees of the library.

Community

In Years Past

• In 1915, Manager Hinman of the Lyric Theater in Jamestown announced one of the best shows of the season for the last half of this week. He had secured for the headline attraction Mark Lea and his Topsy Turvey Girls. Mark Lea was a popular Hebrew comedian. He was generally regarded as great as Joe Welch in his line of acting. He would appear with the Topsy Turvey Girls in a laughing musical sketch entitled A Good Night’s Rest.

• The mysteries of the carnival at East Jamestown, which the New York Amusement Company was scheduled to give in this week under the auspices of Ellicott Lodge I.O.O.F., still remained mysteries. On account of the disagreeable weather of Tuesday evening, the managers of the various attractions again decided not to open their shows. One of the attractions, however, opened and gave a performance and one of the booths did a good business as a small crowd gathered at the grounds. The Ferris Wheel, however, one of the main attractions, had not yet arrived.

• In 1940, Midway Park, near Maple Springs on Chautauqua Lake was undergoing a complete “face lifting” preparatory to the official opening Memorial Day, May 30. The park skating rink would open about the middle of the month. A large dining area had been built at the park overlooking the lake to accommodate parties, banquets, etc. and picnic bookings were the best so far in many years. Larger accommodations for free parking would be available in addition to many new picnic tables and beach improvements.

• Marshall Rossman, alias Paul Beers, 19, of Franklin, Pa., was arrested at Rochester early in the week on charges of stealing $40 worth of gold from a dentist’s office in that city. He was also wanted for a similar offense here in Jamestown, according to a statement by Chief of Police G. Harry Nelson. A warrant charging Rossman with third degree burglary and petit larceny had been issued in connection with the alleged theft of about $25 worth of gold from the office of Dr. M. J. Beal, 2 East Fourth Street on April 18. Rossman had been identified by several persons as a “salesman” who visited Dr. Beal’s office.

• In 1965, Falconer Central School Board of Education voted to increase the starting salary of a beginning teacher with a bachelor’s degree from $5,000 to $5,200 and to make adjustments in the teacher salary schedule. The board also approved the final working drawings for the South Side and C. E. Smith Schools. The plans would be sent to Albany for final state approval.

• At Trenton, NJ, race car driver Roger McCluskey was sitting in a bathtub of fuel and smoking a cigarette. His job: test pilot. His machine: the revolutionary Lotus Ford, a $45,000 race car that looked like a coffin with the corners rounded. The engine was in the rear; the rest of the car was a gasoline tank into which a human being was strapped and drove at 150 mph three inches from the ground. Bobby Marshman perished in the explosion of one last year. Jim Clark and Walt Hansgen hit walls but escaped death in two others. “So?” mumbled McCluskey. “More people die each year in football accidents than auto racing.” He flicked an ash and irreverently slapped the side of the Lotus. “I’m as safe in this as if I were driving on a public highway. Probably safer. Sure, I know it’s dangerous. I also know I could check out at any time. But you don’t worry about it. If you do, it’s time to quit.”

• In 1990, Sen. Jess J. Present had joined other local legislators in opposing the nearly $2 billion state environmental bond issue. Present, R-Bemus Point, was one of only seven state senators to oppose putting the bond issue on the November ballot. The senator said it was hard to judge whether the issue would pass in November. Bond issues frequently got enough votes in New York City to overwhelm strong “no” votes elsewhere in the state. Present said there were some good causes in the bond issue. He cited the state’s fiscal problems this year and the state’s long term debt in opposing the bond. “Here we are trying to reduce expenditures,” he said, “and the state hasn’t been successful.”

• Despite reports to the contrary, it was business as usual at Sanitary Waste Cloth Co., 313 Steele Street in Jamestown, spokeswoman Jay Cassel told The Post-Journal. “Everything is fine. It’s going great,” Ms. Cassel said. She denied the company would be closing and called such reports unfounded rumors.

Community

In Years Past

• In 1915, on account of the rain, the carnival of the New York Amusement Company, which was scheduled to open a week’s engagement under the auspices of Ellicott lodge I.O.O.F. at East Jamestown, did not show on Monday evening. A small crowd gathered at the grounds in spite of the rain but none of the attractions were opened. The carnival was composed of eight attractions of the usual carnival variety. The principal attraction was a wild west show and Indian village combined. The show carried with it a complement of about 20 persons. A merry-go-round of the bobbing horse variety and a “lovers’ tub” were also included in the attractions.

A special meeting of the Jamestown board of health was held Monday evening to take up the matter of constructing an isolation hospital for smallpox on the site of the Jones General Hospital. The board had planned to proceed with the work immediately but Corporation Counsel Cheston A. Price advised that under the provisions of the city charter it would be necessary to advertise for bids unless, in the opinion of three-fourths of the members of the board, it was not expedient to delay that long, in which event, the board could order the board of estimate and review to proceed with the work at once.

In 1940, Andy Anderson, Falconer High School, captured the annual Chautauqua County American Legion oratorical contest at Chautauqua High School Thursday night giving the local school the fourth gold cup in six years of competition. Anderson also won a gold medal. He also won the Falconer contest and would be presented with a medal for that achievement during graduation exercises in June. His subject Thursday night was The Citizen, His Rights and Privileges Under the Constitution.

The Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Daily News gave an account of the wedding this day of Lieutenant Hugh P. Bedient, United States Army Air Corps, son of Hugh Bedient of Levant, famous big league baseball pitcher of a quarter of a century ago. “Miss Jimmy Lee Malone, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Malone, was married to Lieutenant Hugh P. Bedient of the United States Air Corps, at Croissant Park Christian Church. The bride wore a dark blue suit with a corsage of white orchids and lilies of the valley. Mr. and Mrs. Bedient would live in Jamestown, N.Y. Young Bedient played baseball in college and semi-professional ball during vacations but aviation proved more attractive.”

In 1965, a Buffalo nurse who had offered assistance to another driver following an accident, was injured when her car was struck by the driver she was attempting to aid, as she was re-entering it. Dora Pegelow of Buffalo was taken to Westfield Memorial Hospital and transferred to Buffalo. She suffered internal injuries. Brocton Police Chief Russell Barone said Henry Smith, 75, of Brocton, was driving north on Route 380 when his car hit the side of the railroad under pass in Brocton. Smith’s car was partially blocking the highway and he was slumped over the wheel when the Buffalo woman came on the scene and offered assistance. Smith refused and as Miss Pegelow was getting into her car, Smith started up his car, hit her vehicle and continued on without stopping. He was apprehended a short distance from the scene.

The opening of the Lakewood beach recreational facilities on Friday, June 26, was determined at the past night’s village board meeting. The beach season would conclude on Sept. 4. Harold “Doss” Johnson, recreational director, was authorized to purchase two new tennis court nets for the beach area; to repair the tennis court backstop fence and to have a used overhead door installed in the beach house.

In 1990, Jamestown’s sanitation service would cost the city more than city officials expected until Chautauqua County officials established a place to take recyclable material. The issue arose when Jamestown garbage trucks were turned away from the Chautauqua County Recycling center in Frewsburg the previous day. The center was a division of Archie Nichols Inc. Nichols closed the center because of a contract dispute with County Executive Andrew Goodell, said Cinnamon Becker, office manager at the center.

Depending on what police reports determined about Wednesday’s fatal accident on the New York State Thruway, two construction workers could face criminal charges stemming from the wreck. Two employees of ABC Paving – Buffalo-based state police did not release their names – were charged with reckless driving and could face criminal charges before a Chautauqua County grand jury if warranted by the accident investigation, District Attorney John Ward said. The accident claimed the life of Leonard Glunt, 49, of Akron, Ohio, who was pinned in his truck cab when it burst into flames.

Community

In Years Past

• In 1915, one of the most important real estate transactions in Jamestown in recent years was consummated on this morning. The business block at the northeast corner of Main and Third streets was sold by the owner, Horatio N. Sprague, to Fred E. Armitage and William J. Lausterer, through the agency of A. J. Butts & Sons. The consideration was private. The block was a three-story brick structure, located in the very heart of the business section of the city and was one of the most valuable pieces of property in Jamestown. There were two stores on the first floor, occupied by Frank Marvin Clark, druggist, and the Aldrich Art and China Company. The Elks lodge occupied a portion of the second and all of the third floor.

Harvey Sweeney, an employee of the Lake View Rose Gardens was seriously and possibly fatally burned about the arms, legs, face and body early in the afternoon when a steam pipe near which he was working exploded. Dr. Loffredo was hurriedly summoned and after a brief examination, ordered the man to be taken to the WCA Hospital. A report from the hospital shortly before 3 o’clock was to the effect that although he was suffering great pain there was a fair change of his recovery. It was understood that he had been working directly in front of the pipe when it exploded. Mr. Sweeney lived in Jamestown and was 38 years of age.

In 1940, arrested in possession of a car owned by a local used car dealer, a Sugar Grove youth failed to produce an operator’s license and was given 24 hours to prove he was licensed to drive when arraigned before Acting Judge Charles H. Wiborg in traffic court at Jamestown. The lad’s arrest resulted in a statement from Chief of Police G. Harry Nelson, blasting the carelessness of automobile dealers who permitted youths to take cars from their establishments without first ascertaining that their prospective “customers” were legally entitled to drive. “The practice has become a common one and is setting an extremely dangerous precedent,” according to the Chief.

Reservations for the non-partisan testimonial dinner to honor Attorney General Robert H. Jackson Tuesday night at the Hotel Jamestown had been made in large numbers according to Postmaster E. R. Ganey, chairman of the ticket committee. The Hotel Jamestown was already setting up tables for the affair and was using every device to take care of as large a crowd as possible, according to Mr. Ganey. Only about 100 places were still available but arrangements were being made that in the event there was an overflow crowd, all might be seated in the ballroom for the program of addresses.

In 1965, a half-dozen Pennsylvanians were arrested over the past weekend in Westfield’s campaign against problems caused by teenagers crossing the state line to take advantage of the 18-year-old age limit for drinking in New York state. The legal age in Pennsylvania was 21. Roadblocks set up the previous weekend and operated jointly by state and village police resulted in some 20 arrests. Most of the arrests were on charges of minor traffic violations, such as improper equipment and unsafe tires.

Sun-seekers by the thousands moved over Chautauqua County highways as the mercury hit 80 degrees the previous day. It was the warmest day here since the past October and hopefully marked an end to persistent un-springlike chilly weather. The lake areas, public parks and golf courses were jammed with thousands of residents taking advantage of the first 80 degrees weather in months. An intense electrical storm accompanied by a combination of rain and hail struck scattered sections of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties Saturday night. Hailstones as large as golf balls were reported in some areas including Falconer, Jamestown and Lakewood.

In 1990, a fiery crash on the New York State Thruway the previous afternoon that killed an Ohio man sent nearly a dozen people to Westfield Memorial Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. The accident occurred about five miles east of Westfield in the westbound lanes of Interstate 90, a state police spokesman said. Troopers said a double-trailer truck loaded with pesticides plowed into a car and a flatbed truck carrying a load of steel. The accident occurred when the car and flatbed truck slowed for a construction site on the Thruway. The driver of the double trailer rig, Leonard Glunt, 49, of Akron, Ohio, was killed when his truck burst into flames. The rig was owned by Roadway Express.

The Westfield Town Board met with concerned residents about the proposed Dunkirk Containerboard project at an informational session held during Wednesday’s Town Board meeting. Some residents, concerned that the cardboard recycling operation posed environmental and health risks, had banded together to try to persuade town officials not to permit the $240 million containerboard plant to locate in Westfield.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, William H. Frost and sons of Fredonia, who owned gas and oil property near Duhring, Pennsylvania, were notified by wire that a forest fire near that place was threatening some of their property, including oil tanks, derricks and pipe lines. As soon as possible after receiving the message, W. H. Frost, Raymond Frost and Charles J. Berg of the Frost Gas Company, left in an automobile for the scene of the trouble. The extremely dry spring had resulted in many dangerous forest fires all through Pennsylvania.

“General Welch, would you have given permission to the Pierce-Arrow Automobile Company to store trucks in the basement of the armory had you known the machines were to be used by a European nation at war in face of the neutrality of this country?” This question was asked of Brig. Gen. Welch by Supervisor Fiore when General Welch and Col. C. E. P. Babcock appeared before the military committee of the supervisors in Buffalo, which was investigating the matter. “I don’t propose to answer such a question,” was the reply made by General Welch. “All I care to say is that we were justified in permitting the Pierce Company to store its trucks there. The military law of the state permits this. Any other company could do the same thing.” General Welch and Colonel Babcock stated they were ignorant of the destination of the trucks, although they had subsequently heard the machines were intended for Russia. The only action taken by the committee was to draw up a resolution asking that something be done to stop the practice of permitting military authorities renting public buildings for storage purposes.

In 1940, some Texas boys and a professional strong man started scheming up a plan to kidnap Adolf Hitler while a college dean branded as “warmongering” the million dollar reward offer for the Nazi Feuhrer. Unidentified Pittsburghers, through President Samuel Harden, Church of the Carnegie Institute, offered the cash to anyone who would deliver Hitler to the League of Nations, unharmed, by May 31. The Texas boys telephoned a Dallas newspaper saying they would like to attempt the “snatch” but were “deterred by lack of finances.”

Declaring that the North American continent was the new melting pot of nations in the last great westward adventure, S. L. Wallis Harton, Niagara Falls, Ont., urged the United States and Canada to stand together in these times of stress to protect their heritage of peace. Harton spoke at a luncheon meeting of the Kiwanis Club in the Masonic Temple at Jamestown. “There is no cause for strife between us, our best protection for peace being an unguarded frontier,” he said. “Our heritage of peace is what we should prize more than anything else today.”

In 1990, construction crews poured concrete for the foundation of a new Fay’s drugstore while heavy equipment dug the foundation for a new Quality Market. Excavation was moving ahead full tilt at the site of the Widewaters Lakewood Village Center Plaza. The new shopping center, located on Route 394, across the road from the Chautauqua Mall, was scheduled for an early fall completion. Recent unseasonable weather had allowed excavation to progress on or ahead of schedule, the developer said.

Galleria of Chautauqua developer George Zamias had prepared a list of steps his company would take to lessen the impact of the proposed Strunk Road mall project. The list was part of a pre-scoping document filed by the company. The public scoping session would be on Thursday evening in Ellicott Town Hall. The session was to identify issued the public and involved agencies wanted addressed in an environmental impact statement. Developers said the scoping session would save time by setting a framework of which issues to consider.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915, Leslie A. Pease, chairman of the employment committee of the Associated Charities in Dunkirk, said that the committee had quite a number of vacant lots which were available for gardening purposes but that the demand was very much less than the supply. It was thought that many of the unemployed people of the city would be anxious to help themselves by tilling the ground and growing potatoes and other garden truck for sale or for their own use on their family tables. As yet, only a few applications had been made for these lots. There were many women who were seeking work by the day at housecleaning or washing and quite a few men who were willing to do work around yards, Mr. Pease said.

Alexander Hiller died at 1 o’clock Friday afternoon at his home on East Oak Hill in the town of Carroll, aged 70 years and 9 months. He was widely known throughout southern Chautauqua County, having been an extensive cattle dealer and one who was spoken of by his friends as being “strictly on the square.” His many friends would learn of his death with deep regret. He was born at Jamestown on July 31, 1844 but had resided on the farm where he died since he was four years old. Mr. Hiller was survived by his wife, Mary Carpenter Hiller; a brother, Nicholas Hiller of Jamestown and a sister, Mrs. Martha Sheldon, also of this city.

In 1940, the restricted parking area in the downtown Jamestown section was to be extended northerly one block, beginning this week, it was announced by the traffic division of the Jamestown Police Department. Restricted parking of two hours was to be enforced between Fourth and Fifth streets on Prendergast Avenue, Spring, Pine, North Main, Cherry, Washington and Lafayette streets. The restricted area formerly only extended to Fourth Street. The traffic division also announced intentions of enforcing the regulation concerning parking cars on the wrong side of the street in the outlying areas. This regulation applied to those who stopped merely to discharge or take on passengers, as well as those who planned to leave their vehicle for a longer time. Violators were subject to arrest.

Jamestown firemen reported for work on this morning attired in their new uniforms. Feature of the new toggery was the conventional style of the coat lapel with light shirts and a black four-in-hand tie as accessories. New caps were expected to arrive in a few days, Fire Chief Rudolph H. Swanson announced.

In 1965, Jamestown area church members would be asked to support an annual appeal for funds by the United Negro College Fund., Inc. The Jamestown Ministerial Alliance was supporting the campaign this year which would close May 12. Simon Goldman, president of Radio Station WJTN, was chairman of the local campaign and Dempsey L. Knight, a Jamestown Post Office mail carrier, was co-chairman of the drive.

One of the area’s most modern dairying operations would be on display at an open house on Saturday, May 8, at the farm of Guy L. Stebbins, 2 1/2 miles from Sherman on the Sherman-Clymer Road. The installation was a conversion from a conventional stanchion-type, pail milker, milk can arrangement to free stall housing, mechanized bunker feeding of silage, a walk through milking parlor, bulk tank and liquid manure pit. The farm house, remodeled at the same time as the barn, also would be open for public viewing.

In 1990, the Galleria Mall at Chautauqua proposed for Strunk Road would bring more than $2 million in revenues to Chautauqua County each year, the developers said. The project would have a significant impact on tax revenues to the town of Ellicott, the Bemus-Point Central School district and Chautauqua County, Gregory L. Peterson, a Jamestown attorney representing the developer, said. The developer, George Zamias of Johnstown, Pa., knew a project of this size might have some negative impact on the area and wanted to help lessen it, Peterson told The Post-Journal.

In the United States, 100,000 children aged 10 and 11 were getting drunk as often as once a week. It was estimated that 4.6 million children, ages 14-17 had been in trouble, such as a car accident, as a result of alcohol use. In view of these eye-opening statistics, many programs on drug prevention and treatment had been started in the Jamestown area. One local group, the Professional Communicators Network of the Greater Jamestown Area, was so concerned about the problem it planned to coordinate an awareness campaign. The “United We Stand” program would have three facets; a tabloid, a community forum and the formation of a line of people taking a stand which would stretch across the city.