Thumbs up to a slight change to the county’s Macrophyte Management Strategy that will make it easier to improve conditions near the Chautauqua Harbor Hotel under construction in Celoron. The county Planning and Economic Development Committee is recommending changing the area’s definition in the strategy study as high in land use and high when it comes to utilization of the lake, which will allow harvesting, hand cutting and weed rolling, among other techniques. This change should be approved by the full legislature this week.

Thumbs down to a rising number of cases in which seniors are targeted and financially exploited by scams and family members in Chautauqua County. In 2016, there were 75 complaints of financial exploitation reported to the county’s Adult Protection and Elder Abuse Prevention intake, making it one of the most prevalent forms of elder abuse in the area. Perhaps most heartbreaking is something Kayleah Feser, county health department official and coordinator of the Elder Abuse Enhanced Disciplinary Team, told The Post-Journal; that fraudsters are being trusted because they’re the only one paying attention to the senior citizen. One such case involved a local woman who reportedly cleared out her bank accounts, sending cash in envelopes to what she thought was Western Union. “The people that were (scheming) her were giving her time and attention that she wasn’t getting from other people,” Feser said. How sad.

Thumbs up to Jordan Powers, a Southwestern Central School graduate and soon-to-be senior at St. Bonaventure University. Powers traveled to Honolulu, Hawaii, over the summer for the American Society for Plant Biologists’ annual meeting Dr. Xiao-Ning Zhang, St. Bonaventure associate professor of biology and director of the university’s biochemistry program. Powers received a competitive travel award from the group to attend the international meeting to present his research into RNA splicing from the past year. Powers’ research experience during the past year and this conference have led him to decide to continue his education after he graduates from St. Bonaventure next May. His ultimate goal is to be a college professor. Powers, by the way, is also a decorated swimmer for St. Bonaventure.