A number of citizen tips are being credited in helping to find one of the two men who allegedly held up the 7-Eleven store on North Main Street... and, the CVS store in Brooklyn Square in Jamestown. City police say they obtained a search warrant... and, found some proceeds from the CVS Robbery in the basement of Van's Texas Hots at 29 North Main Street. Officers say that discovery and other information led them to arrested an employee of Van's -- 23 year-old Thomas Lawson. Police also say they have several leads... and, are currently looking for a "person of interest" in the CVS hold-up. Lawson is accused of pulling a knife in each of those cases... and, is charged with two counts of first-degree robbery. The black male involved in a third robbery at the 7-Eleven Store on East Second Street on April 1st is still at large. Anyone with information on that case... or the other two robberies... is asked to call City Police at 483-7531. You can also call the JPD Tip-Line at 483-TIPS... that's 483-8477.
An Iraq War veteran from Cattaraugus County is among the 16 people wounded during a shooting rampage at Fort Hood in Texas. Governor Andrew Cuomo says in a statement Thursday that 32-year-old Major Patrick Miller was injured during Wednesday's attack. Three other people were killed before the gunman committed suicide. Miller, who currently lives with his wife outside Austin, Texas, is a native of the town of Allegany. Information on his condition hasn't been released, but a doctor at a Texas hospital treating some of the wounded says he doesn't expect any more deaths resulting from the shooting. Miller graduated from his hometown college -- St. Bonaventure University in 2003 -- then joined the Army. He earned masters' degrees in business and public administration from Syracuse University in 2009.
Efforts are fully-underway to begin the search for a new Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency Administrative Director... and, Chief Executive Officer. Current Director Bill Daly will be retiring at the end of May. County Executive Vince Horrigan says he is nearly ready to fill out the search committee and a member of the County Legislature will chair it. Horrigan says economic development is very much on minds of his administration, especially with the pending closings of the Carriage House plants in the North County. In his State of the County address last week... the Bemus Point Republican spoke about reaching out to business owners -- even if they are headquartered outside Chautauqua County. Horrigan says he will announce the full committee shortly. He intends to conduct a regional search for a successor to Daly... who is also director of the county's Department of Planning and Economic Development.
While the Bemus Point School District is the only one in Chautauqua County showing an overall loss of state aid... it did get a boost in the two critical areas that may help hold down taxes. That from School Superinendent Mike Mansfield... who confirms school runs from State Senator Cathy Young's office that the district is looking at an 11-percent decrease. But... Mansfield says that's because they are losing building aid due to completion of a couple of capital projects in the late 1990s. Otherwise... he says they're seeing a significant boost in their "Gap Eliminiation Adjustment" -- or GEA -- and Foundation Aid. He says that makes their budget gap more managable.
Mansfield says that 132-thousand dollars will likely be used to offset mandated costs... and, to bring their approximately 13-million dollar budget to within their 2.01-percent property tax cap. He also thanked State Senator Cathy Young... and, Assemblyman Andy Goodell for their efforts to get money added for all local districts. The school board held a budget workshop last night.
U-S Attorney General Eric Holder says the government needs to deal differently with the heroin epidemic than it did with the crack cocaine crisis a few decades ago. Holder told a Senate committee today (Thursday) that a ``balanced approach'' involving treatment, education and enforcement is needed to confront the country's heroin crisis and avoid mistakes made during the widespread use of crack. Police at that time focused on large-scale arrests and imprisonment. That was seen in Jamestown yesterday (Wednesday) with seven raids leading to nine arrests in the city. Chautauqua County also recently held a community forum regarding the local Heroin problem. Holder says the government has a small window to prevent the heroin problem from getting ``even more out of control than it already is.'' He says specialized drug courts within the criminal justice system are a good way to reduce the prison population. In a recent video message, the attorney general called the heroin epidemic an ``urgent and growing public health crisis.''
A Cattaraugus County man accused of being in possession of over 600 pictures and videos of Child Pornography has pleaded guility in federal court in Buffalo. U-S Attorney William Hochul, Junior says 46 year-old Willie Reid of Olean entered his plea before U-S District Court Judge Richard Arcara. Hochul says the charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of 250-thousand dollars... and, a term of supervised release of at least five years to life. Assistant U-S Attorney Marie Grisanti, who is handling the case, says that Reid was found in possession of the 600 items on his computer at his residence on May 2nd of 2013. Sentencing is set for August 4th of this year.
