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March Is A Sweet Month

Local Commentaries

In March, winter’s pact begins to weaken, no longer a treaty anyone or anything cares to oblige. Sometimes in the morning you hear the birds have returned—at least the brave ones, and on a warm March day you spy buds at the tips of trees, and you hear the collective sigh of humanity ride out on the northeast wind. In March, we are done with winter, even if winter isn’t done with us. Sugaring season has begun about now, the sap is flowing and the first sign of something sweet has emerged, as if winter is trying to show us he’s not all bad. Maple syrup is proof something ...

How Far Is It Going To Go, Part 2

Local Commentaries

Last week this forum took on something happening in many professional sports, specifically in my favorite sport, dubbed the “American Pastime.” Unfortunately, the buck, or in many cases not, the bucks, doesn’t/don’t stop in with the pros, it seems to have (and is seemingly increasing in volume, as it has) made a splash in college sports, and is even trickling down into the high school sports programs. It is a two-fold problem, one being the huge influx of gambling on sports, and the other being the increasing instances of cheating in the sports world. Welcome to Part 2 of this ...

Voting Rights Act Is Before High Court

Local Commentaries

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is before the U.S. Supreme Court again, this time in Louisiana v. Callais. After extensive back and forth among the state Legislature, the governor’s office, and the federal judiciary, Louisiana—with its six congressional districts—drew a second congressional district in which a majority of the residents are black. Drawing such a district would be one thing if the district—to put it in colloquial terms—were a normal-looking district. But this district isn’t a normal-looking district. Instead, it looks like a Rorschach test. To put it ...

Capital Handouts Keep Cities In Crisis

Editor's Corner

Somewhere in Albany, there has to be a money tree. How else can a state, with a proposed budget of more than $254 billion for the next year, keep doling out funds to fiscally strapped entities with absolutely no repercussions? That is exactly what happened less than a month ago when the ...

Community Support Still Needed For St. Susan Center

In Our Opinion

It was a surprise when St. Susan Center officials announced this week the center won’t be moving from Water Street to the former Jamestown Business College campus. There was a lot of excitement when the center was part of the announcement that the Conklin family had donated the former JBC campus to be used as a new home for the St. Susan Center and a new shelter for the UCAN City Mission. The part of the property that was to house St. Susan’s will need to find a new use that coexists with a shelter after the announcement Monday that the St. Susan Center will remain on Water Street ...

County Could Shift Taxes For Everyone

In Our Opinion

There was an interesting debate last week over an $8,000 increase to the income limit for Chautauqua County senior citizens to qualify for a property tax break. Legislator Dan Pavlock, R-Ellington, said the legislation proposed was not a “tax break” but more of a “tax shift,” because others will pay more since more seniors would be paying less. During committee meetings, Legislator Dalton Anthony, R-Frewsburg, noted that the more tax breaks are given to seniors, the more younger people have to pay. It was a notion that drew agreement from Legislator Fred Johnson, R-Westfield, ...