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In Our Opinion

Closure Of Bush Industries Hits Very Hard

More than 200 people woke up Thursday to find their services were no longer needed at Bush Industries. It’s a gut punch to longtime employees, some of whom have worked decades for the Jamestown manufacturer, and for those who thought they had shepherded Bush through lean years in the 2010s prior to the company’s purchase that led to the formation of the eSolutions Furniture Group in 2020. For decades Bush Industries had been one of the south county’s major employers and, despite prior tough times, had always found a way to bounce back. Post-pandemic business has been tough, ...

It’s Time For Patel To Resign

Kash Patel, the conspiracy theorist and podcaster -turned FBI director, is sleeping on the job — literally. According to a recent report from The Atlantic, members of Patel’s security detail have, on multiple occasions, had “difficulty waking Patel because he was seemingly intoxicated.” At one point last year, a request was made for equipment used by SWAT teams in order to get through to the FBI director because he “had been unreachable behind locked doors.” The Atlantic’s reporting makes clear what has been obvious from the start: Patel is unfit to lead the FBI, and ...

Don’t Pursue Animal Limits If They Are Unenforceable

Jamestown officials have already said city residents can’t own chickens or other barnyard animals like pigs. Yet, if you’re on the south side of the city it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence over the past couple of years to hear a rooster crowing at all hours of the day or to see a pig roaming through south side yards. Keep that in mind as City Council members discuss limits to the number of cats city residents can house. We’re not saying there shouldn’t be limits on the number of cats people can have. We believe there should be limits. Too often, we see reports of police ...

‘Vacation Home’ Tax Is Not Such A Good Idea

Democrats are proposing to extend a bad idea in New York City into a bad idea statewide. Assemblyman Andrew Molitor, R-Westfield, and Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, have concerns about extending the proposed pied-à-terre from New York City to the rest of the state. We, too, have concerns. A quick examination of real estate sales transactions over the past couple of years shows only one sale that would qualify for the pied-à-terre as proposed by state Sen. Patricia Fahy. We do think that such a tax will have an impact on Chautauqua County at some point, though the effect likely ...

Pay Attention To Zoning For Clymer’s Commercial Farms

Clymer officials may be walking a tightrope as they consider a zoning update to deal with, among other things, commercial chicken barns. A Clymer resident spoke to Clymer Town Board members recently about commercial chicken barns that have begun popping up in Clymer and Sherman, including one on Upper Road in Clymer. Commercial chicken barns can be bigger than the chicken barns found on family farms, and the Clymer resident who spoke to the board was concerned about having a large barn built too close to his property line if a neighbor chooses to enter into a contract with a ...

Sex Offender Risk Classifications Should Be Revisited

Republicans in the state Assembly want to place all convicted sex offenders - even those classified as low risk of reoffending - on the state’s publicly searchable sex offender registry. Currently, only sex offenders classified as Levels 2 (moderate risk) or Level 3 (high risk) are listed on the publicly searchable areas of the database. The legislation, sponsored by Assemblyman Joe Angelino, R-Binghamton, has been publicly requested at least twice publicly by Onondaga County Sheriff Toby Shelley in the wake of a case in Onondaga County after a man classified as a Level 1, low risk ...