In 1915, Gov. Charles S. Whitman visited Jamestown, with former Judge Jerome B. Fisher speaking to the governor. Whitman arrived at 1:45 p.m., was entertained at the Hotel Samuels and then was taken on an automobile tour of the city before a reception at the Norden Club. Whitman had spent the night in Dunkirk before a swift automobile trip to Jamestown. “… we are proud of our city as it is today; of our diversified industries; our marts of trade; our public improvements; our churches and schools; but above all of our homes in which dwell a contented, enlightened, happy and patriotic people,”. Fisher said to Whitman. “We realize, however, that no community, state or nation is worth while, that is content to take for its motto, ‘Let well enough alone.’ Such a motto robs men and communities of initiative and progress – it is the watchword of decay.”

Frank G. Curtis, the Progressive Prohibition or Prohibition Progressive candidate for the assembly of first Chautauqua district, announced he had spent $2,266.01 for his campaign. “Most fellows would kick like a steer if they spent nearly three thousand dollars for a fifteen hundred dollar office and then lacked nearly three thousand votes of making connections,” the Journal wrote. “But Mr. Curtis doesn’t kick. On the contrary he itemizes his expenditures in a calm and philosophical frame of mind and at times indulges in comment that might term the concentrated essence of sarcasm.”

In 1940, Jamestown’s efforts to secure deeds to 4,019 properties that had already fallen into the city’s hands for non-payment of taxes was taking a step forward as the city launched a mass foreclosure action against the properties. It was estimated the wholesale foreclosure would cost the city $4,000 compared to the old procedure of advertising a description of each property, which would have cost $18,000. The filing would yield the city titles to the properties acceptable to private purchasers when the city attempts to restore the properties to a revenue-producing status, according to Samuel C. Alessi, corporation counsel. Except in cases where former owners had consented to give quit-claim deeds, the city was unable to provide tax sale purchasers good title to property.

A panel discussion on guidance, led by Principal Ralph E. Rhodes, was presented by the PTA of Central School 1 of the towns of Ellery, Ellicott, Gerry and Stockton. Preceding the discussions, Rhodes mentioned some of the reason why guidance was needed: the greatest number of criminals have an age of 19 years, more pupils were continuing in school, unemployment, welfare relief, the cost of knowledge in dollars and in plans, energy and ambition, people dislike having to live within their means, the trend to educate oneself and others with a theory which is not a reality, more privileges but less responsibility, respect for the law was diminishing, dissatisfaction, unrest and lack of purpose. Ward Rodwell, guidance and vocational teacher at the Chautauqua High School, said guidance starts at home and some of the best guidance teachers were mothers. “The community is responsible for the activities of its citizenship and that if it is desired that the young people in the community have the right type of environment, to be in contact with the proper type of activities, the community must provide such constructive activities,” Rodwell said.

In 1965, a radioactive Cobalt unit for treatment of cancer was soon to be a reality at WCA Hospital thanks to a fundraising drive by the Jamestown Area Jaycees, which was cooperating with the hospital’s Donation Days to raise money for the equipment. The hospital was in the midst of a $3 million building and improvements program, with an especially designed room built for the Cobalt unit. About half of the cost had been covered by gifts, and the Jaycees were working to fundraise for the rest.

The passenger cruise ship Yarmouth Castle was destroyed by a fierce, quick-spreading fire that left 88 people missing. While none of people on board were area residents, The Post-Journal noted that the ship was familiar to hundreds of Jamestown area residents who had traveled on the ship. The three-deck luxury ship carried 546 passengers and crew.

In 1990, the Chautauqua County Legislature was at an impasse in adopting its budget. No progress was made on adopting a spending plan during a meeting of the legislature’s leadership. Frederick Larson, D-Jamestown and assistant minority leader, told The Post-Journal that legislature Democrats were in favor of County Executive Andrew Goodell’s proposed budget in the absence of other options while Republicans, under the direction of Alfred F. Jones, R-Mayville and majority leader, said the county should adopt an alternate budget presented by the Finance Committee. That budget was voted down by a 12-12 vote at the Oct. 24 legislature meeting. Larson said the budget’s biggest issue was “how high the property taxes are going to be. … The Republicans in the County Legislature want to double the taxes and the Democrats certainly aren’t going to support that.”

When at least 60 gallons of diesel fuel spilled from a tractor-trailer rig making a delivery at the Quality Markets warehouse in Celoron, employees at the warehouse rallied to prevent substantial amounts of the fuel from making its way into the nearby creek. “They really did a great job of reacting to the situation,” said Ron Hasson, Celoron fire chief. The leak ran through the warehouse parking lot toward the creek. Warehouse employees contained the fuel, preventing all but a negligible amount from making its way into a creek that feeds into Chautauqua Lake.

In Years Past

In 1915, an occasion of more than ordinary interest took place in Gowanda when three couples met to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their marriages. On November 8, 1865, Henry Rich, now of Jamestown, married Ellen Wells; Wilbur Merrill, now of Perrysburg, married Almira Wells; and George W. Van Vlack, also of Perrysburg, married Mariette Merrill. The three boys were chums. Merrill and VanVlack, having just returned from the Civil War, together with Rich, decided to get married. They left their homes, each driving a horse and buggy, and drove to the respective homes of their future wives, with the understanding they were all to meet at noon at the Harrison House in Forestville. They did, and were married by the Rev. R.E. Miller.

The Chautauqua County Board of Supervisors approved drilling a gas well on the county farm in Dewittville that it hoped could furnish enough gas for lighting and other uses. Other wells in the area had been drilled within a few rods of the county farm that, if owned by the county would have provided gas for light, cooking and heating water boilers. The cost was to be $2,000 and be included in the tax levy for the coming year.

In 1940, the Army Corps of Engineers approved flood control projects along Chautauqua Lake and the Chadakoin River. Jamestown Mayor Leon F. Roberts received word from the Cincinnati office of the War Department, Division of Engineers, that a federal project was recommended along the lake’s borders and the Chadakoin River. Work had started on a dredging project in the Chadakoin River between the boat landing and the Warner Dam. When the flood control project was being studied earlier in the year, many Chautauqua Lake communities said they were willing to cooperate with the city of Jamestown but none had money available. Roberts said he hoped the federal aid for the work would prompt them to reconsider.

Gale-like winds ripped left-over roofing material from the roof of City Hall, nearly missing a passerby as it fell, and ripping the City Hall flag to shreds. G. Harry Nelson, police chief, and Sheriff Roy L. Chadwick were in Nelson’s office when they heard what sounded like an explosion a few feet from the chief’s window. In West First Street, near Institute Street, the wind snapped an electric light pole in two. When police were summoned they found the upper half of the pole dangling in midair, suspended from the wires it was supposed to support.

In 1965, recording sessions that would carry the voices of folks at home to servicemen, exchange students, families of Peace Corps workers and foreign brides located all over the world would begin soon. The fourth annual ‘Christmas Messages from Home’ project was a gift of the Chautauqua County chapter of the American Red Cross, which was arranging reservations to use equipment in the chapter house on Fourth Street. Entire families were welcome to send a message of cheer on green discs that ran for 7.5 minutes on each side. The 15 minute session could include anything from news about the family to the sound of a friendly bark from the serviceman’s bark.

New ground-to-air radio relay equipment being installed by the Federal Aviation Agency at the Jamestown Municipal Airport would be ready for use in the next week. The equipment made it possible for pilots of planes approaching or leaving the airport to obtain flight instructions from an area control officer stationed in Erie. An FAA technician was pictured in the Nov. 12 edition of The Post-Journal showing Peter Kote, chairman, and Dorothy Ketchy, Municipal Airport Commission member, the equipment.

In 1990, four flu immunization clinics originally scheduled for the previous week in Cattaraugus County were rescheduled because the county had a shortage of the vaccine. “In July, the Health Department ordered 2,750 doses of flu vaccine to conduct the clinics,” said William McIlwaine, Cattaraugus County Health Department administrator. “We have only received 1,000 doses at this point and, as a result, had to cancel four clinics for the week.”

The area was the recipient of four inches of snow with some lightning, thunder and icy rain added for good measure. The storm ripped down power lines in Jamestown and West Ellicott. Most of the accumulation on the highways was in the north county, but Baker Street in the Jamestown area was particularly bad during the night. The storm also prompted dozens of area residents to run out for snow tires, with Gary Babcock of Boland’s Goodyear Tire Center in Lakewood telling The Post-Journal, “We’ve got more things to do here than we’ve got hands to do them with. We’re very busy, thankfully.”

In Years Past

Chautauqua County accepted a bequest from Elizabeth M. Newton, late of Fredonia, to build a tuberculosis hospital in Chautauqua County. Among those speaking on behalf of the hospital was Mayor Samuel A. Carlson of Jamestown. “We hear a great deal about national preparedness against possible attacks from foreign foes,” Carlson said. “But here is an invisible foe that is attacking us in a deadly manner. Why not be prepared against it?” Tuberculosis had spread throughout the county, with 38 cases in Dunkirk and 95 cases in Jamestown.

Between 600 and 700 boxing fans, including a number of women and a scattering of furniture buyers and salesmen, were treated to an evening of surprises and disappointments at the boxing show staged in the Coliseum roller rink. “In spite of the outcome of the bouts the officials of the club are to be congratulated on the show from at least one viewpoint,” the Journal wrote. “This was the new headquarters. The rink, as was predicted, proved a capital place for the staging of bouts and the accommodations were of the best. The seating arrangements were fine and the ring was high enough that the spectators could get an unobstructed view of the boxers.”

Cases of 14 men arrested by police Sunday at 2 a.m. in a raid on an alleged gambling establishment on the upper floor over 214 N. Main St. were adjourned for one week by City Judge Allen E. Bargar. Willard W. Cass appeared as attorney for the defendants. Finding two doors in the entrance way locked, police broke the glass and two of the more slender members of the squad squeezed through. During this process, the men in the place tried to escape down a rear stairway to an alley but found more police waiting for them. Police photographed the two rooms where they claim poker and craps games were in progress. The officers allegedly seized dice, chips, rake, table covers and other equipment. All posted $10 bail to be released.

Armistice Day took on a new significance at the annual service at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, where a large delegation of World War veterans explored together the renewed consecration to peace. The morning speaker was Leslie E. Fox, chaplain of Ira Lou Spring Post, American Legion, and commander of the Robert P. Illig Post, Disabled Veterans of the World War, who reminisced about his generation’s experience with war and treaties. “Treaties are made fore expediency, not as lasting covenants, honorably drawn and conscientiously carried out. Man’s faith in his fellow man has been shattered and there has been left in its wake a blighting doubt which has caused a wave of cynicism to sweep over many of the nations of the world,” Fox said.

The Chautauqua County Humane Society had raised $15,497 of the $20,000 cost to build a shelter for stray and homeless animals. The shelter was needed to replace the present one which was far from adequate. It would be built on the society’s property on Elmwood Avenue Extension in Falconer.

Nearly 140 people turned out to honor Arthur R. Smith ,manager of the Sears and Roebuck store in Jamestown who was retiring after 37 years of service. Telegrams were received from U.S. Rep. Charles Goodell, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and Assemblyman A. Bruce Manley. Smith’s career began as a receiving clerk in the old Sears store at Second and Pine streets. He advanced through various positions and within five years was named manager. In his capacity as manager, Smith saw a dream become reality with construction of a new, modern Sears store in 1949. Smith was also president of the Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce, served on the board of the Red Cross, Board of Education, Retail Merchants Association and the Community Chest. “We sincerely hope that his retirement as a store manager here will not mean any lessening of his interest in the community,” the Journal wrote in an editorial on Nov. 12. “We selfishly urge him to remain active among us.”

Southwestern Central School board members decided to ask the public for an additional $265,000 to build a new junior high school building adjacent to the senior high school structure. The additional money was needed because bids had come in higher than anticipated, though architects working on the project said Jamestown, Falconer and Randolph had run into similar situations.

In Years Past

• Chautauqua County’s population was growing, as official statistics showed every village in the county had increased population since 1910. The county itself had added 11,747 residents over the past five years and had a population of 116,873. Jamestown’s population had swelled to 37,780. In 1900, the county’s population was 88,314.

• Alfred and Carl Jones, who conducted the Jones Brothers store at Allen and Willard streets, had recently inflated two toy balloons about eight inches in circumference with gas and released them. They received a letter on Nov. 10 saying the balloons had been picked up in the Bush River at Belcamp, Hartford County, Md., 350 miles from Jamestown. The balloons first floated at a height just above the telephone wires as far as the brick yards near Buffalo Street, then apparently struck another current of air and returned to the vicinity of the Jones store. Here they rose to a great height and disappeared from view.

• James Woodring of Lakewood described his experience during a blackout that left 30 million people in eight states and Canada without power. “It was incredible,” Woodring said after reaching home. “Even now, it is hard to believe that it really happened and that I was in the midst of it.” Woodring, the owner of the local Pic-N-Poke store, was in New York on business and had just boarded an airline bus in front of Grand Central Station when everything went black and Woodring ended up stuck in Manhattan for an additional two hours. “The streets and sidewalks, filled with the usual rush-hour traffic, came to a complete halt,” Woodring said. “It was impossible for our bus to move, so we just say there and waited, expecting that the lights would soon come on again.” It took Woodring’s bus nearly 45 minutes to reach the air terminal once traffic started to move. After several delays at the airport Woodring’s flight took off for Buffalo. The local area only saw a brief flicker of the lights, though power was never actually lost.

• Action on the Jamestown Little League issue was postponed until January after three hours of discussion. The session was attended by the largest turnout to ever sit in on an executive session, according to Bob Ortendahl, league president. Little League officials were split on whether to remain under or withdraw from the national sanction. No vote was taken after it was pointed out proper notifications had not been taken.

• Fifth- and sixth-graders from Washington and Persell middle schools in Jamestown were the first from their respective schools to graduate from the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, joining 5 million counterparts nationally who took a pledge to stay off drugs. Students ended a 17-week curriculum that taught them the skills to avoid drug and alcohol use. Under the direction of specially trained city police officers, the students were taught about drug and alcohol abuse, decision-making skills, resisting peer pressure, building self-esteem and learning alternatives to drug use.

• Contracts had been approved for a $2.3 million expansion of the terminal at the Chautauqua County Airport in Jamestown. The expansion was to take a year to complete and would increase the size of the terminal by 11,000 square feet, adding an L-shaped area that would extend from the east and south sides of the existing terminal. “The idea is to get the new addition completed and then we can renovate the old terminal,” said Kenneth Brentley, county airport manager. It was to be the first expansion work done at the current airport building, which opened in 1971, and Brentley told The Post-Journal that it could allow for another air carrier to be added.

In Years Past

• There were nearly 50 buyers at the Jamestown Furniture Market association’s exposition. All the indications were that the present exposition would be an unqualified success in every respect. “Jamestown is a natural furniture market,” said L.J. Jackson, buyer for the M. Goldenstern company of Washington, D.C. “I have always maintained that it is the logical furniture center of the east. All you lack is the proper facilities for displaying your products at the semi-annual market. This difficulty would be obviated by the erection of an exposition building where all the manufacturers could place their exhibits under one roof.”

• Police in Olean were mystified over the disappearance of Austin Blanchard of Leon, who was locked up at the station Saturday night by Game Warden Bob Witherell. The police professed ignorance of how he made his getaway without being seen. Chief Rusell said either the door had been carelessly left unlocked or that the man had picked the lock and made his escape.

• Samuel C. Alessi was to appear before the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court in Albany and request a declaratory judgement that Jamestown did not have to pay state and county taxes on municipal airport property on North Main Street Extension. Included in the list of parcels of land recently offered at tax sale by the adjoining township is that of the new north side flying field, on which the city had not paid taxes in two years and owed $1,400. Alessi told The Journal that no taxes were levied three years ago when the city acquired the land for the airport as part of a WPA project. For the next two years, Ellicott assessors placed the property on its tax roll. Alessi said courts have ruled a city-owned airport operating under a written lease was exempt from taxation.

• The metal and technical courses offered at the industrial arts building for high school students resulted in a high percentage of graduates securing employment in Jamestown and vicinity, according to Kenneth B. Marsh, supervisor of industrial arts. “The courses are designed to meet the need of industry and employment,” Marsh said, “and they are showing the student how to do the job as the employers would have it done. Throughout the three year existence of the courses we have kept a close contact with the employers. That we are accomplishing what we have set out to do is indicated in the large number of graduates who have been employed in local and vicinity industrial concerns.”

• Bolts of lightning struck a church and two houses, including the home of a firefighter. The series of fires caused by lightning started when the home of Richard Corbin, 44, Delaware Ave., was struck. The lightning bolt damaged the fuse box and the main electric switch in the house as well as light fixtures and ceiling plaster in a second floor bedroom. As Engine Co. 5 was returning to the fire hall via Baker Street, a tenant at 296 Baker Street stopped the firemen and told them the house had been hit by lightning. That house was owned by Frank Moore, whose son, Capt. Kenneth Moore, lived in the house. Lightning knocked out some chimney bricks and caused as short circuit. Lightning then hit the steeple at First Lutheran Church, 120 Chandler St. causing the ceiling in the bell tower to collapse, sending up a cloud of dust that looked like smoke coming from the steeple.

• Marv Hubbard of Randolph, coming off a three touchdown game for Colgate in a victory over Brown, was named to the All-East Team of the Week along with Floyd Little of Syracuse University and quarterback Marty Spunaugle of Cornell. Hubbard went on to play in the NFL for the Oakland Raiders.

• The Seneca Nation of Indians was standing behind Maurice “Moe” John and his wife, Karen, after they were sent to jail after being found in contempt of court by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara for repeatedly ignoring his orders to cooperate with IRS authorities. The Johns claimed they were exempt from federal tax laws because their business was on the Seneca land in Allegany County. John owned the Seneca Junction gas station and snack bar on Route 219, employed 75 people. He had no business records, however, and said he bought all of the fuel he sold from a Smethport, Pa., gas distributor. The responsibility for all the state and federal taxes on the transactions should have been up to the distributor, John contended. “I think we will have to support them,” said Calvin “Kelly” John, incoming Seneca Nation president and unrelated to the jailed couple. “We should be interested in protecting them if there are sovereignty issues involved.”

• A lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court in Chautauqua County challenged the legality of zoning ordinance changes in the town of Westfield to accommodate the proposed Containerboard paper recycling project in the town. The suit was filed by David J. Seeger of Buffalo, an environmental law attorney representing about 25 Westfield residents who wanted to annul the changes. “The lawsuit is being brought because we, as well as many others, do not feel the zoning was changed properly,” said a spokesman for the residents. “More importantly, we do not feel the zoning should be changed in such a manner as to allow heavy industrial projects like the proposed Containerboard project into Westfield when the environmental and economic effects have not been thoroughly evaluated.”

In Years Past

In 1915, the Pilgrim Memorial Congregational Church at the corner of Forest and McKinley avenues was formally dedicated, with additional events to be held throughout the week. The auditorium was filled for morning worship, the alter surrounded by ferns and plants and, occupying a conspicuous place, a basket containing a beautiful bouquet of chrysanthemums from First Congregational Church with a card that read “congratulations and prayers for God’s rich blessing from the mother church to the daughter.”

Ritchie, one of the greatest stock horses ever bred in Chautauqua County, had died. The horse was sired by Lakewood Prince on the Lakewood Stock Farm owned by Henry Odell of Jamestown. Ritchie was campaigned for three or four years through the Lake Erie circuit and was injured in a race in Bradford, Pa., and used for stock purposes. Ritchie was owned at his death by John M. Thomas, a well-known blacksmith in Jamestown, who took a great deal of pleasure driving him on the speedway on Fifth Street in Jamestown for the past two years.

In 1940, a Jamestown policeman stood guard at the west entrance to the West Third Street bridge in the morning to warn motorists of the glare ice that covered the full length of the span while Department of Public Works employees hastened to spread salt over the slippery surface. Lacking the warmth of Mother Nature, bridge surfaces always freeze quickly and present a dangerous problem to motorists. Charles Strandburg, DPW official, said he was asking public safety officials to place warning signs at the approach to the bridge.

Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Sinare of Greenbush Street, Portland, had the distinction of having six sons registered for military service in the present conscription, four of them in District 655, headquartered in Fredonia. They were Frank, Martin, Thomas and Louis. The other two were living away, with Angelo registering in Cleveland and Anthony Jr. registering in Batavia. The six ranged in age from 21 to 35. The mother and father, who live on a farm, were 62 and 55 years of age and had eight other children. A seventh son, James, was over registration age and was in business in Corry. The other seven children were daughters.

In 1965, the New York State Dept. of Public Works decided on the route of the Southern Tier Expressway from Levant to the Pennsylvania state line, a route that included spanning Chautauqua Lake with a bridge near Bemus Point. An exact route was tentative until soil tests along a corridor across the lake were completed. Those borings would determine if a bridge was feasible. The DPW preferred a route carrying the expressway across the lake by bridge just south of Stow. From there it would head almost due west to its terminus at the Pennsylvania line, where Route 430 then ended. From Levant, the highway would pass by Falconer, skirt north of Jamestown and then generally parallel Route 17 to just south of Bemus.

Six photos by Richard Hallberg chronicled the lengths to which several area residents had to go to catch a sightseeing pig. The song of the open road proved too strong a temptation for a Poland China pig owned by Bertil Johnson of Cherry Hill Road, Watts Flats. Taking off on a sightseeing jaunt more than a week ago, the pig spent the weekend in the Lakewood area, 10 miles from home, ambling along highways and through back yards near Baker Street Extension and Hunt Road, promenading twice into the village of Lakewood itself. Lakewood police finally herded the pig onto the village beach, where it could finally be captured.

In 1990, it took Thomas and Susan Zanghi a few extra minutes to get to Brooks Hospital in Dunkirk for the birth of their daughter, Jennifer, after a brief detour to the Cassadaga Community Building to vote. The Zanghis had planned to vote in the morning because Zanghi worked in the afternoon. Fortunately there was no line, so it didn’t take long for the couple to vote. “I asked my wife if we had time and she said, ‘Sure, why not?”’ Zanghi said. “We realized she wouldn’t have another chance to vote.”

Jamestown officials were trying to purchase a lot on the corner of Third Street and Prendergast Avenue to build a parking ramp. The city originally owned the property before selling it to the U.S. Postal Service. City officials wanted the property back to build a parking ramp because of congestion at the Spring Street ramp and provide parking for businesses that may have wanted to expand on the east side of the city.

In Years Past

In 1940, the name of Robert H. Jackson had again popped into the limelight of Supreme Court speculation. The Buffalo Courier Express was reporting a persistent rumor that Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes could soon retire from the court and that Jackson was slated to succeed him as Chief Justice. This was included in rumors of a third term cabinet shakeup by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Reports of possible appointment of Jackson to the Supreme Court were nothing new, according to the newspaper article, with his name prominently mentioned for appointment each time there was a vacancy during the Roosevelt administration. Jackson was not available to comment and had left Jamestown after voting to return to Washington. The Journal made no attempt to contact Jackson, writing it was improper to request comment since no vacancy actually existed.

O.F. Cree, who had the contract for collecting garbage in the village of Lakewood, told Village Board members that nearly one-third of village residents were getting careless about the placing of their garbage and tin cans and had no proper tin can receptacles. He warned that if the condition was not corrected and residents didn’t cooperate collection of tin cans would be suspended at the homes where proper containers were not provided.

In 1990, sale of the Chautauqua County Landfill wasn’t a state issue, but that doesn’t mean state Assemblyman William Parment, D-North Harmony, didn’t hear about it from voters – with the bulk of those voters opposing a possible sale. “As a representative, it really doesn’t matter what court you’re playing in,” Parment said. “People expect you to use your influence, whatever it may be, to effect a positive outcome.” At the local level, Parment said that meant people wanted him to take a position on the landfill and talk to those officials involved. At the national level, he said, people wanted him to talk to Congress and party officials and let them know the public’s concerns.

• A local law to rescind the 1991 salary increase for Chautauqua County management employees was being criticized by County Executive Andrew Goodell. The proposal by Michael Bobseine, D-Fredonia, was made to save money and send a message to taxpayers that the legislature was trying to control the costs of government. While Bobseine said the raises would total 17.5 percent over two years, Goodell said the law provided for a 4.5 percent raise in 1990 and 4 percent in 1991 and that not giving the raises would be a breach of good faith and was wrong since Bobseine’s proposal didn’t alter changes made to management employees’ health care benefits.

In Years Past

Six new cases of tuberculosis had been reported to the county Board of Health in two weeks, prompting members to ask why the county was seeing its largest increase of cases in such a short period of time. “This question no one was able to answer. The fact, however, that so many new cases had been reported in so short a time was regarded as a strong argument in favor of the establishment of a county tuberculosis hospital …” the Journal reported. Members planned to request the hospital be built during an upcoming Board of Supervisors meeting.

There was no money for charity work as the treasury of the Associated Charities was empty. “If there was no such organization as the Associated Charities in Jamestown, the first business of a properly organized Board of Commerce would be to create one,” said Fred C. Butler, Board of Commerce secretary, during a recent meeting. Butler said the organization’s work was necessary and one that should concern every business interest and individual in the city. Members of the committee were to make arrangements to collect uncollected subscriptions and for a federation of the city’s charitable institutions to combine fundraising.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected as president, with the election conceded mid-morning Nov. 6 by Wendell Wilkie. Jamestown overwhelmingly voted for Wilkie, 10,329 to 8,810. In other news, both Harmony and North Harmony voters decided to that the towns should remain dry, with four propositions that would have allowed alcohol sales in varying forms in each town voted down. Daniel Reed of Dunkirk was re-elected to Congress while James W. Riley of Olean was elected to the New York state Senate.

Draft registrants in the two local areas were volunteering for military service in such large numbers that there was very little likelihood of any young man being drafted for a long time to come, according to William S. Hake, Local Draft Board 652 chairman. Volunteers had, since the assignment of serial numbers, indicated a willingness to be called first in order to have their service out of the way as soon as possible. They would be placed at the head of the lists in their respective districts and be called into service first when quotas were assigned. It was probable the first group of 240 men from Chautauqua, Niagara, Erie, Cattaraugus and Wyoming counties could be called between Nov. 25 and Nov. 30.

A railroad crossing crash near Hartfield injured seven and killed three in the worst highway accident in Chautauqua County since 1960. The triple tragedy occurred on Hall Road, a continuation of Elm Flats Road. The accident happened as the victims’ car was traveling east and collided with a southbound Pennsylvania Railroad freight train traveling from Buffalo to Oil City, Pa. The train was made up of a two-unit diesel followed by 97 cars, 32 of them loaded, with a three-unit helper at the end. Visibility from both the motorists and engineer’s standpoint was extremely limited for southbound trains by a bank at the north side of the road. The train was reported to have sounded its whistle and had its light on as it approached the crossing at 30 miles an hour.

Jamestown’s Veterans of Foreign Wars were joining a national effort, Operation Boost, to be observed on Veterans Day. The event was a “counter measure to demonstrations against America’s participation in the Vietnamese war.” M-Sgt. Robert Onorish, assigned to the Army Reserves Center and who had just returned from a year’s service in Vietnam, backed the effort. “We need to show our servicemen that recent anti-demonstrations are supported by a small number of irresponsible people and that we cannot allow these irresponsible acts to go unchallenged,” he said.

Four Bemus Point Central School teachers detailed the district’s “Growing Healthy” curriculum for kindergartners through eighth-graders. Mary Cole Erie II BOCES comprehensive health coordinator, told board members each grade had a special theme so that students were taught about pieces in the health puzzle but were also stimulated to think about what they were doing with their bodies. Training was provided for teachers through BOCES. The curriculum was developed by the Bureau of Health Education, Community Program Development Division and the American Lung Association in cooperation with a school district in Seattle.

Jamestown City Council members were trying to crack down on illegal trash dumpers in the city. Louis Lombardo, City Council president, said penalties for illegal garbage dumping should be enforced after two cases of illegal dumping caused problems for city employees. “I personally feel we need to publicize the penalties for illegal dumping,” he said. “We have to rely on our citizens. If they see illegal dumping, they should try to get license plate numbers.”

In Years Past

In 1915, F.B. Peterson, a well known resident of Ross Mils, swore out a warrant a day or so after Halloween and had Carl Larson and Ashley Seeley, two well known young men of that community, arrested on a charge of malicious mischief. Peterson charged the two youth with tipping over one of the outhouses connected with the Peterson homestead. When the case came to trial, it was discovered that the sole evidence was that of an accomplice in the alleged mischief. That evidence was uncorroborated and did not stand. Justice Howe dismissed the complaint.

Emil Seidel, former mayor of Milwaukee and one of the foremost speakers in the American Socialist movement, spoke in Jamestown. “If we began to plan as a national family we could produce enough on this soil of ours to feed a nation of 400,000,000 people,” Seidel said near the end of his address. “If we opened up the doors of our country wide, began a national family to run a national household, invited the mother in to do her share of the work, we could invite the European contending nations when they get tired of war to come here and found their homes.”

In 1940, Jamestown residents eagerly went to the polls to record their choice for president, with 12,027 votes cast by 1:30 p.m. on Election Day. Voting was uniformly heavy throughout the city, and nearly 60 percent of the registered 19,035 city residents registered to vote had done so. Polls would close at 9 p.m. and the work of tabulating ballots would begin immediately. Chautauqua County had the distinction of being the voting place of a member of the President’s cabinet and a former cabinet member. Robert H. Jackson of Jamestown, attorney general in the Roosevelt administration, came home and voted at the Glidden Avenue school, though Mrs. Jackson was ill and unable to vote. Bainbridge Colby, who served as secretary of state in President Woodrow Wilson’s cabinet and lived on the Little Brook Farm near Bemus Point, voted in the town of Ellery polling place.

Sacred cows, along with a herd of lesser cattle, were led to the roasting spit on the stage of the Hotel Jamestown ballroom as the Kiwanis Club staged its eighth annual Gridiron Dinner for the edification, amusement and, in some cases, the discomfiture of 650 male guests. Presented on the eve of the election, the Gridiron lent itself to several sizzling satirical skits on recent political events, concluding with an “Inflammation Cheese” quiz program featuring “Wendell L. Wilkie” and “Franklin D. Roosevelt” though most of the skits were devoted to local affairs.

In 1965, Westfield’s acting postmaster was ousted from office after the U.S. Civil Service Commission ruled he had tried to eliminate competition for the permanent appointment. Joseph Villafrank, a former Democratic Party leader, had been replaced by Joseph J. Neratko. The Civil Service board affirmed a decision appealed by Villafrank, ruling he tried to discourage one applicant from competing in the examination, attempted to persuade two other eligible people to withdraw after the register was established and actively participated to get three other people to withdraw, “all for the purpose of improving your prospects for the appointment as permanent postmaster.”

Bids on the new Southwestern Central Junior High Building came in $327,000 more than original estimates for the building program. No action was taken by the Board of Education. The project was budgeted for $1.415 million originally. Julian W. Naetzker, the project architect, said only two general contractors submitted bids because of a building boom in the area, which resulted in less competition by contractors. Board members were to decide at its next meeting what action to take on the “distressing situation.’ The building project was to alleviate overcrowded classrooms in the elementary buildings and the senior high school, which were using several rental trailers as portable classrooms. The school auditorium was being used as a study hall, the visual aids room was a regular classroom, the cafeteria was being used for six separate lunch periods and as a study hall.

In 1990, a proposal to build a natural gas fuel blending plant that would bring 35 new jobs to Jamestown was being considered by the Jamestown Planning Commission. The proposal was submitted by David Cohen, who owned property at 850 Allen St. where the plant would be built. Cohen also owned Naco Truck Leasing, located adjacent to the proposed plant. “This will be a model production plant,” Cohen said. “It will be the second one in the United States.”

James Prendergast Library officials were to meet with City Council members to discuss the library’s past activities and future budget needs. “The library is a ‘drawing card,”’ said Louis Lombardo, council president, “when we try to attract business and industry to the city.” Lombardo said developers and investors were quick to check the library and its resources because they are a good indication of the city’s culture and education. “You can learn a lot about a community from the kind of library it has,” Lombardo said.

In Years Past

In 1915, over 500 people in Jamestown for two hours were in communication with San Francisco by the magic of telephone. “It was one of the most interesting events that ever occurred in Jamestown,” the Journal wrote. “In the minds of all was the thought of the marvelous achievement of the Bell telephone company that had found a way to carry the human voice across blistering deserts where the sun scorches like a breath from Hades, over high mountains on whose peaks the snow never melts, and finally at the end of its journey across 13 states make possible a conversation in ordinary, conversational tones.”

It took all night for a Warren jury to decide if a Warren man could recover damages for the loss of his horse on a road in March. He wanted $575, with the jury returning a verdict in favor of the town after being out 19 hours and 45 minutes. Two of the jurors held out their opinions and, when jurors went out to supper they decided to fortify themselves against the hours to come. A deck of cards was purchased while three of the jurors made a checkerboard with a piece of cardboard and pencil. “The tournament which ensued is probably without parallel in the history of this or any other county in the United States,” the Journal related from a Warren Times account. Other jurors tried to sleep. After being stalemated all night, at 11 a.m., the jurors decided to disagree and filed into the courtroom to tell the judge they were unable to reach a verdict. When the noon whistle blew, an argument broke out during which one of the two holdouts sided with the majority. It took the final juror only an instant to side with the majority and provide a verdict.

In 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt may have forgotten Jamestown’s vote during a visit to Chautauqua County. “I have always known that Dunkirk is the only good part of Chautauqua County,” Roosevelt said to a throng of about 3,000 greeting his special train during a one-minute stop on the way from Buffalo to Cleveland. He probably had reference to the fact that while Dunkirk gave him a margin of 1,500 votes in 1932 and 1936, the county as a whole piled up a big Republican plurality against him. Roosevelt had, however, carried Jamestown in 1936 by 1,565 votes and it was the hometown of his attorney general, Robert H. Jackson.

Five people narrowly escaped suffocation shortly after midnight when a fire broke out in the William Carlson house on Garfield Road, about 200 yards from Forest Avenue extension at the bottom of the hill at the Jamestown city limits. The Carlsons, their two children and Mrs. Carlson’s sister were sleeping upstairs when Mrs. Carlson woke up choking. The room was filled with smoke and she hurriedly woke up the rest of the family. The electricity was off and it was with difficulty the five people made their way out of the house. The Busti Fire Department was called and water was pumped from a creek about 500 feet away. Only a few articles from the home were saved.

In 1965, newly re-elected Mayor Fred H. Dunn had big plans for his next term as mayor, including improving the city’s water supply, replacing the crumbling City Hall and reopening negotiations to purchase the Lawson property adjacent to the municipal golf course. The dark spot for Dunn was the probability of a tax increase for 1966.

Jim Keim, 28-year-old pro at Maplehurst Country Club since May 3, 1963, had resigned his position to join the pro tour for a two-year swing along the “gold dust trail.” Keim was leaving for Florida on Jan. 1 to get his game in shape at West Palm Beach. He expected to play the Caribbean Tour of three tournaments starting in February, then the Doral Open in Miami, the Citrus Open and then tournaments in Florida before the Masters at Augusta, Ga. “It is a great opportunity and I feel I should try it,” Keim said.

In Years Past

• Women’s suffrage was defeated by more than 200,000 votes on Election Day, though incomplete reports showed suffrage was favored by Chautauqua, Cortland, Nassau and Delaware counties. “Chautauqua county, which in many a state and national campaign has been the banner Republican county of New York state, is now the banner of woman suffrage county, having given a larger majority in favor of the woman suffrage amendment than any other county in the state, regardless of population,” the Journal reported. Votes against liquor sales were aprpoved in Cherry Creek, Ellington, Ellery, Chautauqua, Ripley, Westfield, Portland, Pomfret, Hanover and Charlotte. Hanover was the only town in which the “wets” won.

• Many from Jamestown participated in the Halloween celebration held at Warren the previous Monday, with 75 percent of those attending in costume. Seven young men from Jamestown created a sensation by dressing as savages, wearing rings in their noses and ears, bracelets on their ankles and carrying stuffed war clubs. According to the Journal report, “it was one of the most elaborate and entertaining celebrations of the character ever noted in this section of Western New York and Pennsylvania.”

• Mayor Fred H. Dunn was returned to office by a nearly 2-to-1 vote over his Republican rival, Alpine W. “Piney” Johnson. The majority was the greatest gained in a mayoral race within recent memory. Democrats won all but five of the 21 city offices on the ballot, with the only Republican gain in ward supervisors. Johnson failed to carry any of the city’s 30 electoral districts.

• A 31-year-old pacifist who burned himself to death in front of the Pentagon was remembered by his teachers at Chautauqua Central School as a “serious minded student with high Christian ideals whom we rated superior in character traits.” Norman R. Morrison was a former Chautauqua resident who annually stayed at his mother’s summer home in Chautauqua Institution. He died “protesting our government’s deep military involvement in Vietnam,” according to a statement made by his wife, Mrs. Ann H. Corpening Morrison. Morrison clutched his 18-month old daughter, Emily, in one arm, with the baby saved after onlookers screamed at him to “drop the child.” Robert McNamara, the federal secretary of defense, was the principal target of Morrison’s protest.

• Rick Parris, a former Jamestown resident, helped save the life of a 95-year-old woman in Spartanburg, S.C., by pulling her from a burning house. Parris, along with three others, formed a chain as they crawled through the house looking for Evea Bryant and her 92-year-old husband, Will, who died in the fire. “You don’t have time to think,” Parris told the Spartanburg Herald-Journal. “I was on my stomach and there was black smoke everywhere when I saw two feet. I knew she was alive because she called out when I grabbed her feet.” Bryant later died of her injuries.

• Jim Blomquist, a Jamestown DJ, described his use of samplers. Blomquist, who had been working toward a record deal in New York City, said he disagreed with the rampant sampling of past tracks by artists like M.C. Hammer and Milli Vanilli. “I feel that M.C. Hammer’s use of Rick James’ drum break for ‘Can’t Touch This’ is wrong because that made his whole song,” Blomquist said. “Without that drum break his song wouldn’t be what it is.”

In Years Past

• Mrs. Lina Phillips, tax collector of the village of Lakewood, was instrumental in catching one of the two men who tried to break into her cottage on Gifford Avenue. Phillips was in her cottage to stay for a day or so when, at 11 p.m., she was aroused by hearing someone in the rear of the cottage. She saw one man outside one window and another man at the rear window cutting his way through the screen over the window. Phillips waited while the men tried to force entry into her home and, when she saw a car coming from Lowe Avenue, ran out to stop the car, which took her to the village where she found a police officer. One of the men was caught waiting for a trolley car near the Phillips cottage. “I was very much frightened,” Mrs. Phillips told The Journal. “The two men were the toughest-looking characters I have ever seen. I think they were professionals; certainly they never came from around here anywhere.”

• The Journal noted the 100th anniversary of Abner Hazeltine’s arrival in Jamestown. Hazeltine was the first school teacher in Jamestown and was just 22 years of age when he began his work. “From that day to this the influence of his life has been felt in this community, and Chautauqua County is fortunate that he was called form his New England home to the wilds of this – then – western wilderness.” Hazeltine was engaged by James Prendergast as teacher for the community’s youth.

• The Carnahan-Shearer company men’s and boys’ store at Second and Main streets was making extensive improvements. The main floor interior had been completely redecorated in soft colors to harmonize with the new fluorescent lighting system that had been installed throughout the store. The exterior of the store was being modernized and beautified by new show windows that would also be lit with fluorescent lights. Present fixtures and equipment were being replaced with the most modern Prima Verawood display cases. The store was the largest of its kind in Southwestern New York.

• Two members of Company E, 174th Infantry, National Guard, were home for the weekend from Fort Dix. Lt. Lloyd F. Carlson and Second Lt. Charles E. Lindsay were visiting with family, making the trip from New York to Buffalo by plane. Both officers were enthusiastic about the comfort and convenience of the enlisted men and wanted to allay all worries on the part of mothers and fathers of the local soldiers in the government’s service. They said quarters, food, clothing and equipment were the best of any army in the world. Neither said they could think of anything else that the government could reasonably be expected to do for its soldiers in such an emergency as preparations for World War II than were being made.

• For 90 minutes, politicians and politics were helpless, but unprotesting, targets for gibes, barbs and jabs in song and skit during the annual Gridiron extravaganza staged by the Kiwanis Club in the Hotel Jamestown. The all-in-fun hijinks “delighted a near capacity turnout in the hotel’s Crystal Ballroom, although inflicting at least momentary discomfiture on local office seekers who were present in full force,” the Journal report stated.

• Frank Hyde’s column, Frankly Speaking, detailed a day of decision for Little League Baseball in Jamestown. Little League was thinking of dropping Jamestown as a Little League sanctioned member. Some were in favor of cutting loose and conducting a locally sponsored program while Little League supporters believed the prestige of belonging to the league was worth the extra effort and cost. Bob Ortendahl, Little League president, and his backers said what was best for the most boys would appeal to sponsors. “Our aim is to provide baseball for every boy who wants to play regardless of ability,” Ortendahl said. Hyde wrapped up the column by saying, “One thing is certain – there are about to be some interesting developments in the ranks of kid baseball here.”

• Outside a private service for Jamestown Fire Dept. Lt. Bruce A. Rhinehart, about 200 of his colleagues from at least 14 fire departments stood waiting for the coffin of their friend and fellow firefighter to be brought out and placed on Jamestown’s Engine One. The engine, which was the truck on which Rhinehart rode, was symbolically serving as the hearse taking the coffin from the Lind Funeral Home to the burial site in Sunset Hill Cemetery in Lakewood. “This is a big deal and it was done out of respect for Bruce,” said Lance Hedlund, Jamestown assistant fire chief. “He was not only well-known and well-liked, but he was well-respected here and statewide.”

• Jamestown business leaders should not try to sell the downtown area as a destination shopping center, according to Ron Paige, owner of The Palace Cafe on Third Street and chairman of the Downtown Jamestown Development Corp.’s nominating committee. Paige said he was glad to see the city’s Development Department and DJDC aligning themselves to that way of thinking. Be encouraging development of entertainment facilities in the central business district, Paige said downtown wouldn’t close its doors at 5 p.m. and rather would become a vibrant downtown starting at 7 a.m. and going to 11 p.m. every day. “People remember what downtown Jamestown used to be like and politicians kept telling them, ‘I can make it like it used to be,'” Paige said. “But I don’t want it to be like it used to be. I want something that’s going to work.”

In Years Past

In 1915, During the fourth annual conference of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus County drawing teachers, Royal Bailey Farnum, state director of drawing and industrial arts, discussed courses of art study in the state Regents syllabus. There were four groups: drawing, design making, construction and appreciation. “Art education consists in so influencing the people that they will try to do right and not only try to do right, but also to try to appreciate the right attempts of others. This is broad, theoretical, but practical. Its achievement requires an intelligent teacher, and a unified course of study. The course must recognize its influence in numerous fields of application. The results will take care of themselves, if the individual pupil is given the opportunity to expand and think for himself.”

Dozens of soldiers with ties to Jamestown were fighting abroad in World War I, including five former city residents serving on the front lines with the British Army. “It is doubtful if any city of its size in the United States is more closely connected with the battlefields of the globe in which fighting is going on than is Jamestown, and news from the scene of action has more than a passing interest for hundreds and perhaps thousands of residents of this city who have relatives in the armies and navies of the nations which are at war,” the Journal reported.

In 1940, Jamestown residents were hoping the Jamestown Worsted Mills would reopen as legal details were being worked out for a new corporation to be set up. Earle O. Hultquist, a reorganization committee member, believed there was a reasonably good opportunity for the successful reorganization of the business because woolen mill capacity was being diverted from consumer fabrics to woolens for the expanding military forces. The mill had employed more than 600 people, and Hultquist believed production could begin as early as January. Efforts were also to be made to secure government contracts for uniforms. “We are getting the cooperation of civic interests to save the industry for Jamestown and there is no reason why the reorganization movement should not succeed,” Hultquist said.

At the close of school on Nov. 1, Lakewood High School faculty paid tribute to Corrie Wicks Babcock, who was retiring from the teaching profession after 31 years of service at the school. She was a 1901 graduate of the Lakewood school, part of a class that graduated two people. She received training in the Jamestown Training class and taught at Falconer, Jamestown and Lakewood, where she began teaching in 1908.

In 1965, The Lenton Manufacturing Co. announced plans to locate a new plant in Jamestown, the second announcement within four days that outside industry was planning expansion programs in Jamestown. The company planned to employ about 50 people and do about a half million dollars of business a year initially. The Lenton Manufacturing news came a few days after Quaker State Oil Co. announced that Truck-Lite would put a new plant in Falconer. In both instances, company officials credited the work of Republican mayoral candidate Piney Johnson for coming to Jamestown. “However, nearly two months ago we were approached by a group calling themselves the ‘Piney Johnson Team on Industrial Development’ and they laid out all the advantages of locating in Jamestown and thereafter conducted us on a tour of the city, showing available factory locations and introducing us to the owners thereof,” said Leonard Bills, Lenton Manufacturing Co. president.

Men coming to and going from church on Sunday morning at 10:45 a.m. were interrupted by the sound of a fire siren for a blaze behind Frawley’s Restaurant, 282 Dale Drive, in the wooded area on the grounds of the Lily Dale Assembly. Firemen from Lily Dale and Cassadaga in white shirts and ties donned their smoke eating gear and went after the wind swept flames. All equipment from both fire companies was on the scene. Fire from an incinerator was said to have caused the explosion of newly acquired barrels, unopened, intended for use as incinerators at Frawley’s Restaurant. With high winds, fireman worked quickly to protect the nearby buildings and the Lily Dale Assembly.

In 1990, Clark Laboratories, located on the corner of Third and Pine streets, Jamestown, was bought by Encore Laboratories Inc., which had offices on Strunk Road. Encore was a biomedical firm that developed and manufactured immunodiagnostic kits to test for human autoimmune diseases, according to William J. Daly, president and CEO of the two companies. Clark developed and manufactured similar kits to test immune system status for a variety of human and animal infectious diseases. “This transaction has great significance for the Jamestown area,” Daly said. “The Encore Investment Group feels very strongly that the purchase is important for two reasons. First, a strong business will remain in downtown Jamestown. Second, almost 30 manufacturing jobs will remain part of the local economy.”

The search was continuing for two masked gunmen who robbed the Lakewood Super Duper on Route 394. Investigators were looking for any witnesses who could provide clues as to the suspects’ identities. Two employees working in the bakery section after hours were surprised by the gunmen, who broke into the store carrying guns and wearing ski masks. One of the men brandished a handgun and held the employees in the rear of the store while the other went to the office area and took the money. “It being Halloween, (the baker) thought it was another employee playing a joke,” store manager Brad Richardson told The Post-Journal.

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