City man to spend up to 7 years in prison for Big Lots robbery...
A Jamestown man will spend 3-and-1/2 to 7 years in state prison for third-degree robbery for threatening a store employee with a knife after stealing items from the Brooklyn Square business. Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt says 38 year-old Jorge Garay received the sentence from County Court Judge David Foley Monday morning after pleading guilty to the lesser charge this past June 2nd. Schmidt says... in June of 2022... Garay was arrested by Jamestown police for first-degree robbery... and other charges... after stealing merchandise from the Big Lots store on Harrison Street. When a Big Lots' employee tried to get the property back from the him... Garay pulled out a knife and threated the employee. He pled guilty to the third-degree charge... and, was sentenced as a second felony offender... who was also on State Parole at the time of this incident. Schmidt thanked city police for their work on the case.
Gillibrand says work continuing on aid package to Israel, Ukraine and southern border...
Bi-partisan negotiators in Congress are working on a new aid package to help Ukraine and Israel... and, improve security at the Southern border before the end of the year. That from New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand... who recently updated reporters on the status of those talks... which she says have mainly been done behind the scenes. The New York Democrat says there are four areas that would receive funding in the bill, in addition Israel and Ukraine. The other two are the southern border, and humanitarian aid. Gillibrand says the working group is looking at both increasing security at the border... as well as better defining who is eligible for asylum. She says that includes more resources, and policy changes. Gillibrand says "we need reform to fix the law today." Monday afternoon... the Biden administration sent Congress an urgent warning about the need to approve tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance to Ukraine, saying Kyiv's war effort to defend itself from Russia's invasion may grind to a halt without it. Earlier this Fall... the administration proposed a $106-billion aid package for those four areas mentioned by Gillibrand.
Celoron woman arrested for threatening another person with a fork...
A woman from Celoron has been arrested for allegedly chasing another person with a fork during a domestic incident in the village in early November. Ellicott Town Police say they were called to a West Chadakoin Street address about 11:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 9 on a complaint. When they arrived... the female victim told police that 25 year-old Elizabeth Houser menaced her with the fork during an argument. Officers arrested Houser for second-degree menacing, and she was taken to the County Jail pending centralized arraignment.
Two Jamestown women arrested following domestic...
Two city women have been arrested for allegedly violating orders of protection they had against each other last weekend. Jamestown police say officers responded to a southside address shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday for a domestic dispute. Police say they found 29 year-old Kerri Finch-Tidd... and, 52 year-old Barbara Baker on scene... and, found they both had the orders against each other. Both were taken into custody... and, taken to the city jail without incident. Finch-Tidd is charged with Felony first-degree criminal contempt... while Baker is charged with second-degree criminal contempt.
Reaction to Holiday Parade in Jamestown largely positive; one safety concern is expressed...
There was no snow... and it was in the mid-40s... but, the annual Jamestown Christmas and Holiday Parade last Saturday night was a big success. Those are the feelings of city officials who praised organizers... participants and spectators Monday night for a large, fun and largely safe event. Resident Gary Mooney spoke to that during the City Council work session's public comment period. There was one safety issue raised by Council Public Safety Committee Chairman Brent Sheldon... who says that was due to some cars that were still parked on part of West Third Street near where the parade started. He says some children ran between the cars to retrive candy thrown by people in the parade. Sheldon says parking meters were not bagged in that area... nor was there signage saying they weren't allowed there. He says At-large Councilman Jeff Russell will coordinate getting city officials and parade organizers to meet and discuss the matter.
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Councilwoman Marie Carrubba also thanked Parks and Public Works crews for working to clean up all the candy left on Third Street early Sunday morning.
Gas prices fall a nickel in Jamestown-area over the past week...
The average price for a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline in the Jamestown-area has fallen by about a nickel the past week. That from the AAA East Central's Gas Price report this week... which says the price at the start of last week was just under $3.80 a gallon. However... it starts this week at just under $3.75. Nationally... AAA says despite dropping demand... the average price fell only a penny a gallon since last week. The national average is now $3.24... which is 18-cents less than a month ago. The Energy Information Administration reports that gasoline demand decreased from 8.48-million to 8.21-million barrels a day last week. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks increased by 1.8-million barrels to 218.2 million barrels.
