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In Our Opinion

Graduation Season Filled With Optimism For Class of 2024

Roughly 3.5 million high school students across the country will receive their diplomas this year. Just under 1.5 million college students will earn their degrees, and another 1 million will complete master’s degrees. Whether its Jamestown High School or Panama Central School, Dunkirk High School or Westfield Academy and Central School, schools throughout Chautauqua County put on a truly wonderful series of commencement ceremonies celebrating our Class of 2024. For much of the year, we’ve been hearing and reading about what a tough moment this is for students and graduates. Amid ...

Time To Offer A More Complete Picture Of History

In a distant corner of Pittsburgh’s sprawling Allegheny Cemetery, you have to march up a steep hillside to find the grave of Josh Gibson. It’s a flat stone, set in the ground, and has Gibson’s game engraved on it, his dates of birth and death and the words “Legendary Baseball Player.” It’s decidedly low-key when you consider that, indeed, Josh Gibson is among the most legendary of baseball players, his feats on the field spoken of in awe. He was among the greatest hitters the game has ever seen, not merely hammering hundreds of homers, but swatting them way out of the ...

Catholic Church Makes Hard, But Necessary, Decisions

It’s going to be a difficult summer for members of some Catholic parishes in the wake of the decision by the Buffalo Catholic Diocese to close and merge several churches. According to a fact sheet provided by the Buffalo Diocese, 59% of the 160 current parishes within the region report a negative net operating balance - 49% of the parishes report a decline in registered households. The average age of the diocese’s priests is 76 and by 2030, 63% of priests will be older than 65. There was a 24% dip in marriages between 2020 and 2023, and 59% of parishes report a “steady ...

County Population Estimates Remain Disappointing

Chautauqua County’s population losses continue like a steady drip from a leaky faucet. The county had 124,891 people in 2023, down from the 125,344 estimated for 2022. The largest municipality, the city of Jamestown, dropped to 27,965 in 2023, from 28,102 the prior year. The next largest, the city of Dunkirk, was at 12,442 people in 2023, as opposed to 12,503 in 2022. We’ve had a lot of initiatives and programs over the years that attempted to boost the county’s population. It remains to be seen if the county’s latest efforts - Live CHQ and Choose CHQ - will help stem the ...

Red Flag Notices To State Agencies Should Be Treated Equally

We can’t disagree with the need for extreme risk protection orders. Otherwise known as red flag orders, an extreme risk protection order allows a court to seize a person’s firearms if a judge agrees with a request by police or family members that a person is a danger to themselves or others. A temporary extreme risk protection order is issued by a local state Supreme Court justice, and if issued, must be followed until the judge listens to both sides at a hearing to determine whether a final ERPO shall be issued. That hearing usually takes between three and 10 days after an initial ...

City Budget Deficit Should Come As Little Surprise

The financial chickens are coming home to roost for the city of Jamestown. News during the most recent City Council work session that the 2024 budget doesn’t balance by between $1.9 and $2.9 million isn’t really that surprising given that former city Comptroller Joe Bellitto told council members in December that the plan was out of whack mere weeks after it was approved. Let’s not forget that even after the well-respected Bellitto issued his warning, the prior city administration issued a memo defending much of its work. Oops. Bellitto was called in to help close the ...