Accidental fire damages Fulton St. home in Jamestown, and kills two dogs...
Flames have extensively damaged the front part of a home on Jamestown's northside... and, killed two dogs. City Fire Battalion Chief Ryan Rousch says firefighters were called to 215 Fulton St. just after 6 this morning by a neighbor. Rousch says there was heavy fire coming from the front of the structure when crews arrived. He says the blaze was brought under control in about half-an-hour. Crews were at the scene for several hours. Rousch says crews were able to rescue four dogs from the structure... but, two perished. There were no human injuries. Fire investigators say a problem with a space heater was the apparent cause. The Department of Development has ordered an emergency demolition of the home.
City man sentenced to 10 years in state prison for Home Invasion burglary...
A Jamestown man convicted of first-degree burglary in connection wit a home invasion in the city the day after Christmas of 2022 will spend the next 10 years in state prison. Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt reports that 48 year-old William Buckley received the sentence for the Class-B Violent Felony Monday in County Court. In addition... Schmidt says Buckley will also spend five-years in parole supervision once released from prison. Schmidt says "Mr. Buckley was convicted of, and has now been sentenced on, the top count of our indictment. No reductions or offers were made to resolve the case. We could not have achieved this end-result without the hard work and dedication of the Jamestown Police, and the resilience and bravery of the victim in this matter." Buckley was one of three people initially arrested in the case.
Chautauqua County beginning renewed effort to get commercial air service back to Jamestown Airport...
A renewed effort to bring commercial air service back to the Chautauqua County Airport near Jamestown is underway... with an Air Service Recovery program. The initiative was announced during last night's Jamestown City Council work session by County Legislature Majority Leader David Wilfong... and, County Airports Manager Shannon Fischer. Fischer says the recovery program will mainly study what kind of support there is locally for bringing the service back. Fischer says the data will help them make the case for restoring Essential Aif Service to the airport. The Jamestown airport lost it's EAS designation in January of 2018 after ridership on the carrier at the time -- Southern Airways -- fell to about four passengers a day. The EAS program required 10 a day. However... Southern also cancelled several flights during the latter days of service... and, that helped further drive down passenger numbers. County Executive P.J. Wendel says... while there have been a number of studies done on the airport... this is the first one designed to fully gauge interest. Fischer says the survey will find out where people are traveling to... and, why they are going elsewhere for air service. Wilfong noted, though, that the Essential Air Service subsidies are key to keeping airfares down... and, affordable to the general population.
With Jefferson Project report in hand, Wendel says next steps are to develop comprehensive action plan for Chautauqua Lake...
Chautauqua County officials want to be more proactive in dealing with both weeds and algal blooms on Chautauqua Lake this year. That from County Executive P.J. Wendel... who says he was very impressed with the detail of the more than 60-page report presented by the Jefferson Project to the legislature recently. Wendel says one of the next steps will be to meet with federal officials about getting the Army Corps of Engineers to come in. He says... in discussions he's had with state and federal leaders... the best action will likely be dredging out strategic areas of the lake. Wendel says he's talked with the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation about that. Wendel says one person -- Glen Sullivan -- and two of the lake groups will be developing a comprehensive plan to "attack" the weeds and blooms this year. He says they're also keeping an eye on Albany because there's 16-million dollars in the governor's budget proposal for the Jefferson Project... and, the work being done in Chautauqua Lake. Wendel made his comments for last weekend's Community Spotlight program on the six Media One Radio Group stations.
City man arrested following alleged domestic incident...
A Jamestown man has been arrested for allegedly threatening harm to another person during a domestic incident Sunday afternoon on the city's northside. City police were called to the unidentified location just after 1 p.m. for a "disorderly person." Officers say their investigation showed that 45 year-old Adam Ciccarella violated an order of protection.. and, threatened to physically harm the victim physically. Ciccarella was arrested for second-degree harassment and second-degree criminal contempt. He was taken to the city jail pending arraignment.
Doing "final mix" on Swift's Grammy-winning album nets Falconer native a sixth Grammy...
A Falconer native has won another Grammy... this time for doing the "final mix" on Taylor Swift's Grammy winning Album of the Year: "Midnights." Randy Merrill is the son of Don and Pam Merrill... and, has now won six Grammys. During Sunday night's 66th annual Grammy Awards on CBS... Swift thanked her producers and sound engineers and mixers for their work... naming Randy Merrill as "mastering engineer." Retired Jamestown Community College Music Department head Mike Kelly says Randy Merrill "cut his engineering teeth" as a student assistant at JCC.
