Stealing Non-Political Signs Makes Little Sense

To The Reader’s Forum:

On Monday morning my wife came to me and asked if I had taken my political flag down. I told her no, and when I went outside to look I was presented with the fact that not only was the flag torn from its location but also six support and thank you signs for our police departments and our local fire department were also gone.

I suspect that I was targeted as only two other police signs were taken in the whole village and it was because I had a political flag that they did not agree with.

It’s a shame that people are not allowed to have an opinion. The other side can have all the signs they want, but because my flag was different than theirs I must be wrong. It seems like it’s just like the nation’s problems in that one party seems to be behind all of the chaos and in their opinion it is OK.

That said, the thing that really upsets me is the theft of the police and fire department signs. Take the political flag but leave the locals.

If they ever find themselves in the position that they need the police or fire department, I hope that they would have the decency to apologize.

Rich Fischer

Lakewood

PPP Statistics Show Shrinking Of South County Jobs Creators

To The Reader’s Forum:

The Post-Journal story on local businesses that received at least $1,000,000 through the federal Payroll Protection Program inadvertently revealed how pathetic the industrial jobs picture is in Chautauqua County.

Monofrax in Falconer reported only 158 workers. Not too many years ago it had well over 200 employees.

Titan X, formerly Valeo, in Falconer reported only 212 workers. Not too many years ago Valeo had well over 500 employees here.

When you add in the industries that have left this part of Chautauqua County in the past few years the picture is even more dismal.

Power Drives and its 100 jobs left Allen Street Extension in Falconer for Buffalo.

MD Electronics and all 200 of its jobs walked away from the county industrial park in Ellicott.

Truck Lite, founded in Jamestown in the 1950s, has moved almost all of its job and Falconer operation to other states, costing us hundreds of jobs.

In December 2019, Castelli America LLC, the cheesemaker, walked away from its Blockville plant and we lost at least 68 jobs.

The New York state Department of Labor reports that as recently as June 2005, Chautauqua County had 11,500 manufacturing jobs. In June 2020, there were only 7,900, a loss of 3,600 jobs, or a drop of 31%.

When is the last time you heard the county government and its Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency announce the arrival of a new business or expansion of an existing business in the south county that would result in even 200 new jobs in the Jamestown area?

Howard Brook

Jamestown