Fire at 130 Water St. in Jamestown determined to be intentionally set...
A fire that damaged the lower portions of a condemned house on the city of Jamestown's eastside Sunday afternoon was intentionally set. That from city fire officials this morning. Fire Battalion Chief Brian Acterberg says crews were called to the scene at 130 Water St. before 3:30 p.m., and, found a lot of heavy smoke coming from the basement and lower parts of the home. Acterberg says one entrance was open... and, even though they knew the building was vacant and condemned... they did a search to make sure no one was inside the structure. He adds they then were able to put the fire out, and did so in about 20 minutes. Acterberg says crews were at the scene about two-hours. An off-duty shift was called in... and, spent sometime boarding the house back up after the fire was out. Acterberg says this is the second-time his crew has been called to the scene, and the third time the fire department has been called to the scene. There were no utilities hooked up to the house... and, the cause is under investigation.
Flood Watch in effect later today...
The National Weather Service has put up a Flash Flood Watch for Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties from 2 this afternoon to 11 tonight. Meteorologist Aaron Reynolds says the region is stuck in a pattern with a warm, soupy air mass above the region with a stalled frontal area that's kept that air here the past few days. An inch or two of rain fell in the Southern Tier Sunday... soaking the ground... and more heavy rain later today would exacerbate the situation. The rain will briefly ease off by Thursday, but not for long. Aaron Reynolds says any real change in the pattern won't come until later this month -- with a possible stretch of nice weather next week. The Weather Service advises residents to 'be prepared' in case a flood warning is issued.
Rally held in support of Underground Railroad Tableau after racist, anti-semitic graffiti found last week...
Around 150 people rallied near the Underground Railroad Tableau in Jamestown’s Dow Park Saturday morning… in protest of the recent defacing of two statues there. The Jamestown Justice Coalition Coordinator, Justin Hubbard, said there was clear intent behind the action. Hubbard says there were not random acts of vandalism... but, white supremacy. Also addressing the rally were the Reverend Chloe Smith, who spoke of Jamestown’s importance as a stop on the Underground Railroad and called Dow Park ‘hallowed ground.’ Local author and historian, Paul Leone, a member of the committee that established the tableau, said he was ‘nauseous’ when he learned of the damage. Last week’s defacing of two statues occurred after a third statue, representing a freedom seeking slave, was stolen from the park in May.
Man from Ripley arrested for menacing...
A Ripley man has been arrested for allegedly pulling what appeared to be a handgun, and theatening to kill another person with it during an incident last week. Sheriff's officers were called to an undisclosed location in the town of Ripley last Tuesday... where they spoke with the victim. Deputies say the unidentified victim told them that 22 year-old Isiah Fuentes put the gun to their head, and threatened to shoot them. Officers found Fuentes on Thursday afternoon, and arrested him on a warrant for second-degree menacing. Fuentes was taken to the county jail for centralized arraignment... and, later released pending a future court appearance.
North Carolina man arrested for DWI, drug possession....
A North Carolina man has been arrested on a number of traffic and drug-related charges following a traffic stop early yesterday morning in the town of Ellery. Sheriff's officers say a patrol conducted the stop on Rt. 430 shortly before 2 AM... and identifed the driver as 27-year-old Nicholas Bullard of Colfax. Upon further investigation... deputies determined Bullard was driving while intoxicated. He was also allegedly found in possession of a quantity of cocaine... and, arrested for DWI, seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance... driving while using a portable electronic device, moving from lane unsafely... and, failure to keep right. Bullard was taken to the county jail, pending arraignment.
City of Jamestown does well with first-quarter sales tax revenues, first half numbers expected at Monday night's meeting...
The city of Jamestown will be receiving some six-month budget figures during tonight's work session. However... going into the second-quarter... most budget numbers were looking pretty good -- including sales tax. City Comptroller Ryan Thompson recently announced first-quarter figures to the City Council, saying that Jamestown received $1.648-million for the first three-months of 2021.... which he says was a $73,000 increase over the first quarter of 2020. Thompson says... last year... prior to the COVID-19 shut-down... the city had received 24.24% of what was budgeted. This year it was 24.55%. Council Finance Committee Chairwoman Kim Ecklund said that was "great news." The city had budgeted $6.5-million in sales tax revenues for this year.
COVID-19 COVID uptick continues in NYS...
New York state is continuing to see an uptick in COVID-19 cases as vaccination rates slowly rise. That's according to the state's latest data... released on Saturday. The state Health Department reports about 525 people each day tested positive for COVID-19 in New York for the seven days through Friday. That's up from 369 people -- a 42% increase -- for the prior week. The state Department of Health says a higher percentage of cases are linked to more contagious variants.
