A Mayville man is jailed on 30-thousand dollars bail for allegedly selling Heroin to undercover drug agents in the nearby Hartfield-area. Agents with the Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force say they took 32 year-old Justin Eck into custody yesterday morning at his 44-58 Morris Road home on a warrant issued out of Chautauqua Town Court. Task Force members say Eck was arrested following a three-month investigation into drug sales from the Hartfield location. He is charged with one count each of third-degree criminal possesion... and, criminal sale of a controlled substance. He was arraigned in Chautauqua town court... and, sent to the county lock-up.
Governor Andrew Cuomo is adding 100 investigators to the state police narcotics unit to combat the rise of heroin use. The additional 100 members would double the size of the Narcotics Enforcement Team. Cuomo says that the state will also launch an effort to supply first responders with a heroin and opioid antidote. The Democrat also announced an awareness campaign in public colleges and universities. The state Legislature is also considering a series of bills to address the heroin scourge. The Republican-led Senate passed 23 heroin-related bills earlier this week and delivered them to the Assembly. Cuomo says there were more than 89-thousand cases of heroin and prescription treatment admissions in New York in 2013... up from 63-thousand in 2004.
A call for an armed robbery at the McDonald's Restaurant on Jamestown's eastside early yesterday morning has turned out to be a hoax. City police say a 25 year-old employee at the restaurant phoned in the report about 2:45 AM while he was working at the drive-thru window. Officers say the worker told them that he was robbed... at gun-point. However... officers say as they investigated further... they found that no robbery had actually taken place. They say the man now faces a possible charge of falsely reporting an incident.
A County Legislative District committee in Jamestown will meet later this week to make a decision on whether to appoint someone to fill a vacancy in that district. Chautauqua County Democrat Committee Chairman Norm Green says the District-12 committee will gather Friday to decide on filling the seat vacated when Fred Larson resigned to fill a new, second City Court Judge's position. Green was disappointed that the legislature rejected the panel's choice of former lawmaker Chuck Cornell last month. He says this panel is empowered by the County Charter to fill a vacancy if the seat was held by a Democrat. Following the legislature's 10-to-7 vote last month against confirming Cornell for the seat... he said that he didn't want to go through the process again. At that point... Green said he would encourage Cornell to circulate petitions for a special election to fill the seat this November. The committee can opt to appoint someone until a special election is held... or, wait until a special election is held. Two north county Democrats voted with eight Republicans to not confirm Cornell last month.
Democrat Congressional candidate Martha Robertson will be the keynote speaker at tonight's Chautauqua County Democratic Committee dinner in Dunkirk. Committee Chairman Norm Green says the program will be held at the historic Dunkirk Lighthouse next to the NRG Power Plant... and, Point Gratiot (Grachet). Green says festivities begin with a social hour at 5:30 PM. While she hasn't been highly visable lately in the Jamestown-area... Green says Robertson has had a high-profile in the north county on big issue. Green adds that Robertson has also been involved with local labor in trying to preserve job opportunities in Dunkirk and Fredonia with the pending closures of the two Carriage House plants. He says the other featured speaker will be Sam Hoyt, who is Western New York director for the Empire State Development Corporation. The Democrat Dinner will feature a "polish-theme..." and begins at 6 PM. For more information on the County Democratic Party's annual dinner... go on-line to CHQDem-dot-ORG.
Two key County Legislature committees will consider a request to put up 400-thousand dollars to help rebuild a closed section of Bard Road in the town of Arkwright. County Executive Vince Horrigan confirms that the unexpected road project will be expensive... but, adds it's needed. Horrigan says temporary fixes are no longer viable... and, about 500 to 600-feet of the road needs to be replaced... and, it will be expensive. He says Bard Road from Griswold Road to Rood Road has been closed since late April when the pavement began sliding after temporary repairs were made earlier this year. Horrigan says if funding is approved... he anticipates reconstruction work can get underway this summer.
The New York State Assembly has voted 91-51 to pass legislation prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity or expression. The measure was approved Tuesday by the Democrat-controlled Assembly for the seventh time. It hasn't advanced in the Senate controlled by a coalition of Republicans and breakaway Democrats. Sponsors say 18 states, the District of Columbia, and 157 cities and counties in the U.S. have adopted measures to extend civil rights protections to transgender people. They include the cities of Albany, Buffalo, Ithaca, New York City, Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton and Suffolk and Tompkins counties. The bill would extend those legal protections statewide in housing, employment, and public accommodations, also classifying crimes against transgender individuals as hate crimes. Senator Daniel Squadron, a Manhattan Democrat, and 23 co-sponsors have introduced a companion bill.
A state lawmaker from western New York says the Buffalo Bills should be allowed to start selling beer at 11 a.m. instead of noon on game days. Democratic Assemblyman Sean Ryan of Buffalo tells The Buffalo News that opening the concession stands at Ralph Wilson Stadium an hour earlier would provide a more controlled environment for beer consumption. Ryan says opening the beer taps earlier would also attract tailgaters to the pre-game atmosphere in the newly renovated stadium. The current state law prohibits beer sales before noon on Sunday.
