Bail revoked for Rolison after release from hospital for second, fatal accident involvement within a year...
The Jamestown man now accused of being the driver involved in two fatal accidents within the past 13 months has now been jailed without bail following his release from the hospital. Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt says 59 year-old Randall Rolison was discharged early Thursday afternoon from UPMC Hamot Medical Center in Erie... where he had been treated since the Dec. 5 crash that took the life of Linda Kraemer, and seriously injured her husband, Gary in the town of Arkwright. That accident occured just under a year after Rolison allegedly struck and killed 15 year-old Lexy Hughan of Jamestown with his car carrier at the corner of Washington and West Sixth Streets. After the December accident... Schmidt says his office applied to the County Court to revoke Rolison's bail. Judge David Foley agreed... and, issued a warrant for Rolison's arrest once he was released from the hospital. He then granted the motion revoking Rolison's bail.
Quattrone guardedly encouraged by Hochul's push to change Bail Reform law...
Chautauqua County's top-elected law enforcement official says he's encouraged by Governor Kathy Hochul's renewed call for changes to the Bail Reform Law. Sheriff Jim Quattrone says that the proposed changes would give local judges more discretion to set bail for a defendant who is considered "dangerous." However... Quattrone says he doesn't believe there's enough support in the state legislature to do it. He says the New York State Sheriff's Association fully supports her proposal, though. Quattrone, who was recently elected 2nd Vice President of the state Sheriff's Association, says the organization has been pushing for such changes. Hochul first called for state lawmakers to consider discussing changes during her State of the State message back in January. She renewed that call during her budget message delivered last week.
Simultaneous drug busts in Dunkirk nets 16 arrests...
Sixteen people have been arrested following two major drug raids that took place on East Courtney St. in the city of Dunkirk Wednesday night. Sheriff's officers say members of their Narcotics Investigation Team... and, several other agencies... executed search warrants at 31, and 45 East Courtney St. shortly before 7:30 p.m. Dunkirk Police SRT made entry to the lower apartment at 45 East Courtney... while the Sheriff's Department SWAT Team made forced entry to a lower back apartment at 31 East Courtney. At 45 East Courtney... investigators say they seized 9.63 grams of crack cocaine... 4.73 grams of fentanyl, a quantity of methamphetamine and cocaine, scales and packaging materials... a .38 caliber revolver, and just over 14-hundred dollars cash. Fourteen people were arrested there including: Martin Wisniewski, Darryl Watkins, Alisha Scinta, David Corsi, Octavia Brown, Heather Payne, Alex Santiago, Sonia Mosley -- all of Dunkirk... Jahnie Hamilton of the Bronx... Wade Pfleuger of Forestville... Delani Williams of Buffalo... Carrie Haas of Fredonia, Kristian Wright of Sinclairville, and Andre Thomas of Buffalo. They face charges including third and fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance... and, criminally using drug paraphernalia.
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At 31 East Courtney... investigators seized about 14-and-a-half grams, and, 54 bindles of fentanyl... 23-grams of crack cocaine... 48 dosages of suboxone... an electronic stun gun, scales and packaging materials... a 25-caliber handgun and 3-thousand-546 dollars in cash. Arrested there were: Preston Lawrence of Rochester and Haley Greenawalt of Jamestown... who face four counts each of third and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance... fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon... and, second-degree Criminally Using Drug Paraphernalia. All 16 suspects were jailed pending arraignment... and, police say more charges are pending.
Whitaker waiting to see details of gov's UPK proposal...
Officials with the Jamestown Public Schools are waited for more information about what Governor Kathy Hochul's proposed expansion of Universal Pre-K will entail for local districts. However... Jamestown School Superintendent Kevin Whitaker says they would like to expand their program for 3-year-olds. Whitaker says research shows that when children have a head start as 3 and 4-year-olds... they do much better in Kindergarden. Right now... he says they have a pretty good UPK 4 program... with a sizable 4 year-old group. Dr. Whitaker made his comments on our Dennis Webster Show Thursday... and, says boosting their program for 3 year-olds would be important because of the social and learning impacts of the COVID pandemic and shut-down. Governor Hochul has included an additional $125-million in her 2023-24 budget proposal... which is now being reviewed by the state legislature.
Health care workers walk picket line in Dunkirk...
Workers at a local health care facility say they are fighting for better working conditions. 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East held an informational picket Wednesday afternoon at the Dunkirk Rehabilitation and Nursing Center on Lake Shore Drive West in the city. 1199 Vice-President Grace Bogdanove with the Western New York Nursing Home Division says the union has been bargaining with Personal Healthcare Management, LLC for months for a new contract. Bogdanove says their contract expired in December. She says workers at the Dunkirk facility say they have been short-staffed every day and are not getting any help from management... and, feel they can't spend the time they need to with residents. Bogdanove adds that the workers are prepared to go on strike if the union does not see "significant" improvement. 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is seeking improvements for approximately 200 workers at facilities in Dunkirk, Eden, Salamanca and Houghton.
