A Jamestown man faces felony charges for allegedly leading police on a vehicle pursuit with a significant amount of drugs in his possession last Sunday. Sheriff's Officers say they attempted to pull over a car on Main Street in the Village of Falconer about 11:30 PM Sunday, but the driver failed to comply and fled the scene. Deputies say the pursuit continued onto Quaint Road in the Town of Poland, where the vehicle left the roadway before striking a tree and disabled in a ditch. The operator allegedly took off on foot into the woods and the Sheriff's Office deployed K-9 Link. While tracking in the woods K-9 Link allegedly found the man discarded 19-grams of fentanyl....15-grams of cocaine....29-grams of methamphetamine... cash and various drug paraphernalia. Deputies say K-9 Link was able to find the suspect hiding in dense brush. He was identified as 50 year-old Thomas Kimbrough-senior. He was arrested for felony fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, third-degree unlawfully fleeing police officer in a motor vehicle.... and, parole violations.
There are another 16 cases of the COVID-19 Virus being reported in Chautauqua County the past day... bring the county's total now to 550 since the outbreak began. Interim County Executive P-J Wendel adds that two of the new cases are students at the SUNY College at Fredonia. Wendel says there are 124 active cases... and, they continue to recover. He says there are 485 cases under quarantine or isolation orders, and are being monitored. There are also 235 persons under the "domestic traveler quarantine" after coming here from a state listed on the New York travel advisory. Wendel says there have been 37,453 negative test results to date.
Jamestown's mayor says he's very pleased to see Chautauqua County be awarded $10.5-million in federal funding to help small businesses dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayor Eddie Sundquist was unable to attend yesterday's Wednesday's announcement by the U-S Department of Commerce at the Chautauqua Harbor Hotel in Celoron. However... Sundquist says it will be a big help to a number of businesses in the city dealing with the shut-down.
In addition... Sundquist says the city just received word they will be getting another $300,000 in COVID-Relief monies from the U-S Department of Housing and Urban Development to help more businesses, and renters. He says an initial $705,000 HUD program earlier this year was very popular... and they ran out of funding. Sundquist says they are still awaiting word from HUD regarding what the additional 300-thousand dollars can be specifically used for. The majority of the initial 705-thousand dollars was to help small businesses heavily impacted by the COVID shut-down. Sundquist made his comments for this weekend's Community Spotlight program on the six Media One Radio Group stations.
The State University of New York at Fredonia reports 79 total cases of COVID-19 with 72 active cases. The campus' COVID dashboard, which was updated Thursday morning, shows 10 students in isolation on-campus while there are 62 students in isolation off-campus.
Jamestown Police are investigating a stabbing incident involving a fight between a group of juveniles and an adult on Franklin Street Wednesday night. City Police Captain Bob Samuelson says officers responded to the scene just before 6:30 PM... and, located an unidentified adult male with a head laceration from an apparent sharp instrument. Officers say the victim allegedly received the injury after he engaged a group of juveniles who were involved in a separate altercation... and, was treated at the scene. Samuelson says this is an on-going investigation and charges against the juveniles are pending. Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact JPD at 483-7537 ..... use the confidential Tip-line 483-TIPS.... or via the TIPS 4-1-1 app.
A Sinclairville man has been arrested for allegedly being found in possession of a metal knuckle-knife following a traffic stop in the town of Pomfret. Sheriff's officers say they stopped 30 year-old Ronald Duman, Junior just before 2 PM last Sunday on the Fredonia-Stockton Road for a traffic violation. He was later found with the alleged weapon... and, was arrested for fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and failure to stop at a stop sign. Duman was released with an appearance ticket for Pomfret Town Court at a later date.
State Senator George Borrello has received an important endorsement from a national business organization's New York state political action committee. Borrello says he has secured the backing of the National Federation of Independent Business’s New York PAC. The NFIB is the state, and nation’s leading small business advocacy association. Borrello accepted the endorsement... saying he's "grateful" for the endorsement. He adds "their mission to ‘promote and protect the right of our members to own, operate and grow their businesses,’ has my strongest support and is a goal that guides my legislative work and advocacy." Borrello is a small business owner... and, adds "we are at a moment in time when New York’s small businesses are being challenged like never before..." and that has his full attention.
High school football fans in Jamestown and Chautauqua County will have to wait until next Spring for the season to be played because of ongoing concerns over COVID-19 pandemic. Jamestown Public Schools Athletic Director Ben Drake says the district just received new guidance from the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Wednesday night... stating that all sports -- except Football and Volleyball -- will begin September 21st. He says they'll now start their seasons next March 1st... and, that's going to impact Spring sports.
Drake says COVID-19 protocols will be in place for all sports this year... and he feels "pretty good about where we are." He says all Spring sports -- like baseball -- will begin their seasons in mid-April. Regarding spectators... Drake says the state Health Department has told schools there can only be two spectators per student playing... meaning that Football crowds will be very limited. He says that's a concern for larger families that like to come and watch their student-athlete play.
After two months on dry land, the Bemus Point-Stow ferry is back in the water. The 'big splash' came at 2 PM yesterday (Thursday) in Stow.
Under the direction of Hohl (hole) Industries of Tonawanda, a 60 foot crane from the Benchley Crane Company in Forestville gently lifted the 45 ton ferry, swung it over the lake and placed it neatly in its slip. During its time on land, the ferry's hull was repaired and painted. The Sea Lion Group's other president, Jay Kuntz (koontz), says the wooden deck will now be rebuilt, in hopes of taking passengers by Memorial Day of next year. He encourages fans to ride the ferry when it's running again. There's no cost, but any donations would be appreciated. He estimates they'll need another $35,000 to cover the cost of the renovation.
A boil water order has been issued for the village of Fredonia water system because of high turbidity levels. Turbidity is the cloudiness of the water. A water sample taken on Wednesday showed turbidity levels of 1.1 units, above the maximum allowable standard of 1.0 turbidity units. Customers of the water system should not drink the water without boiling it first.
