Two city men arrested during back-to-back drug raids in Jamestown...
Two Jamestown men have been arrested following two early morning drug raids today on the city's northside. Jamestown police say members of the Metro Drug Task Force... and, the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office Narcotics Investigators executed the first search warrant at 850 Prendergast Avenue... and located 45 year-old Ramon Nieves-Fagot inside along with a woman and a juvenile. During a subsequent search... detectives found 75 vials of fentanyl... 26 vials of cocaine, a small quantity of methamphetamine... and, a small quantity of crack cocaine. Nieves-Fagot was arrested and taken to the city jail where he was also found with 170 baggies of fentanyl... and, just over 16-hundred dollars in cash. He's charged with two counts each of third and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Immediately following the first raid... the JPD SWAT Team... and, narcotics detectives raided the home at 13 Crossman Street. They found 41 year-old Jarvelle Leeper... and a woman inside. Detectives say they found 4.9-grams of fentanyl and packaging equipment used for the distribution of narcotics. Leeper was arrested for third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance... and, second-degree criminally using drug paraphernalia. He was also jailed pending arraignment.
Wood stove piping issue apparently triggers Busti house fire late Sunday night...
Chautauqua County fire investigators say the Monday overnight fire at a home on Forest Ave. Ext. just outside Jamestown "started in or around the wood stove piping." No one was hurt in the blaze at 1619 Forest that began around 11:15 p.m. Sunday. Firefighters from Busti and a dozen other departments battled the blaze through the night and into the morning. Damage was extensive. The Jamestown Post-Journal reports the home was owned by Dave and Kris Paterniti, longtime volunteers for the Jamestown High School Marching Band. The band is encouraging support for the family through Kris Paterniti's Venmo account.
City council committee approves putting in eastbound bike lane on East Second St...
City lawmakers in Jamestown will vote next week on creating an eastbound bicycle lane on a large portion of East Second Street. The City Council's Public Works Committee approved the move after receiving a lot of resident... and, other input since the proposal first came up on Jan. 8. Jamestown native Andrew Dickson, who now lives just outside the city, spoke in favor the move. Dickson adds more can be done on others as well that will help "calm traffic" in places downtown. Dickson says he's seen bikes traveling on East Second between Fourth Street and Winsor Street -- even in recent days. There is still some concern over residents who live on that side of East Second... and, would no longer be able to park there. That was voiced earlier this month by Finance Committee Chairman Brent Sheldon... who says it could be a problem for children, and people having to carry items across that busy street. However... Sheldon's committee did not act on the proposal since there were no financial implications involved. The eastbound bike lane on East Second Street would run from East Fourth Street to Tiffany Avenue... and would be part of the city's "Complete Streets" resolution of 2012.
City man arrested for stealing items from Big Lots store...
Jamestown police were able to track down and arrest a city man last Saturday after he allegedly stole several items from the Big Lots store in Brooklyn Square. City police were called to the scene just after 12 Noon for a reported shoplifting. Officers were able -- soon after -- to track down 33 year-old Jacob Carr on a trail just off North Main Street. Police say they also recovered all of the stolen items, and returned them to the store. Carr was arrested for petty larceny... and, on an unrelated warrant... and, taken to the city jail pending arraignment.
Wendel approves of having no new unfunded mandates in Gov. Hochul's new budget proposal...
While he'll continue to review Governor Kathy Hochul's proposed 2024-25 budget in the coming days... Chautauqua County's top elected official says the "most critical" aspect of her spending plan is the county will not have to deal with any new unfunded mandates. County Executive P.J. Wendel received a briefing from the New York State Association of Counties on many of the budget details. He says they also got a brief from the state's County Executive's group about it. Meanwhile... Wendel says the county will also benefit from $16-million in state money to fund the Jefferson Project, a program for water quality and harmful algal bloom research at Chautauqua Lake. He says they want to use that to support a new SMART Lake program to help those areas.
Salary Review Commission to present findings to county legislature Wednesday night...
The Chautauqua County Legislature will soon consider recommendations to increase salaries for elected officials... which in some cases would be the first increases in 22 years. That from Salary Review Commission Spokesperson Frank Beach of Dunkirk... who was joined by six other members of the panel in looking at salaries for the county executive, county legislators, the county clerk and sheriff. Beach says none of those positions has seen an increase in a long time... with the last commission meeting 10 years ago, and none of the recommendations were adopted. Beach says they were able to get information from several other counties across the state to provide salary information... and, how comparable the positions are to what's in Chautauqua County. Beach says county executives in those other counties averaged about $144,000... and, with that recommended $127,000. The current pay is $111,000. The county clerk would go from $66,853 a year to $84,733... while the sheriff would increase from just over $100,000 to just over $110,000. Legislator's pay would go from $9,000 a year to just over $14,000. Beach will present their findings to the legislature tonight.
