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In Years Past

In 1915, an anonymous donor made a $1,000 donation to help geology professor Gilbert V. Harris of Cornell University assist one or more students in his department. Harris was a Jamestown High School graduate whose mother and sister, Miss Cora Harris, lived in Falconer. The donor had attended three universities, “and at none of these have I known any man who so fully as Professor Harris had the real training and development of his students at heart or who in so extreme a degree of unselfishness lived only for their good, and the advancement of the science.”

The skating rink in the big auditorium at Celoron was opened for the season with more than 300 people taking advantage of the first opportunity for skating during the winter. The ice was in the best of conditions and the crowd apparently enjoyed itself to the utmost. The rink would be open New Year’s night with a band playing music. Bands were also to play during open house Monday, Wednesday and Friday the next week.

In 1940, snowfall measuring 142 inches during 1940 broke all existing records in the 18-year history of Jamestown’s weather bureau. The previous high mark of 139.90 inches was set in 1935.

Measures to be taken forming a smoke abatement program in Jamestown would be discussed Jan. 2 at a Chamber of Commerce meeting. “The problem itself is obvious to all, but the means of dealing with it are not so clear,” organizers of the movement said in letters to citizens who indicated interest in joining in initial discussions.

  • In 1965, two Westfield youths were killed during a high-speed chase that eclipsed 100 miles an hour on Route 17, about five miles north of Jamestown. The one-car accident killed Laurence C. Olsen, 20, and Daniel Lee Clute, both of Jamestown. Trooper Peter F. Darling was chasing the car but said, “I never got close to them.” The pavement was wet, according to the officer. Darling said he passed a car going at a fast clip by the Maple Springs Road intersection. “I turned around, gave chase and just before the crash, I saw the car skid on a curve and when I rounded the curve, I saw the car against a large tree on a bank, about five feet above the highway.”
  • The Maple Grove Junior-Senior High School was to open its doors after winter vacation, bringing with it a change in bus schedules for children attending the school.

In 1990, the Jamestown City Council’s rejection of a per-bag fee to pay for the city’s garbage services and lack of progress building a parking ramp on the city’s west side were the biggest disappointments of 1990 for Louis Lombardo, City Council president. “Federal revenues are just a memory, state aid is frozen at a mid-1980s level and the city’s tax base is being shrunk by state-mandated exemptions for utility companies,” Lombardo said. “City Council is faced with the challenge of evaluating all ongoing programs and services and determining which should be continued and what new programs should be initiated.”

High water closed many areas roads after a weekend that saw 2-3 inches of rain dumped on the area. A flood watch remained in effect for Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties as creeks overflowed their banks. Steve McLaughlin, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Buffalo, said 2.9 inches of rain fell over the weekend. “That’s pretty considerable rainfall for this time of year,” he said, noting if it had been snow the accumulation would have been 2 feet. “I think we’ve had enough rain for about a year. But I don’t think you’ll get too much snow for a while.”

In Years Past

In 1915, snow fall caused a historic amount of trouble for the Jamestown Street Railroad Company. Automobile traffic packed the snow down into layers just inside and outside the rails of the street car tracks on every paved street. The snow pack on the lines caused several cars to derail on the Falconer line and cars to stop running for a time on the North Side line. It took nearly 12 hours for all of the lines to be cleared again.

The audience at the Samuels Theater heard firemen working to put out a small fire in the theater building, but the show – “Tess of the Storm Country” – went on anyway. Fire was discovered in one of the lower rooms of the theater and was extinguished with a few pails of water, though not until the smoke had rolled upward and found its way into the auditorium. Firemen and policemen with electric flashlights explored the various rooms and made sure no fire remained. Little damage was done, and the Journal reports state the audience was not frightened, and this was due to the common sense of the theatrical employees.

In 1940, a report by Walter Winchell, New York columnist, that Attorney General Robert H. Jackson would resign from the board of the Bank of Jamestown was not given credence by bank officials. “To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Jackson will not resign from our board and will be reelected at our annual meeting next month,” said C. George Niebank, president of the bank and an intimate friend of Jackson. Niebank said Jackson had written him some time ago offering to retire in favor of someone better able to attend meetings.

The Jamestown High School a cappella choir wrote another chapter in its seemingly endless success story when its voices were heard over a coast-to-coast broadcast from local radio station WJTN. Congratulatory messages flooded the home of Miss Ebba H. Goranson, supervisor of music in the local schools, among them a telephone call from her brother, Arthur R. Goranson, who was attending a conference in Chicago.

  • In 1965, the Hotel Jamestown had been ordered by Chautauqua County Court into receivership. The court appointed Innkeepers International Inc., of Chicago, to be the receiver. The order was issued in connection with a pending mortgage foreclosure against the Hotel Jamestown Inc., the United States of America and city of Jamestown. The governments were made parties in the suit because of possible taxes due. The 41-year-old hotel was acquired in July 1964 by Cee-jay Developers, a local stockholders group headed by Seymour Minsker from a trio of Detroit businesses. The hotel opened in 1924 following a campaign by local business leaders to provide more accommodations for visitors to Jamestown’s furniture markets. After the Hotel Samuels closed, the hotel Jamestown was the city’s only hostelry. It was owned locally until bought by the Detroit businessmen in 1955.

The state Council on Drug Addiction proposed toughening fines and punishments meted out to drug pushers and easing the role of physicians in treating addicts. Gov. Nelson Rockefeller said crime in general and narcotics in particular would be of special interest to him in preparing his 1966 legislative program.

In Years Past

In 1915, the value of the automatic sprinkler system in factories was demonstrated when a fire started in a bale of cotton on the upper floor of the Jamestown Table Company and in short order released two sprinkler heads which poured a deluge of water into the building. The fire damage was of no consequence, but the loss from the water would be heavy since the water poured from the upper floor down through the other floors. Factory officials hoped to have the factory back in operation in a day or two.

Principal Milton J. Fletcher presented a report to the Jamestown Board of Education suggesting the rearrangement of school hours to relieve congestion by separating freshmen into one group, sophomores into another group and juniors, seniors and postgraduates into another group. Freshmen would be in school seven periods, sophomores would in school for six periods and the last group would be in school only for the five periods of the morning session. “Students who are especially capable and who make good use of their time would have more free hours out of school which they might profitably use for other kinds of work or study,” Fletcher said.

In 1965, for the sum of $51.80 and the help of some volunteer firemen, the village of Celoron hoped to prevent a catastrophe during the winter months by building an ice skating rink to keep children from skating on Chautauqua Lake. The program was to be a village state recreation project and the village expected to receive half of the cost from the state. Mayor Arthur D. Carlson said the project was discussed after he and other board members saw children skating on the lake in previous years. Officer Lyle W. Gleason told his superiors that he chased children off the ice earlier in the day when he found the ice was very thin. Some children were riding bicycles on the ice.

  • The Randolph Town Board was trying to solve the problem of what to do with cars abandoned on the road during heavy snowstorms. Harold Watts, retiring town supervisor, said abandoned cars had interfered with snow removal and often, plow drivers had helped motorists out of snow banks or helped motorists get their cars back on the highway after they had skidded off the road due to icy conditions. “Such tasks have been costly and time consuming,” Watts said, “especially when motorists abandon their cars in the path of the oncoming snow plows.”

In 1990, investors were a bit conservative largely because of the threat of war with Iraq, and were tending to shy away from stocks, seeking instead fixed-income investments. “I think investors are as concerned as ever about their investments,” said Christopher Creal, Warren branch manager for Advest Inc. “I think safety is a large concern.”

Gov. Mario Cuomo was far from optimistic about the state of New York’s potential budget deficit in the coming year. “This will be much bigger than ’83,” Cuomo said about the fiscal challenges he faced in his third term. “On the numbers, this is the biggest problem the state has faced since (Franklin) Roosevelt” was governor at the beginning of the Depression. It was the third straight year of budget deficits.

In Years Past

  • The Falconer Village Board entered a contract with the Gamewell company to install a fire alarm system in the village. The matter had been under advisement for some time. The cost of the system would be $181. It was planned to divide the village into four fire districts with three boxes in each district. A telegraph sender similar to that installed at the police headquarters in Jamestown would be installed in the exchange of the Home Telephone Company. Those who had telephones could call the Home Telephone exchange and tell the operators where the fire was located, and the operator would then place a wheel with cogs regulated at certain distances apart upon the sender and a bell would begin striking.
  • The community Christmas exercises which also served as the opening and dedication of the new Fireman’s Hall and Village Building at Lakewood took place Dec. 25. The new building was provided through the generosity of J. W. Packard, and was visited by several hundred people during the day. A large number of Christmas gifts were distributed, including 200 books presented by Mr. and Mrs. Harry Stoddard of the Art Metal Company and 200 boxes presented by Mrs. Sorg.
  • The oldest chain store i Jamestown, the J.G. McCrory company, was to close soon. The store operated a 5 and 10 cent store at 207-209 N. Main St. for more than 50 years and would close on New Years’ Eve. H.E. Crawford, manager, said it was doubtful the company would continue a store in Jamestown and that patrons of the local store, some for 40 years, had expressed regret that the store would close. The company had 200 stores throughout the country.
  • Jamestown soldiers living in winterized tents at Fort Dix would be located in modern barracks buildings by February, according to Lt. Col. Samuel A. Brown, executive officer of the 174th Infantry, who had arrived home to spend New Years’ with his family in Lakewood. “The officers and men of the 174th are now living in tents with floors, walled up a distance of about five feet and equipped with small laundry stoves and also electric lights. Of course there is a bit of discomfort in living in these tents during cold weather, but as far as I am concerned I would rather live in one of them than in one of the new barracks located in the muddiest part of the whole reservation.”
  • Carmelo J. Basile, county probation officer, denied his department playing a factor in Jamestown’s rising crime rate. The probation chief appeared at a special City Council meeting. Basile said there were only four more people on probation in Chautauqua County in 1965 than there had been in 1964. “I am sure that four additional persons placed on probation in the County of Chautauqua cannot be blamed for the increase of 80 per cent in crime in the city of Jamestown,” Basile said.
  • The inaugural “Operation Native Son” was described as an unqualified success. Almost 400 college juniors and seniors from the area scheduled appointments with prospective employers. Murray S. Stephens, vice president of the Jamestown Area chamber of Commerce, said he was elated with the success of the project and said the number of interested students far exceeded expectations.
  • In its 40th year, Jamestown Community College’s enrollment had reached an all-time high of 5,034 students – 2,352 full-time and 2,686 part-time. “We have done an excellent job of communicating to the public the high quality of the education we have here,” said Marilyn Zagora, dean of student affairs. JCC had also, during the course of the year, been selected by the state Science and Technology Foundation for a pilot project establishing an Advanced Manufacturing Resource. “Two-year colleges represent an important resource for transferring innovative manufacturing technologies to local manufacturing firms,” said Vincent Tese, chairman of the Science and Technology Foundation.
  • Downtown Jamestown overcame many hurdles in 1990, according to city officials. Mark Nelson, DJDC executive director, said the most important change was the grand opening of the renovated Reg Lenna Civic Center, which, when combined with the upcoming Lucille Ball Festival of New Comedy, would mean “our downtown theater district is going to keep Jamestown on the map.”

In Years Past

In 1915, the Norden Club of Jamestown had purchased from the commissioner general of the Swedish building at the Panama Pacific exposition in San Francisco 20 bronze busts of famous Swedish men and women. Charles L. Eckman, Norden Club president, and Charles A. Okerlund, Swedish vice consul, left for New York on Dec. 26 to attend a banquet at the Hotel Astor by the Swedish-American Steamship line. The line was formed recently to operate a line between Sweden and the United States. The first liner to cross, the Stockholm, had recently arrived in New York City.

Christmas at the Gustavus Adolphus Orphans’ home was observed with the usual tree celebration on Christmas Eve, but with one added feature. Oscar Martin, infant son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Oscar Peterson, was christened by the Rev. Dr. Julius Lincoln, pastor of First Lutheran Church. It was the 25th Christmas which Peterson had spent at the home, at which both he and Mrs. Peterson grew up. Their marriage was solemnized at the orphanage and it seemed fitting that their firstborn should be christened with Supt. and Mrs. Swensson as sponsors.

In 1940, a Journal survey indicated Jamestown residents were generally in favor of parking meters and their contribution to reduce congestion downtown. “They have definitely relieved traffic congestion,” said Police Chief G. Harry Nelson. Complaints against the meters had become rare. “The parking meters are doing a good job,” said William S. Hake, Retail Merchants Association president.

Eskil W. Anderson was honored by the Zion Mission church for his record of 27 consecutive years of attendance teaching Sunday school at the church. At one time, Anderson and his 10 children were members of the Sunday school. Five of the children had perfect attendance for several years. “I give God all the praise for the gift of good health and the desire to attend Sunday school,” Anderson. I pay tribute to my wife, too, who for many years, when the children were small, prepared them each Sunday morning for church.”

In 1965, a Post-Journal photo, cited as coming via reindeer express from the North Pole and picturing Santa Claus asleep with his arm on a stack of wrapped gifts, was accompanied by the following caption: ‘Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house everybody was stirring, even Squeekey the mouse. While the kids and the grownups fell to playing with toys, there was one certain fellow who was deaf to all noise. He’d had a rough season, topped off by a night that lasted from dusk to the first rays of light. Thousands of kiddies he checked and then treated, and even the adults (the good ones) were feted. When morning came ’round he was dead on his feet and that was when Santa got his Christmas treat. As his elves started work on their ’66 chore, all we heard from tired Santa was a well-deserved snore.”

  • In 1990, for the first time, Jamestown police officers would contribute to the cost of their medical insurance under a two-year contract approved by the City Council. “It’s my understanding that employees of the city have never contributed to their own medical insurance and now I’ve got a contribution in both years of the agreement,” said Frederick Anderson, city ombudsman. The contract was approved 42 to 12 by union members.

Ellicott Zoning Board of Appeals members were mulling a zoning variance requested by Chautauqua and Erie Technologies Inc. of Westfield to install a communications tower. Company officials had met with concerned neighbors regarding the tower, which was to be built on Orchard Road in Ellicott. “If this location is turned down, there are very few viable options left for the partnership to consider from economic and technical perspectives. Cellular telephone is a premier method of providing improved service to the area,” said Peter G. Nixon, company executive vice president.

In Years Past

  • Mayor Leon Roberts assured the public that he would do something about the soot and smoke that belched forth without restraint in practically every town office, store and factory building. Roberts had given Police Chief G. Harvey Nelson a list of the worst offenders and enlisted two local women who were forming a citizens’ committee to study the problem and recommend solutions to the problem.
  • Holland F. Paul, Jamestown’s last surviving hack driver, told of the good old days. “If I could manage to do it I would still have a horse,” Paul said. Nearing his 80th birthday, Paul told stories of old times and old friends – he was the last of the old group of hackmen, coming to the city in 1883 and beginning his hack driving career in 1891. “Those were great days,” he said. “A good horse cost from $125 to $175 and a hack could be bought anywhere from $500 up; I paid $1,600 for mine and it was a dandy. We charged 25 cents for a trip less than a mile, 50 cents for a trip more than a mile in the city limits and $3 and up for trips to Fluvanna and other lower lake points.”
  • Sam Teresi, Jamestown development director, said he would try at any cost to avoid laying off personnel after Mayor Donald W. Ahlstrom cut more than $100,000 from the proposed 1991 JURA/Department of Development budget of $526,421. “Our problem is that we have a lean and mean spending plan. We’re limited as to where we can cut back,” Teresi said. Teresi was looking for federal and state grants that have administration lines, but such grants were becoming few and far between. Teresi said it would be “unproductive of me to complain about a shortage of funds from the city. We just have to understand that there are limited resources. We’ll do the best job we can with the money we have.”
  • An economic downturn was clearly underway, according to B.F. Stanton of Cornell University. Stanton said the nation’s economy stopped expanding after eight consecutive quarters of growth, with the fourth quarter of 1990 likely to show a negative growth rate for the first time since 1982. He said much of the northeast had been in a mild recession all year as state and local governments struggled to balance budgets in the face of declining revenues.

In Years Past

1973: Heavy rain and localized flooding on the 25th and 26th (1.21 inches of rain) caused minor street and basement flooding in Cheektowaga, Tonawanda and Amherst. Ellicott creek flooded on the 27th in Lancaster, Cheektowaga, Amherst and Tonawanda.

1978: On the 24th, the ground was bare and brown over most of the Buffalo area and there were golfers spotted at Cazenovia Park. By Christmas morning, several inches of heavy, wet snow had coated everything to create a storybook Christmas setting. Unfortunately, much heavier snowfall amounts east and south of Buffalo played havoc with holiday travelers … stranding motorists. Up to 2-1/2 feet buried parts of Allegany County where a State of Emergency was declared. Tree limbs and power lines were downed due to the weight of the snow.

1983: Snowsqualls began over the towns south of Buffalo on the 23rd. Propelled by a west wind, the squalls shifted north to Clarence, Cheektowaga and some parts of Buffalo, and then south, to south Buffalo, Lackawanna and Hamburg. The Airport closed intermittently on the 23rd and 24th and the Thruway was closed from Hamburg to the Pennsylvania line from the 24th until the 26th stranding about 700 persons. Snowfall amounts included: south Cheektowaga 15 inches; Lackawanna 12 inches; Alden 10 inches; West Seneca 8 inches; and Lockport 7 inches. In addition to the snow, frigid temperatures were blamed for scattered water main breaks in the city of Buffalo, the town of Tonawanda, and in Amherst. Police reported scores of stalled cars and accidents resulting from treacherous roads and whiteouts.

1992: A very strong cold front crossed the area during the evening hours of the 25th. Winds gusted to 59 MPH at Buffalo and 75 MPH at Dunkirk. Behind the front, the cold northwest flow across Lakes Erie and Ontario produced lake effect snow squalls. Snowfall of 6 inches was reported across Southern Erie and portions of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties. To the lee of Lake Ontario, in Lewis County, 20 inches fell at Turin and 12 inches at Copenhagen. Orwell, in Oswego County, reported 16 inches.

1995: A very narrow band of lake effect snow began to develop off Lake Erie around midnight of the 25th and became heavier by 3 a.m., setting up across the Buffalo airport and north. The 8-10- mile-wide band remained nearly stationary for about an eight-hour period with snowfall rates of 1-2 inches per hour. Specific amounts included: Amherst 9 inches; North Buffalo 8 inches; and Cheektowaga and Kenmore 7 inches.

1996: A quick episode of lake effect snow brought heavy snows of 7-13 inches across the southern portion of Erie County. Snowfall amounts included: Colden 13 inches; Strykersville 11 inches; Boston and Hamburg 10 inches; and Amherst 7 inches. The snows wreaked havoc on holiday travelers as whiteouts and near-blizzard conditions prevailed. Several automobile accidents were blamed on the storm.

A flow of cold air across Lake Ontario produced lake effect snows east of Lake Ontario. Snowfall amounts up to 18 inches were reported including: 18 inches at Redfield and North Osceola and 8 inches at Montague and Adams. The snows wreaked havoc on holiday travelers as whiteout conditions forced the closing of parts of I-81.

2002: Low pressure moved northeast along the Appalachians and brought a general heavy snow to much of the region on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. An 8-12 inch blanket of snow covered the area with higher amounts generally over the Finger Lakes Region. The heavy snows slowed holiday travelers and caused limited delays that the Rochester Airport.

2003: An intense lake effect snow band developed around mid-morning Christmas Day. The band dropped snow at an inch or more an hour for a few hours, broke up some, then reintensified before settling south into the ski country by late afternoon where it remained until midnight then dissipated. Snowfall amounts were focused in two areas: 8-14 inches of snow fell across the ridges from Perrysburg to Arcade and 4-8 inches across a narrow strip across the City of Buffalo to the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport.

In Years Past

  • A would-be burglar who entered the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. Grover, 194 Forest Ave., had an experience which he would doubtless remember for some time to come. He encountered Mrs. Grover in the kitchen of the Grover home and, despite his threat to shoot, she seized a heavy hand axe that lay on a table and swung it at him, breaking his arm and driving him from the home howling in pain. “When I picked up that axe, I did not think of saving jewels or other property; I only thought that I must do something,” Mrs. Grover said.
  • Manley White, a young man living a short distance east of Ellington, fell 30 feet out of a tree in the Conewango swamp, breaking his kneecap and sustaining a cut on his face that required several stitches. White and several others were cutting Christmas trees at the time, with White at the top of a tree cutting a the top from the tree when he fell. He was taken to WCA Hospital in Jamestown.
  • Nicholas Demikoft of Foote Avenue built a yard-square doll house for his 7-year-old daughter, Alice Marie, for Christmas. The house was modeled on the Maddox Home, 62 Allen St. and took 18 months spare time and effort to finish. The material cost $15, but the model was valued at $500. Demikoft worked without plans or blueprints, making the model from wood and stainless steel to make a home with sides that swung open to permit access to the rooms within. Electric lights and a fountain would be added to the model later.
  • More than 300 homes in Jamestown had an allotment of Christmas happiness as a result of the annual distribution of toys and candy by members of the Morton and Kendall clubs of the Jamestown Police and Fire departments. More than 1,000 toys were distributed among 900 children along with 250 pounds of candy from the two departments. The clubs also distributed a large quantity of food collected at a special show at the Wintergarden Theater.
  • The Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Department foiled an attempted jail break. Ralph Stronner was attacked at the door of the exercise pen when he went to lock the prisoners in their cells for the night. Officers said Terry Lee Austin of Titusville, Fla., held for sentencing and treated as a youthful offender, hit Stronner with his fist and a time clock Stronner had carried. Stronner managed to reach an alarm bell and Sheriff DeForrest McClune found Stronner on the floor. Austin had obtained the keys to the control panel and opened cells and the exercise gate to release six prisoners. McClune ordered the men back to their cells and ended the incident. Stronner was treated for a fractured skull and cuts to his head and face.
  • The Earl O. Hultquist infirmary, given by Mrs. Hultquist in memory of her husband, began construction adjoining the Lutheran Retirement Home at Falconer Street and Aldren Avenue. The project was to be finished in the fall. The total cost of the building, which could handle 26 patients at a time, was $259,259.
  • Noreen Dickerson of Ripley left her own family two days before Christmas to see to the needs of typhoon victims in Guam. A volunteer with the American Red Cross’ Chautauqua County Chapter, Dickerson boarded a plane in Buffalo to Guam. “No, I don’t have any second thoughts,” Dickerson said. “My family is all here now and we’ll have Christmas tonight.”
  • Employees at the Chautauqua County Landfill in Ellery were expected to finish fixing a defective drainage valve that permitted a leak from the leachate holding pond next to Condon Road. About 16 HAZMAT team members responded to the situation. Once the leak was recovered, up to seven tankers were used to haul the liquid to a discharge point in Fredonia, with about 300,000 gallons removed. Then, the county’s hazardous materials team, headed by coordinator John W. Henderson, arrived on the scene. Dennis Barmore of Gerry donned a wet suit and went into the pond, inserting an air bag into the drainage pipe to stop the leak so the crack could be properly repaired.

In Years Past

In 1915, a few weeks ago arrangements were completed to permit of direct connection by Bell telephone between all Bell subscribers in Jamestown and the village of Clymer and vicinity through an agreement between the New York Telephone Co. and the Clymer Telephone Co. “Heretofore, so far as out-of-town service was concerned in Clymer, there were only two public toll telephone stations and the circuits were routed through Corry, Pa., in a roundabout way to Jamestown,” said L.J. Davey of the Bell Co. … “It is believed that this announcement of direct service to Jamestown will be of great interest, not only to the residents of the village of Clymer, but to the Bell telephone subscribers in Jamestown as it means one more section where friends and business connections may be more easily reached by telephone.”

  • The burglar or burglars that had been operating in Jamestown for several weeks continued their work by entering the home of William T. Wright on Meadow Lane and stealing a large amount of silver and jewelry. Meadow Lane was a short street running north of Fairmount Avenue east of Hallock Street. There was only one house on the lane. The thieves made their entry by breaking a pane of glass in the door and unlocking it. They then ransacked the entire house. Probably the most highly prized article taken was a carved ivory pin that belonged to Mrs. Wright’s mother before her death.
  • In 1940, Chautauqua Lake enthusiasts were disappointed that ice on the lake prevented the world’s leading surf board rider from demonstrating her bag of tricks. “That water couldn’t be any colder than San Francisco Bay is the year round,” said Mrs. Gaye Menard Caygill when looking out over the lake. Mrs. Caygill was making her first visit to Jamestown and Chautauqua Lake with her husband, Huburt E. Caygill, a California representative of Blackstone Manufacturing.

The holiday travel rush in Jamestown was the heaviest it had been in years, augmented by the movement of troops going home on Christmas furlough. The Erie railroad reported business ahead of last year and was operating special express and mail trains while the New York Central, which connected with the Jamestown, Westfield and Northwestern Railroad at Westfield, was running special trains to meet holiday demands. Bus travel had not yet increased much.

In 1965, the number of cases and individuals on the welfare rolls in November increased slightly from October but was still well below the corresponding period in 1964. The number of cases in November 1965 was 951 while the number of people receiving help was 1,612.

Retention of the Broadhead Mills property by the city as an “incubator of new industries” was advocated by Evelyn Hall, city tax assessor, in response to a suggestion by councilman Warren Erickson to sell the property. Hall said in recent years, income from the property had been reduced by the fact that steam from its boiler plant was no longer being sold to the Shea Theater and another former customer on East Second Street. Hall, however, said she was confident the building could make money if additional tenants and customers for steam could be found.

In Years Past

  • Edward Kimball, the oldest member of the Warner Home for the Aged on Forest Avenue, received a Journal representative and talked about all that had happened since his birth in 1823. To the hope that Kimball would reach 100 years of age, he said, “Perhaps, but I have already lived more than my four score and 10 years.” In the spirit of good fellowship, the Warner Home resident held an observance in which everyone contributed to a little pile of 93 pennies for the honored guest, one for each year of his life and one to grow on, a cake and bursts of song.
  • A watch stolen from the home of Arthur E. VanCroix of Falconer was returned to its owner after the thieves sent a boy into the offices of the Jamestown Morning Post with a package and a note. “We are very sorry that we got your watch Sunday night and we will gladly give it back to you if you will call at The Morning Post, seeing as how it is a keepsake from your dead mother,” the thieves’ note said. “Hoping you get it in as good shape as we did.”
  • Police were investigating the shooting of a 33-year-old truck driver at the home of James C. Lindsey, 71, of Ripley. The death of Charles T. Brosius of Dornsfife, Pa., had been ruled a homicide caused by a gun shot to the chest. Lindsay said he found Brosius, who was a stranger to him, scuffling with his son-in-law in the kitchen of his home at about 4 a.m. Dec. 21. He fired the shot after Brosius failed to leave his home and his son-in-law was attempting to call police. No charges were expected to be filed.
  • The Mayville Central School Board of Education unanimously approved participating in a proposed reorganization of the Westfield, Ripley, Brocton and Mayville school districts. Speaking for the board, Theodore Petersen, supervising principal, said the group would accept the invitation of Westfield school officials to meet with the other districts to develop a plan.
  • Sixteen-year-old Shannon Smith gave a 5-year-old boy an early Christmas present when she apparently saved his life at the cost of her own. Smith was killed Dec. 8 when she was struck by a car near her Doolittle Road home in Wattsburg, Pa. She had previously lived on Falconer Street in Jamestown with her parents, James L. and Lou Ann Sekeings Smith. Evidence that Smith died while making sure the other child would not be hit had surfaced. “She did indeed either push or pull a young boy out of the way of the car and then was struck herself,” said Scott Johnston, Pennsylvania State trooper.
  • Chautauqua County’s Department of Social Services delivered an early Christmas present to taxpayers, with projected costs for welfare programs expected to by $25,000 less in 1991 than they were in 1986. Programs like SCROOGE – Support Children, Remember Obligations Or Get Embarrassed – that offset the costs of welfare to the county helped increase revenues while the Social Services Department had also worked with the state to identify disabled county residents who may qualify for federal disability payments.

In Years Past

In 1915, an auto tractor was badly needed to haul the City Hall hook and ladder truck. The slippery condition of some city streets made pulling the equipment difficult for horses and at the slow speed the rear trucks slid considerably at every corner and crossing. It was almost impossible for the truck to cross Main and Second streets. On returning from a fire at the Interior Metal Furniture company’s factory, one of the three horses became tired at his task, quit flat and laid down in the middle of the street in front of the fire house. It was then necessary to push the truck into the building by hand.

A note from Clymer included this tidbit: “The electric lights were turned on for lighting the streets Saturday evening. It certainly is enjoyable to go out on business or pleasure and not grope along in the darkness,” the Journal reported.

In 1940, Ballantine and Sons opened a large distributing plant in Jamestown at 325 Chandler St. The company leased from the Erie railroad for a long period of time and was building a large garage adjacent to the building to house the fleet of Ballantine cars. Only area residents would be employed at the local plant. “When alterations are completed, Ballantine’s Jamestown branch will be one of the finest and most up to date distributing plants in this area.” Draught beer and ale would be sold along with bottles and cans, with beer and ale brought in refrigerated cars by fast freight from the Ballantine Brewery in New Jersey.

The Crescent Tool Co. was making plans to expand. A permit to build a new brick and steel addition on a portion of the present parking lot adjoining the forge shop at the company, located at Foote and Harrison streets, were approved by the city building inspector. The structure would cost $10,000 and be built by a local contractor. The addition would be used for heat treating.

In 1965, Terry Lanning, son of Mr. and Mrs. C. Edward Lanning of Delaware Avenue, Jamestown, would be heard on the national ABC Radio Network when it broadcast a half-hour Christmas special produced in the studios of WAER, the campus radio station of Syracuse University. Lanning, a Syracuse sophomore, was host-announced of the special. He became interested in radio when he co-founded, the Teen Jays, a radio club at Jamestown High School.

In 1990, County Executive Andrew Goodell said he would announce further cuts to balance the county’s 1991 budget in the wake of salary increases approved by the County Legislature for 1,100 union employee or increases in local costs. “So, during the next few weeks, I’ll be announcing cutbacks in programs and staffing and the support the county can give to outside agencies and organizations,” Goodell said. Legislators declined to pass a budget, and Goodell said changes since he proposed his budget three months ago left a $3 million deficit, making the cuts necessary.

The former Governor Fenton Inn was in the midst of a renovation to become the Dynasty Restaurant. The property was bought by Mattia Miele of Jamestown and was being renovated by John L. Lisciandro of A to Z Wood Products of Jamestown. The property had been empty for 12 years.

In Years Past

In 1940, a City Council meeting at which it was expected a successor to Mayor Leon F. Roberts would be decided resulted in an even tighter deadlock. The outlook was for Roberts to stay in office indefinitely. Roberts said he would stay on as long as needed if the council was bent on naming former Mayor Harry C. Erickson as Roberts’ successor. Efforts to urge former Mayor Samuel A. Carlson to take over were shelved when the six council members pledged to Erickson held firm.

The cases of eight men and youths, including two former school bus drivers for the Brocton Central School district charged with second-degree rape in connection with alleged attacks on Brocton school girls, were to be presented to a grand jury. The men and youths all lived in or near Brocton and included students, former students and the two former bus drivers. Arrests were made by the state police after an investigation into the story of a 14-year-old girl and involved misconduct over a period of several months.

In 1990, the Jamestown Local Development Corp. stood to lose $200,000 in defaulted loans to local businesses that had gone bankrupt or could do so soon. Bankrupt companies included Afro-Lecon Inc., a metal fabricating company; Swanson’s Potato Chips; Frames East Inc.; the Jamestown Lock Company. Companies in trouble included Olandt Print and Copy Shop; G. Jeffery Weise, an attorney; Kaffe Kottage, a former coffee shop downtown; and L and L Developers, a housing development company.

A grant received by the county Social Services Department would start a Therapeutic Cluster Home program, providing intensive foster home care services to troubled children who would otherwise be institutionalized and possibly saving the county some money. Eight of the county’s institutionalized children would be placed in foster homes, and for the four families that participated there would be specialized training in how to best care for the children.

In Years Past

In 1915, in its final meeting of the year, the Chautauqua County Board of Supervisors approved a memorial hospital. A tentative agreement between the trustees of the will of the late Elizabeth M. Newton and the board of supervisors, under which the county accepted Newton’s gift of a memorial hospital, was not fully satisfactory to the board of supervisors. A new agreement was finalized during the board’s Dec. 18 meeting and filed with the county clerk.

A new contagious disease hospital built over the past summer on the Jones general hospital grounds was complete and in use with one case of scarlet fever and four tuberculosis cases. The hospital filled a long-felt want and did away with the possibility of the spread of contagious disease while creating a better way to treat such disease. The tuberculosis patients, Dr. John J. Mahoney, city health superintendent, had shown considerable improvement.

In 1940, it was expected that Samuel A. Carlson would be drafted from retirement to fill the term of former Mayor Leon F. Roberts. A meeting was to be held later on Dec. 18 to discuss the matter, but several signs – including lack of support for other candidates, a switch in support by three council members to Carlson and Roberts’ support – made it seem Carlson would be the choice.

  • “All hands on deck” was the cry of post office officials in Jamestown as the full fury of heavy volume of Christmas mail exploded around 11 a.m. Employees were on the anxious seat when they started work and there was almost no increase in volume. That changed when extra workers were enlisted in the afternoon, standing shoulder to shoulder with regulars in battling the incoming and outgoing parcels.

In 1965, members of the Ira Lou Spring American Legion Post launched Operation Hometown, an effort to send the weekend edition of The Post-Journal to local servicemen in the Vietnam battle area. The first mailings would be the Dec. 31 weekend edition. “By sending The Post-Journal to our servicemen we hope to provide a meaningful link between them in far-off Vietnam with their hometown,” said James S. Cusimano, program chairman.

  • Bookmobile services would begin for 40 area communities in January, according to Murray L. Bob, Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library System director. The bookmobile would bring a new public library service to communities that did not have a local library or where population service exceeded local facilities. The Bookmobile would travel roughly 2,000 miles a month.

In 1990, the volume of incoming Christmas mail being handled at the Jamestown Post Office was expected to peak in the next couple of days as the holiday neared. “Operation Desert Shield received an awful lot of mail,” said James G. Smith, superintendent of postal operations. “They are getting an awful lot of letters and packages. It’s just phenomenal.”

Jamestown City Council members decided against closing Fire Station 5 as long as Fire Chief William Baglia could do so with $430,000 less in overtime money than he requested. Council members also decided to bond for up to $2.6 million to cover the cost of building tow new fire stations, renovating and expanding Station 3 on Newland Avenue and buying new equipment.

In Years Past

In 1915, F.S. McHarvey of 20 Fluvanna Ave. left for Toronto to enlist in the heavy artillery branch of the Canadian army for service in Europe. He had made his home in Jamestown for the past three months, employed by the Jamestown Street Railway Company as a motorman after coming to Jamestown to visit his mother’s grave in the cemetery at Fluvanna even though his home was in San Francisco, Calif. McHarvey claimed to have seen action in the Boer War of 1899-1902, the Philippine insurrection and the war between Colombia and Panama a few years before.

In an interesting note, the Journal wrote that the towns that are the most populous are not always the most prosperous. Villenova, which did not have an incorporated village within its borders and one hamlet, boasted of no great public enterprises or industries. Yet, if records of the county were to be believed, Villenova had one distinct advantage over every other town in the county in that its people were self-sustaining. The board of supervisors had not been called upon to raise one dollar for the poor of Villenova, neither for local relief nor the support of inmates in public institutions.

In 1940, minority stockholders of the Atlas Furniture Company blocked the company from selling its Jamestown property and moving to Salamanca. A Buffalo judge ruled stockholders are entitled to first consideration as to whether or not to vote for the company’s removal and sale of its principal assets. A related case was to begin testimony the following day.

Mayor John E. Coe, manager of the Duplex Manufacturing company in Sherman, said the company had received so many government offers that it was necessary for him to keep his plant running 24 hours a day for at least the next two months. Forty people were employed over three shifts. The factory recently rented a store building formerly occupied by the Neckers Company for storage.

In 1965, the ax fell on Jamestown’s ill-starred municipal beach at Burtis Bay when the City Council declined to allocate money to the facility for the coming year. Russell Diethrick Jr., city recreation director, told council members only 4,000 people had used the beach the previous summer, at a cost of more than $10,000. Diethrick also estimated not more than 5 percent of Jamestown’s residents had made any use of the beach in the past summer. The beach had opened in July 1963. It was only in operation for two weeks in 1965 before it had to close down because of water pollution.

A comprehensive water study for Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties was expressed by those speaking at a public hearing ordered by the Water Resources Commission. Both counties’ Board of Supervisors petitioned the state for such a study, and all 14 people speaking at the public hearing were in favor of the study as well. Area officials were now waiting for the state Water Resource Commission to make a decision.

In 1990, eight people were charged following a three-month investigation into bookmaking operations in southern Chautauqua County. The activity generated as much as $1 million during the 1990 football season, investigators said, but did not appear connected to similar rings broken up in 1975 and 1985, according to District Attorney John Ward. The investigation was headed by the New York State Police with assistance from the state Alcohol and Beverage Control Commission and officers of the Jamestown and Ellicott police departments.

It was business as usual in post offices across the country, but in Cherry Creek, Dec. 16 was the last day on the job for Postmaster Ward Lincoln. “Ward was an excellent postmaster and I’m sorry to lose him,” said Ron Odle, director of field operations in the Buffalo post office.

In Years Past

In 1915, shortly after county court resumed its session, West Frank of Celoron, who had been indicted on the charge of being a common gambler, appeared with his attorney, Frederick R. Peterson, and entered a plea of guilty. Peterson said that Frank was not a gambler himself but that he admitted to owning a room in which gambling had been taking place. Judge Lee Ottaway imposed a $50 fine and said, while imposing the sentence, that the time was coming very shortly when some real punishment would be imposed if the series of Celoron offenders continued to come before him.

The county Board of Supervisors held a lengthy discussion of a Civil War memorial to be located in either Jamestown or Mayville, though no action was taken. Stirring addresses were given by Civil War veterans and others.

In 1940, John E. Durkin of Jamestown, a partner in the law firm of Attorney General Robert H. Jackson, was one of three candidates to be appointed to the Eighth Judicial District’s open Supreme Court position. Daniel P. Scannell of Chautauqua County was working to have Durkin be endorsed by the Democratic leaders in the district, and it appeared probable that the names of all three candidates would be forwarded to Gov. Lehman.

Lakewood High School’s withdrawal from the Southwestern High School Football Conference would not change the school’s rivalry with Falconer High School. Lakewood officials made the decision based on a small student registration and inability to make a satisfactory showing against district rivals in the past several years. “We have been playing schools two and three times our size and instead of going into six-man football have decided to drop our larger and stronger opponents for next year,” said Lee Mathewson, Lakewood High School principal.

In 1965, separate fires in Ellicottville, Ellery Center and Lakewood left one person dead, 19 people homeless, two homes destroyed and one home damaged. A 17-year-old was killed in the Ellicottville fire that destroyed a large two-story home on Sugartown Road, Ellicottville. A fire on West Ellery-Maple Springs Road destroyed a two-story, two-family, 14-room dwelling and left 10 people homeless. A third fire in Cottage Park, Lakewood, damaged a house, though no one was injured.

High bacteria counts had been found in a number of plastic “ice balls” tested by technicians of the Jamestown Municipal laboratory. Dr. Irwin A. Oppenheim, lab director and head pathologist, said preliminary tests of the product, made in Hong Kong, confirmed findings of other public health laboratories throughout the county that the ice balls constituted a potential source of danger.

In Years Past

  • Road construction in 2016 would add 21.5 miles of road to Chautauqua County, notably from Jamestown to Ashville, Silver Creek to Forestville, Boss Corners to Ellington, Pratts Corners to Gerry and Hamlet to County Line near South Dayton. Work in 1917 was to include 23.5 miles from Ashville to Panama, Ellington to Conewango, Gerry to Sinclairville, Panama to Panama Station and French Creek-Cutting improved road through to Clymer to the intersection of road leading to Clymer Station. “We believe that they are the most important roads in the county and are taking care of all sections fairly and equitably and are also along the line of a comprehensive and connected system of improved highways in the county,” wrote Frank O. Olson, county highway improvement committee chairperson.
  • Harry Teets and Miss. Evelyn M. Tibbetts literally rolled into marriage at the Coliseum roller rink on East Second Street, near Winsor Street, in the presence of nearly a thousand other people with skates on. And to Teets’ prowess as the speediest boy on roller skates in Western New York has been added the distinction of having brought to a successful culmination a roller skating courtship with a roller skating wedding. The only person without skates on was the Rev. Dr. James G. Townsend, who officiated the affair.
  • The Harmony Town Board was asking the state Traffic Commission for a blinker traffic light at the intersection of Route 474 and Blockville-Watts Flats Road. The board asked for a motor vehicle traffic count at the intersection, though the state Traffic Commission had denied the request in the past. People were asking for traffic control at the intersection, described as dangerous since buildings at the corner were situated close to the highway.
  • The Chautauqua County Department of Planning and Economic Development was asking for a federal grant to pay for a nutrient study of Chautauqua Lake. It was thought the study could help county planners have a better idea how to decrease weeds in the lake, which had plagued boaters and swimmers for years.
  • Area officials asked for their remembrances of when Santa came to town in their youth yielded some interesting responses. County Executive Andrew Goodell remembered receiving a bright red tricycle when he was 5 – an extra-large model from his godfather, a military officer. Lance Spicer, chairman of the Chautauqua County Legislature, was pictured with a Raleigh English bicycle he received in 1955. State Assemblyman Bill Parment remembered a set of handmade building blocks his father cut from wood and gave as a Christmas present while Chautauqua County District Attorney John Ward’s most memorable Christmas toy was an electronic football game in which the players vibrated up and down the field.

In Years Past

  • A September case of typhoid fever in Westfield was discussed by the state Board of Health, whose investigation showed the water supply was to blame for an outbreak that sickened more than 10 people. The water supply from Chautauqua Creek was subject to considerable contamination, direct and indirect, from pasture lands, manure fields, barnyards, highways, toilets on railroad trains and privies located close to the creek or directly over it. “It was, therefore, recommended that the village authorities take steps at once to eliminate and control the various sources of contamination upon the watershed and, if necessary, apply to this department for the enactment of rules and regulations for the sanitary protection of the watershed; that the village consider the installation of a modern filtration plant supplemented by liquid chlorine …”
  • A daring leap by Roger Peterson, 17, of 11 Peterson Street likely saved the life of David Swanson, 40, from death by asphyxiation, according to Rudolph H. Swanson, Jamestown fire chief. David Swanson roomed in a second floor apartment at the Peterson Street home and had locked himself in the bathroom after returning from his job to take a bath and shave before going to sleep. He was shaving when fumes from an open-face gas heater in the room overcame him. Peterson heard Swanson fumbling for the lock and heard a thud when Swanson fell unconscious to the floor. Unable to break down the door, Peterson went next door and jumped to the window ledge outside the bathroom, smashed the window in and took Swanson to a bedroom, where he was revived by firefighters.
  • Sanitary conditions in Chautauqua County lakes had improved during the year, though Chautauqua Lake represented a problem at some points. Progress had been made through sewage disposal plants at Lakewood and Celoron that would be in operation in 1941 while Chautauqua Institution was surveying its conditions and West Ellicott was starting a sewage system. It was hoped something would be done in Mayville, Midway and Point Chautauqua as well. “Polluted waters might be agreeable to ‘carp and mud dogs’ but nature demands clean surroundings for pan fish, bass and muscallonge,” the report stated.
  • Jamestown City Council members were still trying to keep the public in the dark about city business, passing another resolution to prevent copies of the council’s agenda from becoming public until the day on which the council met. “If information about business coming up in council cannot be published until the afternoon of the meeting, what opportunity are men who work all day going to have to learn about matters of possible concern to them that are coming up in time for them to attend the sessions and present their views?” Mayor Fred Dunn asked. Dunn would not veto the measure because there were enough council votes to override his veto.
  • The village of Falconer was requesting the proposed Route 17 Expressway through Falconer be moved a few hundred feet north, putting the expressway just outside the village lines. Three property owners who would lose part or all of their land to the project said moving the road north would affect fewer homes.
  • Police were investigating the death of a Westfield woman whose body was found in her home. Officials called the death of Rebecca A. Nicholson “an unattended death with some suspicious circumstances.” Family members and law enforcement officials didn’t know much more until an autopsy was performed. The death was later determined to be a homicide caused by a single shot from a small caliber gun.
  • The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities was eyeing an electric generating plant expansion. R. James Gronquist, BPU general manager, said the board had a master plan for the next 10 years that included acquiring property adjacent to the plant. That had raised the ire of Mayor Donald W. Ahlstrom, who criticized the BPU for buying up property without a formal long range plan. Gronquist said the BPU needed the space for materials and to consolidate all its activity into one place.; a new coal handling and storage facility and an additional lane for coal trucks traveling up Steele Street.

In Years Past

In 1915, a Celoron man accused of running a house of ill fame was fined $300 by County Judge Lee Ottaway. Price’s attorney said Price did not actually conduct the house and that the acts of which he was convicted were the actions of others. Price immediately stepped over to the clerk’s desk and paid his fine.

Harry Davis, who said he was from New York, walked into police headquarters on Dec. 11 and said he had violated the law and wanted to be locked up. Davis confessed he was the man who had robbed E.J. Ashwell on East Second Street days earlier. Davis said he was addicted to the use of dope and came to Wellsville to work on a farm. While there he became ill and was sent to the farm of Harvey Widrig near Panama to recover. While Mr. and Mrs. Widrig were away from home Davis ransacked their house, exchanging his clothes for Mr. Widrig’s and taking some money from a Sunday School bank in addition to several trinkets. He then went to Jamestown and burglarized Ashwell’s home.

  • In 1940, Gene Mulleavey, a former Major League star for the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds, had been tapped to manage the Jamestown PONY League team. Mulleavey would serve as player-manager, according to Harry Bisgeier, team president. Mulleavey had been playing in Buffalo for several years and served as player manager of the Bisons in 1940. “Greg wanted to embark upon a managerial career and was willing to sacrifice a few more years of playing usefulness in Class AA ball to seize this opportunity,” Bisgeier said. “He was influenced largely by his liking for Jamestown, where he has many friends. He also thinks Jamestown is one of the most promising minor league ball towns in the land.”

Jamestown and Dunkirk were opposed to a plan under which the county would pay for maintenance of county highways. The county had paid 50 percent of the costs for the work. Rural supervisors moved to charge the entire cost to the county. “Gentlemen, if this resolution is adopted the taxpayers of every town will be relieved of the burden of maintenance of county highways and the cities will pay no more than they are now paying. There can be nothing unfair to any town or city making the change,” said supervisor Clark Lord of Ellery.

In 1965, “As long as America has a teacher and boys and girls like you, we will always be free and happy,” wrote Marine Sgt. Richard A. Brownell, stationed in Okinawa, in a letter to Ida B. Knight and her class of first graders at S.G. Love Elementary School after receiving a package of Christmas cards from the students. Brownell’s son, Richard, was a student in the class.

  • The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church congregation saw a dream come true in a new church building in which worship services were held for the first time. “This means days and nights of sacrifice to present this temple of God,” said the Rev. Costas J. Kouklis, church pastor, in his brief sermon. “Each bit of mortar, each inch of wood is your offering of love as we build this sacred temple to honor God and in the name of our patron saint, St. Nicholas. It will stand here as a monument to your children and children’s children of your devotion and self sacrifice.”

In 1990, some layoffs were possible in 1992 if Jamestown Community College didn’t receive more funding from its city sponsor, according to Louis Lombardo, City Council president. Lombardo said the layoffs “would be counterproductive because they have had increased enrollment down there. An increase in the council’s appropriation would set the tone for increased chargebacks from other local governments. Chargebacks were calculated by subtracting tuitions, state and miscellaneous revenues from the overall budget. The amount left was divided by the number of full-time equivalent students to give a chargeback rate paid by local governments.

Employees of Falconer Glass Industries received notice they may be laid off, joining nearly 1,900 other former employees of local businesses receiving unemployment compensation. The layoffs were thought necessary due to a construction slowdown and strong competition from within the industry, according to Dennis Crandall, Falconer Glass human resources director. “Falconer Glass already has people on layoff,” said Douglas Kreinheder, state Labor Department Jamestown office manager. “This week new claims were filed by a number of Falconer Glass people and apparently they anticipate some more.”

In Years Past

In 1940, Ralph Stewart, the former golf pro at Maplehurst Country Club, became the first golfer to equal par in the $10,000 Miami Open when he shot a 70. The crack field indicated a par-shattering first round despite a brisk wind. Byron Nelson and Gene Sarazen were among those playing in the tournament.

About 60 percent of the Jamestown soldiers of the 174th Infantry in Fort Dix would be coming home for Christmas and the others for New Year’s. In some cases the selection was being made by drawing slips out of a hat. Special train fares and schedules for holiday trips had been arranged. Training for the troops had been suspended from Dec. 21 through Jan. 3.

In 1990, County Executive Andrew Goodell issued several budget guidelines to all department heads to curb spending, including a continued freeze on hiring and limitations on travel, conferences and membership in organizations. No purchase orders would be processed and no overtime granted unless previously approved. He also asked each department head to provide a contingency plan. “There is no question that some of the cuts will be painful and very difficult, but we don’t have a choice,” Goodell said. “We can’t ignore the fiscal reality of the state and federal government.”

Some residents who lived on an din the vicinity of Fairmount Avenue say construction intended to improve the road had created more problems than originally existed. Updating of the road from two to five lanes began in June, though planning began in the 1960s. The work was completed from the intersection of Route 394 to Route 474 near Ashville to just east of the Lakewood Village line, with two-lane highway remaining east to Jamestown. Many residents complained the traffic in the area did not justify the need for a five-lane road while others complained the project was another example of poorly designed roads in the area.

In Years Past

In 1915, canoeist Elwood Lloyd had reached Pittsburgh, according to a dispatch to the Buffalo Times. Lloyd, of Mayville, was making a canoe trip from Chautauqua Lake to the Gulf of Mexico. The dispatch said Lloyd and his wife had suffered from exposure during the journey down the Allegheny River. The party was to leave Pittsburgh either Dec. 11 or 12, though Lloyd was afraid of being overtaken by ice.

The murder case of Frank Milici had been closed, at least temporarily. The motive in the case was obscure, with a theory of a gambling quarrel discarded. “There are indications that the Milici murder case will go into history alongside the Mike Capuna case which occurred in December 1913, not quite two years ago,” the Journal reported. Capuna was found shot to death at the foot of a stairway at 117 Cross St. and, while police identified a suspect and issued a warrant, the warrant was never served and the man wanted in the case was allegedly in the Italian Army.

In 1940, construction of a $725,000 post office and courthouse on Third Street, Jamestown, was sidetracked by U.S. defense needs. Money had been appropriated for the building in the 1937 federal budget, but no money was to be spent for federal buildings for an indefinite period, according to the federal Budget Bureau.

Probation systems for Chautauqua County were considered by the county Board of Supervisors. Costs ranged from $2,905 a year to $5,230 a year, depending on how many employees the department would have. The matter had been under consideration for the past few years. “In summarizing the results of these visits, it could be said that the committee was favorably impressed with the work being done by these probation departments,” a committee report stated. “From our talks with the judges we are able to report they consider probation as an important and helpful unit of the court.”

In 1965, a group of city officials inspected one of the new jet-prop Vistaliner planes being placed in service by Allegheny Airlines during its visit to the Jamestown Municipal Airport. The plane, powered by two Rolls Royce engines that gave it a cruising speed of 300 miles an hour, made the 60 mile trip from Erie to Jamestown in 14 minutes. Delivery of five of the 10 jet-prop planes would happen in Jamestown sometime in the spring.

Jamestown was taking action against the operators of a liquor store on Newland Avenue. Not only was the city filing an injunction in state Supreme Court to close the Allen Liquor Store, but was asking a $500 fine for each day the store was kept in business. The showdown began when the city building inspector refused a building permit for renovations because the package liquor store at 322 Newland Ave. was in violation of city zoning laws. The city Planning Commission recommended denying the building permit, and the case was never taken to the Zoning Board of Appeals. A liquor license had already been issued, however.

In 1990, Theo Miller of Sherman recalled a busy 100 years during a birthday tribute party hosted in the Community Church in Sherman, proclaimed Theo Miller Day in Sherman. Miller remembered when electricity came to Sherman in the early 1920s – it was turned on in the morning, off at noon and on again from dark until midnight. She was also a charter member of the church where her birthday festivities were held. When asked if she ever expected to be 100 years old, she replied, “I never thought about it. I was too busy living.”

The city of Jamestown decided to borrow $2.5 million to pay Jamestown General Hospital debt over 10 years. That meant the city would not have to borrow $1.3 million in tax anticipation notes in the future, as it had done the previous three years.

In Years Past

In 1915, those taxpayers who complained of high taxes which the city of Jamestown imposed would be interested to know that some of the city officials felt like complaining of the high taxes Jamestown had to pay. The pump station of the water department in Levant cost enough in taxes that Superintendent Hapgood figured village taxes and school taxes consumed 20 percent of the total revenue received outside the city and consequently the service supplied outside the city was not particularly profitable.

The residence of E.J. Ashwell, 417 E. Second St., Jamestown, was robbed in broad daylight. Burglars stole a gold watch belonging to Mrs. Ashwell and a small sum in silver. Mrs. Ashwell was on the second floor of the house when she heard someone rummaging around downstairs. The fellow asked what she was doing in the house and then said, “I am desperate. I have got to have money.” Mrs. Ashwell then ran upstairs, followed by the burglar, but he ran away when he heard Mrs. Ashwell calling police. Police had not found the burglar.

In 1940, a fire at the Jamestown Table Company’s boatlanding factory caused at least $30,000 in damage and put 175 people out of work. The blaze started in a fourth floor finishing room and was far more disastrous than the damage to the building and its contents might indicated. The fire caused only slight damage, but the tons of water spurting from 50 open sprinkler heads and eight large water lines wielded by firefighters raised havoc on floors throughout the building.

  • Plans for an improved road from North Main Street extension to the Jamestown municipal airport were submitted to the county Board of Supervisors. It was estimated the construction of the .36 mile section would cost $12,000. Squire E. Fitch, county highway superintendent, pointed out the importance of the Jamestown airport and the fact that there was an investment of more than $300,000 in the project which had become of major importance in national defense plans yet was not accessible from the main highway for several months of the year.

In 1965, several sightings of a mysterious fireball that streaked through the sky were reported in Chautauqua County. A.B. Graham of Lakewood was driving on Hunt Road when he and his wife saw the object, enveloped in orange flames, flash across the sky. State Trooper John Arnent, operating on patrol out of the Falconer barracks, reported seeing the fireball, which he said appeared to be a meteorite. Some thought the light could have been an aircraft in distress, but it was determined to be a fireball started by a big meteor.

The controversy over whether City Council agendas would be available to the public had been temporarily resolved. Mayor Fred H. Dunn vetoed council legislation withholding the agendas. The agendas were made available by City Clerk Clinton H Watson on Friday, Dec. 10, in advance of the upcoming Monday meeting. The city’s legal adviser had told the clerk that the mayor is the one responsible for deciding whether the agenda should be released to the media and public, and when it would be released. One of the items on the agenda, however, was a resolution making copies available the day of the meeting, which meant city residents would have a limited amount of time to learn about items that may be of concern to them.

In 1990, State Assemblyman William Parment, D-North Harmony, was fighting for cuts in state aid to school that were based on a wealth formula. The move would protect Chautauqua County schools at the expense of wealthier school districts in Westchester County and Long Island. Assemblywoman Pat McGee, R-C-Franklinville, said Gov. Mario Cuomo’s proposals were too steep but that schools should prepare for cuts. “I’m concerned about school aid, but the schools are going to have to tighten their belts like everybody else,” she said.

New computer service was to speed customer service at county Motor Vehicles Department offices. Conrad N. Pawlak, deputy county clerk for motor vehicles, said the possibilities for the new units was endless. Learners permits wold be added to the computers and, by 1992, the computers would be able to perform imaging functions. “The biggest problem is installation of the phone lines,” Pawlak said.

In Years Past

  • In 1915, taps was sounded for Capt. Newel Cheney after his death in Poland Center. The Jamestown Evening Journal reported, “the town of Poland and the county of Chautauqua loses one of their best known and most highly respected citizens and a man whose life has been filled with public service well done, interest in every good thing for the community and an earnest and conscientious adherence to his private duties, which speaks no less highly of his high character.” Cheney served with the Ninth New York Cavalry in the Civil War before returning to Chautauqua County and serving as a school teacher. He had also been active in politics, serving as town supervisor and holding other offices, including one term in the state Legislature.

The Mayville Tuesday Club celebrated its 20th anniversary. All former members of the club who had moved away were invited to be present and in all fully 75 ladies were in attendance. A number of letters were read written by members who were unable to attend the anniversary meeting, with so many letters received that not all were read.

In 1940, a Dunkirk chemistry teacher suspended for a year on charges of incompetency said he would appeal. Wells M. Gould hadn’t decided if he should take his appeal to the state education commissioner or immediately to the courts. Gould had taught at Dunkirk High School for 10 years until his suspension in September. He had been granted tenure upon recommendation of the former Dunkirk school superintendent. “If I am forced to undergo this punishment, then the security of tenure for all other school teachers in the state will be open to destruction because then any teacher will become subject to trial upon some pretext or other and summarily suspended or dismissed.”

Robert LeSeur fell through the ice on Chautauqua Lake and nearly drowned. Lakeside police joined with parents of the area to tell children that no one should be skating on the lake until the ice was thick enough. A number of young men were skating off Crescent Avenue, Lakewood, when LeSeur, using a skate sail, went through the ice. Robert Olson of Jamestown and a group of other youths who were nearby rescued LeSeur by sliding a section of deck out on the ice until the partially submerged boy could reach it. Others in the party included William Myregaard, Walter Cobbe and Walter Turner, all of Lakewood.

In 1965, two young Georgia men were hurt when their single-engine airplane made a forced landing on a snow covered meadow on the Harold Dennison Farm on Spencer Road, Kiantone, after the plane’s motor stopped due to icing. James Hamilton, 27, was flying the aircraft, which narrowly missed hitting a power line stretched across the field. Dennis R. Thompson, 24, a passenger in the plane, was less injured than the pilot. He walked to the Dennison home. Mr. Dennison hitched a tractor to his farm wagon and drove to the aircraft. Assisted by his son, Frederick, he removed Hamilton from the wreckage. Hamilton and Thompson were taken to WCA Hospital.

Police officials received assurance from two large plaza stores that they would not be open on Sunday, presumably as a result of protests they had been violating a more than 50-year-old state law prohibiting sales on the Sabbath. Jamestown Police Chief John Paladino said Joseph Rosenberg, manager off the Big N in the Fluvanna Avenue Plaza, that the store would not open on Sunday. Chief Lee Kellogg of Lakewood had received similar assurances from Roy Cross, manager of the Jamesway Department Store on Route 17-J.

In Years Past

  • The murder of a Frank Milici of Jamestown on Winsor Street on Dec. 6 was thought to be part of a feud that started in 1913 with the murder of Peter Basile in Lockport. Dynamitings and attacks on relatives of Basile continued at various times since that murder. Milici, who described himself as a Jamestown fruit dealer, had been held in Lockport in connection with Basile’s death, but he was later discharged. Jamestown police had locked up Tony Lunetta of Scott Street as a witness and Chief Johnson told The Journal that several other people would also likely be locked up because police wanted them at hand when their stories were wanted as to what took place in the area where the shooting happened.
  • The International Order of Oddfellows dedicated the Mt. Tabor lodge building at Fourth and Main streets. “We are very proud of our Jamestown lodges,” said Grand Master George E. Judge of Buffalo. “They are about 1,000 Odd Fellows in this city and they are an extremely good class of citizens. The new Mt. Tabor temple is worthy of the splendid organization that is to use it.”
  • The number of people injured in accidents in Chautauqua County had increased 17.6 percent during the first half of 1965, according to information received by the county Sheriff’s Department. The statewide increase in auto accident injuries statewide was 8.6 percent during the same time period. Sheriff Charles C. McCloskey Jr. said the greater injury percentage would indicate that speed was a critical factor. A newly installed computer system in the state Motor Vehicles Department provided a measure of accident causes. Reckless driving, following too closely and speeding were the top three leading causes of crashes.
  • Sheriff’s deputies en route to investigate a stolen car recovered another stolen vehicle, the theft of which had not yet been reported. Deputies Ronald B. Hess and Carl E. Behm were on their way to a Mayville home who had notified deputies his 1960 model vehicle had been stolen from his barn. He said the keys were in the car but the barn door was closed and latched. Deputies saw a 1956 model vehicle abandoned on West Chautauqua Street that had been stolen from a Sherman home.
  • The Ellicott Planning Board would make a recommendation to the Ellicott Town Board on how Fairmount Avenue should look in the future. The board decided to look at the whole street, from Jamestown to the Lakewood village line, after receiving a request to rezone a portion of the street.
  • Marlo Perry, who was adopted by Richard and Dawn Perry of Jamestown when she was 2 months old, had recently reunited with her birth mother in Johnstown. She also met her 11-year-old half brother, Adam, and several aunts, uncles and cousins. “It went great,” Marlo said. “I didn’t feel uncomfortable. I felt like I belonged. It made me feel really good.”

In Years Past

  • A trial had begun in Chautauqua County Court in the case of Willis G. Price of Celoron, charged with keeping a house of ill fame. Price’s house had been raided in August and October. The first raid found two couples while the October raid found four couples in one drinking room. Another raid resulted in the seizure of 37 cases of beer and whiskey. No decision was made in time for the press deadline.
  • Jamestown Common Council members were asked to do something about youths coasting on Washington Street. John W. Johnson said large crowds of young people congregated there every night and that the sliding had become a nuisance to the people living on the street. Not all council members were opposed to the activity, however. “I have always been opposed to prohibiting sliding,” Alderman Peterson said. “As I used to like to slide when I was a boy and I am sure that some of us like to slide now.” He did not see why it was not just as proper to prohibit automobiles from being out joyriding as to stop the boys and girls from sliding. A motion was made to have the matter referred to the police department with the power to act was passed, and the clerk was authorized to publish an ordinance regarding sliding.
  • Jamestown Mayor Leon F. Roberts resigned his position to accept a high position with the Jamestown Telephone Corporation. It was the first time in Jamestown’s history that the city’s chief executive had resigned before the end of his term. Roberts told The Journal that he had made the decision to leave some time before, but there “were many projects and proposals of major importance which I wanted to tackle first. … There is now no reason why I should longer defer taking the step dictated by my best judgement.”
  • Sherman merchants were asking the village to help remove snow from the downtown area. Businessmen said the only solution to streets that were too narrow for two cars to pass was to follow the procedure in neighboring towns where, after a storm, the snow was hauled out of the merchantile district. There were times in the winter of 1940 when there were no parking places in front of businesses because of the snow.
  • Police Chief John Paladino was claiming crime was not high in Jamestown even though statistics sent to the FBI showed an 80 percent increase in crime during the first nine months of the year. Paladino said Jamestown “has good living conditions, with less of the worries of muggings, armed holdups, arson, kidnappings, homicides, drug addicts, aggravated assaults and sex fiends which are prevalent in many of our communities.” Paladino said much of the increase was in burglaries, which was the lowest degree of reported crime.
  • The Gerry Fire Department was discussing a $150,000, all-purpose indoor arena that could be used for indoor rodeos, concerts, basketball games, ice shows, boxing and wrestling matches as well as conventions. The department expected to use the arena year-round and lease its use to any organization. The building would be 200 by 325 feet and hold between 5,000 and 6,000 people.
  • The Winter Garden Theater in downtown Jamestown was on the selling block. The theater was downtown Jamestown’s lone remaining full-time movie house. The realtor handling the listing, Laura Renker, said she was sending letters to major theater owners to determine their possible interest.
  • Kurt Eimiller, a 1988 Jamestown High School graduate and junior outside linebacker at Allegheny College, would play on national television when ESPN broadcast the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl. “We knew we’d be good, but the idea of playing for a national championship never came to our mind,” Eimiller told The Post-Journal’s Scott Kindberg before the game. “We knew we had a good chance to make the playoffs.”

In Years Past

In 1915, Carmela Sebastian Pentagra, a baby born in the Chautauqua County Jail on Dec. 4, 1914, celebrated her first birthday with Undersheriff and Mrs. Gerry W. Colegrove. Her mother, Rosaria Pentagra, brought the little girl and spent the weekend as a guest of the Colegroves, in whose custody she was held a year ago awaiting trial on charges of first degree murder. The jury acquitted Pentagra, who had been living in Jamestown without work but with a $10 a month allowance by the overseer of the poor. Pentagra had been waiting more than a year for her husband to come back to her.

  • A footbridge had been built across the Chadakoin River, extending from the large tract of unoccupied land on Harrison Street opposite the Jamestown Worsted Mills to Water Street, at the foot of King Street. The bridge was a great convenience to employees of the mills and to other people who needed to cross the river but had to walk to the east end of Harrison Street near Foote Avenue. That walk covered a third of a mile.

In 1940, Carl Pintagro of Jamestown, a well-known veteran motorcycle racer, was preparing to enter the national championship 200-mile event in Daytona Beach, Fla., in early January. For several years a member of the Jamestown Motorcycle Club, Pintagro won all major titles in Canadian competition during the past two years and was the owner of nearly a score of trophies in his home. “I’d sure like to win and bring that national championship to back to Jamestown,” Pintagro said.

The Jamestown Evening Journal had expanded its photo-engraving department. For nearly three years, the department had operated in its original quarters. The two rooms of the department provided the last word in photo engraving setting and incorporated the latest methods of photographic convenience. The Journal first introduced daily local news photos in Jamestown in March 1938.

In 1965, the 10 Democratic Party members of the Jamestown City Council issued a joint statement outlining the release of council agendas before the start of meetings and promising to submit a new proposal at the council’s next meeting. The Democrats had barred release of council agendas to the public and news media until just before the start of council meetings. It was assumed, from the statement, that the public and news media would have access to the agendas after they were sent to councilmen.

Members of the Jamestown High School’s Madrigal Singers were uninjured when their bus went into a skid on Route 17 in Jasper and ended up in a ditch. The group, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Donald B. Bube, was on the way to perform at the state School Music Association Convention. Another bus was dispatched from Jamestown and picked the choir up about two hours later.

In 1990, the New York State Education Department was bringing its New Compact For Learning to Buffalo for audience feedback. The compact included the following: all pupils have the ability to learn if few demands are placed on them they will attain few accomplishments. Pupils needed bigger challenges to attain higher results. Pupils must be provided the means, such as better teachers, updated text books and modern technological learning devices. Everyone must be involved in a child’s education, including parents, community members and businesses.

A decision to rezone a section of the north side of Fairmount Avenue to neighborhood-business would not be made until at least February. The decision came after a second informational meeting on the rezoning of Fairmount Avenue between Jackson and Houston avenues. About 40 town residents, most of them opposing the zoning change, attended the meeting. “I do not see the need for a great amount of business development in this area,” said Beth Green, a neighborhood resident. “This is not the time to be opening up properties to new development, especially at the expense of the neighborhood.”

In Years Past

In 1915, Ronald Paige, a downtown business owner and new member of the Downtown Jamestown Development Corp. board, suggested the city buy the empty Argersinger’s and Grants buildings and give them away. While giving the buildings away violates state law, Sam Teresi, city development director, said novel incentives could help encourage downtown development. “We’ll give them the buildings if they relocate their regional corporate offices here with, say, 100 employees. And for each additional 25 employees they bring in, they get a tax break,” Paige said.

The possibility of converting some of the city’s buildings to a more efficient form of heating was to be examined. The project would examine how the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities could cut electrical resistance heating in some commercial buildings in the city by using district heating, a process using hot water as a heating source. “It’s possible that we could replumb some of the buildings and convert them to district heating,” said R. James Gronquist, BPU general manager. “Without (studies), this could never, or would never, occur. This is a very capital-demanding (project).”

  • In 1965, thousands of school teachers from around the state were awaiting the outcome of a Dunkirk case which was seen as a possible threat to teacher tenure. Wells M. Gould, a chemistry instructor at Dunkirk High School for 10 years, had been suspended at the start of the school year. Regents passing rates in Gould’s classes were 50 points lower than the state average, but Frank Freeman of Cornell University said there was nothing in the testimony he had heard that convinced him Gould was incompetent or inefficient. He said to dismiss Gould would be cruelly unjust to him.

Jamestown Albanians wondering what had happened to their relatives in Koritza, Albania, which had recently been captured by the Greeks from the Italians, were having a hard time getting information. The only news received in Jamestown was that conditions were bad, but that came from a phone call from Albanians from Detroit to relatives in Jamestown. Direct contact had failed. Koritza was considered as almost a second home by scores of Jamestown Albanians.

In Years Past

In 1915, the Philadelphia Orchestra was to perform in Jamestown on Dec. 6 in what promised to be one of the richest musical treats ever presented to a Jamestown audience. The program announced was commendable from the fact it was made up of modern numbers and works that had seldom, if ever, been heard here. “This will give our people an opportunity to widen their musical horizon by hearing and judging the best efforts of the modern schools,” the Journal reported. The event filled the Samuels Opera House.

The Chautauqua County Board of Supervisors approved a county highway with 8-foot brick strip and gravel beside it. The strip was an experimental design in brick and gravel. The previously planned county system of highways would not be possible with the state funds available under bond issues now authorized to Chautauqua County. It would likely be necessary in the near future to provide other means of building roads with the state money, and supervisors decided the strip of road in Clymer was a good opportunity to see how expensive local methods of construction would be and if that could help stretch the state money further.

In 1940, old rifles and revolvers – even shotguns, were being collected by Morris L. Quick, an old-time trapshooter from Jamestown, to be given to the English to repel the nazis. “The movement started in New York,” Quick said, when a group of trap shooters got together and issued an appeal for weapons that might help the British. “I passed the word around to some of my friends and already the guns are beginning to come in,” Quick said. “Dr. Hall Van Vlack, a veteran of the World War, has turned over to me an Enfield rifle made in Belgium and used by a Belgian soldier in the first World War. This gun was treasured by Dr. Van Vlack as a relic of the war but he gladly gave it up in the hope that it will again be used against the German foe as it was back in 1918. The doctor has also turned in two revolvers.”

Morrey Brennan, orchestra leader, left for New York City to join his band for auditions at the Steinway building for Decca records and a group of hotel chain managers. A photo in the Jamestown Evening Journal showed J.G. Campbell, owned of Celoron Park and the Pier Ballroom, bidding Brennan farewell after Brennan finished a six-month engagement in Celoron.

In 1965, the curtain would go up on the first American Junior Miss Pageant, being held in Southwestern Central School under the auspices of the Lakewood Jaycees. A field of 10 contestants would vie for the crown, which included a $500 scholarship and a list of merchandise prizes. A panel of five judges would rate the teenagers on poise, appearance, talent, scholarship and creative and performing arts. Contestants were Sue Berthold, Barbara Bunce, Linda Catanese, Sheila Anderson, Helene Lindquist, Connie Trainer, Helen Swanson, Sue Kettle, Barbara Pilkey and Martha Howard.

Concordia Lutheran Church was planning its 10th anniversary. The speaker for the occasion would be the Rev. T. Richard Marics, the first pastor, assisted by the Rev. Fred Jacobi the church’s current pastor. The church was founded in 1955 after a year of planning that began with several area families asking the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod to discuss the possibility of a Jamestown congregation. The church had grown over 10 years, with the size of its Sunday school growing from 10 children to 92 children and the number of communicants growing from six to 165.

In 1990, Sandra Makuch, a general music teacher at Love and Bush elementary schools, wanted to teach her pupils about good music. The problem was she couldn’t find any that was appropriate. So, she brought her music from the outside. “It’s fun for me to write songs for the pupils and it’s exciting because I can test my music on the children and they don’t lie,” Makuch said.

Motorists were wondering if there would be a grace period when a new state law took effect Jan. 1 requiring headlight use whenever a driver’s windshield wipers were on. “We may be issuing warnings at first, but the thing is we don’t have to,” said Sgt. Donald Piazza of the Jamestown Police Department. “It will really be up to the discretion of the individual officer. The grace period question was a marked difference from implementation of the state’s seat belt law, which required a grace period.

In Years Past

  • The Art Metal Corp. had introduced a novelty in its factory – a lunch room for the use of its office employees, store room organization and foremen of departments. E. St. Elmo Lewis originated the idea a year ago when he was president of the company, though it was planned and elaborated upon by C.W. Hutchinson and made a reality by Harry Stoddard. It was the first lunch room organized in connection with any of the factories in the city. Mrs. John Hick of Celoron was in charge of the fully equipped kitchen.
  • There was debate as to whether a memorial to the area’s Civil War soldiers should be in Mayville or in Jamestown at the homestead of Gov. Reuben E. Fenton. Jamestown residents on the committee all said the memorial should be in Jamestown, though there objections were raised. E. George Lindstrom, chairman of a committee studying the idea, mentioned an objection raised to the effect that the Fenton property was too large for the memorial and wondered if the land might have to be broken up and if there would be restrictions on the type of buildings erected. Herman Sixbey of the county Veterans’ Union Committee said the purchase of the Fenton homestead should be made by the city of Jamestown and not the county. He also had concerns that the Fenton home was not fireproof and that the precious relics that would be placed in the memorial should not be placed in any building that was not fireproof. He also said the proposed county memorial in Mayville should be completed regardless of what happened with the Fenton homestead. No action was taken at the meeting.
  • Jamestown had received 12 inches of snow over 24 hours, with car owners asked to keep their vehicles off the streets to help the city Public Works Department to catch up with street plowing. Western New York was hit the hardest by the storm, which dropped temperatures to a high of 12 degrees above zero. Train service was not delayed, but for the second time in a week, the mail plane that served Jamestown and Pittsburgh was forced to remain in Jamestown overnight, delaying mail service.
  • Mrs. Guy W. Carter of Spencer Road, Kiantone, had the distinction of being the first Chautauqua County woman to serve on a grand jury. Mrs. Carter said she was enjoying the experience. Her name was submitted for service by Lewis H. Cheney, Kiantone supervisor, because of her interest in public affairs. Cheney said he believed she would serve well without hesitation. Names of prospective grand jurors were furnished by supervisors of the county, with 300 names on the roll.
  • Russell A. Diethrick Jr., city recreation commissioner, said he would confer with John Paladino, city police chief, to determine what assistance his department could provide in fighting the city’s upsurge in crime. Mayor Fred H. Dunn said burglaries accounted for much of the 80 percent increase in serious crimes, with burglaries increasing from 78 in 1964 to 155 in 1965. He also observed that any of the burglaries were committed by juveniles and asked the Recreation Commission to lend its efforts in suppressing crime.
  • New York’s budget would hit a record of nearly $3.9 billion in the fiscal year beginning April 1. Mandated increases resulted from existing formulas, including gearing public school aid to enrollment and tax-resources of individual school districts. Other increases were expected in the SUNY system, Mental Hygiene Department and public welfare programs.
  • Ripley’s 110-year-old 8-inch water main created a financial emergency for the town. The age of the cast-iron main and high water pressure from the recently completed water filtration plant contributed to three main breaks in the past week. “If we don’t get the 110-year-old main replaced, we can’t operate the new plant at full pressure,” said Thomas Curtin, town supervisor. “When I look at the inside of that pipe, I am not sure I want to drink that stuff.”
  • Chautauqua County lawmakers were discussing a charter change to make the Department of Public Works’ Division of Environment a new department. “The environment and the protection of our environment is so important these days that it must be given top priority,” said Thomas Harte, R-Lakewood and Environmental Committee chairman. The department would be responsible for all county interests in solid waste management and parks; operation, construction and maintenance of the county’s solid waste transfer stations, the landfill and related facilities.

In Years Past

In 1915, the frame building at the corner of Main and Work streets in Falconer was practically destroyed with all its contents by fire around 4 a.m. The building was owned by Fred Walden of Sugar Grove, Pa., and was part of the old structure once known as The Tavern and run for many years as a hotel. The fire was discovered by B.F. Merriam, who lived across the street. By the time he turned in an alarm by telephone, it was too late to save the building and it was thought an adjoining small structure used as a tin shop would also burn. The lower floor of the corner building was occupied by Mrs. C.E. Shoup as a confectionary store and was destroyed. No one was living in the upper floors. The building of which the structure was formerly a part was burned on New Year’s Eve 1912 and so badly damaged that the corner building was the only part worth saving.

Jamestown women who had been at work for the past two weeks preparing empty flour sacks for use as bandages would have 15 dozen sacks ready for shipment and would send them next week to Miss Choat, Surgical Emergency Dressing Society, Wargrave, Berkshire, England. The society issued an appeal in the London Daily Times for socks, shirts, warm comforts and funds for clearing stations in Serbia and the Dardanelles. Mrs. John Hollings of Jamestown was leading a Jamestown effort to fill that need.

In 1940, a pair of accidents in which children coasted into the paths of vehicles was prompting police to take sleds from youngsters who violated a state law against the practice. Jamestown’s constant growth and improvement had eliminated many of the ideal coasting and other winter sport locales that existed decades ago. On the west side, the erection of a new state armory and improvement of the immediate area eliminated the once-famous Pennycole, where children by the hundreds had once congregated. A popular spot east of Washington Junior High School had been eliminated when the property was leveled.

  • The Jamestown Loyal Order of Moose held a three-day celebration to open its enlarged and remodeled club house at Fifth and Liberty streets. Saturday was the biggest of the three days and included formal ceremonies, a dinner and class initiation ceremony. Hundreds attended the series of events.
  • In 1965, a new industry would begin operations in Sinclairville within the next two weeks, according to an announcement by Wynneward Inc., which specialized in the production of solid walnut bases for trophies and walnut plaques. It would occupy a one-story brick building on Sinclair Drive. The company had been operating in Meadville, Pa., since 1956 under the name of Rehart Inc. and was moving because it had outgrown its Meadville facility. Cooperation from the Sinclairville Improvement Corp. was one reason the plant did not locate in Jamestown.

A bullet from a hunter’s gun went through the window of the Warren Area High School, narrowly missing two girls who were walking in a classroom. Richard C. Hegerty, chief deputy sheriff, said the bullet had come from more than a mile away from a 30-30 rifle. It went over a knoll, through trees without hitting anything until it got to the high school. No violation was indicated.

In Years Past

  • William Stevens, a well known cattle buyer from Panama, attempted to commit suicide by slashing his throat and left wrist with a razor. He was found by his wife, who stopped the flow of blood sufficiently to save his life. Dr. L.C. Green said Stevens was undoubtedly temporarily insane from the pain and systemic poisoning from a badly decayed and ulcerated tooth.
  • The Salisbury Wheel and Manufacturing Company was seeing the benefits of months of planning. In March, company officials made plans to increase capacity in the plant due to an expected increase in business. At that time, the front axles of the equipment the company manufactured were made in Greenville, Pa. The company decided to move all of that work to Jamestown, building a new office building and putting the front axle plant in place of the old office. A new 250 horsepower engine was used for the first time on Nov. 30. By March 1916, it was expected additional factory buildings, providing 80,000 square feet more floor space, were to be completed. After the March 1916 expansion the plant was expected to be able to make 150 full sets of automobile wheels and axles for each nine hour day, a 50 percent increase from the 1915 output.
  • The city of Jamestown had been hit by a staggering 80 percent increase in major crime during the first nine months of 1965, according to information submitted by the Jamestown Police Department to the FBI. There had been 239 major crimes through September 1965 compared to 133 during the same period of 1964.
  • Francisco Galesi of Paterson, N.J., detailed plans for a mall-type shopping center in Lakewood. More than 200 people attended the meeting. Galesi said the shopping area would include at least two major department stores, two food markets and 30 to 40 specialty shops. He likened the development as an incentive to industry and business and the first step in a new economic boom in the area.
  • Opponents of a recently negotiated lease agreement with the Seneca Nation of Indians rallied outside a federal courthouse in Buffalo where they were trying to block implementation of the new lease. They wanted a renewal of the existing lease, which was due to expire in February. The picketers were also asking for support from U.S. Sen. Daniel Moynihan; U.S. Rep. Amo Houghton and Gov. Mario Cuomo. “We have asked for a temporary restraining order that would be granted, hopefully, today. This is in order to restrict the Seneca Nation of Indians and the Salamanca Indian Lease Authority from taking away anybody’s offered lease,” said Jennifer Coleman of Buffalo law firm Damon and Morey.
  • A serious commitment from the governor’s office to support reducing the burden of state mandates on local governments was the highlight of the fifth annual State Local Relations Conference in Albany, according to County Executive Andrew Goodell. “As a result of that meeting, it looks like the governor will be presenting to the state Legislature a series of legislative recommendations designed to reduce many expensive mandates that hamper local government,” Goodell said.

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