An exhausive, one week search in the north basin of Chautauqua Lake has led to the discovery of a dead fisherman from Wyoming County. Sheriff Joe Gerace says members of the Bemus Point Fire Department found the body of 64 year-old David Spink of Varysburg in an area not far from the beach house at Long Point State Park about 6:45 Thursday morning. Gerace says it's in close proximity to where Spink's unoccupied boat was found when the search began one week ago. He says they're not sure why the body hadn't turned up until now.
Gerace says Spink apparently went missing after he was seen leaving Camp Prendergast about 7 PM on Wednesday, May 13th. Deputies say Spink planned to launch his boat from Prendergast Point... and, pick-up a friend. He was reported missing the following day by family members. In addition to the Sheriff's Office... state Police and some local fire departments -- including Bemus Points -- were involved in the search.
A Warren County, Pennsylvania man has been arrested in Jamestown for allegedly exposing himself to female students on East First Street -- not far from the high school. City police say they arrested 53 year-old David Scott Kuzminski of Russell, Pennsylvania after witnesses confirmed that he had exposed himself to them about 7:30 AM Thursday. City police quickly found Kuzminski shortly after they had been called to the scene. He was charged with public lewdness... arraigned, and sent to the county jail on 15-hundred dollars bail.
The request by Chautauqua County to increase it's sales tax from 7.5 to 8-percent is now under consideration by the State Legislature. That from the chairman of the County Legislature's Audit and Committee, John Runkle. Runkle says committee members got an update at their meeting yesterday. Runkle says the committee is looking at the possiblility that the county tax levy could be reduced by more than 3-percent. During their brief discussion... he says members came to the conclusion that they could cut as much as 5-percent from the tax levy next year... if the full half-a-percent increase were approved. Runkle says if state lawmakers do pass the request in time for next week's county legislature meeting... the local panel could take action in the form of an emergency resolution.
County clerks across the state are concerned about a network news report that the State Department of Motor Vehicles is selling personal information taken from drivers licenses and car registrations. The Chautauqua County Clerk's Office is following developments, but Deputy County Clerk Tracie Kaminski-Haskin says they want to find out more about the issue before taking a position. Haskin says county clerks from across the state will be meeting next month. She says the group will make a formal request... and, send it to the DMV. A report by CBS News indicates the State DMV made nearly 60-million dollars last year from the sales. Erie County Clerk Chris Jacobs says he has written to the governor and the DMV Commissioner asking that the practice be stopped.
New York state lawmakers plan to skip a summit called by Governor Andrew Cuomo to discuss open records and his administration's policy of purging emails. As of late Thursday... only one lawmaker hoped to attend today's meeting with Cuomo's chief counsel. The Democratic governor initially proposed the meeting in March following criticism of his administration's policy of deleting most emails after 90 days. Cuomo said he was willing to consider a new, uniform retention policy for all state officials, and suggested lawmakers should consider changes to their open records policies, too. Top lawmakers ignored the invitation and said Cuomo can change his email policy without their input. A Senate Democratic spokesman called the meeting a ``hastily arranged public relations stunt.'' A lone Republican lawmaker says he hopes to attend.
New York's comptroller reports state tax collections in April totaled 8.6-billion dollars... an increase of more than 21 percent from April last year. Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says the increase comes mainly from personal income taxes, but says the outlook for the coming months is a more moderate increase. He says continued strength in the stock market last year was one important factor in the April increase. The comptroller's cash report for shows the month's personal income tax receipts totaled 6.7-billion dollars, up more than 25 percent from the same month in 2014. The report also shows total spending of $7.8 billion for the month.
The head of the New York state School Boards Association says he's "elated" to see that nearly all school budgets that went before voters this week were approved. Association Executive Director Tim Kreamer (Creamer) says... you can't do much better than a 99-percent rate of passage for the state's 674 budgets. Kreamer says the biggest factor in that huge approval rating was that any tax increase was a small one. Kreamer says school districts were helped a lot by a boost in aid in the final state budget. He says that allowed district's to hold down the need for a larger tax increase. Some district's locally also used additional fund balance to hold down the tax levy. However... Kreamer says the amount dropped from 1.2-billion dollars used last year... to 1-billion this year. He hopeful that trend continues. Kreamer says a number of school officials he's talked to in recent weeks also indictated that... after several years of cutting teachers and other staff... they are hiring a few more people to preserve current programming, or add some.
Newly-released documents about the 1971 Attica prison riot contain accounts from two National Guardsmen and a doctor who said they saw injured inmates beaten with clubs. They add that others had wounds indicating they'd been tortured as authorities retook control. The documents note that several eyewitnesses to brutality against prisoners weren't contacted or interviewed by criminal investigators. However, the 1975 report by Judge Bernard Meyer found no intentional cover-up, only serious errors in judgment, omissions in evidence gathered and an imbalance in the prosecution. That conclusion has been public for 40 years. The new 46 pages detail some of the basis for Meyer's finding. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sought the disclosure about events where 32 inmates and 11 prison employees died in the nation's bloodiest prison rebellion, most shot by authorities.
The United Veterans Council of Jamestown began this year's Memorial Day observance Thursday night... with the placement of flags at Lakeview Cemetery. Retired Marine Dan Kell, addressed the more than 100 people who assembled to make sure every veterans grave at Lakeview was marked by a flag. Joe Paladino, Cemetery Chairman for this year's observance, announced a new procedure for the flag placement. Some four thousand flags were placed by the volunteers. Organizers encouraged the public to attend the annual service at Soldier's Circle in Lakeview Cemetery... Monday, following Jamestown's Memorial Day Parade.
