Community

In Years Past

In 1915: A Chautauqua County Medical Society committee urged the county Board of Supervisors to establish a county tuberculosis hospital due to the ravages of the disease on the county. There had been 76 tuberculosis deaths in the past year and 300 people suffering from the disease.

A practice game between the Jamestown High School football teams first and second teams showed many weaknesses for the team. Although the first team scored a number of touchdowns, it was clearly apparent that much more practice was needed before they could go up against a team of the class that they are scheduled to meet this fall.

In 1940: Serious charges were expected against a Nazi for gunplay on Third and Main streets on Saturday afternoon. The incident took place while hundreds of shoppers filled the sidewalks and while traffic filled the streets. Fritz Feist, 17, fired two shots into a fleeing car containing five people, four men and a woman, who dumped him onto the pavement. The identify of the car was still a mystery. Feist’s gun was stolen, according to police, and Feist told police the group planned several robberies as the group traveled west.

More than 50 percent of the unemployed men who took the six week industrial defense course at the Jamestown Public Schools during the summer had secured regular employment, according to a survey by Clinton V. Bush, Jamestown superintendent of schools. Bush said 70 men were enrolled during the summer, with 134 now enrolled in evening and afternoon courses. Of the 134 taking classes, 104 were employed and were recommended by their employers while 30 were unemployed and would be looking for work once they finish.

In 1965: The number of public welfare recipients in Jamestown showed a decrease in August, according to reports of the monthly Welfare Board meeting. The department had 945 public assistance and child welfare cases in August, 30 fewer than July and 24 fewer than August 1964. There was a reduction in services in almost all categories, including 21 fewer medical assistance to the aged cases. Despite the reduced caseload, expenditures were $11,000 more than in July.

The Busti Planning Board rejected a variance to qualify a portion of property on Shadyside Road near Baker Street Extension to accommodate a $500,000 television station and antenna requested by Trend Radio Inc., owners of WKSN AM and FM. Lowell Paxson, Trend Radio Inc. president, called the decision “a serious setback in our plans,” and said he planned to confront the Busti Town Board with the significance of the Planning Board’s action and the interest of his firm with respect to the proposed site.

Community

In Years Past

• Final tribute was made to Fred Horace Wilson, former Jamestown fire chief who was killed earlier in the week in a car accident in Butler, Pa. The Armory was entirely inadequate the accommodate the crowd that tried to attend, which included a large delegation from the 65th Regiment in Buffalo. Reports stated no greater honors were ever shown a resident of Jamestown. All the city offices and many business places were closed for the funeral. For two hours a procession of citizens passed through the armory.

• What is believed in some quarters to have been another manifestation of the smoldering feud said to exist among certain Italian families in the East End of Salamanca occurred when the residence of Mike Morgan on Central Avenue was practically destroyed by fire. Morgan was shot a few weeks ago by Tony John, it is alleged, after a neighborhood row involving some of Morgans relatives and friends of John. Morgan was shot through the head and taken to the hospital.

• Unless there are major, unforeseen developments or implementation of a dynamic plan for future growth, little change was to happen to Jamestown’s population for the next 20 to 30 years, according to Russell A. Tryon, Jamestown’s planning consultant, to members of the Jamestown Planning Commission. Citing the built-in stabilization factor that limits the complete decline of an urban population, Tryon said there should be no decrease in population over the next few years. He also said unless some progressive and dynamic programs are developed, the future holds little promise of a major population increase for the city. “It will be observed,” the summary stated, “that the city is opening the gap in this respect and that aging population may become a major city problem.”

• Two staff members of the Chautauqua County Red Cross Chapter, 325 E. Fifth St.., left to help with cleanup operations in the south in the wake of Hurricane Betsy. Grace Dolan and Gloria Hansen were expected to serve two or three weeks as special interviewers, taking information from victims and channeling interviews, taking information to the proper sector for help. Albert Woodcock of Fredonia had previously went south to serve as a building adviser and Peggy Sackett of Silver Creek was working in the area as a special case workers.

• Volunteers had been working on Braille books at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The project, which began in 1983 as a special project, resulted in between 700 and 800 copies of a Braille book each year. The books were then sent to Nigeria, India, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe, among others. “The project is supported by voluntary contributions,” said Philip Wicklund, project leader. “There are very few paid employees. All the centers are manned by volunteers.” Wicklund and his late wife, Sylvia, learned about printing the Braille books from a friend who had been a St. Timothy’s member before moving away.

• Section 6 reversed field and decided to play its 1990 playoffs at Rich Stadium. The decision reverses one from earlier in September when, at an impasse with the Bills, the section decided to investigate other sites for the playoffs. It would have been the first year since 1979 the playoffs hadn’t ended at Rich Stadium. “I’m just glad that we settled everything,” said Chuck Funke, Section 6 Football Federation president. “I’ve been at Rich Stadium all 12 years and when I see kids standing on the sidelines at Rich Stadium, they are in awe. That is something I didn’t want to lose.”

Community

In Years Past

Mrs. Emma Smith Devor of Washington, d>C., spoke in Jamestown to a group of local suffrage workers. She spoke earlier in Arkwright and was expected to speak in Cherry Creek, though the engagement was canceled. She was to speak in either Ashville or Panama instead. She is making a specialty of addresses before the subordinate granges, as the granges are and have been advocates of equal rights and in their ranks she finds many strong and active workers for the suffrage amendment in New York state this fall.

For the last 10 or 12 years, Ashville has been steadily growing and improving, and its prospects seem promising for the future. Fred B. Lewis, associated with his father Bertrand Lewis of Jamestown, was to immediately begin building a new flour and feed store and grist mill located diagonally across the highway and traction rights of way from the trolley station on the Nell property. The triangle of land between the bridge and creek was occupied by a barber shop. Another business change was the sale by Charles Davis of his general store to William V. White of Jamestown. The ice cream salon owned by Perry Rice was being expanded for use as a dwelling and lunch room.

A 17-year-old German sailor who entered the United States illegally the previous April was dumped from a speeding car at Third and Main streets and fired two shots at his erstwhile pals befor ehe was arrested by Jamestown Patrolman Henry Karlson. The alien sailor gave the name of Fritz Feist and his address was Hamburg, Gemrany. He claimed to have entered the country in 1939 by jumping from a German tanker in New York harbor and had worked the past year on a farm near Walkill, N.Y.

Safecrackers attempted, unsuccessfully, to crack a safe at the General Ice Cream company on Institute and Briggs streets. The case was similar to a safecracking a few weeks before at Lawson Furniture Store in Brooklyn Square, as the thieves smashed the combination from the door of the ice cream company’s safe but were unable to enter the vault. Police believe the thieves were scared away before they could complete the job. Even had the thieves been able to enter the safe, they wouldn’t have made away with any money, according to Murray T. Davidson, general manager of the plant, who said there was no money in the safe. The company’s proceeds are banked at the end of each business day.

Something in the sky, believed to be a meteor, caused a furor in the Jamestown area. Widely viewed by thousands of people, the mysterious object was described as a brilliant flash of light which arced through the skies and then disappeared. Offices of police agencies and newspapers throughout the area were deluged with telephone calls from people who had observed the object and wanted to find out what it was. The object was extremely bright, even incandescent, and seemed to be plummeting to earth with incredible speed.

Construction of two more parking ramps, establishment of a traffic and parking authority with a paid professional consultant and installation of walk-don’t walk traffic lights in the downtown area were the highlights of a plan for parking and traffic released by Jamestown merchants. Merchants were opposed to making Third and Fourth streets one way, and also asked that, after a ramp at Cherry and Fourth streets and a ramp at Spring and Third streets were built, that parking be eliminated on the north side of Second Street from Prendergast Avenue to Washington Street and on both sides of Third Street between Prendergast Avenue and Clinton Street.

Pine Valley Central School was said to have lost $240,000 in an embezzlement scheme by its former business manager from 1987 to 1990. Richard Frame sent a written resignation to the school board which was accepted during a board meeting on Sept. 27, waiving any accrued benefits to which he was entitled. John Ward, county district attorney, was monitoring the investigation.

A recent surge in LSD use in Chautauqua County was attributed to the popularity the drug gained among young users and recent Grateful Dead concerts in the area that brought the drug to the area from California, said Leo Jones, head of the county’s Narcotics Task Force. Jones said recent arrests for possession and sale of LSD were linked to those factors. Task Force agents had seized 150 hits of LSD and charged two people for the sale and possession of the drug during investigations in Westfield and Dunkirk. “This is not a group from the 60s that’s doing (LSD) now,” Jones said. “It’s young kids getting back into it for reasons we don’t really know. It’s (LSD) not habit-forming like some of the other drugs of choice, so maybe they feel it’s not as harmful, but the point is that it is an unpredictable drug – you don’t know what you’ll do (under its influence).”

Community

In Years Past

In 1915: William H. Osborne was arrested on a charge of first-degree assault in an attempt to shoot C.A. Davis . Davis is awaiting trial on a charge of third-degree assault for being implicated in an assault with Axel Shack on an employee of the Gurney Ball Bearing Company. Davis and Shack, it is said, were on Chandler Street when Osborne appeared and asked Davis to have a drink. Davis refused and the three started walking up Chandler Street. At the corner of College and Chandler streets, the three met two other men. When Davis walked away, Osborn drew a 22 caliber revolver and shot twice at Davis. One of the bullets passed through Davis clothing and grazed his right hip.

Jamestowns fire chief, Capt. Fred H. Wilson, and Fred S. Peace of the Gamewell Fire Alarm Company were killed when their car overturned three miles out of Butler, Pa. Wilson had taken his daughter to school in Pittsburgh and was on his way home with Peace, a friend. A detachment of men from the Jamestown Fire Department were to meet the train at the station and escort the remains to the Wilson residence on Liberty Street. As soon as Mayor Carlson heard the sad news, he ordered the flag on City Hall placed at half staff and a like honor was accorded Wilson as the State Armory. The various fire houses throughout the city have been draped in mourning.

In 1940: The $9,600 purchase price offered by Cheston A. Price, part owner of a piece of property on East Third Street that would be the home for a new post office, was accepted by the government. Price’s property was one of 10 needed to build the $725,000 post office, though the other nine had already sold their land to the federal government.

A call was issued for Jamestown men to participate in a Home Guard. A new company was being organized under the command of Capt. Harry E. Dobbins to form a new infantry company to take the place of Company E. The group needed 52 able-bodied men between the ages of 21 and 45 to serve in the ranks of the unit. Dobbins expected the extension of the age limit to 45 years of age would mean the group would be filled with men who had seen military serve in World War I and have the benefit of prior training.

In 1965: Thieves were successful in opening one safe over the weekend but were foiled in four other attempts. At the West End Brewing Co. on Winsor Street, the combination was knocked off to enter a safe which was looted of $40 in cash and two checks. Two safes at Sealtest Foods office at 10 Institute St. were damaged but remained intact. The attempt set off tear gas devices in each of the safes. An attempt to open a safe at Swift and Co., 33 Institute St., and at Carlyle C. Ring School were unsuccessful.

The Allen Park Glen echoed with the stirring music of the Stockholm Tramway Band of Stockholm, Sweden, in a concert attended by several hundred persons. The musicians, all of them streetcar, bus or subway train drivers, traffic supervisors or clerks, were eon a goodwill tour of the eastern states and midwest. Petrus H. Peterson was master of ceremonies and Mayor Fred H. Dunn welcomed the band to the city and was presented a book on Sweden from the band.

In 1990: The Chautauqua County Legislature’s Environmental Committee voted unanimously to accept out-of-county garbage at the county landfill in Ellery. Thomas J. Harte, committee chair, said the decision was made to help the landfill break even financially at a time when it was estimated the landfill was losing $4,000 a day. Several years before a local law was passed allowing garbage to be accepted from Bush Industries operation in Little Valley – the only out-of-county garbage that was accepted in the Ellery landfill.

Jamestown teens who attended an event in May to get their ideas for the future of Jamestown were being invited back to see what happened to their ideas. Candace Huber, Jamestown Youth Bureau executive director, said an outdoor teen dance proposed by the youth happened while a skateboard park was being discussed, as was a teen theater. Some 65 teens attended the first meeting.

Community

In Years Past

In 1940: Metered parking in Jamestown was to begin Oct. 7 for a six-month test period. A total of 450 meters were to be installed along the east side of Main Street and at designated locations east of Main Street. Automatic meters were to be placed on the west side of Main Street and on streets west of Main.

Two men were seriously injured in a three-car accident on East Lake Road. Oscar Freed, 40, of Belleview was rushed to the city hospital in the Youngberg ambulance. Eric Johnson, 37, of Belleview, was listed in fair condition at Jamestown General Hospital. Freed was listed in good condition. Two others, Frank J. Nadolski of Salamanca and Dr. L.D. Gunn of Salamanca, were injured, bot not seriously so. Freed’s vehicle was traveling toward Bemus Point while two other vehicles were traveling toward Jamestown when Freed’s vehicle swerved suddenly to enter the driveway of a roadhouse, hitting the vehicle driven by Nadolski, which then hit a vehicle driven by Edna M. Olson. Olson and her passenger, Bernard E. Olson, both of Jamestown, were uninjured.

In 1990: County Executive Andrew Goodell unveiled a Chautauqua County budget calling for a 5.3 percent increase in property taxes. Increases in the county’s contribution to Medicaid accounted for most of the increase, Goodell said. Social Service programs accounted for $2.2 million of the $2.8 million tax increase. Goodell also said in his budget address that the county must make economic development more of a priority, calling for $2 million in capital investment for economic development, industrial infrastructures and promotion of the county.

The Chautauqua County Probation Office was re-establishing the Mobile Mental Health Consultation Team, hoping the advocacy and consultation program would help youth modify potentially criminal behavior before bad habits had chance to take root. The program was a demonstration project started in 1987 but that had been cut when funding ran out. The youth the program sought to help were 7- to 16-year-olds who needed mental health services appropriate for them and their families, and who had been involved in the state juvenile justice system. Most were referred by schools, parents and police agencies.

Community

In Years Past

The officers of Jamestown Troop No. 2, Boy Scouts, applied to the national Boy Scout headquarters to secure a life-saving medal for Rea Eggleston, 13 of Jamestown, a troop ember who saved the life of Donald VanTuyl, the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. F.H. VanTuyl of Cook Avenue earlier this summer. The family was camping by the lake when the infant wandered out onto a dock and fell in the lake. Eggleston saw the baby fall in and jumped in an saved the childs life.

The Ellison Brass Manufacturing Company was incorporated with $60,000 capital to succeed the Ellison brothers, a co-partnership which for the past two years has done business in buildings on the site of Straight Manufacturing in East Jamestown. It will manufacture brass, bronze, aluminum and iron specialties, such as the special hardware and all kinds of brass and bronze castings for architectural work. A new foundry, 100 feet long and 50 feet wide, was to be built with other buildings expected to be added in the future as business is developed. We have spent a number of years in preparing for this new enterprise,” said E.H. Ellison, company president. “We are confident of the success because each man will take charge of that branch of the business of which he has been trained. … We have been busy during the last year in spite of the hard times, working over for much of the time. Our reason for forming a corporation was that we desire to expand and conduct a business on a larger scale, which will require more capital. We have grown so rapidly up to the present time that our growth has exceeded the financial capacity of a co-partnership to handle the increasing volume of business.”

Five teams were ready to open the first season of six-man football. Teams from Brocton, Bemus Point, Panama, Sherman and Ripley comprised the league. Quarters were to be 10 minutes long with 15 minutes break between halves. At the same time, Lakewood High School was to unveil its new football field, named after Elizabeth G. Packard, in a game against Bolivar. The stadium was located at the intersection of First Street and Bentley Avenue.

The Little Theater of Jamestown opened its fifth annual membership enrollment period with the promise of a theater to be built within the next three or four years, provided membership is maintained at 2,500 people, according to Samuel C. Alessi, theater president. The design was shown during a dinner at the Sottish Rite Consistory served to about 150 workers who were to conduct the membership drive.

Dedication of a new medical center in Randolph was being planned. The $40,000 center was to open in October. Plans were drawn and work began in 1963 on the center, the 90th in the United States to be completed under the Community Medical Assistance Program of the American Medical Association and Sears-Roebuck Foundation. More than 550 area residents participated in the fund drive to build the center. Dr. Norman A. Kraft was to be the doctor for the new medical center.

The Lakewood Baptist Church was to hold groundbreaking ceremonies for its new church on Erie Street, Lakewood, between Brooks and Green streets. The structure, a design of Unified Church Structures Inc., included a sanctuary, library, foyer and two classrooms on the first floor and a large fellowship hall, kitchen, nursery, temporary classrooms, rest room facilities and boiler room in the basement.

The entire board of the Downtown Jamestown Development Corporation resigned effective Jan. 1, according to Mark Nelson, DJDC executive director, after a DJDC planning committee recommended the organization needed to be revamped with new standing committees that would give the organization a more defined scope. “They discussed the needs of downtown Jamestown and felt it is time for a new beginning, a fresh start,” Nelson said. “They felt perhaps we need to assure that by starting out with a new direction.”

A law banning cigarette machines was shot down by the Busti Town Board after a public hearing. The local law would have prohibited the sale of tobacco products by machine in all parts of the town outside the village of Lakewood. Mark Tarbrake, town councilman, said even though smoking can be a public health hazard, he wondered if the law was something the town should pursue. “Governments should be smaller. By doing something like this, you add to the bureaucracy.” The local law had been backed by WCA Hospital and Dr. Wolf-Dieter Krahn of the Jamestown Medical Clinic.

Community

In Years Past

A good discussion in which arguments for and against the proposed Chautauqua tuberculosis hospital were well presented was a feature of the annual gathering of the Chautauqua County Association of town and county poor department officials in Dewittville. County superintendent Dodge opposed the project on the grounds of duplicating equipment and administration already provided at the county farm, pointing out to have a separate hospital means a separate location in a rural area that would involve considerable land, require separate superintendent and farm and garden labor. The Rev. Dr. Hanson said the entire idea of county care for tuberculosis would be defeated if the hospital were in connection with the county farm, which is a charitable institution. The tuberculosis hospital would be for paying patients with arrangements so public charity cases would be given adequate care at town expense. The next meeting, recommendation of the town overseeers of the poor would be of great influence on the discussion.

A jury ruled that Franklin Wieczorek was insane, with the Dunkirk man sentenced to Matteawan Asylum for the Criminally Insane. The jury returned the verdict after seven hours of deliberation. The case was one of the most unusual in Chautauqua County history.

Company E, 174th Infantry of the National Guard, left Jamestown on Monday to the fanfare of thousands of well-wishing Jamestown residents. “From the moment that the soldiers swung out of the state armory portal until their special train pulled out for the east and a new adventure, they knew that their fellow townsmen were heart and soul with them and during the few brief minutes at the station as they boarded the cars they knew their mothers held them closer than ever, as was attested by the farewell embrace and perhaps most touching of all, the boxes and packages in which were tasty sandwiches and some of mother’s cake or pie or cookies, to be enjoyed during the long night ride to New Jersey,” wrote E.B. Briggs of the send-off.

Mayor Leon F. Roberts challenged the City Council to exercise its prerogative and demand the Board of Public Utilities come to the aid of the city with a portion of its mounting surplus profits. The money would close a $40,000 operating deficit and mean the city didn’t have to issue $23,000 in bonds to complete the Municipal Stadium project. The BPU was expected to finish the year with a $250,000 net profit in 1940. The city deficit was being blamed on decreasing state revenues and not a rise in city spending.

The Post-Journal’s hard stance on hooliganism and the revelation in those editorials that the attack on a seven-hear-old Euclid Avenue school girl was done by three teen-age Washington Junior High School girls was widely praised by Justice Hamilton Ward of the Eighth Judicial District. In urging a tougher attitude by all judicial officers and the awakening of the public to the fact that business places, homes, streets and places of recreation were less safe, Ward struck out at the anonymity and special treatment afforded juvenile criminals.

A Jamestown couple reported seeing an unidentified flying object three times in less than an hour. Daniel Abers and his wife, Bernita, reported they were leaving the home of Abers’ mother east of Panama when they saw an object he described as round and a dingy yellow in color, appearing to be hovering or almost motionless, close to the ground about a mile north of where the Abers were. It was visible for several seconds and then vanished. About 10 minutes later, the Abers were driving west on Randolph Road and saw the object again, this time appearing to be a brighter yellow color. Shortly afterwards, they were on Panama-Stedman Road and saw the object again, this time watching it for roughly 20 minutes before it disappeared. This time they said the object seemed to show reddish flashes from time to time.

A high-speed chase through New York and Pennsylvania ended in 18 charges against an Ellington man. D. Scott Mendrick, 29, was driving west on Route 20 in Ripley when state troopers tried to pull his vehicle over. Mendrick refused to pull over, proceeding into Pennsylvania, where Pennsylvania State Troopers joined in the pursuit. The pursuit then made its way back into New York at speeds as high as 110 miles an hour. After leading police through the town of Westfield and into the town of Chautauqua, Mendrick’s vehicle began to fishtail, was bumped by a sheriff’s cruiser and hit a guardrail. Mendrick was found on Red Wing Road in Chautauqua and caught after a short foot chase.

As automakers rolled out their 1991 models, fuel efficiency took center stage before the U.S. Senate. Sen. Donald Riegle, D-Mich., wanted to head off a vote later in the week on legislation that would require the new U.S. car fleet to average 40 miles a gallon by 2000. The fleet average was 28 miles a gallon.

Community

In Years Past

The murder case of Frank Wieczorek was before a jury, with the defendant possibly to learn his fate later this afternoon. The only question for the jury to decide is whether the man’s mental condition was such that he knew the nature and quality of the act and knew the act was wrong.

A group created earlier in the week to oversee Chautuaqua Lake was formed. The group included Westfield, Mayville, Bemus Point, Jamestown and all points between on both sides of the lake, with transportation interests included. It is now planned to get the committee together at he next noon luncheon of the Board of Commerce, with a speaker to discuss some of th features of a cooperative movement of this kind.

Flames destroyed a large barn on Frew Run Road, Frewsburg. Thousands of people attracted by the light of the flames drove to the site of the former Duff farm, located about three miles east of Frewsburg. A motorist saw the flames and notified Leon Page, the farm’s tenant, who immediately removed to safety two horses, five calves and a bull. Burned with the barn was the farm equipment including wagon, hayrack, plow and smaller tools. The Frewsburg Fire Department connected a fire hose to a nearby creek and the chemical truck was also used on the buildings, keeping the flames confined to one barn.

Jallopy racers thrilled about 1,500 spectators at the Satan Bowl Oval. The Rogers sisters of Olean drove a car through a flaming wall during the event, with plans being made for another series of midget races at the Brocton Road speedway in a week.

Plans for a new Southwestern Central Junior High building on Hunt Road were approved by the Southwestern Central School board. Drawings were to be submitted in the next week to the state Education Department. Meetings would soon be scheduled with teachers and administrators to discuss furnishings and equipment. Bids for the project were to be opened in October.

The Westfield Village Board accepted the gift of an outdoor swimming pool with showers and toilet facilities to be located at Welch Field. The gift was presented by the Rotary Club. During an 80-day swimming season, the board would cooperate with the Rotary Club in operation of the swimming pool throughout the first season. Full operation would be by the village in subsequent years. The pool was to be 42 feet long and 75 feet wide.

Community

In Years Past

• Arthur Bestor made a plea for cooperation between business and commercial interests in Jamestown and Chautauqua Institution. Two matters of much importance were acted on. The first was a preliminary step for the organization of a Chautauqua lake commercial body, the name and details of which were to be arranged. The conference voted that a committee be named to call together representatives of the various civic organizations now in existence in the Chautauqua lake section. The second was a recommendation that the Jamestown Board of Commerce appoint a committee to cooperate with Chautauqua to secure the construction of the two-mile spur of improved highway to connect Chautauqua and Mayville. This, when built, will connect Chautauqua and Jamestown with an all-improved road an Chautauqua and the great east and west trunk line at Westfield. It was thought that this could be secured by good work for 1916 survey and 1917 construction.

• There was talk of organizing a bowling league in the region among the cities and towns where there is interest in the sport. While nothing had yet been done, towns and cities that expressed interest included Olean, Bradford, Jamestown, Salamanca, Port Allegany, Arcade and Portville. Each place would b represented by a five-man club and bowl two series a week, one at home and one abroad. No restrictions would be made in regard to team members. Already there were friendly feelings among the bowlers of the places mentioned, with practically no doubt but that there is enough interest in each bowling center to furnish a club to the league.

• Falconer Central School officials reported a difficult situation due to its 2,200 student enrollment, an increase of 142 for the 1965-66 school year. The high school addition planned to open in September 1966 was to be delayed until possibly the spring of 1967.

• A Jamestown man was the first person to be arrested in the area under a new law barring possession of a shotgun or rifle by those convicted of a felony or certain misdemeanors. James Gilbert of Newland Avenue was charged. He had been convicted in 1959 of second-degree assault for an incident in which he threatened a Jamestown policeman with a shotgun in a local tavern. Gilbert was arrested in 1965 after an investigation showed he suffered an accidental gunshot wound while loading a rifle in an automobile.

• One of the most unusual-looking buildings in Jamestown is an automobile repair garage. Before the turn of the 1900s, however, the building which housed Stanton’s Garage on North Main Street was a carriage house of the Broadhead family, who once owned steamships that plied Chautauqua Lake. The building was purchased by Raymond Stanton Jr. in 1962, though Stanton had long before rented the building and run his auto business out of the ground floor. The mansion for the carriage house was formerly located at Sixth and Main streets but was torn down long ago.

• Paul A. Benke, retiring Jamestown Community College president, said many challenges awaited his successor. He said the role of community colleges should grow in the future as the high cost of private colleges and universities could keep many students from attending them, while community colleges also offer continuing education. “My successor will spend time on how the college is funded, what its sponsorship is and how it will survive,” Benke said.

Community

In Years Past

A jury was seated in the murder trial of Frank Wieczorek after only one day, largely because jurors didn’t object because they wouldn’t be locked up after court sessions, as has been the custom in capital cases. Wieczorek spoke up before court and said he does not like his lawyer, “I would have you understand judge, Lawyer Patterson does not have anything to do with my case.” There was nothing more said in regard to the statement, but Wieczorek didn’t like his lawyer’s plan to pursue an insanity defense, becoming violent whenever it is mentioned to him. He continually admits that he is guilty. Witnesses said Ishmael Whitehead was cutting wood with his son when Whitehead saw a neighbor drawing gravel from a lagoon near the lake and went to investigate. A short time later, there were two shots. Another witness came along with a load of gravel and said someone had shot a man. James Whitehead went over to a neighbor’s house and called police. When the younger Whitehead came out of the house, Wieczorek came up and said he had shot a man and asked the boy to call police.

Arthur E. Bestor was to travel to Jamestown with several of his aides to discuss a definite plan of cooperation between Jamestown and Chautauqua. Bestor had ideas to develop the Chautuaqua Lake region. The most progressive of Jamestown’s citizens have long realized that the city’s asset in Chautauqua lake is not being properly exploited and that anything that can be done to add to its attractiveness, accessibility and fame will make for the city’s prosperity. Ideas included a winter season and a Business Men’s Week that would bring business, commerce and finance leaders to chautauqua, which Bestor thought could bring the city advantages through attention of powerful interests.

An informal survey revealed business in Jamestown increasing 9 percent from 1939, with factory expansion also contributing to optimism among Jamestown businessmen. The survey was conducted by the Jamestown Retail Merchants’ Association. Additionally, business indicators tracked by the Jamestown Chamber of Commerce showed the first eight months of 1940, with the single exceptions of building permit and inbound car-loadings, increasing between 6 and 28 percent. The planning of several important factory expansions was expected to turn the building permit loss into a substantial gain, with Jamestown merchants reporting the influx of trade is coming in pleasing proportions from Jamestown and from outside communities as far away as Pennsylvania and surrounding New York state locations.

A Jamestown man perished from injuries suffered when he fell from an English Street roof. Guy D. Catlin, 65, was repairing a roof at 199 English Street when he and Archie A. Johnson, 63, both fell from the roof. Coroner Samuel T. Bowers told The Journal he expected to rule the death accidential as soon as the outcome of Johnson’s injuries were determined.

The Jamestown City Council unanimously approved a resolution for Mayor Fred H. Dunn to apply for financial aid to build a new city hall. Robert M. Miller of the Syracuse architectural firm of Ketcham, Miller and Arnold, discussed his work in 1961 on preliminary plans for the building because council members needed to know if the plans could be adapted to the block where City Hall was situated or if other sites were needed. Council members also needed more information on cost changes.

WCA Hospital chose to continue its contract with Jamestown Community College to affiliate the college’s nursing program with the hospital and provide clinical experience for the students. The hospital board’s professional committee said the previous two years had been most satisfactory and proved highly beneficial to the hospital and the college.

Embezzlement was alleged at Pine Valley Central School, where Richard Frame, the school’s business manager, had been relieved of his duties. Frame agreed to aid investigators who said he stole more than $100,000 in district funds. Buffalo attorney Karl Kristoff said a preliminary investigation “clearly indicated criminal activities.” Irregularities had been noticed regarding some checks by Franklin Russell, district superintendent, and other staff members who then brought the issue to the attention of school board members. “The investigation indicates the misconduct of one person,” Kristoff said.

A mid-December opening was scheduled for a six-screen theater complex being built on Fairmount Avenue in Lakewood. “It’s going to be a real pretty building, a first-class act,” said Joe Johnson, Lakewood village clerk. “Progress will be dictated by the weather between now and the end of the construction season.”

Community

In Years Past

In 1915: The murder trial of Frank Wieczorek, charged with first-degree murder after allegedly shooting Ishmael Whitehead in Dunkirk, began in Mayville. Wieczorek took a seat near his counsel, John K. Patterson, and during the remainder of the session before the recess kept his eyes toward the ceiling. He looked at no one and kept looking at the ceiling and at the walls about the courtroom.

Neither the local nor the Erie police have been able as yet to locate Joseph Landrey, Erie railroad crossing flagman at the South Work Street, Falconer, location. Landrey left his post the previous Friday and couldnt be found. He went to work as usual but late in the evening the phone in his shanty rang without response. Erie Detective Schumaker was sent out to find him and did not succeed. The Jamestown police were then notified. His overcoat, dinner bucket and a watch he owned were found in the gatetenders shanty, but no indications of where or why he disappeared. Reports from Jamestown policed indicate Landrey was seen at Beechwood on Saturday, but that is the only trace of him.

In 1940: Jamestown members of Company E, 174th Infantry of the National Guard, marched from the state Armory to the Hotel Jamestown to a luncheon given for them. The event was to be a farewell luncheon, but the guardsmen’s departure had been delayed a couple of days. A similar event was held in Falconer as well to honor troops from Falconer and its surrounding area.

Jamestown’s place as a hub of furniture manufacturing activity was to be celebrated Sept. 21-28 as part of National Furniture Week. Many Jamestown plants contributed money to help carry on the work of the national committee, including Alliance Furniture Company, makers of fine dining room furniture; Davis-Randolph Corp., makers of bedroom furniture; Jamestown Lounge company, known for oak and upholstery lines; Kling Factories, with countrywide distribution of bedroom furniture in solid mahogany and solid maple; Union-National lines, builders of bookcases, breakfronts, bedroom and dining room furniture; Shearman Brothers, makers of high grade upholstered furniture; and the Furniture Index, a trade paper published in Jamestown for the past 40 years.

In 1965: Buyers were reported as eager during the ongoing 95th semi-annual furniture mart show. The 125 exhibitors opened their spaces at 8:30 a.m. Sunday with all spaces jammed. Buying was reported as heavy for all styles, both in upholstered living room and case goods bedroom and dining room groupings. Normally, purchases at the fall show are in the accessory categories, but retailers told The Post-Journal they were ordering anything and everything. The prime reason was the majority of retail inventories were low and merchants knew manufacturers’ backlogs were heavy, probably heavier than any time since World War II.

Firemen extinguished a fire inside an unused truck at the DeBell Vending Company, 140 S. Work St., Falconer. The fire was considered minor and was caused by two boys, ages 6 and 8, respectively, playing with matches and smoking. An unused floor model radio and cardboard packing found in the truck were partially burned.

In 1990: Industry in the United States needed more college graduates during the next eight years of the 1990s or the country could be in “dire straits,” according to a Cornell University study. Labor shortages could drive already high labor costs even higher as the dwindling pool of educated workers commanded higher salaries. The study predicted 472,000 more college degrees would be needed between 1992 and 2000, roughly 42 percent more than were receiving degrees. The shortfall stemmed largely from unforeseen increases in demand and a decrease in the number of college-aged Americans.

A Galleria of Chautauqua Mall project planed for Strunk Road, near what is now Interstate 86, had hit a snag. Frances Morgan, Ellicott town supervisor, said all work on an environmental impact study had been stopped until the beginning of the year. Damian Zamias, the project developer, said national conditions had stopped his work but that he expected work to begin again later. Mark Bargar, a Jamestown attorney representing the Chautauqua Concerned Citizens, said the group was pleased work had been stopped because issues raised by concerned citizens hadn’t yet been addressed.

Community

In Years Past

In 1940: Senator Gillette, D-Iowa, wrote Attorney General Robert H. Jackson urging there be “no further delay” in filing an anti-trust suit to divorce the producing and marketing activities of 22 major oil companies. Gillette’s opinion was opposite that of the National Defense Commission, which said certain parts of a national preparedness program would be hampered or delayed if an anti-trust suit was pursued.

• Three recent incendiary fires in three properties acquired by the city prompted the Committee on Tax Sale Property to install new sprinklers in the old Broadhead Mill property. Most of the old sprinkler heads would be replaced from time to time, including about 1,000 in 1939 – though the importance of newer sprinklers were brought to attention by the Broadhead Mills fire. The committee also discussed the amount of fire insurance carried on the Broadhead Mills building and other city-owned property.

In 1990: Many motorists upset by recent increases in gas prices were taking their frustrations out on gas station attendants and cashiers. “We’ve had people in here cussing us out, ready to throw things at us,” said a manager at the Kwik Fill on Fluvanna Avenue Extension. “The customers blame us, but we have to pay the same prices as everyone else, you know. We’re not the ones who set the prices. I’m afraid that one day I’ll be out there on the ladder making a price change and someone’s going to drive by and shoot me.”

• The Chautauqua County Legislature’s Personnel and Governmental Affairs Committee was asking for more power over appointments of department heads. Frederick A. Larson, D-Jamestown, said the proposed charter change was designed to give legislators an opportunity to approve or reject a department head who was appointed by one county executive and was to be held over by another county executive. The clause could have been used every four years, with the legislature allowed to accept or reject the holdover appointments.

Community

In Years Past

In 1915: Flood abatement work to be done by the state Department of Public Works in the Chadakoin channel was boosted by a visit by Frank Williams, state engineer and surveyor, and W.B. Landreth, deputy state engineer. The state officials met with city officials and decided Erie railroad interests were served by moving the channel over so no excavation would be done near the Erie retaining wall, which is to carry elevated trackage through the present West Second Street yards. The new matter has to do with the water levels to be maintained in the future at the reconstructed modern structure to replace the Warner dam. It was agreed a maximum and minimum water level at the dam would be agreed to and maintained. The plans submitted showed the location, depth and grade of new channels, spoil beds, detail of the new Warner dam and the cleaning out and improvement of the channel below the dam through Main Street, Institute Street and downstream. The work was necessary because of flooding over the Celoron flats that covered hundreds of acres of land. With the late hot weather vegetation had decayed and almost unbearable odors had been created and a plague of mosquitoes had come from the stagnant water.

In 1940: Approximately 21 Jamestown men between the ages of 21 and 35 years of age would be drafted when Uncle Sam gave his first summons under provisions of the new peacetime conscription bill signed by President Roosevelt. Men of draft age were 14 percent of the Jamestown population, with allowances to be made for National Guard enlistments and volunteers from the city.

• The Jamestown Aviation Club formed to stimulate private flying activity in Jamestown. The club had already purchased a new Piper Cub, a 65 horsepower trainer, that was being used by members. Only two members of the club were currently licensed pilots, with other members all taking flight instructions from William Oberg at the municipal airport.

In 1965: Norman Carlson, son of Axel G. Carlson of Frewsburg, was among the 30 people killed aboard a Pan American Airways jetliner that crashed and exploded on a hilltop in the British West Indies. Carlson was serving as flight engineer. After graduating from Frewsburg High School, Carlson served in the Navy during World War II before returning to the area and opening a garage. He then joined Pan-Am.

• Construction of a new secondary treatment facility for Jamestown’s sewage disposal plant on Hartson Road in Poland was to be dedicated. The $825,000 project was expected to eliminate pollution of Cassadaga Creek and the Conewango River by discharges from the sewage plant, previously blamed as the cause of fish kills in the river south of the New York Pennsylvania line.

In 1990: The cause of a fire that damaged two homes in Chautauqua Institution remained a mystery. Joan Fox, Chautauqua Institution marketing and communications director, said a decision on the homes’ future would be made by the institution’s board. “Since the property is of historic value, it would have to be an administrative decision of the board,” she said. “There are certain building regulations to maintain the ambiance of the Victorian atmosphere here.”

• Towns and villages were adjusting to having individual recycling programs implemented to comply with Chautauqua County’s recycling mandates. “Some (municipalities) really like their recycling programs; others are still trying to iron out problems,” said Cheryl Miller, Chautauqua County recycling coordinator. A lack of processors was one problem Miller mentioned.

Community

In Years Past

William Blanchard, a farmer living on the W.W. Pettis farm in Charlotte Center, was found a short distance away from the farm dead. A bottle of carbolic acid was the self-evident cause after family difficulties. Mrs. Blancahrd said she and her husband had trouble that resulted in a serious quarrel. In Jamestown, David Lassenoff, well known in the business section of the city as an expert window cleaner, was found dead in rooms he rented on East Second Street after police were asked to investigate after Lassenoff didn’t come to do his usual window cleaning job. The body was dressed in underclothing and there were no signs of struggle nor any writing bearing on the case found in the room. Coroner B.F. Hilton said death was due to narcotic poisoning of some kind, likely morphine that Lassenoff took for headaches.

Harry Stoddard of Dayton, Ohio, had recently been named the new president of the Art Metal company and told The Journal that until he had an opportunity to size up the company he would make no changes to the plant in response to rumors of changes among the staff of officials in the company. “I came here to build up this business and not to tear it down and know of no reason why I should not meet with success in my efforts, although of course I have not been here long enough to become familiar with the situation in all of its details.” Stoddard had previously visited Chautauqua Lake several times.

Profits from the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities being used for municipal purposes was urged by Mayor Leon F. Roberts during an address to the Political Study Club. Roberts said he would not veto a dividend payment to consumers, but would propose a payment equal to the dividend payment be made to the City Council for general municipal purposes. The request was expected to be more than $100,000.

A proposal to build a grandstand and other needed facilities at the municipal stadium site in East Jamestown was defeated by a five-man minority of the Jamestown City Council after a lengthy debate. City leaders, including Mayor Leon Roberts, declared following the meeting that they had “by no means” given up on the stadium plan.

Area residents were waiting for a consultant to finish cost estimates for a sewer district for the southern portion of Chautauqua Lake. Boring data was still being compiled and the nature of subsurface strata was being studied, with the final report about 80 percent complete.

Quarterhorses were set to race at Cockaigne, reported Frank Hyde in The Post-Journal sports section. Cockaigne was still rough around the edges, Hyde wrote, but “it gives every appearance of being on the way to that ‘leisure living’ bit. It will become a vast recreation area, but right now it’s a beginner horse racing capitol for the area.” Horses from New York, Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut, Michigan, Ohio, Vermont, Ontario, Maryland and Pennsylvania were expected to attend.

The future of the Frewsburg Hotel remained in doubt after a fire hit the Main Street, Frewsburg, landmark shortly after midnight Monday. The fire likely started in the kitchen. One firefighter each from Frewsburg and Kiantone were injured fighting the fire. Charles Gallagher, owner of the building, was awakened by a smoke detector and ran from his apartment into the hotel to find a fire in the back of the building. Main and Pearl streets were closed until about 8:30 a.m. when Main Street reopened to school and commuter traffic.

Busti residents were working to raise money to help Lori A. Matteson, the victim of a drunk-driving accident that left Matteson struggling to speak, to feed herself and which paralyzed her. Donations were being accepted at the Busti Federated Church. Area residents were also organizing a quilt giveaway and a chicken and biscuit dinner.

Community

In Years Past

Old forts at Findley Lake and Sinclairville had been discovered by Frederick Houghton of Buffalo during a trip investigating Indian forts. The Findley Lake fort was found on a farm on the state line and is the farthest west of the New York State Indian forts. It covers one acre of land. In Sinclairville, a neighborhood which has been thoroughly worked over by Mr. Edson, Chautauqua County historian, was discovered by the Rev. Mr. Wyman in some densely overgrown land.

Katherine Katorski of Buffalo was fined $5 for administering a public spanking to Mrs. Apolonia Janicka, one of her neighbors. Weeks ago a feud began between the children of Katorski and Janicka, with the affair developing so quickly the older members of both families began to take sides with the children. On Sept. 3, Janicka said Katorski and her son met her on the street. Katorski called Janicka several names and struck her in the face. Then Katorski took off her shoe and spanked Janicka.

The Marlin Rockwell Corp. was to enlarge its plant on Chandler Street, Jamestown, to handle defense orders, cooperating with a national program and planning to finish construction by Dec. 15. Alfred C. Davis, company president, said the company expected increased demands for ball bearings in the latter part of 1941 and was anticipating the calls that will be made upon the company when the defense program gets in full swing by building the addition now.

Patrick Patterson, 43, a transient who said his last home address was Jamestown, was sentenced to five to 10 years in Attica state prison by Judge Lee L. Ottaway on a charge of second-degree grand larceny. Patterson was alleged to have stolen a car in August, but his criminal record showed he was convicted of grand theft in Ventura, Calif., in 1932, and had served time in San Quentin prison.

J. Rusell Rogerson, Art Metal Inc. board chairman, announced during a stockholder meeting in the Hotel Jamestown that the company was studying the possibility of building a new production plant in Jamestown. Larger facilities and modern production equipment were needed, and he expected it would take two years to put a new plant into operation. Most of the company’s workforce was working overtime, 10 hours a day, five days a week and additional hours on Saturday mornings. The new plant would help the company remain competitive with other manufacturers’ prices.

Albert W. “Piney” Johnson, Republican candidate for Jamestown mayor, said he would work to improve mental health facilities locally if elected. “It grieves me when I think that even with your prodding, this entire county still has only one practicing psychiatrist.” Johnson’s remarks were made to the Chautauqua County Association of Mental Health.

Community

In Years Past

• A proposition to buy land for playground purposes in Falconer was voted down 123-39. Harry Mosher spoke in opposition to the purchase, saying the tract was not large enough for athletic purposes.

• Jamestown Board of Education members debated three plans to replace an unsafe boiler in the high school building. One plan would place a plant at the corner of Institute Street and the railroad tracks, another plan called for a plant at the corner of College Street and the railroad track while the third plan called for the plant at the southeast corner of the high school building. Board members favored the plant at the corner of College Street and the railroad tracks, though no official action was taken because Mr. Price wanted to see a balance sheet showing the dollars and cents to compare the plans.

• Wind gusts clocked at 60 miles an hour left a string of sunken boats and damaged boats on Chautauqua Lake. A number of boats were sunk in Bemus Point while others were pounded against docks and one or two torn loose from anchorages. Operation of the Bemus Point-Stow Ferry was made difficult by the storm, particularly a freak condition which found the wind pushing the ferry in one direction while a strong undertow pulled it in another. Heavy damage was also reported in the Findley Lake area, with trees uprooted and waves described as 10 feet high whipped up by the winds.

• An Indian village, complete with stone axes and arrowheads of at least 500 AD vintage, was uncovered in the Kinzua Dam area of Warren and McKean counties. Included in the simpler products of primitive art are pieces of pottery, spearheads, net sinkers, fire pits, storage holes, dwelling and stockage-type structures. The findings contradicted opinions of archeologists of the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh who surveyed the area in 1957 and decided it would contain nothing of historical value. The site is one of several excavated by the Kinzua Chapter 18, Society of Pennsylvania Archeology, working under the museum’s sanction. It was to be flooded when the Kinzua flood control project was finished.

• A storm delayed football games and scattered tree limbs throughout the area. Mary LaMere of 190 Fairmount Avenue said she and her family returned home from buying groceries to a felled tree in the front part of their house. “We sat there in the car for awhile, then we went across to the fire station,” she said. “They came across with a chain saw and cut a path so we could get through the branches and into the house.” Cattaraugus County saw no issues while the only other issues in Chautauqua County were a brief power outage in Westfield. Football games in Fredonia, Dunkirk, Falconer, Randolph and Hinsdale were all affected by the storm, however. “With what happened in the softball game in Randolph last year when the kid got killed by lightning, there was no way we were going to send the kids back onto the field,” said Falconer football coach Bill Race.

• The president of BON-TON Department Stores expressed interest in placing a store in the Jamestown area, though no specific location was mentioned. The chain was reportedly interested in the Chautauqua Mall space soon to be vacated by Quality Markets (that space is, in 2015, the location of Old Navy).

Community

In Years Past

• The Jamestown Board of Commerce has for several weeks been negotiating with the state Department of Labor to secure one of the state employment bureaus that had been located thus far in New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany. The bureau would give the working people of Jamestown a central office with complete records pertaining to available positions and would give employers an opportunity to secure help of all kinds. The matter was the first plank in the program of work which was adopted by the Board of Commerce when it was organized.

• Fred H. Wilson, Jamestown fire chief, reported on the convention of fire chiefs he had recently attended. After viewing a display of available fire apparatus, Lewis recommended the purchase of a tractor to haul the aerial truck in Jamestown, with the tractor taking the place of three horses that did the job currently. Although the aerial truck answers less calls than any other apparatus, it is necessary to keep it at all times ready to answer alarms in the manufacturing and business district and the cost of maintenance would be reduced by installing a tractor.

• A Jamestown woman, Lillian Byrd of Prendergast Avenue, was in St. Vincent’s Hospital in Erie, suffering from shock and undetermined injuries to her ear, body bruise and cuts after an alleged attack by Milton F. Grussart of Likma, Ohio. The woman said she was attacked in Grussart’s automobile. She had been hitch-hiking near the Pennsylvania state line and, when Grussart forced his unwelcome attentions upon her and she resisted, he drove a screwdriver in her ear and twisted it.

• Former Jamestown mayor Samuel Carlson asked City Council members to consider a plan to construct a municipal milk plant using money in the board’s surplus. Milk distribution had been declared a public utility by the state and city taxpayers had once approved a municipal milk system. The Board of Public Utilities had $400,000 on hand to build a plant, purchase equipment and buy out present milk dealers, and the plant would be a revenue producer rather than other projects for which utility surplus funds had been requested.

• At least half of Jamestown’s population belonged to the James Prendergast Free Library, according to a report by Cecil E. Cleveland Jr., library director. He also cited the library’s need for additional help, adding that a full-time or part-time employee had not been hired since the library’s circulation was 192,000 a year. He requested a children’s librarian be included in the 1966 budget. The library’s circulation of 315,462 was the first time in its history it had lent more than 300,000 materials in one year.

• Plans to establish a television broadcasting station in Jamestown were announced by Lowell W. Paxson, president and majority stockholder of Trend Radio Inc., owners of WKSN AM and FM. Paxson said the station would operate on UHF Channel 48, with power to cover southern Chautauqua County and northern Pennsylvania and would be affiliated with one of the major television networks. Local programming would include news, weather, sports, business, religion and public affairs as well as offering entertainment programs. The station would cost $500,000 with an annual payroll of $100,000 and would be located on land near Shadyside Road and Baker Street Extension in Busti. About 190 people presented a signed petition on Sept. 15 opposing the plan.

• During a visit to Brocton, Gov. Mario Cuomo said that while he couldn’t make a firm pledge against new state taxes next year, he insisted that was his goal. Over the previous two years, the state had raised taxes on corporations, telephone calls, gasoline, cigarettes, soda, hard liquor, car rentals and linoleum, broadened sales taxes and slowed down a scheduled income tax cut. Cuomo said one of his main problems was the Republican-controlled state Senate. “They won’t even agree not to spend more than me,” he said.

• Social Security employees in Jamestown and Olean were among those that could be forced to be furloughed if federal budget differences weren’t resolved before October 1. “We’re on official notice that come October 1st, the president sequesters funds and they’ll have to go through the process of cutting back,” said Paul Demler, Jamestown office local representative of the American Federation of Government Employees. “We’re preparing for the worst to happen,” he said of the 17 employees of the Jamestown office. Demler said the Jamestown office served Jamestown and Warren counties, where it had about 2,500 Supplemental Security Income clients and another 30,000 Social Security recipients.

Community

In Years Past

Fred Kidder, 24-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Lansing Kidder of North Clymer, was the victim of a fatal grade crossing accident on the Pennsylvania railroad when the buggy he was driving toward his home was killed by the fast Buffalo to Pittsburgh train. The young man was on his way home from a visit to his fiancee, with whom he had earlier in the evening visited the town clerks office and procured a marriage license. The horse reached home without the buggy. A search party found the buggys mangled remains near the railroad track. The crossing has long been recognized as a dangerous one.

A rumor that Henry Ford had purchased a controlling interest in Art Metal Co. of Jamestown was quickly declared untrue. The rumor was current in newspaper offices in Buffalo to such an extent that a member of The Journal staff was instructed by telephone to verify the story, if possible, that Art Metal had passed under Fords control. Charles F. Abbott of Art Metal denied the story emphatically, saying, “The Art Metal company is going right along handling its growing business on the same line as heretofore. Art Metal has been working on an auto truck bodies for some time and there were vague possibilities of the business in connection with the Jamestown organization.

A record-breaking number of students were going away to college, according to an annual list compiled by the Jamestown Evening Journal from a survey of area students. The 511 students going to college was the most in 30 years and did not include the names of almost 100 enrollments in the Jamestown Extension of Alfred University, 54 women in nursing schools outside the city or 51 young women in training at WCA Hospital. More young men than young women, 318 to 193, were going to college. Fredonia State Normal School had 53 Jamestown students attending, the most of any of the 160 schools. Allegheny College in Meadville was second with 31 students.

Nearly 60 young men had now signed up for active federal duty with Company E, which was continuing its recruiting campaign as the nation began calling up reserve units for duty in World War II. The company was under orders to mobilize at the armory in three days.

Eight people were killed in car accidents on area roads over the weekend, including four from Chautauqua County, three from Warren County, Pa., and one in the Gowanda area. Janice Kroon, 17, was the daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. George R. Kroon and was killed when the vehicle she was riding in skidded on Route 17J and hit a utility pole in Magnolia. The driver, John W. King, of Warren, was taken to WCA Hospital for observation. Robert L. Palmer and Prentice I moul, both of Ripley, were killed when their vehicle was hit by a freight train at a railroad crossing near their house.

Bob Woodward, Frewsburg Central School principal and a Falconer resident, hooked a 42-pound muskie while fishing with two Frewsburg teachers in Bemus Bay. The fish measured 52.5 inches with a 23-inch girth, making it the heaviest muskie caught during the 1965 fishing season. “I don’t know where I’m going to put him,” the elated Woodard said. “But he’s over at Vic Sawkins (Cassadaga taxidermist) being mounted.’

Chautauqua County legislators failed to pass a no-tax increase vow because it was not realistic to hold the line on taxes, Republican legislators told their Democratic Party counterparts. The legislature voted 14-11, along party lines, to recommend County Executive Andrew Goodell do his utmost to keep any additional spending to the least increase possible.

Lake access was one reason to oppose the proposed deeding of Celoron property to private individuals. Members of the Chautauqua Lake Fishing Association said deeding the property could mean future generations would lose access to the lake, as one member said the lake’s shoreline “is becoming more and more privately owned, with fewer and fewer free accesses to our lake. If we lose this free access to the lake now, it will be felt by generations to come.” One association member asked for a referendum on the proposal .The issue was tabled until the board’s Sept. 24 meeting.

Community

In Years Past

A residential housing tract on Jamestown’s west side was being planned by Arthur E. Sankey, who was asking for the city’s cooperation. Sankey’s proposed Fairmount Acres project would cover 14 acres of land on the north side of Fairmount Avenue between Lovall Avenue and the west city line. Sankey was the man responsible for building a new state armory in the city. The development would be all residential with 545 feet of frontage on Fairmount Avenue and a depth of 1,046 feet. The houses would be all of thoroughly modern construction, some of wood and others brick, and be 1.5 stories tall.

Dr. Herbert Douglas of the Fredonia Normal School faculty spoke to Lakewood High School PTA members about good study habits for students. Douglas said good study habits save time. “You are amazed at the efforts some young people make to get out of making an effort.” Douglas said it was necessary for students to develop self-mastery, to build up some confidence and learn to do unpleasant things. He also pointed out the need for sleep and exercise, that studies showed studying with a radio on didn’t help achievement and the importance of a definite place for study. “Sympathetic and helpful attitudes of parents are needful,” Douglas said.

Investigators told The Post-Journal that evidence of a disconnected natural gas line was found at a house explosion on West Seventh Street. The ensuing fire was not accidental. James Lindgren, 20, and a visitor at the time of the explosion, Deanna Robbins, 20, of Kennedy, remained in critical condition at the Erie County Medical Center. The explosion lifted the house off its foundation, according to a Jamestown Fire Department report, and collapsed the roof, making it difficult for firefighters to douse the fire burning in the debris. Lindgren and Robbins were found in the adjacent Locust Alley when firefighters arrived on the scene.

• Stepped-up enforcement of loitering complaints in the Mister Donut parking lot at 205 W. Third St. landed a Pennsylvania man in court for charges of trespassing. Vincenet E. Norton was fined $92 after police cited him for being in the parking lot, though Norton said he was simply walking across the lot to talk to his brother, a cab driver parked in the lot. Two other people arrested in roughly the same time period were fighting the charges. William MacLaughlin, Jamestown police chief, said Laurie Lang, a Mister Donut manager, had asked city police to help with crowds of as many as 70 people at a time loitering in the parking lot leaving trash all over the place and not allowing her patrons to park.

Community

In Years Past

• A special school election was scheduled in the coming week to vote on the purchase of 7.5 acres of land in Falconer that was wanted for possible future school expansion and for playground and recreation purposes. The land was to cost $4,500. There was some confusion that the school election was related to a proposal to buy land for a new park in Falconer because the tracts of land were adjacent to each other, but they were separate projects.

• Paul Sullivan and Marion Caldwell of Jamestown were out driving in an automobile when they noted a bright light southeast of Falconer. Driving in that direction they arrived at the home of Charles Willett which was on fire. The occupants of the house, Mr. Willett and his hired man, were asleep at the time and the opportune arrival of Mr. Sullivan likely saved their lives. Sullivan routed them out and in a few minutes a good sized crowd attracted by the flames arrived on the scene. The household goods on the lower floor of the house were removed but little was saved form the upper floor. The house burned down. A fire in Mayville, meanwhile, was doused by a new chemical truck which was used for the first time. The fire on the Sixbey Block, in a wooden framed building, was in the store of the Mayville Hardware and Garage company. The chemical engine did good work and the citizens feel highly satisfied with the results for if the fire had gained much headway it would have wiped out several stores.

• Enactment of an “adequate” law to facilitate consolidation of sparsely-settled towns was advocated at the Association of Towns’ School for Supervisors. Dr. MP Catherwood, a Cornell University professor, said town governments “would be tremendously strengthened with benefits to the taxpayer in terms of actual savings and better services if we had fewer towns in sparsely-settled areas with little taxable property.”

• Local churches planned to take advantage of rulings by the state Education Department that would allow students to be released from regular school sessions for one hour a week for religious education purposes. Requests for dismissal had to be made by a parent or guardian and countersigned by a church official. Several requests had already been made. “This religious education work will accomplish a good purpose,” said Clinton V. Bush, Jamestown superintendent of schools. “And we are anxious to cooperate in every possible manner.”

• A public hearing was scheduled to implement economic development activities in Chautauqua County under provisions of the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965. The law would establish a method allowing the county to use federal and state help in providing facilities and grants, calling for creation of a five-member Chautauqua Economic Development Commission as a non-profit agency of the county with authorization to be a local development district. Thus far, $101,000 had been allocated to be used in 1965-66, with watershed, soil conservation and highway projects to be administered. Highway projects would build expressways in areas not served by them and could be used to develop the Southern Tier Expressway.

• The office of public defender was approved by the Chautauqua County Board of Supervisors despite an attempt by Democratic supervisors to table the resolution for a month. Edward Beckerink, French Creek Republican and chairman of the board’s public defender committee, said the conclusion of his group was that a responsibility was owed to the county and indigents who would be represented by employees of the new department. Beckerink said the system provides the county more control over costs. Adoption of a system was required by Dec. 1.

• The Cherry Creek Town Board, which had become the first Town Board in Chautauqua County to oppose the sale of the Chautauqua County Landfill, heard more information from Right to Know, a local group campaigning to inform the public about the sale. The group was working to keep the Ellery landfill a public utility while asking for an outside and independent audit of the landfill’s operation and all claims of mismanagement. Right To Know officials, in one night, spoke to members of the Cherry Creek, Busti, Chautauqua Falconer, French Creek and North Harmony town boards.

• More than 175 picketers were involved in strikes at two Jamestown businesses. The major work stoppage was at Jamestown Metal Corp., 104 Blackstone Ave., a company with 200 employees involved in the manufacture of marine furniture, cabinets, filing drawers and products for submarines. A second strike involved employees of Watson Industries Inc., 335 Harrison St., in what was viewed as a jurisdictional dispute as to whether all plant workers should be required to join the IAMAW Local 1895. Some employees had not joined the union and wanted to continue working.

Community

In Years Past

Assistant District Attorney Warner S. Rexford was conducting a hearing in Mayville before George A. Wilson, Justice of the Peace of Chautauqua, in the case of a Hartfield woman charged with keeping a disorderly house. Two men had been arrested at the house in connection with the woman’s arrest. The officers went into the house with the wife of one of the two men an they found her husband and the Hartfield woman badly intoxicated and sleeping in the same bed, with little clothing on them and a quart bottle of whiskey. There have been complaints about the house for some time.

Floyd Woodard and Lawrence Boyle of Jamestown, men well known in police circles, were caught in a freight car of the Erie Railroad Company near the plant of the Interior Furniture Company helping themselves to the contents of the car. They were arrested. For some time, complaints had been received that cars in Jamestown have been broken into and their contents stolen. Early in June, two cases of whiskey were stolen and later sold in Celoron. In August a similar robbery resulted in the thieves getting butter, lard and whiskey. Police also charged three other people after items stolen from city businesses were found in their Steele Street home. Police also reported finding break seals when they searched Boyle and a collection of keys, including several skeleton keys, and a hammer were found on Woodard.

Fifteen young men had already applied for enlistment in Company E, which was soon to leave for training exercises ordered by President Roosevelt, and there would still be room for some 30 to 35 more in the campaign to recruit the enlisted strength of the company up to its peacetime high of 129 men. “Join a Jamestown company” is the slogan of the recruiting campaign,” said Capt. Fred W. Ellis, “and that is good advice to all Jamestown young men of military age.” The reason to join now, Lewis said, was because all recruits enlisting before the company mobilized would serve in Company E the entire period of active federal duty and would return home when that duty ends rather than possibly be drafted and assigned to units from other cities.

Mayor Leon Roberts, in response to questions about the city’s actions to help prevent the closing of Jamestown Worsted Mills, said the city made a substantial tax adjustment to help keep the plant going. Later, when the city learned the plant was in danger of closing, city officials tried to raise capital to keep them going. “It seemed that several local men were willing to put in upwards of $100,000 as working capital but the creditors insisted that part of this money be paid on the outstanding debts. The investors were not willing to do that, insisting that it be working capital,” the article stated.

Enrollment of 635 students marked the largest yet in the 15-year history of Jamestown Community College, Dean L. Douglas Fols announced the total and said an additional 100 students could be expected to register during late registration. “It is anticipated that the predicted 3 percent increase over last year’s enrollment will be reached or exceeded by the close of late registration,” Fols said. From 153 students in the opening year of Jamestown Community College in 1950 to the present enrollment, the growth of the college reflects the growing interest in and support of higher education in the community and our area,” said Dr. Albert W. Baisler, college president.

A brief but violent storm slashed a 150 foot path along a section of Plant Road in Hartfield, destroying two buildings and damaging others. The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Department said the weather disturbance may have been a small tornado. Winds knocked down a barn on the Richard Rockwell farm and ripped off part of the Rockwell’s roof while a small building owned by the Pennsylvania railroad was torn off and a small building owned by Niagara Mohawk was damaged. A number of trees, utility poles and power lines were blown down as well. There were no reports of injuries.

A ban on a chemical preserving agent called Alar was having no impact on local apple growers, most of whom reported not having used the chemical in several years. The chemical kept apples on the tree longer, increasing apple crops. “When apples are ready to fall off the tree, Mother Nature just lets them drop,” said John O’Donnell, spokesman for the New York and New England Apple Institute. “Alar gave us more latitude in the picking process.”

The New York State Board of Regents was ready to begin a debate on whether parents should have the right to pull their children out of poor-performing public schools in favor of better-performing schools. The debate came at a time when the idea of offering parents more choice on where to send their children to school was riding a crest of support within public education. Any final choice was to be months away.

Community

In Years Past

A debate at the Ashville Grange Hall saw Grant E. Neil and Alfred L. Furlow taking cracks at Leon L. Fancher and some of the Republican city, county and state committeemen. Furlow and Neil were running for Fanchers position as assembly member from the first Chautuaqua district. The candidates didn’t attack each other, instead turning their attention to Fancher, though Fancher refused to debate because he did not know of any burning issues which it was imperatively necessary to present to the enlightened electorate. Furlow, in closing, said, “there was appointed in Jamestown a man who is a leading undertaker, or thinks he is, as deputy sheriff. I don’t know why this appointment was made, unless they anticipate the death of the organization on Sept. 28 and an undertaker to be ready to bury it.”

Nine well known and highly indignant business men were before Police Justice Maharon in police court and the owner of each machine was fined $3 after they were apprehended the night before by police officers for running their automobiles with lights that were not dimmed in violation of the ordinance adopted in June by the Jamestown Common Council. The department started around 8 p.m. and no one was spared. Everyone who showed dazzling lights was picked up. One officer brought in his own uncle. One prominent business businessman protested vigorously that he did not know what a dimmer was and that he intended to sue the dealer who sold him a machine without a dimmer, but after leaving headquarters the lights of his machine were dimmed before it started.

In Lakewood news, only seven votes were cast at a special election to issue $48,000 in bonds to complete the WPA sewer project under way in the village. Max Ehmke, Lakewood police chief, warned the public there would be no more warnings for those caught speeding in the village. Rather than a courtesy card given to many during the summer months, Ehmke said speeders would now be summarily taken before a Justice of the Peace. He also warned bicyclists riding at night to carry a white or yellow light. Those who failed to do so could have their bikes seized, Ehmke said.

Jamestown officials continued searching for the person or persons responsible for several fires after a fire broke out at a vacant home at 204 Lafayette St. The fire broke out under the ground floor porch of the home and smoldered for several hours in a tin sheath that had been torn loose from the house and, after the fire was ignited, placed back into place by the firebug. Local authorities were taking every precaution to guard against further incendiary fires that could cause loss of life or serious property damage, with fire chief Rudolph Swanson warning the city’s manufacturers to maintain an alert watch against fire until the firebug was caught.

The mystery of the Dean Richmond, reportedly one of North America’s sunken treasure ships, was reportedly to be solved soon. Richard Voigt of a diving and marine construction firm on Grand Island, said he located the Great Lakes freighter at the bottom of Lake Erie. Treasurer hunters had been looking for the ship since it sank Oct. 14-15, 1893, fueled by rumors the ship was loaded with gold and silver. The ship was the fourth of five bearing the same name to sink after leaving Toledo. None of her crewmen survived, but several bodies and other debris washed up near Van Buren Point and Dunkirk.

Busti Town Board members discussed the possibility of moving all of the town administrative offices into the Lakewood Village Hall building. Lakewood Mayor Roland C. Rapp joined Town Supervisor Joseph Gerace and the Town Board in reviewing the idea. Rapp said if it became a reality a separate building to house the fire department would be constructed adjoining the south section of the village hall building. The town board was to study the possibilities, including planning the space and the cost.

Community

In Years Past

• Chautauqua Institution reported a good summer season for its summer resort business and for its educational enterprises. Financial office reports the gate totals within $3,000 of the total figures of last season, which was reported to be an excellent season. Such indications, compared with the poor season experienced at other resorts, would demonstrate that the people of the middle west were not seriously affected by the war scare or the rainy weather which continued for the latter half of July and the first half of August.

• Falconer schools opened for the year with a large attendance. Twenty-three students registered in the senior class, which promises to be the largest in the history of the school.

• Jamestown Common Council members continued debate of paving Chestnut Street. The board of estimate and review said the petition for paving Chestnut Street had been examined and contained the names of a majority of property owners. It recommended part of the street be paved, the upper part with asphalt block and the lower part with brick, and was approved. W.H. Fairbanks appeared before the council and called attention to the increase of vicious dogs in the city. He said he had eight sheep killed by dogs and told of others who owned stock which had been injured or killed by dogs he claims came from the city. He asked that something be done and informed the aldermen he would hold the city liable for the sheep that had been killed. Mr. Olson said the city should have a more rigid ordinance in regards to the dogs and moved that the matter be referred to the ordinance committee.

• A routine Jamestown City Council meeting became anything but when councilman Robert Godfrey criticized Mayor Fred H. Dunn over a six-member committee handling a survey to set pay scales for city workers. Dunn suggested Godfrey was amenable to influence from people who weren’t city officials, wondering if Godfrey would change his mind and support the commission’s decisions “after your Saturday morning meetings with others who are not a part of the duly constituted city government.” Godfrey said he might change his decision after such a meeting, but only if presented with sound reasons. “I am not anybody’s pawn,” Godfrey protested. “I am not the pawn of the city chairman or of Mr. Cusimano. When I change my mind it is because I have been given a sound reason fro doing so.”

• A Jamestown man was one of 12 military flyers to now hold credentials as the nation’s newest space pilots. Capt. Gerald D. Larson, 32, and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert M. Larson was a research pilot whose next assignment would be to the Tactical Air Command’s Fighter Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. Larson came to Edwards Air Force Base, site of the Air Force’s Aerospace Research Pilot School, after a year as an F-4C Phantom instructor pilot. He had also spent two years as part of the Thunderbirds six-man precision flying demonstration team, three years with fighter bomber squadrons at Bunker Hill and England air force bases and a year of similar duty in Korea.

• A group calling for changes in the county’s Child Protection Service system believed a successful program in Maryland might help Chautauqua County. The county chapter of Victims of Child Abuse Laws asked County Executive Andrew Goodell to look into Maryland’s Intensive Family Services program, which helped children through counseling and assistance provided to families by social worker/parent aide teams. “In the last two weeks I’ve received a number of phone calls from desperate people who have been devastated by CPS, intervention and the whims of caseworkers,” said Barbara Lyn Lapp, Victims of Child Abuse Laws president. Goodell agreed to look into the program and requested data on it.

• Russ Brady, owner of Brady’s WIndow Cleaning of Falconer, told The Post-Journal about the success of his business and how he got started. Brady’s brother worked for a Jamestown window cleaner during high school and started working when an employee fell and broke his leg. After nearly closing the business in favor of working at Crawford Furniture, Brady kept on with the help of his wife, Annette, with the only buildings Brady was incapable of handling being City Hall, the federal building on Third Street and the Holiday Inn on Fourth Street. Asked the age-old question of who cleans the windows at home with two professional window washers in the home, Brady responded, “We both do them.”

Local News

In Years Past

• Chautauqua Institution reported a good summer season for its summer resort business and for its educational enterprises. Financial office reports the gate totals within $3,000 of the total figures of last season, which was reported to be an excellent season. Such indications, compared with the poor season experienced at other resorts, would demonstrate that the people of the middle west were not seriously affected by the war scare or the rainy weather which continued for the latter half of July and the first half of August.

• Falconer schools opened for the year with a large attendance. Twenty-three students registered in the senior class, which promises to be the largest in the history of the school.

• Jamestown Common Council members continued debate of paving Chestnut Street. The board of estimate and review said the petition for paving Chestnut Street had been examined and contained the names of a majority of property owners. It recommended part of the street be paved, the upper part with asphalt block and the lower part with brick, and was approved. W.H. Fairbanks appeared before the council and called attention to the increase of vicious dogs in the city. He said he had eight sheep killed by dogs and told of others who owned stock which had been injured or killed by dogs he claims came from the city. He asked that something be done and informed the aldermen he would hold the city liable for the sheep that had been killed. Mr. Olson said the city should have a more rigid ordinance in regards to the dogs and moved that the matter be referred to the ordinance committee.

• A routine Jamestown City Council meeting became anything but when councilman Robert Godfrey criticized Mayor Fred H. Dunn over a six-member committee handling a survey to set pay scales for city workers. Dunn suggested Godfrey was amenable to influence from people who weren’t city officials, wondering if Godfrey would change his mind and support the commission’s decisions “after your Saturday morning meetings with others who are not a part of the duly constituted city government.” Godfrey said he might change his decision after such a meeting, but only if presented with sound reasons. “I am not anybody’s pawn,” Godfrey protested. “I am not the pawn of the city chairman or of Mr. Cusimano. When I change my mind it is because I have been given a sound reason fro doing so.”

• A Jamestown man was one of 12 military flyers to now hold credentials as the nation’s newest space pilots. Capt. Gerald D. Larson, 32, and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert M. Larson was a research pilot whose next assignment would be to the Tactical Air Command’s Fighter Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. Larson came to Edwards Air Force Base, site of the Air Force’s Aerospace Research Pilot School, after a year as an F-4C Phantom instructor pilot. He had also spent two years as part of the Thunderbirds six-man precision flying demonstration team, three years with fighter bomber squadrons at Bunker Hill and England air force bases and a year of similar duty in Korea.

• A group calling for changes in the county’s Child Protection Service system believed a successful program in Maryland might help Chautauqua County. The county chapter of Victims of Child Abuse Laws asked County Executive Andrew Goodell to look into Maryland’s Intensive Family Services program, which helped children through counseling and assistance provided to families by social worker/parent aide teams. “In the last two weeks I’ve received a number of phone calls from desperate people who have been devastated by CPS, intervention and the whims of caseworkers,” said Barbara Lyn Lapp, Victims of Child Abuse Laws president. Goodell agreed to look into the program and requested data on it.

• Russ Brady, owner of Brady’s WIndow Cleaning of Falconer, told The Post-Journal about the success of his business and how he got started. Brady’s brother worked for a Jamestown window cleaner during high school and started working when an employee fell and broke his leg. After nearly closing the business in favor of working at Crawford Furniture, Brady kept on with the help of his wife, Annette, with the only buildings Brady was incapable of handling being City Hall, the federal building on Third Street and the Holiday Inn on Fourth Street. Asked the age-old question of who cleans the windows at home with two professional window washers in the home, Brady responded, “We both do them.”

Community

In Years Past

• Lewis Timley was badly injured in a motorcycle accident near Westfield while attempting to ride down the Reverse curve on Volusia Road, coming into the village from the south. He lost control of the motorcycle, dashed over a high bank and fractured his skull in the fall. He was brought to Westfield and then sent to Brooks Hospital in Dunkirk, where it was thought he will recover though sight in his left eye may be permanently impaired. It was thought Teemley was riding from his home near Sherman to the Labor Day celebration in Westfield.

• Between 1,500 and 2,000 people attended motorcycle events in Warren at the Fairgrounds track under the auspices of the Jamestown Motorcycle Club. The only marring feature of the afternoon was an accident of Axel Anderson of Jamestown, who broke his leg when he crashed into the fence in front of the grandstand just before the races started. He was taken to the emergency hospital and was expected to be laid up for several weeks. Winners purses for the races ranged from $5 to $25 depending on the length of the race.

• An intensive hunt for a firebug or crank who is believed to have set fires in three city-owned properties within the last 36 hours was in progress. While the hunt was beginning, firefighters were still wetting down the embers of a blaze which virtually destroyed the old Diamond Furniture Factory on Taylor Street. The building had been vacant since it was abandoned as a warehouse for the Clark Hardware Company in late July. The fire marked the first time in the city’s history that off-shift firefighters were called in twice within 24 hours. The fire was deemed to have started on the ground floor near the foot of an elevator shaft. A fire had also broken out in the old Robertson factory on Steele Street which kept firefighters on the scene for about three hours. The Robertson factory fire was similar in origin to a fire at the old Broadhead Worsted Mill on East First Street. In each case, the blazes broke out in exactly the right spot to wreak complete destruction in the various buildings, were it not for efficient fire fighting.

• Army Chief Warrant Officer Anthony Cosimano of Jamestown recently received the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with silver star in a presentation at the Hue Citadel. Cosimano was credited with knocking out a Viet Cong mortar emplacement in direct support of an attack on a Vietnamese artillery outpost 20 miles northwest of Da Nang. Cosimano had been in Vietnam for 11 months and flown more than 500 combat missions flying with the “Cobra” armed helicopter platoon. His previous decorations included the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Vietnamese Cross with the Palm Leaf.

• A high-speed chase around Chautauqua Lake that involved six police agencies and a state conservation officer landed James J. Peters of Kane, Pa., in the county jail in lieu of $520 bail on seven charges placed by the Falconer-based New York State Police. Retainer warrants charged that Peters drove more than 100 miles an hour on Hunt Road, drove through two stop signs and a red blinker light in North Harmony and drove 75 miles an hour on Main Street, Mayville. The incident began when Celoron police officer Lyle Gleason tried to pull over a speeding vehicle. Gleason called for help from the Lakewood Police, and officer James Murray took the chase on to Hunt Road at more than 100 miles an hour. Murray then called the county Sheriff’s Department to have a road block set up by Mayville Police at Harmon’s Steak House. The driver eluded the road block before finally being caught.

• Allegation of mismanagement of the Chautauqua County Landfill by a local environmental group were grossly inaccurate, according to county officials. A local group called Right to Know had said landfill staff increased from 17 to 43 people during the last 18 months, though the county noted 34 employees were working in the landfill 18 months ago. The increase was for implementation of a recycling program, user-fee system and technical construction requirements that had all began within the past few months. A few days earlier, a County Legislature committee entertained a sales offer for the landfill.

• A four-year term for lawmakers would not be on the November election ballot after Chautauqua County legislators rejected a potential charter change. Joe Trusso, a longtime Jamestown Democrat, said people didn’t want to be bothered with the charter change and would rather the county work to lower taxes. Thomas J. Harte, a Lakewood Republican, had worked for months on the proposal and said he was disappointed that it failed. He said the four-year term would allow legislators to spend more time working for their constituents.

Community

In Years Past

Bids for the general construction on the proposed municipal stadium in East Jamestown were received by the City Council’s Highway Committee, but no action was taken pending a study of how to pay for the project. Mayor Leon Roberts said he would urge an immediate start on the stadium so it could be used when the PONY League opened its 1941 season in the spring. A labor group attended the meeting to protest the use of NYA employees to build a fence around the stadium site. The labor official said the labor groups didn’t mind the NYA youth used on unskilled work, but objected to their use on skilled work that could go to skilled union laborers.

A citizens committee was studying plans to refinance and reopen the closed Jamestown Worsted Mills. The Jamestown Worsted Mills opened in 1873 and grew into one of the largest mills and most important industries in Jamestown. The depression after World War I affected the worsted industry more than most industries throughout the East Coast and forced borrowing for the Jamestown mill to continue operation before it eventually closed.

Jamestown Community College was to begin airing a new educational channel, ETV, in partnership with Paragon Cable. The channel was to air on Channel 11 locally. The purpose of the program, said R. Theodore Smith, JCC dean of academic affairs, was to provide educational programs for people who can’t or aren’t attending college but want to keep learning. “During the next decade, people will be changing the way in which they learn things,” Smith said. “It will be extremely important to have different types of learning systems and ETV is one of those.”

A foursome of vacationing Jamestown residents returned from Maine and said they had a close encounter of their very favorite kind when they attended church services in Kennebunkport, Maine, coming face to face with President George W. Bush and Dr. Billy Graham. “I’ll tell you, it just about did us in to be sitting there in this little old church with the president of the United States,” said Charles Hendrickson.

Community

In Years Past

The home of Sam. J. Willets was damaged by fire on Saturday night, causing an estimated $500 damage. The home was located on Avalon Boulevard, Fairmount Park. Willets and a neighbor and fellow Journal employee, William Jenkins, went into the house to fight the fire, which was confined to the cellar before the house could be destroyed. Willets and his family were in bed when the fire started, but Willets couldn’t sleep and was aroused by the flames. He got his family outside and then started throwing water on the flames. No fire alarm was turned in because the first burst of flames burned the telephone wires off of the house. A kerosene water heater was the cause.

Grape growers were asking for federal assistance, according to a letter issued by the secretary of the Chautauqua and Lake Erie Fruit Growers Association, in creating a market report system. The service was to be based on a system used by peach growers consisting of a telegram each night stating the number of carloads shipped the previous day from all loading stations, the destination of shipments and the number of carloads on the track in the chief market centers. Since USDA bureau chief Charles J. Brand hadn’t responded to individual requests to extend the service to grape growers, the local growers decided to make a united effort. “He may not be pleased with this publicity, but results for the grape growers are what counts for us,” the group wrote in its letter.

A recruiting campaign was to begin immediately to bring the local peacetime unit’s its enlisted strength to 129 men. Company E of Jamestown was to mobilize Sept. 16 for active federal service as part of the 174th Infantry, 44th Division.

Jamestown business indicators for the past eight months showed an increase over a year ago, according to a Chamber of Commerce study. The three largest increases were in electrical industrial output, which increased 24.8 percent; outbound car loadings on the JW & NW and Erie railroads, up 23.1 percent; and factory payrolls, which increased 20.7 percent. The largest decreases were in building permits, which decreased 18.7 percent. Encouragement was found in the fact that a year-over-year comparison showed a 27.9 percent increase in building permits.

Chautauqua County’s long-controversial Ellery landfill continued to occupy the spotlight. William Gillies, deputy finance director, told members of the county’s Environmental Committee the landfill could raise revenues by increasing rates, something necessary for the landfill to stay in business, and could save money by closing one day per week. Current operations were losing $4,000 a day. Joe Zingale of Waste Management of Western New York said selling the landfill to his company would guarantee 30 years of use by county residents with no fee increase. The sale offer was for $14 million, a number which could be increased to $18.2 million with royalties.

Eric LaCross of Gerry was caught in a photo by The Post-Journal photographer Richard W. Hallberg riding his horse for the roughly one mile distance from his home to his job at Kenneth Asel in Kimball Stand. LaCross said he decided to use the horse because his truck was in the shop for repairs. “I can ride this horse for a dollar a day,” he said. “And this is also a protest against the high price of gas.”

Community

In Years Past

The editor of the National Magazine of Boston spoke to those attending the Ellery Town Picnic at Midway Park for more than an hour. He spoke to the group in 1914 as well. “Returning to you after one year, I confess to feeling the allurements and charm of Chautauqua Lake and the neighbourliness of Ellery township. During the past year it has been my fortune to travel across the continent twice, and from the lakes to the gulf once. The impressions gathered during the year suggest a talk on Men and Affairs of the Hour,” he said.

There was to be no formal observance of Labor Day in Jamestown in 1915 other than a general suspension of business. The various city labor organizations were planning to go to Buffalo to participate in the celebration of the holiday there. The Jamestown party, which was believed to be several hundred strong, was to make the trip on a special lake shore train. The 13th Separate Company was accompanying the party and would lead the Jamestown division in the parade.

Chautauqua County was one of eight counties in the state to reduce bonded debt from 1928 to 1938, according to a Citizens Public Expenditure Survey Inc. of New York State. “With every tax dollar we can spare needed for national defense, we find our local government in New York state bogged down with heavy debts, requiring millions in taxes each year for retirement and interest payments,” said Walter M. Franklin, president of the survey.

Opening day registration of Jamestown Public Schools students totaled 7,485 students, a decrease of 157, with the Lincoln Junior High School having the largest decrease of students of 63. The largest increase was in the Falconer Street school, which saw its population increase by 33 students. Of interest to school officials was post-graduate enrollment, which saw 52 girls and 23 boys. Boys typically outnumbered girls in post-graduate enrollment.

Dr. Lyle D. Franzen, Chautauqua County Health Commissioner, notified Jamestown officials than an answer to complaints made previously concerning sanitary violations at the city dump will be expected for a hearing on Sept. 21. Frank R. Franco, City Council president, said Franzen asked for information about what was being done to correct operation of the dump and to show case why Jamestown’s case shouldn’t be sent to the district attorney’s office. City officials had been notified earlier in the summer that liquids from waste materials deposited at the dump were seeping through the ground and causing pollution in the Chadakoin River. Dump for waste and refuse disposal under the sanitary landfill method started two years ago also hadn’t received necessary state approvals.

A two-day air show sponsored by the Jamestown Jaycees began today with practically every type of aircraft, with the possible exception of a flying saucer, expected to be on display at the airport on North Main Street. Among the military planes on display were two U.S. Navy subchasers, including one piloted by Lt. Allan Johnson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry E. Johnson of Jamestown.

Two people were presumed drowned in Lake Erie. Charles H. Ballagh, 80, of Irving and Charles L. Ballagh, 52, of Hamburg were rescued after their small fishing boat sank Sunday. The elder Ballagh’s brother, James, of Irving, and a friend, Thomas Tiberi, of Buffalo, were not rescued and presumed to be drowned. They were fishing when the boat began taking on water. Within minutes the stern of the craft sank and threw all of the men into the water.

The announcement that Argersinger’s was closing was not a surprise and wasn’t expected to have much effect on the city’s business climate, said Sam Teresi, Jamestown development director. Ronald Olinsky, company vice president, said sales in the store never met expectations and the lack of adequate parking in the downtown area contributed to the decision to close. Teresi said parking problems may have had something to do with closing, but “I don’t buy for one minute that it was what single-handedly put them out of business.”

Community

In Years Past

Evidence of the progress of the work to eliminate the Erie grade crossing may be noted at the foot of West Second Street, where railroad workers were trying to raise the tracks in three places before digging a subway underneath the tracks. “The construction of the subway will require considerable time as first of all the contractors will have to drive piling to brace the tracks while the excavation is being made and while driving this piling and making the excavation they cannot interfere with the traffic on the main line of the road.” Much of that work was to take place during the winter.

Attendance at the Chautauqua County Fair broke records as men, women and children poured into the fair grounds by automobile, street car, horse-drawn vehicle and on foot. “It was the kind of a crowd that the fair management had been hoping – perhaps praying for – for the fair this year was an expensive proposition and planned under discouraging circumstances. …” Jamestown was well represented, that is the representatives of the big growing city over south of the ridge thought the representation was an excellent one, according to reports.

Two Jamestown stores were preparing to expand. Lockwoods was moving to West Fourth and Cherry Streets to occupy its own building after being located the past 15 years in the Gokey Building. The company was established at 106 E. Second St. by the late M.A. Lockwood in 1892. The Murphy Company, meanwhile, was planning a large addition to its floor space in the Gokey Building on East Third Street. The Murphy Company was a five and 10 cent store that opened in 1931 and expanded steadily throughout its history.

The Fenton Guards were called into federal service by a presidential order. Scenes reminiscent of 1898, 1916 and 1917 were repeated at the armory as Company E went to Fort Drum for a year’s training. No orders had been received at the armory but they were expected soon, with armory staff preparing to leave.

A Bemus Point housewife who is the mother of five children offered to contribute her $1.10 state income tax refund to help New York state balance its more than $1 billion budget. The offer from Mrs. Michael Ceci, R.D. 1, Bemus Point, was politely refused in a personal letter from State Comptroller Arthur Levitt. Ceci sent the check to Albany in August, noting the increase in auto license fees and the imposition of a state sales tax and saying she thought the state needed the money more than she did. “Your balanced budget will then allow me to balance mine,” she wrote. “My budget must include five children, my husband, myself and a handicapped uncle.”

Three men charged with second-degree assault in connection with the beating of a Jamestown police officer were ordered held for a Chautauqua County Grand Jury. Merrill D. Singer, 26, Santo F. Rizzo, 28, and Anthony F. Rizzo, 23, were accused of beating Patrolman Raymond Brentley, 37, earlier in the week. Brentley appeared in court on crutches after having been hospitalized for more than two days following the attack.

Community

In Years Past

Evidence of the progress of the work to eliminate the Erie grade crossing may be noted at the foot of West Second Street, where railroad workers were trying to raise the tracks in three places before digging a subway underneath the tracks. “The construction of the subway will require considerable time as first of all the contractors will have to drive piling to brace the tracks while the excavation is being made and while driving this piling and making the excavation they cannot interfere with the traffic on the main line of the road.” Much of that work was to take place during the winter.

Attendance at the Chautauqua County Fair broke records as men, women and children poured into the fair grounds by automobile, street car, horse-drawn vehicle and on foot. “It was the kind of a crowd that the fair management had been hoping – perhaps praying for – for the fair this year was an expensive proposition and planned under discouraging circumstances. …” Jamestown was well represented, that is the representatives of the big growing city over south of the ridge thought the representation was an excellent one, according to reports.

Two Jamestown stores were preparing to expand. Lockwoods was moving to West Fourth and Cherry Streets to occupy its own building after being located the past 15 years in the Gokey Building. The company was established at 106 E. Second St. by the late M.A. Lockwood in 1892. The Murphy Company, meanwhile, was planning a large addition to its floor space in the Gokey Building on East Third Street. The Murphy Company was a five and 10 cent store that opened in 1931 and expanded steadily throughout its history.

The Fenton Guards were called into federal service by a presidential order. Scenes reminiscent of 1898, 1916 and 1917 were repeated at the armory as Company E went to Fort Drum for a year’s training. No orders had been received at the armory but they were expected soon, with armory staff preparing to leave.

A Bemus Point housewife who is the mother of five children offered to contribute her $1.10 state income tax refund to help New York state balance its more than $1 billion budget. The offer from Mrs. Michael Ceci, R.D. 1, Bemus Point, was politely refused in a personal letter from State Comptroller Arthur Levitt. Ceci sent the check to Albany in August, noting the increase in auto license fees and the imposition of a state sales tax and saying she thought the state needed the money more than she did. “Your balanced budget will then allow me to balance mine,” she wrote. “My budget must include five children, my husband, myself and a handicapped uncle.”

Three men charged with second-degree assault in connection with the beating of a Jamestown police officer were ordered held for a Chautauqua County Grand Jury. Merrill D. Singer, 26, Santo F. Rizzo, 28, and Anthony F. Rizzo, 23, were accused of beating Patrolman Raymond Brentley, 37, earlier in the week. Brentley appeared in court on crutches after having been hospitalized for more than two days following the attack.

Community

In Years Past

A chauffeur who worked for Dr. C. Franklin Mohr of Providence, Rhode Island, told police he left the gun some time ago in Jamestown, where he had been employed. The chauffeur, George W. Healls, told police he owned a .38 caliber revolver that was alleged to have been used in the murder of Mohr and his companion, Emily Burger. Three men later signed confessions saying they were paid by Elizabeth Mohr to kill her husband. Healls was part of the plot, allegedly stalling the vehicle in an area where the killers were ready to carry out their contract.

The month of August was a record-breaker for births in Jamestown, according to Clement B. Jones, city clerk, who said the 101 birth certificates filed broke the previous record by nine. Only 41 deaths occurred in the city, and, “so it is evident that there is no race suicide in this city, as the number of births are more than twice the number of deaths.”

Cassadaga voters defeated a new village hall and fire station referendum, 204 to 73. The site for the new building was a park at the intersection of Route 60 and Maple Avenue. Money for the project had been authorized by the village board before the issue was presented to voters. The present fire house in the village had been condemned several years ago. Construction was opposed by a number of residents who said it would interfere with local business and detract from the appearance of the community.

Four more people reported seeing an object in the sky near South Dayton. Gladys Smith, 54, Loretta Noble, 31, Lynn Smith, 11, and Keith Smith, 10, said they saw an object while they were on Aldrich Road. It was reddish orange, they said, and the boys claimed the object’s reflection hurt their eyes. The Smith woman was quoted as saying that as the object grew smaller it became bright blue in color. The four were interviewed by Ralph Butcher, South Dayton police chief, and Trooper Jerry DeLong of the Falconer State police patrol.

Community

In Years Past

• The Lake House, a hotel business on West Eighth Street, was sold by Henry A. Hotchkiss to William F. Stormer. The deal did not include the real estate, though Stormer did purchase all of the business, furnishings and equipment. Hotchkiss managed the property for 12 years while also serving two terms on the Jamestown Common Council. Stormer was connected with the Eagle Foundry in the city but had been with Hotchkiss working in the hotel for several years. The Hotchkiss family planned to move from their home near the hotel to another home in the city as well as take a long trip to the Pacific Coast.

• H.E. Babcock of Ithaca, assistant state leader of the state Farm Bureau, spent two days in Chautauqua County with Hawley B. Rogers of Chautauqua, Farm Bureau manager. He said Chautauqua County needed a larger organization to begin work in areas where the Farm Bureau was not already active. One manager, he said, even as effective and energetic as Mr. Rogers, can’t cover the entire county. To reach all parts of the county at one time, he said, would require active committeemen in the various communities, even in those where there are no granges, and outside the village centers.

• Quality Markets opened a new supermarket at 125 Chautauqua Ave., Lakewood, with a grand opening ceremony lasting from Wednesday through Saturday. Rollin J. Reading, Quality Markets president, said the new supermarket was designed up to the latest trends of the retail food industry. The opening of Quality Markets marked the beginning of a new business area in the heart of Lakewood which included Niagara Mohawk Corp. and a First National Bank branch adjacent to the Quality Markets store. Quality opened its first store in Brooklyn Square, Jamestown, in 1913. In 1963, Quality built a new modern 120,000 square foot distribution center on Jackson Avenue in West Ellicott and had 36 Quality Markets locations in Western New York and Pennsylvania.

• Recommendations for improving the flow of traffic in downtown Jamestown contained the promise of many changes in driving habits and patterns, though the City Council’s Public Safety Committee rejected one recommendation out of hand and gave no indication that others would be acted upon. John Paladino, Jamestown police chief, said eliminating parking on the north side of Third Street would speed the flow of traffic west and ease congestion during peak traffic periods. Paladino also recommended no left turns on Third Street from Lafayette to Pine streets, relocating bus parking and removing parking meters on the south side of Third Street from Clinton Street to Prendergast Avenue. This, Paladino said, “would enable us to determine if Third Street should remain a two-way street or become a one-way street.”

• Argersinger’s Department Store, 114 W. Third St., was going out of business, according to unofficial reports reaching The Post-Journal. The store opened in Jamestown in November 1987 in the building that formerly housed Bigelow’s Department Store. Bigelow’s closed in 1987 after nearly a century in Jamestown. Both Mark Nelson, Downtown Jamestown Development Corp. executive director, and Sam Teresi, city development director, said they had unofficially heard about the closing but reserved comment until Argersinger’s announced the closing. The store had been struggling for some time, prompting predictions of its demise from other downtown merchants. It was also announced the Landmark Restaurant, 263 Fluvanna Ave., would close for the final time on Sunday. The restaurant had been at the same location since the 1960s. The land was to be used to develop a parking lot.

• A Hispanic tutoring program was to begin on Sept. 10. The Joint Neighborhood Project’s Hispanic Outreach announced a program to help Spanish-speaking people in Chautauqua County by helping Hispanic people learn English and help them prepare for the Spanish GED test. “The program is needed within the community to deal with the aspect of tutoring one-on-one because Hispanics aren’t any different from anybody else. Nobody wants to look bad in front of others, so we will learn without the inclination of a classroom environment being there,” said the Rev. Everett Seastrum of Epworth United Methodist Church.