In Years Past
- There will be no raise for the comptroller or county legislators.
This year, at least.
The county’s Salary Review Commission suggested no changes for both positions, one month after suggesting the sheriff’s salary raise by $10,000 over four years. The comptroller is paid a $49,000 annual salary and legislators make $9,000.
Jane Fagerstrom, commission chair, said five members also served on a 2001 commission which recommended the post-auditing functions served by the comptroller could be better done by outside auditors. These members brought memories of the past recommendations, Mrs. Fagerstrom said.
The commission interviewed Comptroller Dennis Goggin and reviewed similar positions in other counties of comparable size to Chautauqua County. Mrs. Fagerstrom said they found little for comparison.
”Among those (counties we reviewed) there were around 20, and only one had a comptroller,” Mrs. Fagerstrom said. ”All of the rest do auditing through a finance department, which we do, too.”
- The Burtis Bay baseball field in West Ellicott badly needs an operable concession stand, and down the street a few miles, LaGrega Field in Lakewood is literally a swamp.
Nevertheless, these are the fields the 250 or so little leaguers in the Southwestern Area Sports program rely on to play – and parents are searching for some much-needed help.
”We’ve been working very diligently to get Burtis Bay up to playing standards,” said Kelly Derby, Southwestern Area Sports vice president.
They recently completed the Burtis Bay field fence at a cost of roughly $3,500, and now need cash to upgrade the concession stand – the best fund-raising draw for any community sports group.
”We’d love to have it finished and dry walled, but I’d be thrilled just to get electric and water in there,” said Mrs. Derby, whose children have played for Southwestern Area Sports for more than 10 years.
At the May 15 Ellicott Town Board meeting, the parents who run the group petitioned board members to provide money for the concession stand project, but were ultimately unsuccessful.
”We don’t have the money in our budget this year,” said Pat Tyler, town supervisor. He added that board members have given the group money in the past and continue to provide any services possible through the highway department – aid Mrs. Derby described as ”gracious.” Tyler also added parents were invited to petition them again when it comes time to prepare next year’s budget.
Aside from the Burtis Bay baseball diamond, teams in each league compete on other nearby fields such as the one at Celoron’s Lucille Ball Memorial Park, but it is the parents’ dream to one day see their children play on fields with bleachers, a fully equipped concession stand, dugouts and the nice, rich dirt of a baseball diamond.
”That’s our dream – to have a full baseball facility,” Mrs. Derby said. ”We went to Warren – those fields look beautiful”
- On Memorial Day, the Jamestown Vietnam Veterans Association unveiled its Wall of Honor for the 52 service members of Chautauqua County that gave their lives in that conflict.
Each of the 52 plaques offers a vignette that begins to tell one of 52 difficult yet important stories. But for surviving family members and former comrades-in-arms, the wall is a sanctuary for the memories that will never fade. Local officials hailed the continuing vigilance of the veterans association.
Assemblyman Andy Goodell said his daughter enlisted in the Marine Corps. and was a recent service member in Iraq, with the responsibility of mortuary affairs. She was often witness to the final salute given by the Air Force honor guard on the flight home, but he added that effort continues at home.
“By putting their names on this wall, we are the final honor guard,” he said. “It is up to us to always remembers that these young men and women were our sons and daughters, our brothers, sisters and cousins.”
Mayor Sam Teresi said there are more than 52 names on the wall, because the local casualties from Vietnam are at the center of a larger network of dozens of lives that were affected by the war, including those who were wounded as well the grieving families that remain.
State Sen. Cathy Young looked to the recent losses of Marine Lance Cpl. Aaron Swanson and Army Sgt. Kevin White, but declared the Wall of Honor shows how young Chautauquans have always been to serve.
“Generation after generation of our veterans have answered the call when their country needed them, and they have gone knowing they may pay the ultimate sacrifice,” she said.
Bruce Kaus, the commander of the Cassadaga American Legion, was a fellow soldier and a brother to Harry Kaus Jr. – the county’s first Vietnam casualty – and was invited to at last remove the black curtain from the Wall of Honor.
“I just want everyone to know one thing. I was only a teenager, and so was my brother when he died,” Kaus said. “I miss him today as though he was here yesterday. This is the greatest honor.”
For Kaus and others who already know a loved one’s story, the plaques are there to be touched, and know the sacrifice made by so many is still valued in the hearts of Americans on Memorial Day and every day of the year.
A bright morning along Prendergast Avenue was the ideal venue for the fluttering of banners and the glistening of marching boots and buttons as the city of Jamestown held its annual Memorial Day Parade.
Veteran servicemen, city officials and political representatives from around the county walked the route as crowds of residents lined the street in support of those military men and women who have died. Those who assembled were kept in step by several marching bands and the ceremony was anchored by the color guard of the United Veterans Council of Jamestown.
For several who donned their dress blues or otherwise suited up for the solemn day, the city parade is an annual obligation.
“My father is a veteran of World War II, and he is not able to march anymore, so I do,” said Ned Lindstrom, assistant marshal for the parade’s Samuel T. Tyler Third Division. “I’m a member of the Sons of the American Legion – it’s like an auxiliary. I’m not a veteran, but he is so I march in support of him.”
In Years Past
10 Years Ago
- Memorial Day is important because it’s a nice day off – to contemplate the price of freedom.
Just ask around the parade route.
”I was a part of the Big Red 1 … I was serving a year before Pearl Harbor – in Africa, Sicily and Europe. I was over here one year and 11 months in the States and 3 years over seas,” said Tony Costanzo, an Army vet from World War II.
He was sitting in John W. Tiffany VFW Post No. 53’s ”too old to march” wagon with Robert Wade and Carl Brightman.
”Today, I honor my buddies that are lying in graves in Europe, and Vietnam boys – write that down – Korea and everybody that served in service for America. They are all our brothers.”
Whatever anyone else thinks, Costanzo said the living among his brothers will continue the memory of those who’ve died and live by the ideals for which they have fought.
”That’s what this country is all about,” he said.
- For 25 years, the husband-and-wife team of Mitch Weiss and Martha Hamilton have entertained and taught thousands of pupils each year the art of storytelling.
Recently, the team has found a home at Panama Central School, helping fifth-graders learn reading skills to help them while taking state-mandated English Language Arts tests. The duo known as Beauty and the Beast also performed for the school’s children and parents telling stories.
Patricia Lundquist, Panama Central Elementary School librarian, said the performers visited the school last year leaving an impact on the children with whom they worked.
”The students had a marvelous experience last year,” she said.
Ms. Lundquist said the group is world-renown, performing in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Proug, but residing in Ithaca.
The librarian said each fifth-grade student has learned a folk tale and how to retell the story.
”The children work on public speaking, showing emotion, learning the history of the folk tale and learn about the culture of the people who created the story,” she said.
Ms. Lundquist also said the children have learned life-long skills like how to maintain eye contact while speaking and using hand gestures to express emotion.
”The experience stays with the child. I still have children who worked in the past workshop coming to me in school telling me about their experience,” she said. ”Students get so much out of it in the way of public speaking. Standing in front of a group can be intimidating, but by learning the practice at an early age it becomes easier.”
In Years Past
Every day in New York one pedestrian is killed and another 11 are hospitalized for serious injures after being hit by an automobile. According to the state Department of Motor Vehicles, in Chautauqua County one pedestrian is killed every other year and about 50 people are injured annually. It’s statistics like that which is driving the Chautauqua County Traffic Safety Board to urge all citizens to be careful when walking. ”Pedestrian safety is a two-way street,” explained Pat Allenson, safety board member. ”Spring is a busy time for pedestrians. Children are walking to school or from the bus to classes. The sunny warmer weather invites many, including retirees and the elderly, to take a stroll to enjoy the new season.”
The week of April 15 through April 23, a group of Jamestown students were lucky enough to travel to learn a new culture and invaluable lessons about life. The journey officially began April 15, but it started almost a year earlier when the Jamestown Public School Board of Education granted approval for students, teachers and chaperons to take a trip to Mexico. According to Vicki Rishell, Jamestown foreign language teacher, it became a year of organizing, planning, fundraising, meeting, recruiting and preparing for the trip of a lifetime. ”Part of the success of the trip was the amazing effort and commitment of many of the parents, students, and two of our chaperons, Mrs. (Amy) Tousley and Mrs. (Kristin) Samuelson, to go through an intensive fund-raising process,” she said. ”Over the course of the year, the group had raffles, sold food items and held spaghetti and chicken and biscuit dinners. This not only provided the students and parents the opportunity to make money toward their trip, but more importantly, it allowed our group to bond. Strangers became friends and friends became family. When it was time for us to depart, our group was already comfortable with each other and ready to go!” Twenty-two students, four chaperons and five other adults started the journey by spending three days in Mexico City touring churches, parks, museums, monuments, Aztec ruins, the Zocalo and Diego Rivera murals. Ms. Rishell said students listened as various city guides told them all about the rich history of their neighbor to the south. Hundreds of pictures were taken, bottled water was consumed, souvenirs were purchased and questions were asked. ”Undoubtedly, the most enjoyable afternoon for me was taking my group to the Ciudadela market. I made them travel by Metro. Mexico City’s is one of the largest, cheapest – 20 cents per trip – and cleanest systems in the world,” she said. ”I wanted them to have a working knowledge of a subway system. When we entered the market, I let them loose to shop to their hearts’ content. Bartering, or price haggling, is commonplace in the Mexican markets and watching the students try to barter their way to a bargain was awesome. The more they worked at it in Spanish, the braver they became with their language. I was so proud of them!”
In Years Past
New York’s comptroller thought the state’s Industrial Development Agencies should have been more accountable, though his report was met with criticism from several IDA leaders, including Chautauqua County’s. Alan Hevesi, state comptroller, released a report on six Industrial Development Agencies – Erie, Suffolk, Ontario, Onondaga, and Tompkins counties, and the town of Amherst – suggesting IDAs statewide needed better self-reporting. Hevesi’s report laid out several actions to make IDAs more accountable, including standardized project applications, requiring annual report cards from the state’s 115 IDAs containing facts about job creations and tax breaks given, and providing a means to take back benefits for projects which fail to meet their goals. Because IDAs were local authorities, they operate differently from place to place, Hevesi said. This underscores the need for more public accountability. ”We are calling for new measures to provide the public with more data about IDA projects, standardize IDA projects across the state and give IDAs the power to require payment of benefits from businesses that do not deliver promised results,” Hevesi said. ”These are fundamental, essential changes that would protect taxpayers and level the playing field.” In Chautauqua County, the IDA reported regularly to the County Legislature’s Planning and Economic Development Committee, particularly when the committee was voting on a resolution approving money to the IDA. Legislator Joe Trusso, D-Jamestown and Audit and Control Committee chair, said there should be more in-depth and frequent reports from IDA brass. Trusso said he would like the legislature to require monthly progress reports, especially on larger projects like a proposed methane generator at the Chautauqua County Landfill. ”I know members of my committee would like to know what they’re doing,” Trusso said. ”You hear all these stories (regarding projects like the methane generator and proposed ethanol plant), and that’s why we need people of knowledge that would come to Audit and Control and notify us exactly what’s going on.” Because his committee dealt with the county’s financial matters, Trusso said its members would be able to weigh in on proposed projects and offer advice. Accountability was not the only concern Hevesi addressed in the report. Of the six audited IDAs, only four had provisions to take back benefits when a company failed to meet its goal, and officials from the remaining four said they never had to reclaim benefits. ”Some businesses make honest and diligent efforts to succeed, but are negatively affected by changes in market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances,” Hevesi said in a release accompanying the report. ”Our concern is a business that may create unrealistic plans for expansion to take advantage of programs that offer financial assistance.”
SINCLAIRVILLE – Loren Smith’s wish list expanded. In addition to wanting lights for the Cassadaga Valley Central High School’s athletic field, he was asking for dugouts for the baseball field. At the previous week’s school board meeting, Smith led a contingent of district residents into the high school gymnasium, the majority of whom he said supported his lighting proposition. Reiterating previous requests to have the lights put up to a vote as part of a proposed building project the board was considering, Smith said the turnout was in response to a ”call from the board” to provide backup to this request. ”This is not just some whim – these people in the stands want to be able to vote on this issue,” Smith said. Not only has Smith’s wish list expanded, so has the cost. According to initial figures, Smith’s lighting proposal would have cost $280,000. In a prepared statement he made, the cost became $312,500. With the 96.6 percent state aid the lighting project could receive, local taxpayers would pay $10,625. In addition to district residents, Smith was supported by area football coaches – Archie Bradley, retired Silver Creek coach, David Nelson, Falconer track coach, and Curt Fischer, Maple Grove football coach – who outlined the competitive advantages of field lighting for night football, soccer and track. Taylor Smith, a Cassadaga Valley senior, said the lights would ”spark interest among the students,” complement the school’s programs and showcase the hard work the students put forth. Bob Zanghi, also a student, said student pride needs to be established and that lighting the football field may enhance this. Retired physical education teacher Art Asquith said athletics and academics go hand in hand and the lights would be a great opportunity to boost both. Bonnie LaCross was the only person to speak out against the lighting proposal. Saying she was the mother and grandmother of Cassadaga Valley student-athletes, Mrs. LaCross said the board was following a proper course by looking at the district’s needs rather than wants. ”State aid does not appear from nowhere – it comes from our pockets and the cost of running the lights does not come free,” she said. ”The purpose of school is to educate and if the sports boosters want lights, let them pay for them – not everyone in our community can afford what they want.” Steve Olson, board president, said the reason the board was being cautious about what to include in the proposed building project was because the state changes financing practices in midstream.
In Years Past
More than a year has passed since U.S. Army Private First Class Charles S. Cooper, Jr., was killed in Abu Gharib, Baghdad, by a roadside bomb on April 29, 2005. The Jamestown native was 19 when he died – just 10 months out of Jamestown High School. A memorial placed for him in Lakeview Cemetery will be dedicated today at 11 a.m. ”We’re talking about two granite slabs – 26 by eight by 48 inches and a base that measures 38 by 54 by eight inches and a bronze statue which was provided through Large Art which measures 45 inches tall,” said David Christy, director at Jordan Funeral Home in Sinclairville. Christy was the man Cooper’s father and mother, Charles S. Cooper, Sr., and Sherry L. Weaver, chose to handle arrangement when the Army returned their son home in May of last year. Christy said he was impressed with the attention to detail the military showed in making arrangements. The funeral director was even surprised military officials wanted critiques and commentary on how the service proceeded. ”They cared, they genuinely felt bad about this individual being killed. There was actual concern,” Christy said. ”It was overwhelming, still is.” In the year since Private Cooper’s funeral, Christy has become familiar, even friends with the soldier’s father. In a way, he’s come to know Cooper as well. But the kind of memory that scratches his voice and makes for a lot of silence in a conversation is the one of the Fort Drum detail that accompanied Cooper to Jamestown. ”The pulled up in one of those white vans, you know, the kind a lot of church groups go around in,” Christy said. The officer in command asked to speak with him outside. When he did, Christy saw the honor guard uniformed, and rough housing on the lawn. It shocked him at first. ”Then I came to the realization, they’re just kids. They’re over there,” Christy said. He paused. ”I have a son who is just a little bit younger than what Private Charles Cooper is.” He empathized with Cooper’s family and grew to know them and knew when the wanted to do something for their son, they would want something dignified and appropriate. So that is what they will dedicate today – a memorial and a memory.
CASSADAGA – Two familiar topics – a new water source and the paving of Dale Drive’s shoulders – held sway at Wednesday night’s Cassadaga Village Board meeting. Mayor Mary Jo Carlson said Greg McCorkhill, consulting engineer, reported the test well behind the Cassadaga Elementary School is producing 500 gallons of water a minute. ”This is very promising news and, hopefully, we have found our new source of water,” Carlson said. She said Hope Fredrickson, village attorney, will contact the Cassadaga Valley Central School board’s attorney to set up a meeting about the continued development of the well site on the school property. ”There are Department of Environmental Conservation regulations that must be met in this development as well,” Carlson said. A contingent of Dale Drive residents also turned up at Wednesday’s meeting to check out a rumor about a meeting Rodney Waite and Jeff Frick, village trustees, have scheduled with County Executive Greg Edwards about paving the shoulders of the road. Agnes Minion and Sharon Bykowski, who have been outspoken opponents of the plan, were present as were Gerald and Marsha Murphy, Clarence Merow and Julia Heath. Edwards has already told the Cassadaga Village Board the paving can’t take place this year because of a lack of money in the county’s highway department. Merow said he has been after the county for years to make the road’s shoulders safer. ”I have written letters regarding these conditions – it’s a county road and there should be a decent shoulder,” he said. ”The wider the road, the faster the traffic will travel and it’s not safe to drive fast around the road’s curves.” The Murphys main concern was drainage. They and Mrs. Minion have been dealing with water draining onto their properties from the road for years. Merow said the county has the engineering force to correct the problem and it’s up to them to do so. ”They need to do a job and do it right,” he said. In other business, the board also learned that a Neighborhood Watch Committee is being formed with a meeting scheduled at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the village’s community building. ”We will be asking participants to place a Neighborhood Watch logo in their windows to alert those who may be inclined to break into cars or vandalize property that someone is watching,” Mrs. Carlson said. The board also briefly discussed the possibility of shared services with the town of Stockton. Waite said he met with Stockton Highway Superintendent David Snyder about the town taking over the maintenance of the village streets. ”Rodney and Dave are doing cost analysis to see if the take-over would be beneficial to both municipalities. Once this information is compiled, they will be meeting again to discuss the issue,” Mrs. Carlson said. Cassadaga Lakes Association members also attended the meeting to discuss water service to their building on Putnam Road. ”I told them expansion plans for the village water service call for an upgrade of the water lines on the road, but because of the cost involved, its not going to happen right away,” the mayor said. For now, she suggested association members pursue the possibility of drilling its own water well on the property it owns outside the village limits.
In Years Past
LAKEWOOD – Wednesday’s grand opening of the newly expanded Wal-Mart Supercenter in Lakewood drew ”several thousand customers” over the course of the day – a ”significant” increase from normal traffic, according to Sandra Zolner, store manager. She said approximately one-third of those customers shopped the store’s grocery department, which opened Wednesday and was what officially elevated the store to ”supercenter” status. ”It’s a one-stop shop,” Ms. Zolner said. ”(Customers) can get everything they need in one place.” The grand opening was marked by a ceremony at 7 a.m. with local and store officials presiding and a performance by the Jefferson Middle School marching band and color guard. The doors opened to the public at 8 a.m. The Food Center includes everything found in the modern grocery store – a bakery, a delicatessen and frozen food, meat and produce sections. It is not clear what impact the Food Center’s opening will have on other grocery stores in the area. According to Ms. Zolner, the reaction to the store’s new layout – which was finished well before Wednesday’s ceremony – has been very positive so far. ”There’s much more room to hold the volume of customers we have so they’re not crowded anymore,” said Ms. Zolner – who began working at Wal-Mart 10 years ago at the lowest rung on the company’s employment ladder and rose up to the position of store manager. The new store is more than 200,000 square feet in size and includes a Subway restaurant and a salon. According to Ms. Zolner, a total of 250 additional employees were hired as part of the expansion.
Chautauqua County has received more donated items for its Victims Assistance Center. On Thursday, the Falconer Education Association donated videos, books, magazines and a student-made bookshelf to the center. David Foley, Chautauqua County district attorney, and Valerie Rettig, Chautauqua County District Attorney’s Office Victims Assistance Center coordinator, were on hand to accept the bookshelf from Patricia Walker, Falconer teacher, and Nolan Ingrao, Falconer ninth-grade student, who assisted in making the bookshelf. Foley said the District Attorney’s Office has developed a home atmosphere to give victims a place to go while waiting for questioning. The area is particularly child-friendly with toys and a television for videos so child can be occupied while a parent is being interviewed. ”Sometimes people get so involved in the case they forget about the victims. The focus in our office is to try and make (victims) feel more comfortable during bad times,” he said. Foley said the center is almost done and an open house will be held once it is completed. Ingrao was one of the students mainly responsible for the construction of the bookshelf and said he spent between two to three weeks working on the project. ”I hope it is put to good use. I hope the kids like it,” he said. Other items that have been donated to the center include a television/DVD player from the Jamestown Kendall Club Police Benevolent Association; videos from Wegmans; quilts form Sally Bryan and Quilts For Kids; toys, bean bag chairs, sleeping bags, child’s table and chairs from Jill Bladh’s group of women; and cash from the Chautauqua County Volunteer Fire Service Auxiliary, Wal-Mart of Fredonia, Wal-Mart of Lakewood, Westfield Moose Lodge 118 and the Fredonia Beaver Club. Other organizations interested in making either a cash or a product donation can contact the District Attorney’s office at 661-7241.
In Years Past
- Few city residents would visit the U.S. embassy in Beijing, China, any time soon, but if they do, they would find a little piece of Jamestown. Dawson Doors on Allen Street had constructed two bronze doors for the main entrance to the new U.S. Embassy under construction in China’s capital city. ”We’re very excited for getting this job,” said David Dawson, company president. These weren’t the first doors the Jamestown company has produced, though. ”We’ve done jobs at the White House and at the Smithsonian. We’ve done jobs at the Sears Towers and Rockefeller Center,” Dawson said. In fact, the company had produced doors for five other locations in China, including the world headquarters of shoe giant Nike Inc. and the National Palace Museum in Taipei City. Dawson Doors sprung from humble beginnings – a small shop on First Street with five employees. ”My grandfather teamed up with my dad and decided to go out on their own and start their own business,” Dawson said, adding he took over the company as president and CEO when his brother retired. Then, the company’s home was a 180,000-square-foot facility with more than 100 employees and a portfolio that included the entrances of landmarks all across the United States. ”Generally speaking, we do higher-end doors,” Dawson said. ”We’re not going to do your Wal-Mart doors.” He added his company just manufactures the doors, which were typically designed by architects, and they were usually made of bronze or stainless steal. The new U.S. embassy – which Charles Williams, Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations director, said was the ”largest single construction project undertaken by the Department of State on foreign soil” – was expected to be completed in 2008. It was designed by a prominent San Francisco architectural firm and would include five buildings on 10 acres of land. Once the embassy was opened, thousands of American travelers, diplomats and Chinese civilians would pass through those doors every day, though few, if any, were likely to know they came from Jamestown.
New U.S. Embassy In Beijing
– ”The largest single construction project undertaken by the Department of State on foreign soil,” according to Charles Williams, Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations director
– More than 600,000 square feet of floor space on 10 acres of land with five main buildings at a cost of $275 million
– Main entrance built by Dawson Doors on Allen Street in Jamestown
– For more information, visit www.dawsondoors.com or “beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/“
Training together could save their lives. That’s the hope, at least, local police officers brought to the table during a special joint training exercise Wednesday at the Firemans’ Training Grounds in Jamestown. ”At any point, any one of these officers could have to respond to a situation together. We want them to have a uniform response to situations,” said Lt. Barry Swanson of the Jamestown Police Department. Jamestown, Ellicott, Lakewood-Busti and Silver Creek officers went through four hours of training in taser use, how to interact well with the community and appropriate responses when a citizen doesn’t respond to police requests. ”It could be as simple as someone telling us where to stick our guns to a citizen actually coming out and punching an officer,” Swanson said. ”Some citizens come out angry at us, pointing guns at us. That is a use of force situation. What’s the appropriate response? That’s part of what this training does.” Another portion covered what should happen when police from different agencies needed to work together to clear a building or establish a safe perimeter around a problem situation. Taxpayers benefited because they paid for fewer training sessions in total, instead of using a limited number of instructors to train each department individually. Police slowly learn to trust each other more and depend on one another as one cohesive unit. ”It makes sense to share instructors,” Swanson said. ”It reduces liability and saves money to provide uniform training.”
In Years Past
After two meetings, Chautauqua County’s tax cut task force is looking at the big picture of municipal budgets and mandated costs.
One of the topics at Tuesday’s meeting of the 10-member committee was the differences in town and village budgets, which members said they hope will lead to discussion on shared services and duplications.
”I think we developed a better idea of how budgets are put together,” said Legislator Jim Caflisch, R-French Creek, who represents the legislature’s Republicans. ”We want to do some more exploration to see if there are more opportunities for sharing services and elimination of duplication of services, and a discussion of what tax has greatest impact on residents.”
Darin Schulz, the county’s finance director, provided figures on what services are provided by municipalities and the county. John Walker II, Sheridan supervisor, said the discussion was enlightening and a good starting point for eventually looking into lowering the costs necessary to lower taxes.
He said municipal leaders have met periodically for decades, but the discussions have become more frequent in the past three years, and Walker said he’s hopeful about the level of discussion that exists now.
”You’ve got to understand the other guy if you want to understand where the money goes and is spent,” Walker said.
When tax cuts are discussed, committee members should keep in mind that the state is competing with Pennsylvania for businesses and residents, and should look at property taxes accordingly, Caflisch said.
”One of the implications that came through loud and clear is that property tax is a significant tax we have to look at in relation to what our neighbors in Pennsylvania are paying and how that drives development and business creation in New York,” Caflisch said.
County Executive Greg Edwards said he would like to hold regular meetings and will let the committee decide what areas to investigate without dictating their course of action.
”We will have regular meetings as materials come available, but not have meetings for the sake of meeting,” Edwards said. ”Now that we have a sense of who we are and what we bring to the table, we can be candid about opportunities for tax relief in the county.”
- At City Hall on Tuesday, assessments were the talk of the day.
Starting at 9 a.m., all nine Board of Assessment review members split into three panels to hear grievances from city property owners displeased with their property’s assessments.
About 1,000 property owners contested their assessments in informal hearings in March and April. From that, Randy Holcomb, city assessor, said he figured about 100 people would sign up for the BAR, based on state Office of Real Property Services figures.
More than 300 registered.
”Two things, I think, boosted that – there’s been a lot of press about other areas and it got people thinking about their own assessment,” Holcomb said. ”And, there were people who weren’t here for informal hearings who wanted to be heard.”
Holcomb said because city residents scheduled their times ahead, most do not experience a wait or have to bump into other property owners.
”Things have gone very smoothly,” Holcomb said.
Most of Jamestown’s grievance hearings were arranged by appointment, but city residents who wanted to contest their hearings could still walk in as late as 8 p.m. Tuesday and expect to be heard then, next Friday or next week.
Many property owners who appeared early Tuesday were businessmen with large land holdings, like Jim Paige, a local developer.
”It was my intent to show the board what happened when you lose tenants and what that does to value,” Paige said.
One of his properties had been assessed by GAR at $43 a square foot.
”How do you tell a tenant that’s been paying $2 a foot in taxes that now it’s going to be $8. He can’t,” Paige said. ”It’s my job to come up here and make sure they’re able to compete with Wal-Mart.”
The information Paige gave to the BAR members included comparable prices and conditions from similar plazas and retail store fronts as well as reasons some properties sold the way they did. His simple explanation – some people overpaid, including himself.
”Take (the) Third Street plaza. The city was willing to put money forward and help out to put a grocery store in there. What it needed was a facelift,” Paige said. ”But, the money I spent isn’t the money I’ll get out of it. It’s not its real value.”
On that plaza, Kevin Okerlund, city assessor, stipulated the plaza be worth only $30 a square foot, based on Paige’s information.
Down the hall, one woman was ready to contest the assessment on the three-family house she owns in the city.
”They assessed it at $29,000,” she said, not wishing to be named. ”I think it’s worth no more than $20,000. It needs a tremendous amount of work. In looking at the comparables, it’s nowhere near as good.”
In another conference room, Sam Mason told two BAR board members about his woodworking business and an adjacent lot. The question was how much he thought the lot was worth.
”Who wants to move to River Street? There’s a land enough for a warehouse. You couldn’t make much more than that out of it other than a parking lot,” he said.
His value – $5,000.
City residents who showed before 8 p.m. Tuesday will be scheduled for a time to formally contest their property’s revaluation in later this week or next week. Those property owners will receive statements in the mail after June 9 telling them the disposition of their case.
In Years Past
- LAKEWOOD – There will be no fireworks for Lakewood residents on the Fourth of July, but this time around it’s not because they’re too dangerous.
At Monday’s meeting, village board members decided to abandon their pursuit of a fireworks display because new regulations at the national level have made them ”impossible” for Hartley Park.
”Because of the regulations, we just can’t do it,” said Mayor Tony Caprino. ”We won’t be able to have fireworks.”
According to village officials, as in previous years, a professional fireworks display for their Fourth of July celebration was something they were pursuing.
”We said we were going to have fireworks, but when we contacted the company they said they need 600 feet of space,” Caprino said referring to a comment he made at a previous meeting assuring residents there would be a fireworks display. ”We only have 250 feet, so that’s impossible.”
”We just can’t comply with that,” he added.
The National Fire Protection Association policies that regulate the distance pedestrians must be from the pyrotechnics are based on mortar size. The fireworks Lakewood officials had in mind would require a 600-foot buffer, and Caprino noted the smallest ones the company could provide would still require a 350-foot buffer – still too much for Hartley Park.
- The state Education Department is taking action to improve the reporting of violent and disruptive incidents in school districts.
Richard Mills, state Education Commissioner, announced Monday, during a press conference in Albany, that actions include site visits, auditing school records, mandated uniform training on reporting, new requirements for written documentation, certifying reports are accurate and more guidance on accurate record-keeping.
The new reporting methods are prompted by an audit of school districts from 2003-04 conducted by the state comptroller’s office that data being reported is irregular and inadequate. Mills said the report has increased concern among the Regents Board and state Education Department officials.
”The comptrollers audit was spot on – very accurate,” Mills said. ”There will be letters sent to all principals and superintendents making sure they fill these forms out and that they are done correctly.”
Mills said the inaccurate reporting could possibly stem from school districts not wanting a reputation of being a dangerous school district.
- Hair salons touch people’s lives every day, said Andrea Pincoski, manager of Salon One on West Third Street.
”People often pour their hearts out to a stylist,” she said.
So when devastation strikes, as it did when deadly tornadoes struck the American South, she said, it is only fitting that hair salons would be doing work to help alleviate the pain. Salon One is working together with Terra Bella Salon in Birmingham, Ala., to collect relief items to donate to those affected by the April 27 tornadoes that left many dozens dead and many thousands without homes.
Ms. Pincoski said that in addition to her work with Salon One, she is also an artistic educator with Matrix, a hair-care and hair-color company. Each year, the company selects six students who recently graduated from beauty school to travel to salons throughout the country, spending a week at each in the attempt to make a difference. One of the students, Courtney Guess, was in Birmingham with Terra Bella Salon the night the tornadoes struck.
When Ms. Pincoski saw posts on Facebook from Ms. Guess describing the devastation and reporting that one of Terra Bella’s receptionists, Rachel Perry, had her neighborhood destroyed by the storm, she was moved to help.
- SHERMAN – Chautauqua County, with its rich and diverse history, has another reason to celebrate. In the town of Sherman, there lives a woman who has seen many of these historical events of the past century firsthand.
Her name is Helen Butler, and she celebrated her 100th birthday on Sunday at the Sherman Community Church. Surrounded by members of the community, friends, family and dignitaries, Mrs. Butler greeted every person with a smile.
Mrs. Butler was presented with a proclamation from the Western New York Federation of Women’s Clubs as well as a proclamation made by state Senator Catharine Young.
“I thought it was critically important to be here, because Helen, as you know so well, has a lifetime filled with individual acts of kindness,” said Sen. Young. “For every person she has touched, they have gone out and touched other lives, and so it grows exponentially. It is almost like ripples on a pond, where you start something and it spreads and it spreads and it spreads, and that is what Helen is all about.”
When asked how she felt about reaching the milestone of becoming a centenarian, Mrs. Butler said, “it is just one of those things.”
“Growing up every year, it is just one of those things, you just keep rolling along with the time,” she said.
In Years Past
Cracked orange paint chips on the Arcade Building’s walls were left for 30 years to peel in peace. Before Donna Morse bought it from the Civic Center Development Corp. in January, the last time the rotted building made headline news, a piece of it nearly fell on someone. ”That’s the whole reason for my being here,” said Philip Delaney, a photographer and artist who moved to Jamestown from Atlanta in 2005. ”This is totally undisturbed – the peeling paint, the natural patinas.” He paused, then stepped to the main staircase – all oak – and admired more peeling wall paint. ”Look at the blues with that orange. It’s fantastic,” he said. For about seven hours, Delaney and Tim Fagan of FXLF Productions videography, taped, photographed, shot and rearranged their collective weight in dust, junk, broken windows and chairs. The building would take millions of dollars to restore, even if the woodwork was mostly intact.
LAKEWOOD – When the managers of Dipson Theatres were finished retrofitting their Lakewood Cinema 6 location on West Fairmount Avenue, they said it would be a new state-of-the-art facility. Stadium seating, high-back rockers with moveable arm rests and two new theaters with 42-foot-wide screens were just some of the items on the list for the cinema’s upcoming renovation. ”The whole theater will be completely redone,” said Michael Clement, Dipson Theatres Inc. president. ”It’s a big project for Dipson Theatres.” The project – two years in the making and in the final stages of the municipal approval process – would begin with the construction of a 9,000-square-foot addition that would house the two new theaters. At 42 feet, Clement said the new screens would be much larger than the current ones – the movie experience enhanced with new digital sound systems. Once the addition was complete, Clement said contractors would completely renovate the rest of the building. The new seating – which he described as ”the most comfortable seats available” – would be installed in each theater, and new bathrooms, party rooms, play rooms and a larger lobby would follow. ”Our theater is 15 years old. It’s time for a major renovation,” Clement said. ”This will be a completely state-of-the-art facility when it’s done.” The project was expected to be completed by Thanksgiving. Managers anticipated very little disruption for customers and Clement said they didn’t intend to close down the entire facility at any point during the process. ”Once the two-screen addition is up, we’ll probably close three screens, retrofit to stadium seating, then close another three screens,” he explained. Even for the managers of Dipson Theatres, Inc. – who ran nine cinema locations in the Western New York region and managed two others – it was a very big project. ”We’ve renovated many theaters, but nothing like this,” Clement said.
MAYVILLE – Janice Slaton was suing the county. Notice of the lawsuit was received Wednesday by County Executive Greg Edwards and Public Defender R. Thomas Rankin, both of whom were named as defendants in the case. Slaton began work as an assistant public defender for the county in 2002. She was placed on paid administrative leave from the position in mid-January. A termination hearing which had been scheduled for March was pushed back to April and has still yet to happen, according to County Attorney Steve Abdella. Meanwhile, Slaton’s paid leave ran out in late February and so she returned to the county payroll, but remained suspended with pay. In her suit against the county, Slaton alleged that she was wrongfully terminated and discriminated against. She cited the Masonic Temple Fire which happened in Dunkirk the previous February as background in her case, detailing her vocal opposition to how the county handled the subsequent displacement of the Department of Social Services there.
First and foremost, when reached for comment by The Post-Journal, County Executive Greg Edwards detailed the divide between his position and the office of public defender. The county executive was responsible for the administration of county affairs, with the exception of select departments – such as the operations of the sheriff’s office and the district attorney’s office, as well as the public defender’s office. The functions of the public defender’s office fell under the purview of the County Legislature, Edwards explained. The position of the public defender is an appointment made by the legislature and administration of that department is the responsibility of that branch of government. “People can sue and they do for virtually anything in the United States,” Edwards said Thursday. “This is not the first time nor, unfortunately, will it probably be the last time that the county has been sued. But in this particular case, there is absolutely no basis in law or fact for the allegations that are being made with regard to my involvement in this lawsuit. I look forward to the vigorous defense of these allegations. I have no involvement in the office. I have no right nor have I involved myself in the administration of staff, so I look forward to the defense of these spurious allegations.” County Attorney Steve Abdella similarly explained that, as outlined in the County Charter, the position of public defender is strictly a legislative appointment made by the majority of the County Legislature.
In Years Past
Northeast rust-belt cities have seen factories close, talented residents leave and rotted building hulks remain as reminders of more prosperous days. Governments and communities have adapted on their own. Now, it’s the church’s turn. In Jamestown, Christ First United Methodist Church is an example of decline, consolidation and rebirth others may want to consider while some denominations close their buildings and others simply merge. On June 4, the congregation celebrates its 10th anniversary as a unified church, but also a history of three prior congregations and several buildings dating to 1814 and the first Christian roots in the region. “I always say it’s like we’re all home,” said Mary Ellen Ambrosini, a Christ First member. But, like grown children discovering they have to move in with their parents for all to survive, the ordeal wasn’t easy. Methodism took root in Jamestown in 1814 with the mission of the Rev. Burrows Westlake. The humble beginnings in a church tent later became the First Methodist Church. In 1852, Swedish Methodists separated and formed their own congregation – Epworth Methodist. And by 1918, the Italian Methodist Episcopal Church – later Christ United Methodist Church – was founded to serve Italian protestants living in the community. By 1975, the Epworth and Christ congregations merged and the Christ building on Foote Avenue was sold. Merger talks came up again in 1994, this time between Epworth Christ and First United. “The district superintendent knew Epworth Christ either had to pour a lot of money into the building or close,” said Charlie Hodges, Christ First missions and outreach coordinator. “He presented the idea to the two pastors and asked if they would be willing to sit down and talk about it.” The pastors agreed. But even among the outwardly peaceful Christian communities, there were naysayers. Congregation members actively threatened to derail any merger talks to keep the churches separate. By some estimates, they almost succeeded. “There was energy to diffuse it, but momentum to make it happen overcame them,” said the Rev. Doug Knopp, pastor of Christ First. None of the naysayers stayed. Even worse, by the time of the merger in 1996, the congregation’s total numbers shrank significantly. Looking back, there was no other way. “We would have been a ministry of maintenance instead of missions,” said Reggie Ambrosini, a former Epworth Christ congregation member. “Every extra penny we had would have gone into the building.”
MAYVILLE – While Belknap Business Solutions is expected to permanently close its doors as soon as next month, union officials are doing what they can to save the business. Celeste Hummel, Belknap employee and union president, said the Communication Workers of America, to which they belong, has contacted three people who may be interested in buying the company. “We’re trying to do something about it,” she said. Ms. Hummel was critical of J. Buster Weinzierl, Belknap president, saying he should be working to keep the company going or sell it. “He’s just thinking of himself. He’s not working with the union,” she said. According to Ms. Hummel, Weinzierl gave the union a 30-minute notice before announcing to the employees they would be closing. “There was no negotiating. He just turned everything down,” she said. Weinzierl said last week he felt there was little that could be done to save the printing company. “What’s happening is more and more things are being done electronically, so paper-based systems are becoming extinct,” he said. “The business form industry has been declining at 5 to 10 percent a year. … You’ve got less work for the same amount of people and something’s got to be done.”
A 14-unit independent living apartment complex with resident-specific home-based monitoring technology is being built at Lutheran Social Services. Ground was broken Friday for the complex, which officials report will help keep individuals independent longer, as LSS strives to meet the needs of thousands of baby boomers who turn 65 years old daily. Those reaching senior years previously had limited choices, reported LSS officials Friday, who said they seek to “right-size long-term care” between the services they offer. State Sen. Catharine Young said the new building, combined with other choices offered at LSS, “makes sure seniors have needs met at every stage of their lives,” while Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi said it is an example of what can happen when people work together in the interest of others and not just their own selves. “We work together to make life all that it can be,” he said.
A plume of smoke on the city’s east side led to a garbage truck that caught fire Friday. Mike Beichner, operator of the vehicle for Casella Waste Disposal, said he was in the early part of his Jamestown-Randolph route for commercial garbage pickup when he was notified that smoke was pouring out of the rear of truck. As he drove along Chandler Street, he was signaled by employees of Weber Knapp Company, and after a vain fight to extinguish the smoldering collection of trash, he pulled into the vacant part of the parking lot across the street. “I used their hose for awhile and tried to get it out,” Beichner said, “but I didn’t know how bad it was until I got up there.” He said he had only made less that a half dozen stops so far, along a route to collect the dumpster contents at several area businesses and corporations and depositing the garbage at the Ellery landfill.
In Years Past
ELLERY – Mary Hammond will remember J.C. Matteson by doing what she’s best at – racing around Stateline Speedway at 50 miles per hour. The 36-year-old mother of three – a resident of Ellery – has dedicated her car to the fallen soldier of Celoron and changed her number to 28 – J.C.’s number when he played football for Southwestern High School. ”I followed the stories in the paper from the time it started. I have kids of my own. If it were me in that situation, I sure wouldn’t want to go through what he went through,” Ms. Hammond said, referring to James Matteson – J.C.’s father and a resident of Celoron. This will be Ms. Hammond’s second year racing at Stateline Speedway on Kortwright Road in the town of Busti. She races in the women’s challenger class – for vehicles with front-wheel drive and four-or-six-cylinder engines, she explained – and won first place in points for the season last year. ”I had a heck of a year last year,” she said. She drives a 1991 Plymouth Laser, though the vehicle she’ll be racing this year is different than the one she raced last year – built almost entirely from scratch, she said. This year’s season began in late April, but she hasn’t raced yet because of knee problems – forcing her to miss four weeks of points, she noted.
Duquesne University professor, Clifford Bob, son of Murray Bob, delivered the third annual Murray L. Bob Memorial Lecture in the fireplace room at the James Prendergast Library on Thursday. The topic of the lecture was ”Marketing Humanitarian Crises: Victims, Media and International Activism.” Prendergast Library Director, Catherine A. Way, introduced Bob, saying that Murray would have highly approved this year’s speaker and that he would be enormously pleased with his son. ”His dad would be thrilled to hold this book,” Ms. Way said holding Bob’s book. Bob earned his bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard University, he is also a graduate of the New York University School of Law and Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Ph. D. in political science. A native of Jamestown, Bob now resides in Pittsburgh and teaches courses at Duquesne University on the comparative politics, international law, ethnic conflict and human rights. Bob is the author of The Marketing of Rebellion: Insurgents, Media and International Activism, published in 2005 by Cambridge University Press. He has contributed chapters to two other books and published many articles in political journals. He is a research grant recipient and has served on several scholarly review panels and presented papers at human rights conferences. The Bob lecture series began in 2004 and was addressed by Dr. Jules L. Lobel on the war against terrorism. The second lecture in the series was given by Dr. Carl Elliott and spoke on the ethics of using modern medicine to fulfill patients dreams. The Murray L. Bob Memorial Fund was established to honor the longtime director of the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library System and James Prendergast Library. Murray Bob was a lover of books and had a keen interest in reading about and discussing ideas. According to Ms. Way, the purpose is to bring a scholar to the library each year to address a local audience on a topic of significance. ”I am highly in my father’s debt,” Clifford Bob said. Bob’s topic posed one main question – why do certain groups gain international media support when others don’t? He spoke of such humanities crises as Darfur, Uighurs, Congo and Tibet, saying that sometimes the worst off don’t always get the most support. After Bob delivered his lecture, there was a series of questions posed to the professor about the crises he discussed, mainly the ones in Africa.
The Jamestown Police Department was investigating shots that were fired at a Fulton Street home Thursday. According to police, at 2:30 a.m., several shots were reportedly fired in the area of Fulton Street. “There were multiple 911 calls last night reporting several shots fired that were received at 2:30 a.m.,” said Capt. Robert Samuelson of the Jamestown Police Department. Several of the shots hit a house at 125 Fulton St. No one was injured. “The occupant inside the home that we believe the shots were directed at did not immediately know this until she was awakened later on in the morning and she discovered several rounds in her home had come through,” he said. “We were able to match the call and the officers last night responded. Inquiries were taken and they were checking for anything that may be suspicious.”
One county party’s endorsement would be a little harder for legislators to receive this fall. Thom Shagla, chairman of the county Independence Party, issued a statement Wednesday saying that the party would not be endorsing any candidate who did not support a legislature of 17 members or less. The statement is not a change from the party’s long-held stance on downsizing, Shagla said. However, legislators who were backed in the 2009 legislative elections, he said, had not yet delivered on the promise they had made to the party. Shagla told The Post-Journal on Thursday that there had been a lot of talk about downsizing in the last year-and-a-half, but not enough action. “Please stop dragging this issue out any longer,” Shagla wrote in the statement. “Nineteen is not the number. Seventeen or less.”
In Years Past
Some Southern Tier residents may be surprised to find they can turn the tables and actually sell electricity to the power companies. It wouldn’t take much – just a few solar panels and wind turbines and an investment of $20,000 or so. That was the lesson Thursday as the image and voice of Gay Canough, president of both ETM Solar Works in Endicott and the New York Solar Energy Industries Association, was transmitted to colleges all across the state including Jamestown Community College. ”We hope humans can be at least as smart as trees and shrubs,” Ms. Canough said while trumping the benefits and financial incentives of living off the grid. It was the third statewide meeting hosted by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and Cornell University’s Cooperative Extension program. Ms. Canough explained that living off the grid can be both a profitable and ecological venture. Solar panels big enough to power a home can cost as much as $45,000, but discounts and state incentives cover more than half of that. There are both state and federal tax credits offered to energy-conscious consumers, as well as the System Benefits Charge – a small fee added to each monthly electricity bill that funds programs such as the energy meetings and a $4-per-watt discount on solar purchases. ”That’s right off the up-front cost,” Ms. Canough said, adding it would cut nearly $20,000 off that $45,000 price tag. The System Benefits Charge is paid by customers of National Grid, though, and not the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities.
ELLINGTON – Without incident, the Town of Ellington Board held its first meeting since the towns’ assessment revaluations were mailed out. There were no public participants to complain. In fact, only the board members were present for the meeting, which is always open to the public. However, it was a different story during the assessor’s business hours at the Town Hall since the new assessments went out. The phone has been constantly ringing with property owners calling to ask questions or complain about their new assessments. Karen Bifaro, town clerk, summed up the situation, ”It’s been crazy here with all the phone calls.” She also stated that one of the phone lines went down the first day that Patricia Eimers, town assessor, was available since the mailings went out. Many callers couldn’t get through right away and that made matters worse until the line could be fixed. In spite of the downed line, Ms. Eimers was receiving calls steadily her first day, answering questions and scheduling appointments with property owners who wanted to discuss their new assessments. In regards to settling disputes so far, Ms. Eimers said, ”I have done stipulations with people who have come in and convinced me that I should. They haven’t been unreasonable, they haven’t asked for the moon and the stars, they’ve just said, ‘I think it’s too much increase and I understand things have gone up and I think that this (value) is more reasonable’ and if they’re reasonable about it – OK.” Ms. Eimers did not use the new assessment values New York state recommended because she felt they were too high, so she had to review each parcel individually and enter her numbers. The average increase in assessed values for Ellington was approximately 20 percent.
While most village residents may have visited a March celebration to honor the municipality’s history, two Panama residents decided to write a book about it also. Pamela A. Brown and her sister, Heather J. Schneider, wrote the book, “Remembering Panama Glimpses of the Past.” They will have two upcoming local book signings, with the first from 1-2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Off the Beaten Path bookstore in Lakewood, and the second from 9-10:30 a.m. Memorial Day at Crouch’s Garage in Panama. Mrs. Brown said the book was written in conjunction with the sesquiscentennial and features topics about 19th and 20th century Panama. It also fills a void, she said. “There hasn’t been one,” Mrs. Brown said about a history book about that time period in Panama. She said different aspects of village history are noted in the book. Mrs. Brown said Panama was a “self-sustaining” community that generated its own electricity, had a phone company, Greek revival homes that showed people’s prosperity and the Panama Rocks. “It’s nice reading,” she said, adding a lot of people ask her about history. Mrs. Brown is the village’s historian. “Local history needs preserving,” she said, adding people want to know what happened before. “Otherwise, history will be lost, and we won’t be able to refer back,” she said, adding people like to reflect. She said a lot of people from outside Panama who once lived in the village are also curious about what happened to the municipality.
High gas prices are driving a wider wedge between the wealthy and everybody else. The rich are back to pre-recession splurging: Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom customers are treating themselves to luxury items like $5,000 Hermes handbags and $700 Jimmy Choo shoes, and purchasing at full price. At Target and Walmart, shoppers are concentrating on groceries and skipping little luxuries. BJ’s Wholesale Corp. said Wednesday that customers are buying more hamburger and chicken and less steak and buying smaller packs to save money.
In Years Past
Attention drug dealers: county officials have a word for you. “Here’s my message – don’t come to Chautauqua County. If you do, you’re going to be arrested,” said County Executive Greg Edwards while standing outside the Sheriff’s Department. Edwards said Buffalo has been cracking down on drug dealers, and he can easily see them moving south and setting up shop in the Chautauqua County area. “We in Chautauqua County will not stand by as drugs infiltrate our community,” he said. Joining Edwards was Sheriff Joseph Gerace, David Foley, county district attorney; Rex Rater, Jamestown police chief; John Bentley, Lakewood-Busti police chief; Brad Meyers, Fredonia police chief; and members of the Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force. According to Gerace, of the 160 arrests made in 2005 by the task force, 41 were from Erie County. “It’s a wonderful example of law enforcement working together,” he said, referring to the drug task force. “We’re making a difference.” Foley said his office will continue to prosecute drug dealers. “We will not tolerate the sale of illegal drugs in our community,” he said. Officials noted how Buffalo drug dealers temporarily move in with an addict from Chautauqua County and set up shop for a few weeks. “They come down and use our people who are addicted,” said Foley. “It causes our county to spiral out of control.” Gerace said drug problems are the worst in Dunkirk and Jamestown, where the bulk of the county’s population lives. Still, he said, illegal drugs are problem throughout the county. The biggest drug problem tends to be crack cocaine, but Gerace said there has been a resurgence in heroin, LSD and prescription drugs. When asked if he had a message for drug dealers, Gerace replied, “Yeah, tell them we’re not going to pay for the hinges when we break down your doors.”
Most small community municipalities and school districts were fighting financial battles because of increasing fossil fuel, insurance and retirement costs. Because of increasing costs, the Panama community was going to fight financial battles together through shared services. On May 3, administrators from the towns of Harmony and North Harmony, village of Panama and Panama Central School District met to discuss how collectively the public entities could save money. “It was great,” said Carol Hay, Panama Central School District superintendent. “We had representatives from the two towns, the village, the school district and our two county legislatures, Jay Gould and Jim Caflish, joined us.” Mrs. Hay said the municipalities and school district came to agreement during the meeting to share its summer recreation program. “Typically, the towns had their own rec program and the school helped out with use of our pool and helped with busing during field trips. The representatives from the towns presented an idea to the board to combine its program with the summer school program. Now, kids coming to summer school won’t miss the summer rec program.” Mrs. Hay said the group wouuld investigate improving winter snow plow removal. “We’ll try to remove it the most economical way we can,” she said. The public entities also discussed working together on grant writing to gather resources quickly when opportunities are available. The group also discussed disaster and emergency plans.
At about 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, the Jamestown Police Department received a call from a resident about an alligator sighted in the side yard of 179 McKinley Ave. Capt. Robert Samuelson reported that officer Robert Bender responded and confirmed the presence of the exotic reptile. He said Harry Snellings, city police chief, was already on duty and also responded. Together with an animal control officer, they were able to safely contain the alligator. Snellings said he was quickly “forced to make a decision” when he grabbed the animal’s snout and kept it closed while the other officers applied tape around its jaws. It was initially corralled with an animal leash zipline and a dog-catching snare from the city’s animal control officer. Samuelson said the three-foot animal presented an especially dangerous situation since there were children walking to school in the area at the time.
Could the Internet mean the end of snow days? Some schools think so, and they are experimenting with ways for students to do lessons online during bad weather, potentially allowing classes to go on during even the worst blizzard. “Virtual snow days” would help ease pressure on school calendars. Because districts are required to be in session for a certain number of hours or days, losing teaching time to winter weather can mean extending the school day or cutting short spring break or summer vacation. And canceling school in the winter, when some of the most difficult material of the year is covered, risks leaving students with a learning deficit heading into the spring, when many states administer standardized tests. “Even if you can’t continue on at the same pace, being able to keep students on track can make a huge difference,” said Doug Levin, executive director of the nonprofit State Educational Technology Directors Association.
In Years Past
- A proposal to reduce the size of the Chautauqua County Legislature failed in the Administrative Services Committee on Monday.
The plan, approved by the Legislative Review Commission, calls for a reduction from 25 to 15 members effective after Jan. 1, 2008. The panel overwhelming opposed the plan, with Legislators Jim Caflisch, R-French Creek, Dave Wilder, D-Hanover, Wally Huckno, D-West Ellicott, and Lance Spicer, R-Falconer voting against and Steve Keefe, D-Fredonia, voting in favor.
Caflisch said the commission’s letter recommending the change was convoluted, calling for a size reduction at one point and for reverting back to a board of supervisors in another.
”I don’t think the committee understands what the task of the legislature is,” Caflisch said.
Caflisch said the reduction would put a substantial strain on rural legislators who already have a larger territory to cover. He also said it could create full-time legislators who receive higher salaries as well as office staff.
”I think when you go down to 15 people you would easily double people’s commitment to the position,” Caflisch said. ”Right now, legislators spend anywhere from two to four hours a day on the job between answering e-mail and faxes, talking to constituents, and going to committee meetings.”
- MAYVILLE – Although any talk of a merger has for the most part been squashed, the village of Mayville and town of Chautauqua are committed to working together.
During a joint meeting with the two municipalities, officials discussed taxes, Lakeside Park, the community building, water districts and have already scheduled another meeting for next month.
”We want to keep the taxes down, but we want to get the services up,” said Sid Compton, town supervisor.
For months, a handful of residents have been calling on Mayville officials to consider merging the two municipalities. Compton said he’s not trying to push that issue, but does want to see the two municipalities work together.
”We’ve both got retirements coming up, and we should see about helping each other out, instead of filling them right away,” he said.
Marty Bova, mayor, said one thing the village needs immediate help with is Lakeside Park. The park, located on Route 394, needs new tennis courts and a bathhouse. The village also has some fitness center equipment to install this year.
Bova said the village has set aside $60,000, but the cost of a new bathhouse alone could be $220,000, plus another $40,000 for new tennis courts.
- MAYVILLE – The issue of downsizing the County Legislature will again be put to vote this month.
The proposal, which was defeated in April, will return to the body during its regular monthly business meeting next week.
Authored by John Runkle, R-Stockton, the local law failed in a 15 to 7 vote last month. As it would change the County Charter, Runkle’s proposal needed at least 17 votes to pass – not just a simple majority of 13 legislators.
As written, the proposal would set the size of the legislature at no greater than 19 members. It would also put the number to the public for vote in a referendum this fall.
During the recent reapportionment process, both Democrat and Republican lawmakers agreed to move forward with a redistricting plan which would have downsized the legislature to 19 members. However, when it began to look like the reapportionment commission’s plan might fail to pass the legislature, Runkle proposed officially setting the number at 19 members – thereby making official what had only been generally agreed on a by a handful of legislators.
- Seventy years ago – May 15, 1941, to be exact – Joe DiMaggio went 1-for-4 with a single and drove in a run.
It was also the day that the New York Yankees center fielder began his 56-game hitting streak, a Major League Baseball mark that still stands.
But for Dave Harris of Jamestown and his brother, Bill, of Lakewood the date that they’ll always remember from that season will now be April 7, 1941, five weeks before the Yankee Clipper began his assault on the record book.
That’s the day their father, Wilbur, drafted a simple, typewritten letter to Yankees manager Joe McCarthy requesting autographs of five members of the 1941 Bronx Bombers, including DiMaggio.
In Years Past
- MAYVILLE – With an ever-increasing caseload of domestic violence and family court cases, the opening of a Integrated Domestic Violence court will help consolidate a family’s cases and eliminate overlapping judges.
The court, which officially opened Monday, is one of 27 in the state. It is based on a ”one family-one judge” approach, allowing a single judge to hear related cases involving domestic violence victims and their families. The goal is to promote more informed judicial decision-making by having a single judge rule on all matters concerned with a given family. Criminal, matrimonial and Family Court cases are eligible.
”This is a critical step in improving the lives of victims in Chautauqua County,” said Judge Sharon S. Townsend, administrative judge of the Eighth Judicial District.
- MAYVILLE – Residents concerned about loitering inmates released from the Chautauqua County jail addressed the Public Safety Committee meeting in hopes of bringing a solution to the problem.
Carol Keating said she’s heard concerns from her neighbors about inmates being released late at night who have no place to go, many of whom end up wandering the village. Others have already addressed the village board about finding a possible solution, Ms. Keating said.
Sheriff Joseph Gerace said there is little the jail can do about the inmates. Once they make their release date or are bailed out, officials can no longer legally hold them.
”We try to encourage them to take a CARTS bus, but I’m willing to work with anyone to find a solution,” Gerace said, noting he’s already had discussions with the Safety and Security Committee.
Though he said there have been rumors of an inmate entering a house in the village, Gerace said there has never been a documented problem with someone committing a crime after being released.
- State Department of Transportation staff may be focusing efforts on fixing an “embankment failure” on I-86, but they also report plans to patch potholes on the route until a 2012 paving job can be done.
That may not be soon enough for those contending with the potholes, however.
Susan Surdej, spokesperson for the DOT, said recent heavy rains have saturated a sand/gravel mix embankment near the Quaker Run exit on I-86 westbound between exits 18 and 19 so water could not drain properly. She said state crews will do emergency repairs on the embankment in the coming weeks. Traffic has been closed to one lane. She said the problem is a familiar one across the state, as four embankment failures have occurred, including the one on I-86.
She said crews are also working to patch “a significant number of potholes” on the route since paving is not scheduled for it until the summer of 2012. She said recent rains were not conducive to patching, as materials used would not hold during the weather. Despite that, she said, the patching will be ongoing until the paving can be done.
In the meantime, however, residents and officials alike that travel the route are voicing concerns.
- FALCONER – During the last 10 years American furniture manufacturing, typical of many other American manufacturing segments, has declined rapidly. This decline is a result of both domestic economic factors and the tremendous growth in imported furniture. Since the year 2000, more than 300 major American furniture manufacturing plants have closed along with hundreds of smaller shops. Of the remaining manufacturers, many are now dependent on foreign suppliers. Imports from Asia, Eastern Europe and South America now account for the majority of residential furniture and a growing portion of commercial furnishings sold in the U.S. Much of the remaining U.S. furniture manufacturing industry, residential and commercial, is now dominated by very large companies that control a broad cross section of the market. The American furniture industry has, to a large extent, become commoditized, making the already profit challenged industry even more challenging, especially for the small manufacturer.
The fates of the few remaining Jamestown-area furniture manufacturers have mostly followed the national trend. As many locals know, Jamestown was once one of the leading furniture manufacturing cities in North America.
In Years Past
It’s history that perhaps is best left forgotten. On May 15, 1835, the last public hanging in New York state occurred in Mayville. Joseph Damon was executed for killing his wife in Fredonia the year before. He beat her to death using a poker. Damon was hung behind the west side of the former Mayville Central School building, close to where the bus garage sits today. ”Public executions had been banned the week before but the news had not reached here yet,” said Devon Taylor, Mayville historian. ”There were two more executions in the town of Chautauqua, but both took place inside the jail.” Michelle Henry, the county historian, said she believes the county was aware of the new state law. ”I suspect we did it legally because he was convicted after the fact. At least that’s my take on it,” she said. ”Everybody sort of assumes the news got out slowly, but the newspapers were pretty good.” Regardless of whether the county knew about the new state law banning public hangings, a gallows was brought in and Damon was escorted from the jail and walked up the scaffold unassisted. From there, a clergyman delivered a sermon. Afterward, Damon gave his final say. He addressed the crowd in a 30-minute speech, claiming that witnesses had sworn falsely. He added that if his wife came to her death by his hands, he must have been insane because he had no memory of it. Taylor said Damon had a reputation for drinking a lot and regularly mistreated his wife. ”His defense said he was out of his mind,” he said. ”Today, we’d say he pleaded insanity.” During the hanging, Damon’s head was covered. He was given a handkerchief to drop when he was ready for the trap to be released. The execution wasn’t very clean, either. According to Taylor, Damon had to be hung twice because the rope broke the first time the level on the gallows was pulled. According to the Fredonia Censor, a local newspaper at the time of the trial, between 3,000 and 8,000 men, women and children came to Mayville to witness the event.
The cost to maintain four fire station buildings in Jamestown will be $5.8 million. Mayor Sam Teresi believes there is a better way. That better way is the third, and to some, most drastic option to maintaining the city’s fire service – shrinking to three3-station concept with one new state-of-the-art building.”The time has come in which we can no longer afford to do nothing,” Teresi said. ”The cost of doing nothing is going to be much too high. It’s time to move forward.” He and city administrators presented an updated site options list for a new fire station to City Council Monday night. Included among the 14 locations were publicly unpopular Baker Park and a new site at the main entrance to Chadakoin Park at the entrance to Washington and 13th streets. The second location was cited as the second-best in the city for a larger main station because of response time capabilities, the ability to protect the North Side and downtown more effectively and a host of intangibles because the fire station wouldn’t intrude in the middle of a neighborhood. ”I agree with the notion as outlined by Greg Lindquist (city development department grants and finance coordinator), positive community development benefits could even aid in the further development and utilization of Chadakoin Park by the North Side and the entire community,” Teresi said. ”I tend to gravitate towards that.” Specifically, a new fire station would be larger and designed to fit in with the neighborhoods along Washington Street, rather than being simply a grayed cinder block building. Future designs may also include a permanent ”bricks and mortar” police substation as well as attached rest rooms for the park for greater safety and efficiency.
LAKEWOOD – The proposal for new businesses in the Lakewood Village Center is exciting news for current store owners. Since Quality Markets was closed in April 2010, the plaza had not had a main attraction for the remaining stores – Bob’s Vintage Wines and Liquors, Wright’s Music Shed, Sherman-Williams, Cosmo Prof and Little Caesars. The owners of a few of these stores said their business has been able to continue, but having main retailers like T.J. Maxx, Michaels or Pet Smart would definitely help business. ”(Business) could be better. It is an uphill battle,” said Connie Glace, Bob’s Vintage Wines and Liquors owner. ”It’s a good thing for these new stores to help out. No one comes to a dead plaza.”
The Erie-Lackawanna Train Depot was taking a little more time to get right than expected. Mark Schlemmer, project engineer for the city, said the desire for complete, quality work is likely to trump earlier plans to have a soft opening during the summer months. “We did get a delay because of the wet spring,” he said, which prevented workmen from finishing parts of the roof. While Schlemmer said the structural elements of the roof have been installed, other features like copper flashing around the top of elevator shafts could not be completed because soldering requires absolutely dry conditions. Since parts of the roof were put on hold and the interior still open to exposure, he said drywall installation was put on hold. In this manner, the rain produced a “snowball effect” on other parts of the work that otherwise would have been under way. Schlemmer said the recent improvement weather is a good sign that the central clock tower will have its copper accents installed and copper gutters will be attached around the exterior, and back on schedule.
In Years Past
A comeback – though modest – was predicted for the Chautauqua County Airport over the next decade. Nearly five years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, crippled the county’s air travel, a new study on the Chautauqua County Airport predicted gradual growth over the next 16 years. ”Pre-9/11 levels of service are expected to be restored in the near future to at least five daily departures,” the report said. The steady decline of passengers began even before the attacks, falling from 28,681 in 1997 to 6,623 in 2005. The study also faulted schedule reductions and higher fares with leading the decline. The 20-year plan, written by C&S Companies, predicted corporate air travel would slowly resume to higher levels in coming years. In 2006, 9,500 passengers were expected, with 10,000 predicted for 2011. For the following 10 years the growth was expected to continue, topping off with 10,500 by 2021. The airport’s peak-hour passengers, currently 14, was predicted to grow to 20 by 2021. George Spanos, public facilities director, said he hoped numbers could eventually return to peak levels seen in the 1980s, which prompted the airport’s 1989 Master Plan to predict 73,000 passengers in 1998. But the report was concerned with more than numbers. In the conclusion, it said the value of the airport was greater than the sum of its passengers. ”For the community, the value of the airport rests in the community’s expectations and visions for the future,” the report said. ”In a dynamic economy, one that is growing and developing, aviation can provide a community with one additional asset to assist development, or keep existing businesses in place.” In a more general sense, a healthy and growing airport reflects the community’s attitude toward the future, the report said. Companies looking to relocate or expand in the county also view airports as a ”vital piece of infrastructure,” it said. Though predictions boded well for the airport, Spanos warned it was nearly impossible to predict the future – as evidenced by the 1989 prediction being off by nearly 50,000 passengers.
STOW – Ellery resident John Cheney remembers what it was like in the old days. He said the Stow-Bemus Point Ferry once ran all day every day, from ”ice out to ice in,” allowing motorists a nostalgic route across the Narrows of Chautauqua Lake. Nowadays, pedestrians are more likely to find the ferry out of operation during the summer months, making the Veterans Memorial Bridge – which is closed to bicyclists and travelers on foot – the only way to cross during much of the summer months. ”It’s upsetting to me that it’s not running,” said Cheney, who worked the ferry in one way or another for as long as he could remember until just a few years ago. ”There’s no reason it can’t be running.” According to Sally Carlson, North Harmony supervisor, the ferry only operated on weekends last year, and the reason for the substantial cut in hours of operation remains unclear. Also unclear is the ferry’s fate, and what’s in store for residents and vacationers this summer. ”I know there’s a great deal of interest in getting it running again,” Mrs. Carlson said. The ferry operates under the Chautauqua County Historic Vessels Company and the Sea Lion Project, a non-profit organization that was much more active 15 years ago – days when a group of members fought with the board of directors for control of the organization after a dispute over the Sea Lion vessel. Now, it’s unclear who board members even are. ”The board changed hands so many times,” said Roger Miller, a Stow resident who lives adjacent to the ferry. ”The last time someone asked who the board members were, he gave them some names and they went to talk to those board members, and they didn’t even know that they were board members.” The ”he” Miller refers to is Jim Loutzenheiser, the only name that pops up among residents and officials when asked who runs the organization. Multiple phone calls to Loutzenheiser’s residence went unanswered last week.
WESTFIELD – A fitting farewell for a hometown hero. The body of Sgt. Kevin White was laid to rest in his hometown of Westfield after family, friends and community members attended a public memorial service at the First Baptist Church. Major General Kendall Cox gave the tribute for White, giving a brief background of White’s military service and sharing thoughts and feelings from White’s fellow soldiers. Cox called White, “a warm and open young man who made those around him smile with his great sense of humor.
An estimated 40 dogs were discovered living in squalor in an abandoned apartment on Prospect Street in Jamestown. According to Capt. Barry Swanson of the Jamestown Police Department, a man who had been living in the apartment left a message with a friend reporting that he was leaving ”a few dogs and a few cats” there as he was moving out, and that the SPCA was going to need to come pick them up. At about 3 p.m. Friday, what was discovered was not just a few animals. ”They were able to see the dogs through the window,” Swanson said. ”They tried to open up the door, but the feces buildup was so great that a Sawzall was needed to cut the door.” Several inches of animal waste covered the entire floor of the apartment, Swanson said, and cats were found dead inside. When JPD officers began assessing the situation along with the city’s animal control officer, it was determined that the job was too big to handle alone.
In Years Past
ELLICOTT – On March 19, 2005, Bud Lausterer died while trying to cross Fairmount Avenue from Tanglewood Manor. His death, the third since 1992, was the final step in getting New York to install a pedestrian light at the intersection. ”There were three fatalities and that’s three too many,” said state Sen. Cathy Young, R-Olean, during a ceremony acknowledging the new pedestrian traffic light. ”We don’t want any more fatalities here.” Young noted she received a petition with more than 3,000 signatures requesting the installation of the light. ”This is a real example of a grassroots effort,” she said. ”People can make a difference.” Al Taylor, state Department of Transportation official, said the traffic light, which is also used by vehicles on Warwick Road, is different than most. ”This particular signal is based on safety of crossing the road,” he said. ”You push the buttons on the signal and there’s a countdown timer on the light.” Patrick Tyler, Ellicott town supervisor, said he’s been pushing for the light since he took office 11 years ago. ”It’s a great day that now we have a way for the families to walk across the street,” he said. Joining the celebration were Dan and Mary Lausterer, Bud Lausterer’s son and daughter. ”Unfortunately, its too late for us, but it’s not too late for others,” said Ms. Lausterer. Her brother agreed and said their father would be pleased.
The Jamestown Public School District’s insurance company would pay $10,000 in a ”nuisance settlement” to finalize lawsuits – $4 million each – alleging negligence and sexual abuse filed by two former students. Joseph Pawelski, Jamestown Board of Education president, said the district didn’t want to settle the lawsuit, but its insurance carrier determined the settlement would be cheaper than the costs of final discovery and filing and arguing motions for judgment in court. In a written statement, Pawelski said the district had ”no say” in the settlement of the lawsuits. However, the district had the right to accept or decline requests for confidentiality agreements made by the plaintiffs attorney, Darryl Brautigam, regarding the settlements, which the district denied. ”In light of the preposterous nature of the false statements and misrepresentation made during the recent media blitzes by plaintiffs and their supporters, the Jamestown City School District firmly refused to agree to Brautigam’s request that the terms of the settlements be kept confidential,” Pawelski said. ”Throughout this ordeal for our community, the district has maintained that the board of education and school district administrators – Raymond Fashano, Karen Briner-Peterson and Joseph Yelich, in addition to saff members, Cory Derrenbacher and Jamie Sigler – all acted in a legal and appropriate fashion.” Pawelski said the district maintains none of the alleged events on which the plaintiffs complaint occurred during school hours or on school property. ”It is apparent that the Jamestown City School District has been vindicated,” Pawelski said. ”Please let me state emphatically that the Jamestown City School District takes complaints of sexual or other harassment seriously, as it did in this case, and vigorously and thoroughly investigates all allegations of harassment. As we have stated before, Jamestown’s schools are safe and responsible places for parents to send their children.” The two former students filed the lawsuit in the fall of 2004 suing the school district for alleged sexual abuse by a marching band assistant and for negligence.
In 2011, New York state Sen. Catharine Young said Thursday she was currently working to draft legislation that would allow for regional high schools. Young, in a telephone interview, said the legislation was in response to the local interest she had heard from school districts in Chautauqua County as well as those in Cattaraugus and Allegany counties. “There seems to be statewide interest,” she said. “This is a really good option that would offer more educational opportunities for students.” As part of the legislation, there are likely to be two options for governance of the regional high school. One option is for a host school while the other is to have the Board of Cooperative Educational Services be in charge. “It would be a local decision,” Young said.
The record amount of money being made by big oil companies while still charging more than $4 a gallon for gas was not only despised by the American consumer, but also by U.S. legislators. On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said during a conference call he would be supporting the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act. The act would repeal the $4 billion annually given in tax breaks to the ”Big Five” oil companies – BP, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Exxon Mobil and Shell Schumer said repealing the tax break would come while the average price of gas in New York state continued to hover above $4 per gallon and shortly after several oil companies reported huge profits in the first quarter of the year. Schumer said Exxon raked in its best quarter since 2008 and BP saw its profits jump 17 percent to $7.1 billion in just the first quarter alone. The senator said the industry was heavily subsidized, with oil companies themselves admitting the tax breaks were unnecessary and do nothing to encourage domestic exploration and drilling for oil.
In Years Past
In 2006, demolition was already happening to make way for Appleyard Terrace, Jamestown’s latest urban housing development. A joint venture between George Heisel, a Buffalo developer and Jamestown’s CODE, Appleyard Terrace would eventually include 10 townhouses with 20 units, a playground and a community center for local families. ”The townhouses will have garages underneath. There is a large area of greenspace on the alley side of the building, including a playground and a community building for the project,” said Mike Bradshaw, CODE’s assistant executive director. This project would replace houses that have multiple defects and an overall ”aura of blight” with modern, up-to-date three and four bedroom units. ”It made all kinds of sense for us to get involved in this project,” said Steve Centi, city development director. ”This property will pay more taxes than the individual parcels were paying previously.” Plus, the bad ”aura” would improve. ”It stabilizes a main arterial in the city of Jamestown. It will raise workers’ performance,” Bradshaw said. ”Probably, and most importantly, children who live in a safe, clean and affordable housing unit do better in school.”
You get what you pay for. And when it comes to benefits and pay package for Jamestown’s mayor, most city Salary Review Commission members thought they’d been getting a steal for what they’d paid. ”You can’t look at the person, you have to look at the position,” said Charles Nazarro, a commission member and former at-large council member. ”Look at (Mayor Sam Teresi), with his qualifications, he could be a city manager anywhere.” And elsewhere, Teresi could be getting paid $75,000, $80,000 or even $100,000 for his 20-plus years in public service and his master’s degree in public administration. As Jamestown’s mayor, Teresi was earning $65,000. Commission members believed that figure was too low, but they just didn’t know how high it should be to attract good candidates for the position without being extravagant. They mayor’s salary was set at $65,000 by City Council in 1999 – the council on which Nazarro last served – because council members believe the then mayor, Richard A. Kimball Jr., was making too much money. Some disagreed with the premise. ”Maybe it’s time we look at this position as the CEO of the city. Let’s put a package together that is going to attract talented people. If you’re going to hire an executive, you need to pay an executive salary,” said Tom Benson, Salary Commission member. ”I’d rather have the salary high, the compensation high and take the chance that we won’t get someone qualified.” Commission members asked City Clerk Jim Olson to find data on Elmira, Batavia, Niagara Falls, Fairport and Valley Stream – New York cities with similar populations and either full-time mayors or city managers.
IRONWOOD, Mich. – A couple of times a month, Dr. Walter Beusse drove from his suburban Chicago home to Milwaukee, where he caught a flight north to Ironwood in Michigan’s remote Upper Peninsula to work in a hospital emergency room. It was a long commute. But it would be much longer if Ironwood had no commercial flights – a distinct possibility if Congress eliminated federal subsidies for carriers serving about 110 airports in rural communities and small towns across the lower 48 states, including the Chautauqua County Airport in Jamestown. About $1,350,000 in federal subsidies were received to provide commercial air service to Jamestown. The Essential Air Service program was established in 1978 when the government deregulated the airlines, enabling them to drop lightly traveled routes that lose money and focus on lucrative, big-city markets. It paid carriers to provide a minimum number of seats and trips from small airports to larger “hub” airports.
With a strong showing of support from the local community, a plane bearing the casket of Sgt. Kevin White arrived at the Chautauqua County-Jamestown Airport at 2 p.m., Wednesday. Surrounded by friends, family members, veterans and many members of the Patriot Guard Riders, the casket was placed into a hearse from Mason Funeral Home in Westfield and led a lengthy procession on Interstate 86 and Route 394 to White’s hometown. White, a 2006 graduate of Westfield Academy and Central School, was killed May 2 while serving in active duty with the U.S. Army at COP Honaker Miracle in Afghanistan. Susan Rowley, president of the Lake Erie N.Y. Chapter 4 of Blue Star Mothers of America, was in attendance for the arrival of the Kalitta Charters military plane along with several other members of the support group for military mothers. She said that White’s mother, Patricia White, was a charter member of the local chapter. ”We had a meeting on Saturday, and there were a lot of tears and a lot of hugs,” Mrs. Rowley said, adding that White’s mother was understandably not in attendance. ”We just feel like we need to be here, to show our support.” White’s death was the second of a local soldier in recent months, after Lance Cpl. Aaron Swanson of the U.S. Marines lost his life in Afghanistan on Feb. 7. Randy Hinsdale of Ashville said he knew the family of both soldiers and felt compelled to participate in the ceremony at the airport Wednesday. ”It’s a huge loss,” said Hinsdale, a veteran who served as part of a United Nations police action in Cyprus and whose brothers both served in Vietnam. Hinsdale’s friend Joe Siperek of Busti served in Vietnam and said that a bond forms between Americans who have served in active duty, even if they have never met.
In Years Past
In 2006, CHAUTAUQUA – After four years of studying ways to decrease vegetation in Chautauqua Lake, the Chautauqua Lake Association was putting its money on moths. Robert Johnson of Cornell University and his assistants placed more than 100,000 larval milfoil moths Wednesday into the lake near the Bell Tower near Chautauqua Institution. Johnson will continue to research the use of milfoil moths to control vegetation. ”Bob is such a wealth of information and we rely on his expertise to direct this program,” said Terry L. Havens-Turner, Chautauqua Lake Association president. ”These moths are found naturally in the lake, while Cornell has increased the population to help control the invasive species Eurasian watermilfoil.” The Chautauqua Lake Association, founded in 1946, is among the organizations working on ways to decrease the amount of vegetation that makes it difficult for boaters to use Chautauqua Lake and for homeowners near the lake to use their property. There has been much debate in recent years between proponents of natural ways to kill weeds and those who want to use chemicals to rid the lake of excess weeds. ”We will be inserting these bags into the lake near the Bell Tower at Chautauqua,” Johnson said. ”We will be back in a couple of weeks to do other areas of the lake. Since last fall, we have grown these in our greenhouse and now they are ready to be released. The moth larvae are in mesh bags that are weighted down so they will sink to the bottom. The moth larvae will be able to transfer themselves to the lake’s Eurasian watermilfoil as it grows. Since this moth prefers to feed on watermilfoil, we will be monitoring changes in aquatic plant growth in these areas in the months to come.” Chautauqua Lake Association crews would also be out on the lake in full force with weed harvesters cleaning weeds and debris from the lake. Those activities wouldn’t interfere with the moths in the lake, said Paul Swanson, Chautauqua Lake Association general manager. ”Bob and I have worked very closely on this four-year study,” Swanson said. ”Our summer program of harvesting and shoreline cleanup will begin soon and the CLA harvesting crews are very attuned to avoiding the areas where moths have been placed.”
KIANTONE – “The DaVinci Code” had taken the literary world by storm and sparked a worldwide controversy. Now, members of the Kiantone Congregational Church wanted to know the truth behind author Dan Brown’s “The DaVinci Code.” Fourteen members of the congregation attended the first of a weekly examination of the controversial novel, which had sold nearly 50 millions of copies around the world and had been translated into roughly 40 languages since it was published in 2003. ”The basic thrust is, as the book and the movie blurs the lines between fact and fiction, this is an opportunity to help people separate fact and fiction,” said the Rev. Mel McGinnis, pastor at Kiantone Congregational Church. He said the idea to hold the study emerged from author Lee Strobel, a former atheist who later became an outspoken proponent of Christianity. ”He encourages churches to be proactive in dealing with the questions, curiosities and doubts the book and movie are stirring up with people,” McGinnis said. The novel – which blends the mystery, thriller and conspiracy genres – follows the tale of main character Robert Langdon as he uncovers a vast conspiracy involving the Catholic Church and the history of Christianity. A film adaptation is scheduled to premier Friday. ”Dan Brown in a sense speaks out of both sides of his mouth,” McGinnis said. ”In a novel, it’s fine to fictionalize the foreground. What he does is falsify the background in addition to fictionalizing the foreground.” McGinnis’ criticisms of the novel are the same as many religious organizations, including the Catholic Church. Critics say it presents the history of the church in a very false and negative light; fans say it is simply creative and a good read.
In 2011, New York state taxes would not be collected on Native American-territory cigarette sales after all. Or, at least, they wouldn’t be collected until at least June 1. After the state won a federal court’s approval to collect the tax Monday, Seneca Nation of Indian lawyers were in state Supreme Court on Tuesday, successfully seeking a restraining order blocking the collections. Arguments would be heard June 1. Until then, however, the state was barred from collecting the tax on cigarette sales made to non-Indians on Native American territory, something it has sought to do since the 1980s. “We have been saying all along that the state has it wrong on this issue, and today the state Supreme Court sent an important message by issuing this temporary restraining order,” said Seneca President Robert Odawi Porter. “For more than 20 years, New York state has attempted to devise a way to collect what they’ve said would be hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes from tobacco sales sold on Indian reservations.
ALBANY – Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday he was facing “fierce” opposition to his proposed property tax cap in Albany and needed New Yorkers to issue an ultimatum to their elected officials: Pass it or “don’t come home.” The message was released in a video that Cuomo and his aides would repeat in a statewide tour on his policy goals, which also included ethics reform and legalizing gay marriage. Cuomo said, however, that his property tax cap plan was “job one.” Meanwhile, opponents called Cuomo’s cap a political mirage that benefits the wealthy at the expense of school children. “The people are going to have to overpower the lobbyists,” Cuomo said. “The peoples’ voice wins in a democracy. But the peoples’ voice must be heard … tell your elected representatives in Albany that enough is enough. Pass the tax cap now or don’t come home.”
In Years Past
- CHAUTAUQUA – The average grocery store magazine rack today holds about as much information as a school library from the 1950s.
Education has changed significantly since then, and the system must change with it to assure no pupil is left back, speaker Jamie Vollmer told a group of 18 education and business leaders Tuesday.
In the past, Vollmer said, students who were not near the top of the class were simply left out. Today, that’s no longer the case.
He compared schools to gold mines. When the cost of gold reaches high enough, miners will sift through discarded piles of dirt to search for filings.
With the value of an education soaring, schools must now sift through their own discards and pick up students left behind, he said.
”Everyone in New York state is part of the school system, so we’ve got to change the mental model of everyone in New York,” Vollmer said.
- ELLERY – Ellery officials will petition the state to get new property assessments.
According to G. Craig Miller, deputy supervisor, the board is sending a letter to the state Legislature to have the final assessment roles delayed until Aug. 1.
”The Town Board plans to obtain an independent appraisal service,” he said. ”In order to accomplish this, we need more time.”
DeAnna Wheeler, assessor for Ellery, North Harmony, Gerry and Stockton, filed the assessments April 28, even though town officials asked to declare them void. Ellery is the only board of the four trying to delayed the new property assessments. North Harmony, Gerry and Stockton are all going to accept the new roles.
The assessment roll for the four towns Mrs. Wheeler assesses – Ellery, North Harmony, Gerry and Stockton – has been called into question by residents because of unprecedented increases in the assessed value of some residents’ property in each town, except for Stockton.
Miller said it’s premature to assume how much it will cost for a private appraisal. If approved by the state, Ellery must hire an independent assessment firm and have the new roles completed by July.
”I don’t even have an estimate of what that number would be,” he said. ”I’m not prepared to do anything until we get that number.”
Even though Ellery is asking the state to delay finalizing the assessments, the Legislature must give its approval. During a special meeting on April 28, Assemblyman Bill Parment said he could probably get the Legislature to delay the assessments, but he couldn’t guarantee it. Miller said if it is too costly to get new assessments done, the board will just ask for the legislation to be pulled and Ms. Wheeler’s numbers finalized.
- The Seneca Nation is vowing to “continue fighting” after a federal court gave New York state the go-ahead to collect taxes on cigarette sales to non-Indians made on Native American land.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has repeatedly said he plans to collect the tax as soon as courts gave the go-ahead that came Monday.
“I am gratified by the United States Court of Appeals decision recognizing the state’s ability to collect cigarette taxes from non-tribal members,” he said. ”This litigation began while I was serving as attorney general, and I know this was a hard fought victory. We will now begin the implementation phase as we move to collect these taxes. I have always said that taxes on cigarettes sold to non-tribal members must be collected because this is revenue rightly owed to the state and, with this decision, my administration will move to do so expeditiously.
- MAYVILLE – Bob Duff has been shut off from contact with county employees.
In a letter he received Monday, the Sheridan Republican was instructed by the county executive to cease contact with department heads and other staff. Duff represents Legislative District 3 in the northern end of Chautauqua County.
“Going forward,” Greg Edwards writes in the letter, “you are to contact me directly with any request or question relating to the operation of Chautauqua County government.”
Edwards cites “a repeated pattern of conduct” by Duff toward department heads and county employees as the reason for “causing this directive.”
In specific, Edwards mentions a conversation Duff had with Veteran Service Agency Director Troy Smith on April 18. During the conversation, Duff allegedly yelled obscenities at Smith and accused him of being un-American.
Duff called the incident, as explained by Edwards, “a total lie.”
In Years Past
- City administrators are placing the fate of a new fire station back into the hands of the City Council.
City officials are increasing the number of possible fire station locations to 14. Baker Park, between Fourth and Fifth streets on the city’s west side, is still considered the best location, but others have become feasible after a year of discussion – including the entrance to Chadakoin Park.
In an hourlong presentation to council members Monday, city administrators presented ideas formed by a committee of council representatives, administrators and city fire experts on what would be the best locations.
”It is the culmination of a review of a number of different sites,” said Greg Lindquist, city economic development specialist.
Officials used 23 variables including topography, traffic patterns, impact on residential neighborhoods and impacts on response time. Looking specifically at Chadakoin Park, the consensus was it is the second choice.
- LAKEWOOD – The Chautauqua County Planning Department will have to wait a few weeks before the Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan can be sent to the state for review.
The measure – in the works for five years and aimed at developing a plan for the revitalization of the Chautauqua Lake waterfront – has passed seven of nine towns and villages around the lake but still needs a nod from the Lakewood and Celoron village boards.
But, board members in both villages tabled the matter Monday until Planning Department officials can answer some of their questions.
”I had a lot of concerns as I read this,” said Joe Troche, Lakewood board member. ”The problem I have is it sounds more like we’re giving up the lake to them.”
The LWRP is nearly 300 pages long and consists of a list of projects for municipalities around Chautauqua Lake to develop the waterfront and better utilize the county’s most valuable resource. The planning process required community involvement while a draft copy was being put together and now requires approval from each municipal board before it can be sent to the state for review and then back for final adoption.
”The Village of Lakewood is a very important part of the lake,” Troche said. ”I think they should spend a little more time educating us.”
His concern is that municipal boards will lose the freedom to contradict projects listed in the LWRP since it will be a legal document upon final approval. That appears to be a concern shared in Celoron, as well.
- Area school districts, on average, will spend less in the 2011-12 school year than they did in 2010-11 – taxpayers, however, will not likely be able to say the same thing.
In total, districts throughout Chautauqua County and just beyond will spend $4,381,595 less next year, though school tax rates are going up at an average of 4 percent per district.
Three districts, Westfield, Ripley and Randolph, are proposing tax levy reductions, and six, including Jamestown and Southwestern, are proposing no tax levy increase. The remaining 14 districts are proposing tax increases – some on top of last year, and some for the first time in several years.
- Cattaraugus County Undersheriff William Nichols has been recognized by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York for his work on the Cheryl Gasper and Randall Knight cold case.
Nichols was part of the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Department Cold Case Unit that reopened the investigation into the death of Andie Gasper. Andie Gasper was allegedly lured into a parking lot behind a Yorkshire Ames Department Store and stabbed in 1994. Knight was originally found not guilty of the murder in 1995.
The recent investigation into the case resulted in Cheryl Jenkins Gasper pleading guilty to second-degree murder in connection with her husband’s death. She was sentenced to 18 years, and her alleged lover, Randall Knight pleaded guilty to crossing state lines for a murder-for hire, a federal charge brought after the cold case unit reopened the unsolved stabbing. Knight was sentenced to 24 years in prison.
The 11th annual Crime Victims’ Rights Awards were announced recently during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, held annually to celebrate legislation enacted in 1984 on behalf of crime victims. During the ceremony, U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. presented the awards to six individuals, including the Cattaraugus County undersheriff. Others honored were Aaron J. Mango, assistant U.S. attorney; Thomas Michalski, U.S. Department of Labor special agent; Mario Reto, U.S. Attorney office support staffer; David Spogen, federal probation officer, and Grethchen L. Wylegala, victims restitution collection assets assistant.
In Years Past
In 2006, some estimates put the number of Chautauqua County residents suffering from severe mental illness at 1,100. Ask Tony Spachtholz, executive director of the county’s National Alliance for the Mentally Ill chapter, and he’d tell you that’s a very conservative estimate, at best. May is Mental Health Month – officially recognized by Congress in 1949 – a month usually marked by raising awareness for those 1,100 and wearing ribbons to show support. In 2006, though, as mental health advocates and law-enforcement officials continued their progress toward creating a Mental Health Court in Chautauqua County, it seemed to be about something more. ”We expect the court to be formed by the end of the year,” Spachtholz said. For NAMI members – who consider themselves the ”nation’s voice on mental illness” – despite progress in the local, state and national arenas, severe mental illness remained a major problem, not only for those who suffered from it, but for those around them as well. ”Families are devastated by it because they unfortunately become the primary caregivers,” Spachtholz said, noting the emotional turmoil that results and the stigma attached to mental illness. ”A lot of families will keep it a secret.” There are support services out there, such as the clinics in Jamestown and Dunkirk run by the county Mental Hygiene Administration – the mission of which is ”to plan, develop and provide accessible, comprehensive, integrated, outcome-based mental hygiene services of the highest quality to residents of Chautauqua County, maximizing all available resources in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.”
A friendly, close atmosphere is the reason why Roger Chagnon, Jamestown Business College teacher, worked for the small college for nearly 20 years. At the end of this semester, Chagnon retired from his full-time teaching gig after 22 years in education – also having taught at the State College at Fredonia and Jamestown Community College. Chagnon said there are two reasons he stayed and formed his career at JBC. One was the enjoyable environment. ”The staff and students are just wonderful,” he said. ”The comfortable, nice family atmosphere here is great. I’ve had a chance to know each student on a first-name basis.” The second reason was helping students learn. ”I walked away each day and, now at the end of my career, I really did something. I made a difference. Not too many people can walk away from their job and say that.” Chagnon said he started thinking about retiring after his wife, Deborah, talked about it after 35 years of teaching sixth-grade at Ripley Elementary School. ”It did have a role. She didn’t put any pressure on me to bear. However, we want to travel and, if we’re both retired, it will be easier to do so,” he said.
- In 2011, the Chautauqua watershed experienced a flooded lake of historic proportions. That was according to provisional data supplied from a pair of local tracking stations of the United States Geological Survey. According to the USGS unit offshore from Bemus Point, on April 24 the surface waters of Chautauqua Lake reached 1,309.5 feet above mean sea level, a local threshold identified by the National Weather Service as flood stage. The spring before, the water did not rise past 1,308.3 feet, which is about the maximum level that local officials like to see during the recreational season. More recent measurements came down from flood levels, however the lake remained above 1,309 feet.
After months of budgeting for the 2011-12 school year, area school districts up with plans to spend less. Combined, area school districts would spend $4,381,595 less next year than they did in 2010-11, and that averages out to individual districts spending 4 percent, or $190,504.13 less per school district, in 2011-12. Largely due to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s $1.2 billion cut to state education funding for 2011, which caused school districts across the state to lose revenues often adding up to more than $1 million, Bert Lictus, superintendent of Panama Central School district, may have said it best: “We have less, so we have to spend less.”
In Years Past
In 2006, Jamestown’s four fire stations won’t last forever. ”Station Five dates to 1918 – literally one of our facilities reaches back into the horse and buggy age in Jamestown,” said Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi. So that’s why he’s moving forward with new proposals to update the Jamestown fire service at the City Council work session at 7:30 p.m., Monday night in the mayor’s conference room. ”Just about a year ago, May 2 of last year … we were assisted by Harrington and Sandberg Architects in putting together an inventory and analysis of conditions … ” of the existing fire stations, Teresi said. ”There were three options at the time that were the basis of the report.” The three options included a complete overhaul of the existing four stations at Buffalo and Allen streets, Newland Avenue, City Hall and Fairmount Avenue at a projected cost of about $5.8 million. The second option was the most controversial, involving the construction of a new fire station on a portion of Baker Park between Fifth and Sixth streets and completely refitting the Buffalo Street and Newland Avenue stations for modern-day operations. The projected cost of that plan was $6.2 million. A third options at the time called for a new station in Baker Park, modest overhauls at Buffalo Street and Newland Avenue and a retrofit for the City Hall station to be used as a service center. ”All three of these options were designed to address … and provide for the physical needs of the fire department in the long-term,” Teresi said. ”The long-term is 20 to 25 years – permanent.”
Here’s the vision – in a few years, towns and village in Chautauqua County will be able to view tax parcels provided by the county, fire districts can see how a chemical spill would spread through wind patterns, and the county Health Department will monitor hot spots for radon. Those accomplishments are all made possible through a Geographic Information System, a sophisticated mapping system being developed by the Planning Department. While the goal of creating a countywide system accessible by all municipalities is clear, just who will be running the system has not yet been determined. So far, the answer to how the county will get there and how much it will cost is that there are no clear answers. Christine Kinn, senior planner and Chautauqua County’s GIS guru, said many of those issues will be addressed by a policy committee comprised of representatives from the real property tax services, planning, information services, law and finance departments. ”As things move forward, there will be different costs for different tasks to be done,” Ms. Kinn said. ”There is no one way to do GIS.’
In 2011, During the census year that led to the founding of Chautauqua County, a lone cabin was situated atop the muddy riverbanks that what would eventually become the city of Jamestown. To celebrate the first 200 years of local growth, the Fenton History Center is revisiting the building of Jamestown in a special exhibit that opens today. “Of course Jamestown was not really around when the county started – it was a mudhole of a lumbering operation, so to speak,” said Joni Blackman, Fenton History Center executive director. “I thought a timeline would help people to get the perspective.” She said that beginning with the vision – and follies – of James Prendergast to tame the rapids at the south end of Chautauqua Lake, a story emerges about the steady evolution of local industry. The main exhibit room features a sprawling chronology which details the birth of skilled trades: from mills to cottage industries to major factories and the retail stores that followed. Two other exhibit rooms have additional galleries that document the change in other day-to-day aspects of Jamestown.
MAYVILLE – Despite apologizing in State Supreme Court on Friday, restaurateur Steve Carlson, 52, Jamestown, was sentenced to between 1 and 4 years prison. The sentence came one day after he was sentenced in federal court to 46 months in prison on federal charges of tax and mortgage fraud. The sentences will run concurrently. Although he was uncertain where Carlson will serve the time, Defense Attorney Paul Cambria said Carlson will serve in federal custody, likely in McKean County, Pa. Carlson was sentenced Friday on second-degree grand larceny charges for allegedly failing to pay sales taxes he collected at area restaurants. He pleaded guilty to the charge. The attorney general’s office reported he operated the establishments in Bemus Point, Fredonia and Jamestown from March 1, 2005, to Aug. 31, 2008, but allegedly did not pay sales tax receipts totalling $430,000. Investigators said he allegedly collected $654,900 in sales tax from customers but paid only $224,100 to the state. The sentence was not handed down before Carlson apologized, however, and Judge Richard C. Kloch Sr. had his say, as did both prosecuting and defense attorneys. Paul McCarthy of the state Attorney General’s office said the crimes were not “victimless,” but rather resulted in money being taken from the state and Chautauqua County that would have otherwise been used to benefit them. Instead, he said, Carlson’s generosity, evidenced in letters written to the court, was “wasted” as funds that would have benefitted others went into his own pocket. Cambria said Carlson, however, has taken full responsibility, adding running a restaurant is almost like gambling with an owner thinking they can make a bad day better and eventually falling into the hole Carlson did, for which he then apologized. Kloch said he, too, is uncertain how small business owners can make it in New York state, adding there are regulations, roadblocks and taxes with which to contend, something he likened to having to “scurry bullets” in order to keep doors open. He said, however, the majority of business owners do so. “It was never your money,” he told Carlson, adding other people transmit taxes to the state. Despite that, he told Carlson he is not a bad person, nor are most who come before him. Rather, the judge said, he often sees people trying to make a go when things go bad. “There’s going to come a day … you are going to come out,” he told Carlson. “It’s going to be over,” he said, telling Carlson when that happens he can no longer take shortcuts in his pursuit of making a go in business. In addition to the prison term, Carlson was ordered to pay $430,000 state restitution Friday. On Thursday, he was ordered to pay $391,972 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and $599,086 to the EverBank of Florida during the federal proceedings. Cambria said the defense is glad the chapter is complete. Handling the federal case was Assistant U.S. Attorney Gretchen L. Wylegala, who said Carlson evaded paying federal taxes from 2001 to 2008 by allegedly putting businesses and properties in names of others, rather than his own, hiding assets the government could otherwise use to satisfy taxes owed. Included were properties in Florida, one of which involved a multi-million dollar loan for which Carlson was required to provide proof of income to the bank. The attorney generals’ office said supporting documents allegedly included falsified tax returns, financial statements and a social security number. The loan failed, with a loss of at least $600,000. The federal court finalized the forfeiture of $2 million.
In Years Past
MAYVILLE – Compter technology was forcing a local printing company out of business. Officials from Belknap Business Solutions Inc., 215 West Lake Road, Mayville, said the company would close in the next 30 to 60 days. The company employed 61 people. J. Buster Weinzierl, Belknap president, said various economic conditions and technological developments had evolved, which have made it impossible to continue operating the company. ”What’s happening is more and more things are being done electronically, so paper-based systems are becoming extinct,” he said. ”The business form industry has been declining at 5 to 10 percent a year. You’ve got less work for the same amount of people and something’s got to give.” Adding to their difficulty was a 1995 fire. The business, originally on Portage Road, Westfield, burned down and due to some insurance complications, never really recovered.
With three months left until a projected completion date, the Chautauqua Lake Management Commission was looking for some help finishing a draft management plan. While Bill Evans, commission chair, admitted it was not realistic to expect a finished plan by the original Aug. 1 date, he said the commission would be well served to have a draft plan to give to County Executive Greg Edwards by that time. ”The way I see this, as far as where we’re going to go in the next year or so, if we can come up with a detailed plan outline and give the consultant a goal to have an outline by Aug. 1, that’s a task well done,” Evans said. A draft plan said the consultant would work from May 14 through Sept. 1 and develop a two-prong document including in-lake and watershed plans for 2007. While members discussed just how detailed the plan should be, Wilson suggested it be somewhere around 50 pages and include strongly worded headlines and cost estimates. In other business, the commission discussed how to apply for occupancy tax in the upcoming budget. In previous years, each of the three major groups comprising the commission applied separately for funding. Evans said because the commission is still in its early stages and the committees – the Chautauqua Lake Association, Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy, and Chautauqua Lake Partnership – should apply separately. ”We knew this was a transitional thing, and we’re going ahead in the right direction but the local organizations still need to function,” Evans said. The commission should eventually look toward securing its own, dedicated funding stream, said Andrew Nixon, Chautauqua County Visitor’s Bureau executive director.
In 2011, state Sen. Cathy Young, R-Olean, said she was seeking a continuation of the county’s current sales tax rate – not an increase. The County Legislature had, during a meeting, voted 15 to 7 to ask Albany for a hike in the local rate. Their vote was the first of three steps required to change the sales tax. The second step, having the request pass in Albany, required both Young and Assemblyman Andy Goodell, R-Jamestown, proposing the increase in both the Senate and Assembly, respectively. Young said that “a standalone sales tax increase for Chautauqua County has a zero percent chance of passing the state Senate.” As evidence, she cited the Senate majority’s stand against any tax hikes. “We stopped tax increases in this year’s on-time state budget, and we are fighting for a property tax cap right now,” she said. “I have introduced a bill that extends Chautauqua County’s current local sales tax rate at 3.5 percent (above the state’s 4 percent), and expect that it will pass the Senate before the end of session in June.”
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said he’d discovered a new, galling reason for New York’s high taxes: Too many tax assessors. The adding-insult-to-injury finding in a report released Thursday comes with a recommendation to end the practice of the same property being evaluated separately by assessors from a village, town and county, or by a city and county. “New York has the highest taxes in the nation, and we have the most assessors in the nation, as well,” DiNapoli said. “This is an area ripe for sharing. There’s no need for properties to be assessed over and over again by every level of local government. Towns, villages and counties should eliminate duplication and improve the quality of assessments to cut costs and save taxpayer dollars.” The Democrat found:
– Consolidation could save New Yorkers $12.5 million a year in their property taxes.
– New York’s 62 counties and their municipalities have a total of 1,350 assessors, tax directors and assessment appraisers.
– New York has 1,100 separate assessing units – villages, cities, towns and counties – compared to fewer than 100 in most states, including others with large populations. Just seven states have more than 500 assessing units.
The New York Conference of Mayors declined comment. The New York State Association of Counties has no position on the issue.
In Years Past
- In 2006, in Bemus Point would construction of a proposed 40-unit condominium on Lakeside Drive would likely begin in mid-September.
A site plan and special use permit were approved by the Bemus Point Planning Board. In a unanimous vote following a public hearing on the project, board members approved the site plan and special use permit request by Bemus Point Investments LLC that would allow the developer to obtain construction financing and complete the project’s final design.
”We greatly appreciate the planning board’s unanimous support of the project,” said Lee Chilcote, project co-manager. ”This is an important milestone for what will surely be an attractive and fitting addition to the Bemus shoreline.”
- A mock trial might have been staged at the Robert H. Jackson Center in 2006 but a real lesson in the law was given to area pupils.
Area school children filled the Carl Cappa Auditorium to witness, participate and pass judgment during the center’s mock trial as the case’s final outcome was determined from a jury of the defendant’s own peers.
”It’s not a real trial, but we’re trying to make it as real as possible,” said Robert Terreberry, Jackson Center Education Committee volunteer.
Local middle school pupils who participated in the mock trial, acting before an audience of third- through eighth-graders, included Kellen Fiore, Ryan Salemme, Patrick Salemme, Chad Muscarella, Courtney Abbott, Lynnsey Olson, Haley Kulakowski, Maria Sena and Bradley Anderson.
Terreberry directed the play with help from Joseph Gerace, retired State Supreme Court Justice, Kenneth Lasker, local attorney, and Kathleen Krauza, Chautauqua County commissioner of jurors and clerk of courts, who helped and participated in the mock trial about the American jury system.
Two Chautauqua Region Community Foundation funds, the Stanley A. Weeks/Robert H. Jackson Fund and the John Sember/Robert H. Jackson Center Law Day Fund, were used to pay for the play.
- In 2011, boaters wanting to use the Onoville Marina were going to have to wait a little longer thanks to high waters.
The opening of the marina had been delayed.
“Due to serious flooding in the Ohio River basin, operations at the Cattaraugus County-operated Onoville Marina are being adversely affected,” read a press release about the delayed opening. “The opening date is indefinitely postponed.”
The release stated that as of May 2, the Allegheny Reservoir water level was 1,336 feet above sea level, or about 8 feet above the normal pool level of 1,328 feet above sea level.
As a result, parking lots, the launch ramp, dock approaches, electrical distribution points and other on-shore facilities at the marina were inundated by rising water levels.
- When Linda Knight saw the Arts Council For Chautauqua County was collecting submissions for an Urban Literary Trail, her first thought of her late mother, Alice Weatherly.
”She had written poems during all of our growing-up years and always wanted to be published, but she passed away before that ever happened,” Mrs. Knight said in 2011.
Thanks to the efforts of Mrs. Knight and her sisters, Beth Lindquist and Jane Pumford, two poems written by Alice Weatherly were publicly displayed in Jamestown as part of ”3rd Street Canvas – An Urban Literary Trail.” A communitywide effort, the trail featured 42 selections of poetry and prose by local residents on windows and walls throughout downtown.
The trail officially opened with a ribbon-cutting by Mayor Sam Teresi and Len Barry, Arts Council program director. Many of the writers whose work was featured on the trail were in attendance for the event.
Beginning at Mariner’s Pier restaurant on Third and Spring streets, the trail had written works displayed on walls and in store fronts along Third Street, on intersecting streets, and at the Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena and James Prendergast Library. A dozen of the pieces were complemented by visual artwork, and all pieces were scheduled to remain in place through Aug. 12.
Barry commended the writers and artists who were in attendance the ceremony for sharing their heartfelt work with the public through the project.
”I want to thank (you) … for giving us your thoughts, your dreams, your hopes, your fears, your revelations and your questions,” he said. ”They’re all out here, and this is in such a great way a mish-mash of what people are thinking, about what they have lived and what they hope to live.”
In Years Past
BEMUS POINT – It’s official. DeaAnna Wheeler, assessor for four towns in central Chautauqua County, filed the 2006 assessment roll Friday despite repeated requests not to from town officials. ”I intend to go with it. Bill stands by it,” Ms. Wheeler said, referring to Bill Morrill, county real property services director. ”The state certainly stands by it, too.” Aside from changes made through the appeals process, the assessment roll now carries with it the force of law unless the state intervenes. ”Nothing can happen at this point unless for an act of the state Legislature,” Morrill said. The assessment roll for the four towns she assesses – Ellery, North Harmony, Gerry and Stockton – has been called into question due to unprecedented increases in the assessed value of some residents’ property in each town, except for Stockton. In one year, townwide assessments climbed 16.4 percent in Ellery, 24.8 percent in North Harmony and 7.8 percent in Gerry. In comparison, the increases in 2005 were 3.7, 3.4 and 5.3 percent, respectively. It’s not everyone who’s been affected, though – most assessments in the three other towns remained unchanged or rose only slightly.
ELLINGTON – Reports of vandalism and pet shootings with BB guns have been reported by Ellington residents, business owners and town officials recently. All of the reported incidents have occurred in the Ellington Town Square and on West Main Street in Ellington since December of last year. Since the deputies handling the cases could not be immediately reached by telephone for comment, there could be other related reported incidents. Shortly after Christmas the Ellington Bandstand accent lighting was vandalized, costing taxpayers $717. Then in February, a St. Bernard owned by Karen Wagner of West Main Street in Ellington was shot by a BB gun and had to be taken for treatment. Sometime during the first week of April, a yellow lab owned by Samm Delucci of West Main Street in Ellington was shot by a BB gun in his right side and treated by his owner. Then, on April 19, the Country Corner Cafe’s park-facing window was damaged by a BB. The cafe’s siding also had five holes from BBs. The dollar amount of the damage is still being determined. Finally, on April 21, the Town of Ellington filed a police report that the Town Square Park lighting had been vandalized. Four of the park’s main overhead lights were shot out by a BB gun. The dollar amount of the damage is still being determined. Laura Cronk, town supervisor, stated that the Town Board would be discussing the matter at the next board meeting. She also hoped that other victims would come forward and make reports to the Chautauqua County Sheriffs Department and M. Beth Moss, Ellington’s animal control officer, so the vandals could be caught. The Sheriff’s Department can be reached at 661-7231 in order to make a report or provide information on the incidents. Animal injuries should be reported to Moss at 287-4468 as well as the Sheriffs Department.
When Kevin White graduated from Westfield Academy and Central School in 2006, he immediately turned his sights to the U.S. Army. ”He liked playing with the ‘men toys’ there,” his mother, Pat White of Westfield, said Tuesday. Cpl. White, 22, was killed Monday while serving as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. His mother received the news at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday when two soldiers from Fort Drum arrived at her home. A squad leader in the U.S. Army, White was a member of an infantry unit stationed at COP Honaker Miracle, located east of Kabul near the Pakistani border. His mother said that she heard from her son – at least through the Internet – Monday, when he posted on Facebook regarding the death of Osama bin Laden.
MAYVILLE – Chautauqua County has a new comprehensive plan in place. The “Chautauqua 20/20” comprehensive plan was adopted by the County Legislature during its regular April business meeting. “There’s been a lot of work put into this,” said Legislature Chairman Fred Croscut, R-Sherman, before introducing several county officials to comment on the plan. In 2007, the Chautauqua County Planning Board requested that a Comprehensive Plan Task Force be created to come up with a clear vision for the county. Soon after, county officials went to work on creating the plan, establishing a timeline and soliciting ideas from residents about what the county has to offer. County Executive Greg Edwards called it a culmination of years of work which continues the commitment he has to planning and the importance of planning for the county. “Our last plan was from 1975, and I think we can all agree that a great deal has changed since 1975 – particularly when that plan only projected a vision of where we wanted to be in 1995,” Edwards said. “So the county, unfortunately, has been functioning for quite some time without the essential, what I believe is an essential, component – and that is an organized, comprehensive, forward-thinking plan of where we want to be.” According to Edwards, “Chautauqua 20/20” answers a number of questions – such as “who we are as a county, what our strengths and weaknesses are and, most importantly, where we want to be as a county.”
In Years Past
- Randy and Jen Ridgely – regular competitors at the annual rodeo in Gerry – were featured Monday night on ABC’s Wife Swap.
The series has wives from different families trade places with each other, and this time it was a ”tough-as-nails rodeo champ” trading spots with a ”suburban social butterfly,” according to the show’s producers.
Mr. Ridgely – who was the all-around winner at the 1999 Gerry rodeo and competes in the bull riding and steer wrestling competitions – indicated it was an experience he would be loath to repeat, despite the $20,000 reimbursement.
”It was pretty chaotic,” he said.
Ridgely and his two daughters, Peyton and Rylee, welcomed hair-stylist Kim Corrao into their Delaware ranch, while Mrs. Ridgely – a competitive barrel racer – was sent to the affluent Corrao family’s Ohio home.
Filming took nearly two weeks beginning in late March. The hour-long episode – which included clashes between family members and their guests, both accustomed to drastically different lifestyles – culminated in a fight between the two families during the conclusive discussion about the experience.
Ridgely said both families are unlikely to keep in touch, but they did what they could to give the show’s producers what they wanted – family-friendly controversy and conflict.
”I wouldn’t say it’s exactly reality television,” he said. ”There was pretty much a breaking point when we figured out what they wanted and tried to accommodate them.”
Mr. and Mrs. Ridgely operate Wicked R Western Production, Inc. – a Delaware-based ranch that offers a variety of rodeo activities and training. They’ve been regular competitors at the Gerry rodeo since 1990.
”I used to go everywhere. Every state that had a rodeo, I was there,” Ridgely said. ”Now our business is pretty successful, so we don’t need to travel as much.”
Ridgely did say, however, that he would be competing in this year’s rodeo, which will be held at the Gerry rodeo grounds Aug. 9 through Aug. 13.
- WARREN – A man who is currently locked up in a Pennsylvania state prison is accused of trying to get a potential witness killed.
According to the State Police at Warren, Jeffery R. Miller, 43, of the Houtzdale State Correctional Facility has been charged with one count of criminal solicitation to commit murder and six counts of victim/witness intimidation.
Troopers allege that in 2002, while awaiting a trial for sexual abuse of children, Miller wrote a letter to his wife asking her that she kill one of the victims which he felt would scare the other six victims, causing them not to testify. The letters were recently discovered by the family of Miller’s wife and were forwarded to police.
- Gas prices have hit the highest level seen locally since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
According to AAA East Central, all states now have an average gas price of more than $3 a gallon, with the national average up to $3.375 a gallon – a 20.4 cent increase from the week of Feb. 22. In the Jamestown area, AAA East Central lists gas prices at $3.486 a gallon, though a drive through the area shows prices of $3.57 for a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline. Gas prices have increased more than 24 cents in eight days.
“I still drive around, it just costs me a lot more money,” said Mark Garrett of Busti. ”You’ve got to work so you’ve got to pay it. It sucks. I just don’t understand why it’s so high. There’s just no reason for it.”
Oil prices increased nearly 7 percent in February after popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia threatened to disrupt the world’s oil supply. Then, prices began increasing again as turmoil in Libya threatened to decrease the supply of oil again.
- DUNKIRK – The League of Women Voters of Chautauqua County would like to see local elected officials removed from the process of downsizing and redistricting the County Legislature.
However, as such a separation is unlikely, Minda Rae Amiran said the group has appealed to Legislature Chairman Fred Croscut, R-Sherman, for more than just politicians to be a part of the process.
“A committee of legislators, however many of them there are and however well-balanced they are between Democrats and Republicans, is still a committee that is hardly neutral on the subject of how their districts should be carved out,” Amiran told The Post-Journal on Wednesday.
Amiran had been interviewed earlier in the day by Dunkirk radio station WDOE, promoting two upcoming Meet the Candidates events when the league’s position on downsizing was brought up for discussion.
In Years Past
- MAYVILLE – On May 1, 1966 Errol Anderson took the keys from his father and officially became the owner of Mayville Hardware.
Forty years later he’s still doing the same thing that kept him successful.
”You’ve just got to be there for the customer,” said Anderson. ”That’s what these ‘big box stores’ never do.”
Whether it’s trying to find the perfect sized screw that costs 12 cents or trying to understand what type of paint works best when coating a hitch, Anderson said he does his best to focus on customer service.
”You’re sort of a jack-of-all trades,” he said.
Anderson’s father was a carpenter and in August 1956 bought the Baker and Colton hardware store. Anderson was 14 at the time.
A few years later the store’s manager was killed in an automobile accident and Anderson stepped in to manage it. Eventually he decided to purchase the business from his dad after returning from the Army, when he was drafted.
There were times people in the community wondered if the hardware store would survive. There was the arrival of the Big N Stores, the Lakewood Mall and Ames moving right in Mayville. But Anderson said he was convinced he would survive.
- STOW – A proposal to construct up to 10 homes on WoodCrest golf course is one step closer to becoming a reality.
During a special North Harmony Town Board meeting, officials unanimously approved a special use permit for the project. The project still needs a variance from the town Zoning Board of Appeals.
Jon Wood, the owner of WoodCrest Golf Course, is proposing to construct a handful of homes that will sit on the golf course in a gated community. If approved, the development will be called WoodCrest Vacation Homes.
The proposal calls for custom-designed homes to be constructed off of Havercamp Road, near the 13th and 17th holes. The played part of the golf course will not be affected.
Each home is designed to have a garage with an apartment above it, otherwise known as a carriage house. There was a fair amount of discussion during the public hearing whether the two buildings should be considered one or two dwelling units.
“This is not unusual in Florida but it’s unusual here,” explained architect William R. Laubscher. “Your present zoning doesn’t allow creative development that would address what’s happening all over the country.”
- For some residents, there is the specter of higher taxes that would accompany the city’s bonding proposal.
But those in the opposite camp look at the impending catastrophic failure of city infrastructure, which they say all but requires a new investment for the future.
While the Jamestown City Council was poised to debate the extent of the proposal in March, some members of the taxpaying public hoped to convey their own viewpoints as they attended the council voting session Monday.
“There is no argument that you can give us that justifies increasing our taxes,” said Tami Downey. Although a resident of Kiantone, she spoke on behalf of the Real Estate Investors Association of Jamestown, of which she serves as president.
- When Lisa Montgomery arrived to work at the Lakewood YMCA on Monday, she found a situation indicative of what many residents were dealing with throughout the region – flooding.
Warm temperatures melted snow, and along with rains, resulted in a busy morning for area police, fire department staff and residents alike who were dealing with ramifications from the weather.
“It was raining in the building,” said Ms. Montgomery, assistant office manager for the YMCA.
She said maintenance staff was able to take care of most of the problems, but gymnastics, senior fit for life, tiny tumbler and stay and play programs were canceled.
Insurance representatives were also called as soaked mats in the gymnastics area could not be moved due to being weighed down from saturation.
In Years Past
MAYVILLE – On May 1, 1966 Errol Anderson took the keys from his father and officially became the owner of Mayville Hardware. Forty years later he’s still doing the same thing that kept him successful. ”You’ve just got to be there for the customer,” said Anderson. ”That’s what these ‘big box stores’ never do.” Whether it’s trying to find the perfect sized screw that costs 12 cents or trying to understand what type of paint works best when coating a hitch, Anderson said he does his best to focus on customer service. ”You’re sort of a jack-of-all trades,” he said. Anderson’s father was a carpenter and in August 1956 bought the Baker and Colton hardware store. Anderson was 14 at the time. A few years later the store’s manager was killed in an automobile accident and Anderson stepped in to manage it. Eventually he decided to purchase the business from his dad after returning from the Army, when he was drafted. There were times people in the community wondered if the hardware store would survive. There was the arrival of the Big N Stores, the Lakewood Mall and Ames moving right in Mayville. But Anderson said he was convinced he would survive. ”I always knew if I had to I could downsize and be here by myself,” he said. Some might say Anderson’s a workaholic. For most of his life he averaged between 60 and 80 hours of work a week. ”I’m here seven days a week. I do my own paperwork. I don’t use a computer for anything,” he said. Anderson takes care of his own taxes and W-2s for his employees, typing them out on a hand typewriter. There were times he used outside help, but he gave it up. ”The accountants made so many mistakes,” he said. Just about everybody in Mayville knows Anderson. And he knows just about everybody too – even if he can’t identify them by name. ”I’ve seen as many as three generations of people,” he said. ”I may not know their names, but I might know their grandfather.” He said recently a customer who lives in New York City contacted him to place a special order for sisal rope and ship it down to him. ”I know they can order it in New York City, but he couldn’t get anyone to do it,” Anderson said. Also, with small hardware stores around the county slowly closing down, Anderson said many people from neighboring communities drive to Mayville when they need something specific. ”If I can’t find what they want I’ll make sure I get it for them.” Anderson credits his success to his staff. He has four employees, plus his wife, and each person carries their own expertise. Whether it’s plumbing, carpentry or engine work, it seems somebody at the store is there to help. ”I tell them all, we’ve just got to be there for the customer,” he said. That kind of hands-on service is not often found at the ”big box stores” where people often flock. But Anderson said in order for the small hardware business to survive it’s got to do just that – focus on customer service. At 64 years of age, Anderson said he’s cutting down some. Instead of 80 hours a week, he puts in 50 to 60 hours. But it’s that feeling of being your own boss that’s helped make the long weeks not seem so bad.
STOW – A proposal to construct up to 10 homes on WoodCrest golf course is one step closer to becoming a reality. During a special North Harmony Town Board meeting, officials unanimously approved a special use permit for the project. The project still needs a variance from the town Zoning Board of Appeals. Jon Wood, the owner of WoodCrest Golf Course, is proposing to construct a handful of homes that will sit on the golf course in a gated community. If approved, the development will be called WoodCrest Vacation Homes. The proposal calls for custom-designed homes to be constructed off of Havercamp Road, near the 13th and 17th holes. The played part of the golf course will not be affected. Each home is designed to have a garage with an apartment above it, otherwise known as a carriage house. There was a fair amount of discussion during the public hearing whether the two buildings should be considered one or two dwelling units. “This is not unusual in Florida but it’s unusual here,” explained architect William R. Laubscher. “Your present zoning doesn’t allow creative development that would address what’s happening all over the country.”
- In 2011, the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office is joining law enforcement in Niagara, Livingston, Ontario, Otsego, Seneca, Steuben and Yates counties in using a new law enforcement program provided through the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to Chautauqua County Sheriff Joseph Gerace, the program, called Secure Communities, provides law enforcement agencies with help in quickly identifying illegal aliens when they commit a crime and are taken into custody by police officials. “We already had a hit,” he said. “The Jamestown Police Department arrested a guy for reckless endangerment and unlawful imprisonment on April 14.” According to Gerace, “he hit this system, and immediately we were notified that he was an illegal and that they had a detainer warrant for him. So we were notified immediately that we were holding somebody on misdemeanor charges that is deportable.”
A significant achievement occurred at the Carlson Generating Plant recently – and its origin was natural gas, not coal. David Leathers, general manager for the Board of Public Utilities, said that in the days before the annual maintenance mode of the power plant, a gas-fueled generator was run independently from its coal-fed boiler counterparts. “We were able to shut off the coal boiler and we continued operation with the gas turbine in combined cycle mode at the end of March,” Leathers said. “That’s the first time that has happened.”
Community
Brookdale Hosts Cake Walk For CCHS
Kids, Sibs Camp Returns In August
Judges Announced for 2026 Audubon Nature Photography Contest
Salvation Army Staffer Visits MHA Luncheon
Court rules against Westfield in records case
A court has ordered the village of Westfield to pay legal fees to a man in a Freedom of Information Law ...
