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WJTN News Headlines for Mar. 20, 2018

The regional "Fight for Recovery" effort came to Jamestown last night to call for some drug forefeiture money to be used to help addicts get the help they need...  
 
Several people spoke during the public comment portion of the City Council's monthly voting session, asking that 50% of drug seizure funds go to recovery.  Local "Fight for Recovery" advocate Chanda Germain says, while the $50-billion-a-year "War on Drugs" has largely been a failure, supporting recovery can and will work.
 
Germain says only about one in nine addicts are able to get into actual treatment.  Another member of the effort-- Clyde, Ohio's Richie Webber-- says they have 5,000 signatures on a petition so far.  Jamestown Police Chief Harry Snellings did some research and found out just over $28-million  was seized in drug assets in New York state in 2016 and says Chautauqua County only received $50,800.  He says Jamestown and other communities split about $17,000 (35%) of that.  Snellings says his department depends on the money it gets because his department gets no other extra money to help fight the local battle against drugs.
 
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The young people who spoke received a very sympathetic ear from City Councilmembers, who acknowledged the city doesn't have the money to support treatment.  However, they did urge the grassroots organization to keep fighting both on the county and state levels to get money funding for treatment efforts, along with support for "sober-living" facilities.  More details to follow. 
 
 
Chautauqua County is losing ground when it comes to health factors and outcomes compared to the rest of New York state between last year and this year...  
 
The county's Health and Human Services Department has released a report from the University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which ranks the county 57th among the state's 62 counties for Health Factors.  County Epidemiology Manager Breeanne Agett says the county was 58th in Health Outcomes-- premature deaths (suicide, cancer, cardiovascular disease and fatal drug overdoses). 
 
There were two areas where Chautauqua County had the highest rate of negative health factors.  The first was the smoking rate, which was about 24% for the county, but it was 14% state-wide.  Agett says the second area is obesity, which is 33%, while it's 25% state-wide.  She says the report reinforces the need for "community action" to improve health behaviors.  Agett says that runs the gamut from churches to employers; to friends and family.  She says the county's Health Rankings Report is available on-line at countyhealthrankings.org;  the Community Health Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan for 2016-18 is available at chautauqua.ny.us.
 
 
The case against a Sherman man who allegedly shot and killed a woman while she was walking her dogs in a field behind her Sherman home appears to be back on track...  
 
In a joint statement, Chautauqua County District Attorney Patrick Swanson, Sheriff Joe Gerace and DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos announced that Thomas Jadlowski has been re-indicted.  Jadlowski was arraigned today in County Court on a two-count indictment for second-degree manslaughter and hunting after dark.  Swanson tells us the case was re-submitted to a county grand jury.
 
Fourty-three year-old Rosemary Billquist was struck in the hip by the bullet fired by Jadlowski, the alleged incident occurring on the day before Thanksgiving. The bail amount remains at $50,000 cash bail, which Jadlowski had posted after the first indictment.   The charges carry a potential indeterminate state prison sentence of 5 to 15 years if condicted.
 
 
The official start of spring comes early this afternoon and forecasters at the National Weather Service says colder than normal temperatures will hang on for the next several days.  However, there is a break on the way...  
 
That from Meteorologist Dan Kelly at the service's Buffalo office, who says somewhere near the end of March, the weather pattern will change into warmer weather across Western New York.  Kelly says that sets the stage for a warm than normal spring.  He says the latest 90 day outlooks shows a warmer and wetter than normal Spring.  Kelly says there is a 45% chance that temperatures will be warmer than usual during that time period, which he says is "promising."  Spring officially gets underway at 12:15 p.m. today.