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In Our Opinion

Ending Waivers Won’t Change Smoking Rates

Chautauqua County officials want to push the remaining organizations that have indoor smoking waivers to go smokefree. Smoking indoors in public places became largely illegal in New York state with the passage of the Clean Indoor Air Act on July 24, 2003, banning smoking in most workplaces, restaurants, and bars. There are five remaining private organizations with waivers to allow indoor smoking - and those five clubs will begin paying more for the privilege: $300 annually to $650 in 2026, and to $1,000 in 2027. We can’t argue with the health benefits of going smokefree. There are ...

Lakewood Reinforces The Need For A Strong Lake Plan

The upcoming Chautauqua Lake Symposium is promised to be a time to describe a shift from study to action when it comes to Chautauqua Lake. It’s exciting news after so many years of study and debate. It is long past time, in our opinion, to begin working on the root causes of what ails Chautauqua Lake. That will mean the expensive job of tackling the internal loading of phosphorus in the lake that is the likely cause of algal blooms on the lake each year. And, action will mean continued maintenance to deal with invasive plants in the lake that make navigation a hassle for boaters - ...

Officials Need To Push Harder On Homeless In Area Hotels

It’s frustrating, as we noted recently, that local officials are in the position of writing a letter to demand action from the state to help hasten the move away from the use of hotels to house the homeless. It’s frustrating to see the state continue to write blank checks for the practice even as the cost to house the homeless in hotels has increased 400% over the past six years. But it’s just as frustrating to see the same aimless direction over the past two years from local officials. We’ve been hearing for two years that the county is working on a plan to create ...

Raise The Age Should Not Be Expanded

A 24-year-old Jamestown man has been indicted by a Chautauqua County Grand Jury in relation to a shooting on East Second Street in July 2025. The other person charged in relation to the same shooting is also 24. Imagine a future in which both of those are tried in Family Court. It’s entirely possible if some Democrats have their way. Assemblywoman Latrice Walker, D-Brooklyn, is proposing the creation of a new “New Young Adult Offender” status that would cover individuals between the ages of 19 and 25 under the states’ Raise the Age program. Raise the Age went into effect in ...

How Is Housing Homeless In Hotels Not On State’s Radar Already?

Only in New York state is coming up with an acceptable letter to send to state officials about an unacceptable situation considered progress. But that’s the situation we’re in when it comes to housing the homeless in hotels. Sen. George Borrello and Assemblyman Andrew Molitor put together a roundtable discussion with about 20 local elected officials, police officials and county officials to discuss alternatives to housing the homeless in hotels like the Quality Inn in Falconer or the Comfort Inn in Ellicott on the outskirts of Jamestown. Borrello said during the meeting he ...

State Gov’t Should Leave Tier 6 Alone

Public employee unions are pushing hard for changes to the way pensions for government jobs are funded. If your social media feed has been flooded with calls for Tier 6 reform, here’s a primer. In 2010 former Gov. David Paterson’s Tier 5 plan rolled back pension benefit sweeteners approved by the state Legislature in the early 2000s, while in 2012 former Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed through legislation creating Tier 6 in the state pension system. Cuomo further restructured benefits, restored and increased employee shares of pension fund contributions, capped “pensionable” ...