Chautauqua Life

Clan Gathering in Mayville Patk Coming right up!

2011-08-19T11:47:00.001-07:00

Friday, August 26, 2011
7:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Saturday, August 27, 2011
9:00 AM - 11:00 PM
The 6th Annual
Jamestown Regional Celtic Festival &
Gathering of the Clans

New York State to Kill thousands of Geese

2010-07-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

The state plans to eliminate 170,000 Canadian geese.

That means two-thirds of the current population could be exterminated.

The aggressive plan is a reaction to the crash of US Airways Flight 1549 last year.

Earlier this month, 400 geese in Prospect Park were euthanized and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been removing the birds from several locations near JFK and LaGuardia Airports.

State Senator Eric Adams lead a vigil for the departed geese last Saturday. Adams said there are more humane ways to deal with the birds. Please join on Facebook and try to stop this?

http://www.ramshornstudio.com/save_the_geese.htm

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=137465316287234&ref=mf

I dream a dream

2010-07-12T17:38:00.000-07:00

I dream a dream of when the Lake is once again free of oil slicks and raging internal combustion engines. I dream of when the smelly churning engines that fowl the waters and create wakes that cripple sail boats and swimmers and those who canoe like the natives who once fished these waters are no longer present. I hope I live to see the day when only small angler's boats with 10 horse engines ply these waters and sail boats are king again of this magnificent Lake I grew up on and love so dear. It's been a dream of mine since I was a small child in Wahmeda that the roar would be silenced and only the sound of the wind would be heard on the water. May I live long enough to see it come to pass.

When Lake Drive was Dirt.

2010-07-12T17:33:00.000-07:00

Beata (c. 1918)

2010-07-11T15:34:00.000-07:00

Beata (c. 1918)

How strange to me who know and love her so
That words fall dead and purposeless, to count
The careless many that have passed her by
Unseeing, or at best have only marked
The beauty of that smiling face she turns
To welcome all the world. I was a child
When first I came to know her, and my love
Grew with my growth as I could understand
More and more clearly those ideals she holds
Before her children. That instinctive love
A child gives to its mother, first I gave.
She was so very fair! The silent groves,
God’s temples truly, and the murmuring lake,
These were my playmates, and a wide sweet peace
Pervaded everything, so unaware
Even my childish nature gained in strength
And worshiped where it could not understand.

It was the summer I was eight years old —
And to myself I scarcely seemed all child —
When first I gained my larger heritage.
At early morning as I stood alone
Saying farewell to the calm nature world
That had been mine a golden summer long.
A soft September silence held the hills
Dreaming of summer, and as still I gazed,
Suddenly from my wistful thoughts was born
A hope and a desire, all imperfect yet
And unexpressed, only I dimly longed
To be more good, more worthy to be hers.

How often since have I gone back to her
Forgetting all that I had tried to do
And failed in trying, only gaining strength
To try again! How often have I crept
Past the white columns of the silent Hall
That is her soul, and laid a swift caress
With reverant hands on each familiar thing,
Praying with silent lips! But only God
Can know how often those hidden seeds
Planted in silence, blossomed silently
Into self sacrifice.

Yes, she is fair;
The columns of the Hall gleam through the trees;
Music is everywhere, nor hushed from dawn
That wakes the birds, until the vesper chimes
Pour peace and benediction over all.
Yet to her children who have learned her speech
There is a beauty richer far than this,
Most beautiful because most unexpressed
Except in lives inspired by its touch.

— Ethelwyn Dithridge Hotaling

From Dan Hermann written by his Grandmother

My Sanctuary

2010-07-11T15:21:00.000-07:00

My Sanctuary (c. 1908)

Far in a leaf-loved, summer-circled place
That nature built for worshipers apart,
Where little lights the timid shadows chase
And sudden bird-calls through the silence start,
My sanctuary is; life’s weary mart
Grows dim and distant dreaming on thy face,
Far in a leaf-loved, summer-circled place,
That nature built for worshipers apart.

Thou dwellest there in gentleness and grace,
Who through all change in spirit changeless art;
And I, turned neophite a little space,
Yield reverantly the homage of my heart,
Far in a leaf-loved, summer-circled place
That nature built for worshipers apart.

By Ethelwyn Dithridge Hotaling

From my friend Dan Hermann whose grandmother wrote these lines in 1908

Chautauqua's 2010 Season begins tomorrow

2010-06-26T15:50:00.001-07:00

Newly Restored Kellogg Hall is now a Gallery

2010-06-26T15:40:00.001-07:00

Kellogg Hall is now called the Fowler-Kellogg Art Center

Midsummer Solstice

2010-06-26T15:36:00.001-07:00

I lie beneath the dome of noon,
The lapis lazuli of June
And fulcrum of eternal spring.
There's time, there's time, for everything.

The poplars lean against the air
To comb the wind's unruly hair
And all the world is blossoming.
There's time, there's time, for everything.

The hawk moth in the trumpet vine,
And I am yours, and you are mine,
The measured sweep of heron's wing.
There's time, there's time, for everything.

In humming fields, the longest day,
Before the grasses turn to hay,
With darning needles hovering,
There's time, there's time, for everything.

REH

From my Friend Dan Hermann written by his mother Rachel E. Hermann a life long Chautauquan.
copyright 1965, all rights reserved

Theft'? Loss of cheap power at issue!!!!!!

2010-04-29T12:21:00.000-07:00

Low-cost electricity that benefits WNY may shift to statewide program for businesses
By David Robinson

A chunk of cheap electricity that now helps hold down the monthly power bills of Western New Yorkers and other upstate residents could be snatched away and used as the cornerstone of a plan to expand a program that provides inexpensive electricity to businesses statewide.

Supporters say the proposed shift would make better use of a valuable resource that currently saves upstate residents just a few dollars a month, when it could be turned into a powerful tool to create jobs.

But critics say the proposal is another power grab by downstate interests that will prevent businesses from Buffalo Niagara to Albany from reaping all of the benefits from one of upstate's most valuable economic resources.

"To me, it's really just a theft of a regional asset," said Assemblyman William L. Parment, D-North Harmony.

At issue is the future of the state's Power for Jobs program that provides low-cost electricity to 440 businesses and nonprofit groups across the state.

While four competing proposals — one from Gov. David A. Paterson and three from state legislators — are being discussed, the existing program is set to expire May 15.

Each of the proposals would expand the availability of low-cost power to businesses by taking the 455 megawatts of low-cost hydropower that now is used to reduce upstate utility bills by an average of $2 to $4 a month and shifting that electricity to businesses.

That move would more than double the amount of reduced-cost power available to businesses under a program that currently supports 440 companies that provide nearly 240,000 jobs statewide. A total of 72 companies with nearly 14,400 employees in Erie and Niagara counties receive more than 36 megawatts of low-cost power through the program, which typically costs 5 percent to 20 percent less than market rates.

Supporters of the shift contend that using the power to encourage business growth will provide a much greater economic boost to the state by creating or retaining jobs, rather than providing upstate consumers with a small savings on their electric bills.

Critics, however, say the reallocation will shift electricity that currently benefits only upstate consumers and put it into an economic-development program that operates statewide.

One of the bills, from State Sen. George D. Maziarz, R-Newfane, would allow companies statewide to participate in the expanded program, but upstate recipients would reap far greater cost savings than firms downstate.

"I think upstate has to be given preference," said Maziarz, the chairman of the Senate's Energy Committee.

Parment, for instance, said he would support a plan that moved the residential electricity into the economic-development program if it limited its use to businesses located within the areas served by National Grid, New York State Electric & Gas and Rochester Gas & Electric — the only utilities that now benefit from the low-cost "rural and domestic" power.

But Andrew J. Rudnick, president of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, said he doubts such an approach would win approval in the State Legislature.

That puts upstate business interests in a sticky position. On the one hand, they can go along with an enlarged statewide Power for Jobs program that will benefit more businesses upstate and also includes new guidelines that would help prevent past abuses, which in the past has seen cheap electricity flow to downstate nonprofits, including a Boys & Girls Club in the Bronx.

Or they can fight an uphill battle politically to keep the power exclusively upstate, and risk a stalemate that could jeopardize the entire Power for Jobs program, said Rudnick, whose group has long advocated converting the residential power into an economic-development tool.

Paterson administration officials defended taking what is now a benefit for upstate residential customers and spreading it around to industrial and commercial users across the state. They said upstate manufacturers will be heavy beneficiaries of the additional power allotment.

"It's a statewide asset. Why should only one area be able to take advantage of that asset?" said Thomas Congdon, Paterson's deputy secretary for energy.

Each of the proposals would try to offset the impact of the shift in varying ways. The Paterson proposal would offset the costs entirely for one year by providing a $70 million subsidy funded by the Power Authority that then would phase out in equal increments over the following five years. The Paterson proposal also would provide a $5 monthly credit to low-income customers and create a $10 million program to fund energy-efficiency improvements by consumers, a 38 percent increase from current funding levels.

Paterson vowed Wednesday that he will not settle for anything less than a long-term extension of the program after five years of stopgap, one-year extensions that the governor and business leaders have said makes long-term planning difficult.

Richard M. Kessel, the Power Authority's president and chief executive officer, said the Paterson plan would remove a legislative roadblock that has prevented new companies from enrolling in the program in recent years. He also noted that the Power Authority must walk a fine line as it reviews the qualifications of existing recipients at a time when jobs are scarce and the economy is sputtering.

Meanwhile, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y, wrote a letter to Kessel, urging him to craft a longer-term energy agreement with Steuben Foods of Elma.

The food company is planning a major expansion, but the Power Authority only offered Steuben a seven-year contract for low-cost hydropower — even though the agency also offers 10- and 15-year contracts. A longer contract would help the company with its expansion plans, Schumer said.

Tom Precious of The News Albany Bureau and News Washington Bureau Chief Jerry Zremski contributed to this report.

drobinson@buffnews.com

Speeding drivers

2010-03-31T12:26:00.000-07:00

Not only are the (speeding) tolerances much lower, but the frequency of a warning instead of a ticket is way down. Most people, if they're stopped now, are getting a ticket even if it's only a minor violation of a few miles per hour." James Baxter, president of the National Motorists Association, suggesting that the recession may be leading police departments to stop allowing a 5 to 10-mph “cushion” in order to raise more revenue. (USA Today)

This suits me just fine the speeding summer people and people visiting Chautauqua Institution during the season for the weekend have almost killed me going to the mail box. The speed limit here is 45 and they are doing 70mph on county road 33 also known as the Panama-Stedman road. I really worry about the many small children living on our road here in Stedman. The speeding last summer was just terrible.

SPEED KILLS!

Washington Portrait Goes for $1 Million in Rochester

2010-03-27T20:54:00.000-07:00

By Sean Dobbin, Democrat and Chronicle

GENESEO - Throughout his childhood, the portrait of George Washington was just another of Oliver Chanler's parents' paintings.

On Saturday, it had the attention of art collectors and history buffs all over the world, and with more than 400 people in attendance at Cottone Auctions in Geneseo, the painting sold for more than $1 million.

The buyer, a private dealer from York County, Pennsylvania, made the winning bid of $925,000 after a lively auction that lasted about a minute and a half. A buyer's fee of 15 percent pushed the final total for the portrait, which was painted by famed presidential portraitist Gilbert Stuart about 200 years ago, to more than $1.06 million.

"I thought it was going to go for more from what I've been reading, but it's fine," said Chanler, a Geneseo resident who discovered the value of the painting about 10 years ago.

Bidding opened at $250,000 and quickly escalated to more than $700,000, when the action slowed down. Grant Holcomb, director of the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, was one of the last remaining participants, but bowed out when bidding reached about $750,000.

Jeff Bridgman, the owner of Jeff R. Bridgman American Antiques in York County, Pennsylvania, was the winning bidder.

Bridgman, who deals in antique American flags and American folk art, said that he knew the painting would sell for much more than the estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. While Stuart reportedly painted more than 100 portraits of Washington, they aren't available on the open market very often.

"There hasn't been one sold for five years," said Bridgman. "I'm very pleased."

While the final bid often exceeds the estimate, items don't always sell for more than expected. For example, a Tiffany floor lamp - which finished with the second-highest final bid of the nearly 300 items auctioned on Saturday - sold for $575,000, after being estimated at $500,000 to $800,000.

But based on art market trends and the historical significance of the painting, officials at Cottone Auctions thought the painting would be sold for between $400,000 and $600,000, said Matt Cottone, co-owner of the auction house.

The winning bid ended up being much more, breaking a record for Cottone Auctions. Previously, the most expensive item sold at the auction house was a James A. McNeill Whistler painting that was sold in July 2006 and had a final bid of $910,000.

"High-end pieces are bringing record prices right now," said Cottone.

Chanler discovered the portrait's worth when appraisers came to value his mother's estate 10 years ago. He can only definitively trace his family's ownership of the painting to his great-grandfather John Winthrop Chanler, who served in the House of Representatives from 1863 to 1869.

However, the portrait could conceivably date all the way back to his great-great-great-great-grandfather John Jacob Astor, who also at one time had his portrait painted by Stuart.

Collectors at the auction said that the provenance created additional interest in the portrait.

Rochester D&C

This is wrong on so many levels!

2010-02-01T22:32:00.000-08:00

Tensions erupt, resident arrested at Lackawanna Council meeting
By Harold McNeil

Long-simmering tensions between Lackawanna lawmakers and 1st Ward residents boiled over Tuesday night, triggering the arrest of one resident who refused a police order to leave the Council Chambers.

Shanon Richardson, of Gates Avenue, was physically removed by police officers from the Council meeting and jailed — a move that angered the 1st Ward’s largely black residents who have long charged that lawmakers ignore their community’s issues.

Residents became irate when Council President Charles Jaworski informed them that, individually, they could address the Council for only 3 minutes instead of 5, and only on issues that were on the Council agenda for that meeting. Both changes had been adopted unanimously at the Council’s Jan. 4 meeting. Richardson was among those who complained about the changes.

“You just cannot tell us . . . that you don’t want to hear what we’re concerned about, because our taxes pay your salary and we put you in a place to make sure that our voice and concerns and every one of our issues are dealt with,” Richardson said.

As Richardson continued with his grievances, he wound up angering Jaworski by accusing lawmakers of facilitating crime in the 1st Ward through neglect.

“You guys are manufacturing crime in the 1st Ward to where you guys have all the jobs. It’s all the same names on the School Board,” Richardson said.

Richardson’s comments were drowned out by other residents shouting in support and Jaworski ordering police to remove him from the Council Chambers. When Richardson refused — protesting that his 3 minutes were not up — he was handcuffed and removed.

That act, in turn, sparked an uproar among residents — some protesting bitterly before leaving the chambers.

Jaworski, meanwhile, called for more police officers as a precaution before adjourning the meeting.

As the 100 people filed out of the meeting, many were surprised to see officers — accompanied by police dogs — watching them closely as they left.

Several residents remained in City Hall, and more then 50 signed a petition protesting Richardson’s arrest.

Richardson’s mother, Sharon Thompson of Steelawanna Avenue, said others remained after the meeting to help raise the $1,600 bail required for Richardson’s release.

Lackawanna police declined Tuesday to confirm the charges against Richardson, but his mother said he was charged with disorderly conduct, obstructing governmental administration, trespassing and resisting arrest.

hmcneil@buffnews.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Councilmembers Say Resident Took Too Much Time To Speak

There was not an empty seat inside Lackawanna City Council Chambers. Residents were there to be heard and voice displeasure about the arrest of a resident who spoke too long at the last meeting.

Shanon Richardson ended up in the slammer because Lackawanna City Council members say he spoke too long when he attempted to criticize them a couple of weeks ago.

This year, the Council approved a new rule limiting public comments to three minutes and the public can speak only about items on the agenda.
This year, the Council approved a new rule limiting public comments to three minutes and the public can speak only about items on the agenda.

Council President Chuck Jaworski says he will bend the rule. "I personally, as Council President for the last two years do not have a timer. If the people are speaking and talking about the agenda items, really there is no time limit."

Residents were able to speak longer than three minutes and about various topics at Monday night's meeting.

John Ingram, a resident of Lackawanna told the Council, "the citizens are not here to fight you, we want to work with you, but if you're looking for a fight, or trying to start a fight, we will fight."

Feast of the Three Kings

2010-01-06T22:02:00.000-08:00

Feast of the Three Kings ceremony held
Celebrates day when three kings visited baby Jesus

Updated: Wednesday, 06 Jan 2010, 10:26 PM EST
Published : Wednesday, 06 Jan 2010, 10:26 PM EST
Vic Baker
Posted by: Eli George

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - It is the "Feast of the Three Kings," or the Epiphany: the day when Christians believe the three kings arrived to visit the baby Jesus.

Buffalo Police officer David Rodriguez led the walk of the three kings in front of his mother's West Ferry Street home. It included a live camel. Officer Rodriguez organized the ceremony to honor his mother Carmen for her dedication to keeping a nativity outside her home for many years.

On the Road: A Big Moment for Roosevelt, and Buffalo

2009-12-29T01:05:00.000-08:00

By SEWELL CHAN

Dan Cappellazzo for The New York Times
The Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site in Buffalo, where Roosevelt took the oath in 1901 following the assassination of William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition.
On the Road

The City Room bureau chief, Sewell Chan, will be filing dispatches from some of New York State’s other cities this week.
Buffalo’s Lower West Side

BUFFALO — He was only 42, and while his previous jobs — state assemblyman, United States civil service commissioner, New York City police commissioner, assistant secretary of the Navy and governor of New York — represented a steady upward ascent, he was stunned by the circumstances that brought him to this room, a wood-paneled library in a stately home that was once part of an Army base here.

Vice President Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office in Buffalo on the afternoon of Sept. 14, 1901, after President William McKinley died, the victim of an assassin’s bullet.

McKinley had been shot eight days earlier, on Sept. 6, by an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz, while attending the Pan-American Exposition — a six-month-long international fair that represented not only America’s rising industrial might, but also Buffalo’s. Then the nation’s eighth-largest city and fourth-biggest port, Buffalo was at the center of a dense transportation system of ships and rails, and its fortunes seemed to be on the upswing.

The Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site, the house where Roosevelt took the oath, reopened in June after a year and a half of extensive renovations that included the reconstruction of a carriage house, which now serves as a visitor center. The site, at 641 Delaware Avenue in the Allentown section of Buffalo, now includes numerous interactive displays that present Roosevelt’s expansive use of the presidency in proper context.

The renovated exhibition is so new that one large wall text — juxtaposing Roosevelt with President Obama — catches viewers quite by surprise. The pairing is all the more remarkable given that Roosevelt, early in his presidency, invited Booker T. Washington as the first African-American guest officially entertained at the White House.

The staff at the historic site, which is run by Molly Quackenbush, the executive director, and administered by an independent foundation under an agreement with the National Park Service, happily tells visitors about the tense week between the shooting of McKinley and his death.

Immediately after the shooting, Roosevelt, who had been on a speaking tour in Vermont, and members of the cabinet were summoned to Buffalo. There, Roosevelt happened upon Ansley Wilcox, a prosperous businessman who had acquired, through marriage, the house on Delaware Avenue, originally officers’ quarters within the Buffalo Barracks, a giant military installation built between 1838 and 1840.

At first, McKinley appeared to recover, so much so that Roosevelt left Buffalo on Sept. 10, joining his family on a vacation in the Adirondacks. Three days later, while hiking on Mount Marcy, Roosevelt was directed to go to Buffalo a second time; the president had taken a turn for the worse. He arrived in North Creek, the train station nearest to Mount Marcy, just before dawn on Sept. 14, and there learned that McKinley had died. He promptly boarded a train to Albany, then Buffalo.

The room where Roosevelt took the oath from a federal district judge, John R. Hazel — news reporters were allowed, but photographers were not permitted to record the moment — is now equipped with an audio recording that helpfully seeks to recreate the somber chatter of the moments before the oath.

The historic site is not the only federal property dedicated to Roosevelt’s memory. Many New York City residents are familiar with the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site, at 28 East 20th Street. Sagamore Hill, where Roosevelt and his second wife, Edith, made their home, in Oyster Bay on Long Island, is also a national historic site.

Sewell Chan, the bureau chief of the City Room blog and a native of New York City, is on the road this week, filing dispatches from some of New York

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/on-the-road-a-big-moment-for-roosevelt-and-buffalo/

http://www.trsite.org/content/pages/about-foundation

http://archives.buffalorising.com/story/construction_watch_wilcox_carr

http://www.ci.buffalo.ny.us/Home/OurCity/Buffalo_My_City/Buffalo_My_City_Watercolors/28A_Wilcox_Mansion_1993

A ratty Christmas

2009-12-14T18:15:00.001-08:00

3,400 NY soldiers heading to Afghanistan

2009-12-08T22:58:00.000-08:00

3,400 NY soldiers heading to Afghanistan
Fort Drum soldiers will go in first wave

Updated: Monday, 07 Dec 2009, 6:31 PM EST
Published : Monday, 07 Dec 2009, 6:31 PM EST

WASHINGTON D.C. - The first wave of President Barack Obama's new Afghanistan surge will add about 16,000 U.S. troops who got their orders over the past few days, the Pentagon announced Monday.

About 1,500 Marines from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina will leave for Afghanistan later this month, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters. He would not be precise about when those troops arrive, but military sources have said the first forces are expected on the ground by Christmas.

After the first of the year, the Marines begin sending another 6,200 from Lejeune, Whitman said, and 800 from Camp Pendleton in California.

The Army will also begin sending in the first of its forces - a training brigade from Fort Drum with about 3,400 members. Whitman said about 4,100 support forces from various places will also deploy early next year.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates signed the deployment orders last week. They cover a little more than half the 30,000 additional troops approved by Obama as part of an overhauled war plan announced last week.

The overhaul followed three months of deliberations about whether and how much to expand on an already record U.S. fighting force of about 70,000.

Not covered in Monday's announcement are the expected deployments of two Army brigades from Fort Campbell in Kentucky. Those and additional training or support units are expected to be announced in a second wave of orders in the coming weeks.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was visiting Fort Campbell and Camp Lejeune on Monday to speak to troops expected to deploy as part of the new strategy.

The Christmas Sessions

2009-12-08T00:31:00.000-08:00

This is a lovely Christmas song with a slide show of paintings of angels and the Nativity. Bill Ward and the Doerfels perform one of Bill's compositions, The Angels Said It True. This is a cut from the CD ,The Christmas Sessions, which is already on sale on CD Baby. Proceeds from each purchase will help benefit Project Chacocente, an organization which exists to help the extremely poor in Nicaragua. Buy this CD:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bwarddoerfels
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Christmas Sessions, a recording released last year by Bill Ward and the Doerfels, will be featured as a live performance at a series of specials throughout WNY this holiday season. The project features all original Christmas songs written by Ward, and was recorded by him and the popular touring family band last winter. The specials will performed live this season by Ward, a veteran Western New York singer/song-writer, and two other well-known area performers.

While the Doerfels won't be there in person, Ward has enlisted the help of Amanda Barton and Matt Homan to present at least three performances prior to Christmas. The CD is already on sale, and proceeds from each purchase will help benefit Project Chacocente, an organization which exists to help the extremely poor in Nicaragua. The recording will also be available at the concerts.

Ward is a respected Chautauqua artist, having performed throughout the country for nearly four decades. A community developer and promoter, he founded and organizes the Mayville Bluegrass Festival, and was recognized by the Chautauqua County Music Hall of Fame as Promoter of the Year in 2007. It was that same year that he was inducted in the Hall.

Homan is a relative newcomer to the WNY music scene, but has made an impact. Forming the Haybalers in 2006, he quickly became a mover and shaker in the local acoustic music scene. He is now the leader of the Bluegrass Disciples, a virtual 'who's who' of WNY bluegrass musicians.

Barton is, at her young age, the reigning queen of Southern Tier acoustic music. Her sweet, smoky vocals and touch-perfect fiddle playing with groups like Big Leg Emma, the Steve Johnson Band, and now her own band, Zamira, have long been a favorite of many, many fans.

The Christmas Sessions performances will be held at the following locations:

Nov. 29 - Busti Federated Church, 6:30 p.m.

Dec. 2 - Hurlbut Memorial Community Church Vespers, Chautauqua, 6 p.m.

Dec. 6 - Christ First Church, Jamestown, 6:30 p.m.

For more information on the recording or performance locations, visit billwardband.com or call 753-2800. To learn about Project Chacocente, visit outofthedump.org.

Frozen Assets’ reveals Queen City's wintry charms

2009-12-06T13:55:00.001-08:00

By Mark Sommer / News Staff Reporter
Updated: December 03

Buffalo is not in the Top Ten snowiest cities in the continental United States. (It's No. 11.)

It has been relegated to the sidelines for 14 of the 16 worst blizzards in U.S. history. (OK, 81 inches did fall during the Blizzard of 2001.)

Buffalo is even an also-ran in the friendly Golden Snowball Award competition between Upstate New York cities, which Syracuse has swept with the most snowfall every year since the 2002-03 winter.

As Western New Yorkers know, we have our share of the white stuff — and bragging rights to back it up — but our inflated and misleading reputation is about as off-course as lake-effect snow or the Bills' wide-right fortunes. Melting away the myths, and showing off how wonderful this snow-laden region can look in white, are what propel the new, whimsically written and ably photographed "Frozen Assets: The Beautiful Truth About Western New York's Fourth Season."

Author-photographer Mark D. Donnelly attempts to set the record straight, even as he admits to being an imperfect messenger.

"I'm probably the least-likely Buffalo winter hero you could probably create," said the Town of Tonawanda resident and father of four. His 2008 book, "The Fine Art of Capturing Buffalo," was also published by the local Buffalo Heritage Unlimited.

Donnelly doesn't like being cold. He doesn't do winter sports. And having to shovel the sidewalk and scrape his windshield are almost enough to make him yearn for the few years he lived in Tokyo, when crystal flakes were something to gaze upon in snow globes.

"People say, 'I like Buffalo because it has four seasons,' but what they really mean is spring, summer, fall and a white Christmas. But, winter is the most beautiful time of the year," Donnelly said, and his photos build a case.

Donnelly captures the season's beauty in landscapes and structures, such as the faded outline of the bow bridge and Skyway at Erie Canal Harbor in a blustery snowstorm. There is the Buffalo lighthouse caught in a lake-effect storm; a snow-covered, partially submerged planter in Allentown; and the desolation of the snowy City Ship Canal and Great Northern grain elevator; and of the mist-shrouded Scajaquada Expressway and Niagara Section of the Thruway.

Donnelly also wanted to "poke fun" at Buffalo winters, and has quite a bit of fun doing it.

Under "Snow Belt," he writes: "In Western New York, we not only look great in white, we also know how to accessorize."

He adds, "If you routinely use a yardstick instead of a ruler to measure your snow, you probably live in a snow belt."

Under the section, "Western New York Winter Survival Strategies," there is "Retail Therapy," where Donnelly points out, "They don't throw winter white sales in the summer."

Another is "Cast Fashion to the Wind": "Come December, both style and Elvis leave the building ... Stripes suddenly look fine with plaids, and no color combination is out of bounds."

One of the 14 survival strategies is titled "Stare at Stuff," opposite a picture of Burchfield Penney Art Center.

There are also poems, celebrations of cool things to do in winter and a few testaments along the way to the character-building properties of snow in Western New York, like this one, about the Blizzard of '77:

"More impressive than the tons of snow were the thousands of acts of random kindness that instantly brought the entire community together. These can never be shoveled away."

The book is already being enlisted to present outsiders with a more accurate view of Buffalo winters.

Kathie Hall, a recruitment administrator at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, received a shipment of books Tuesday to use in luring physicians, scientists and executives to Buffalo.

"So many people are just misled into thinking Buffalo is such a horrendous weather town. I thought this book would be a great recruitment tool to inform our new recruits that we do not live up to our reputation," Hall said.

“Frozen Assets” and a companion calendar can be obtained at Talking Leaves, Barnes & Noble, museum gift shops and online at www.buffaloheritage.com

Chautauqua County woman wins $1 million in lottery

2009-11-24T22:59:00.001-08:00

November 24, 2009, 1:40 PM

A 45-year-old Chautauqua County woman today claimed an early Christmas present when she was introduced as the winner of the $1 million top prize in the new Super 9s instant game.

"I always believed that one day I would win a big lottery prize," said Sandra "Sandy" Olson, a mother of two from Falconer. "When I scratched the ticket and saw the word "Jackpot,' I knew this would be a great holiday for my boys."

Olson, who works in the human resources department at RHI Monofrax in Falconer, compared her winning experience to "waking up on Christmas morning when you're 8 years old."

As with most of the New York Lottery's instant games, the top prize on the Super 9s instant ticket is awarded as an annuity. Olson will receive her prize in 20 annual payments of $50,000 each, netting her $33,015 a year through 2028.

The money won't drastically change her life, Olson told a morning news conference.

"I have two teenage sons that will be going to college in a few years," she said. "The money will definitely help pay some of those bills as well as some repairs to the house."

But first she plans to go on vacation.

Today's press conference was held at US News on East Second Street in Jamestown, where Olson bought her Super 9s instant ticket on Nov. 5.

Olson becomes the second player across the state to claim one of the $1 million top prizes since the New York Lottery introduced the $5 Super 9s game in September.

Lottery officials say Olsen became the first Chautauqua County person to win $1 million this year. Five other Western New Yorkers have won at least $1 million prizes this year.

citydesk@buffnews.com

There are many young women in Chautauqua County hurting.

2009-11-23T13:27:00.000-08:00

Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls

by Mary Pipher

Dr. Mary Pipher is a clinical psychologist and best-selling author. Dr. Pipher's work combines her training in both the fields of psychology and anthropology, examining how American culture influences the mental health of its people. She has received two American Psychological Association Presidential Citations. Dr. Pipher has appeared on the Today Show, 20/20, The Charlie Rose Show, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and National Public Radio's Fresh Air.

This is the groundbreaking work that poses one of the most provocative questions of a generation: Why are American adolescent girls falling prey to depression, eating disorders, suicide attempts, and dangerously low self-esteem? Dr. Pipher posits that it's America's sexist, look-obsessed "girl-poisoning" culture-one in which girls are constantly struggling to find their true selves. In Reviving Ophelia, these girls' uncensored voices are heard from the front lines of adolescence. Personal and painfully honest, this is a compassionate call to arms, offering strategies with which to revive these Ophelias' lost senses of self.
Annotation

A therapist who has worked extensively with young girls reveals firsthand evidence of the damage that can be caused by growing up in a "girl-poisoning culture, " raises a call to arms, and offers parents compassion and strategies for survival. A perfect book to commemorate "Take Your Daughter to Work Day."
Publishers Weekly

From her work as a psychotherapist for adolescent females, Pipher here posits and persuasively argues her thesis that today's teenaged girls are coming of age in ``a girl-poisoning culture.'' Backed by anecdotal evidence and research findings, she suggests that, despite the advances of feminism, young women continue to be victims of abuse, self-mutilation (e.g., anorexia), consumerism and media pressure to conform to others' ideals. With sympathy and focus she cites case histories to illustrate the struggles required of adolescent girls to maintain a sense of themselves among the mixed messages they receive from society, their schools and, often, their families. Pipher offers concrete suggestions for ways by which girls can build and maintain a strong sense of self, e.g., keeping a diary, observing their social context as an anthropologist might, distinguishing between thoughts and feelings. Pipher is an eloquent advocate.

Civil War re-enactors honor Buffalonian

2009-11-23T00:05:00.000-08:00

Union Army captain had commanded a unit of black troops in battle against Confederate soldiers
By Michael Beebe

Under a fittingly somber gray sky, Civil War re-enactors from the Union Army marched in formation through Forest Lawn on Saturday, as they honored a Buffalo captain who commanded a unit of the United States Colored Troops.

They honored Capt. Philip J. Weber, who like his younger, better known brother Col. John B. Weber, was a white man in charge of black troops. But that did not bother Luther Burnette, a black man who attended the ceremony.

"Because of what they did," Burnette said of the Weber brothers, who volunteered to lead the black troops, "I could retire as a colonel."

Burnette, who served in the Army during World War II and the Korean conflict and retired after finishing his service in the Army Reserve, represented the Bennett Wells American Legion Post 1780, made up of African-American veterans.

The ceremony Saturday was part of a nationwide Remembrance Day, established by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War to mark the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in November 1863.

David C. Kreutz, with his beard, top hat and long coat, a realistic-looking Lincoln re-enactor from Depew, delivered the world's most famous two-minute speech at Capt. Weber's grave site.

"Four score and seven years ago," Kreutz began, "our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

The Weber brothers took that sentiment to heart, first enlisting as Union soldiers and then, after their commissioning as officers, in leading what was called the United States Colored Troops into battle against the Confederate Army in Louisiana.

Philip Weber, whose headstone was rededicated Saturday with wreaths and a marker, was the older brother of John Weber, and rose through the ranks to become captain of the 89th United States Colored Troops.

After the war, the two brothers returned to Buffalo, where Philip Weber died Aug. 5, 1879, at the age of 41.

His brother John's career took off after the war, when he served as the youngest colonel — promoted two days before his 21st birthday — in the Union Army.

John Weber lost a close election for Erie County sheriff to Grover Cleveland. But after Cleveland left Buffalo on his way to the presidency, Weber ran again and became the county's youngest sheriff at age 31.

William Tojek, a Lackawanna firefighter and bugler for the Col. John B. Weber Camp 44 of the Sons of Union Veterans, which led Saturday's ceremony, takes up the story from there.

John Weber became a congressman, was the country's first commissioner of Immigration, and built and opened Ellis Island, said Tojek, who has served as the city of Lackawanna's historian.

Weber helped bring Bethlehem Steel to Western New York, helped form the city of Lackawanna, established South Park, Cazenovia Park and the Botanical Gardens, and forced the railroads to build bridges over railroads in the City of Buffalo, eliminating dangerous street crossings.

But it was the Weber brothers' service during the Civil War that brought the two dozen men in their blue Grand Army of the Republic uniforms to Forest Lawn on Saturday — as well as retired Col. Burnette, and his wife, Georgia — to honor two men from Buffalo who chose to lead black men in their fight against slavery.

mbeebe@buffnews.com

Parent of Quality Markets files for bankruptcy

2009-11-20T22:44:00.001-08:00

Parent of Quality Markets files for bankruptcy
By Samantha Maziarz Christmann

Penn Traffic, parent company of Quality Markets grocery stores, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday for the third time in a decade.

The Syracuse-based company is seeking to sell all of its assets, including its 79 supermarket locations. The company operates 13 Quality Markets in Western New York at Attica, Dunkirk, Ellicottville, Falconer, Frewsburg, Jamestown, Lakewood, Lockport, Mayville, Randolph, Silver Creek, Westfield and Williamsville.

Its stores will remain open for business, according to a statement by Gregory J. Young, the company’s president and chief executive officer. The company said it will also continue paying its 5,700 employees and maintain their benefits. It indicated assets of $150.4 million and debt of $136.9 million in court documents.

Burt Flickinger III, managing partner of retail consulting firm Strategic Research Group, said there is “reasonable hope” the company could move forward profitably under new ownership and management with fewer stores.

“It’s rare for a company to go into bankruptcy three times and survive. Normally they would liquidate,” he said. “With good leadership and financing, [Penn Traffic] could be viable as a midsized supermarket chain. [But] they would have to reject two to three dozen store leases.”

Unstable, out-of-town management contributed greatly to the company’s problems, as did weak ads and a lack of support for local suppliers, according to analysis by Strategic Research Group.

On the upside, its research found top-notch customer service and staff at Penn Traffic stores, despite the ongoing corporate crises. Flickinger called the relationship between the workers’ union, UFCW Local One in Utica, and Penn Traffic one of the most constructive and productive in the United States and Canada.

Should the company be broken up, several grocery chains are likely to be interested in a piece of the action.

Tops Friendly Markets would “certainly be a logical bidder” for a number of Penn Traffic’s stores, Flickinger said. Delhaize USA, the Belgian parent of Hannaford Bros. Co; Price Chopper owner Golub; Pennsylvania- based Weis Markets; Giant Eagle; and Olean Wholesale Grocery Co-Op are likely contenders to buy one or two stores as well.

“It’s a sad day. We’ve been through a number of their stores,” said Flickinger. “They still have a lot of good locations; their staff is very strong; their customer service is excellent; their conditions and standards are excellent.”

Penn Traffic cited the economic downturn, fierce competition in the grocery business and legal troubles as contributing factors to the company’s bankruptcy.

The company lost $17.6 million last year, an improvement over its $42 million losses in 2007. It closed 20 stores, including one in Dunkirk, and sold off its wholesale division earlier this year.

In 2005, the company emerged from a nearly two-year bankruptcy reorganization but has continued to lose money. It also filed for bankruptcy in 1999. In 2007, two Penn Traffic executives were charged in federal court with artificially inflating the company’s earnings between 2001 and 2003.

Penn Traffic has supermarkets under the names Bi-Lo, P&C and Quality in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and New Hampshire.

schristmann@buffnews.com

Powell family has a happy homecoming

2009-11-14T19:17:00.001-08:00

Powell family has a happy homecoming
By Jay Rey
News Staff Reporter
Updated: November 14, 2009, 5:55 PM / 39 comments

Delores Powell and her four children saw their new home on Massachusetts Avenue for the first time this afternoon, as "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" wrapped up its weeklong stay in Buffalo.

The Powells were greeted by a few-thousand neighbors and fans of the television show, who have been following the construction of the new Powell home at 228 Massachusetts Ave. on the city's West Side.

"It's a fun event," said Tim Sherry, of Lancaster, who came to watch the moment with his daughter, Alexandra. "My daughter watches the show all the time."

The Powell family — who spent the week in Walt Disney World while their new home was being built — pulled up in a limousine at about 4:10 p.m. Saturday, when they were greeted by Ty Pennington, and the rest of the cast of the show.

In usual "Extreme Makeover" fashion, a large luxury bus was parked in front of the home, blocking the family's view of their new house.

The enthusiastic crowd — many of them volunteers who helped build the home and work on related neighborhood projects this week — began chanting, "Move that bus! Move that bus!"

After a couple practice takes for the cameras, the bus finally moved, giving the stunned and jubilant Powell family the first glimpse of the house.

jrey@buffnews.com

Chautauqua Lake mansion sells for $3 million

2009-11-10T10:54:00.000-08:00

By Robert J. McCarthy

The mansion built for the co-founder of the Packard Motor Car Co. on Chautauqua Lake has been sold for $3 million.

An undisclosed buyer purchased the manor, according to Richard Benedetto, co-owner of Real Estate Advantage in Jamestown and Bemus Point, which brokered the sale.

Known as the Packard Manor Estate, it was built in 1915 by William D. and Katherine B. Packard on 1.2 acres and 180 feet of lake frontage at the Chautauqua Institution.

"While property values have plummeted in other areas across the country," Benedetto said, "the jewels of Chautauqua Lake and Chautauqua Institution have held their value."

The manor was renovated in 1998 in a style that maintains its historic features but also included modern amenities such as air conditioning, Benedetto said.

The home features a large living room, den, office, dining room, sunroom, gourmet kitchen with pantry, eight bedrooms, terrace, third-floor apartment, nine full baths, recreation room, spa, whirlpool and sauna, an elevator, a four-car garage and eight fireplaces.

Half a million pounds of beef recalled on E.coli fears

2009-11-03T01:29:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A voluntary recall was announced Monday for more than half a million pounds of ground beef because it may be contaminated with bacteria linked to at least two deaths, officials said.

Fairbank Farms of Ashville, New York, said the recall was issued Saturday for approximately 545,699 pounds of ground beef produced between September 14 and September 16 after the meat was "possibly linked" to E. coli O157:H7.

"Any customers from northeastern or mid-Atlantic states who have identified recalled ground beef products should remove the product from their freezers and return it to their stores for full reimbursement," the company said.

Lola Russell, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, confirmed a death in New York; Chris Nielsen, a spokeswoman for New Hampshire's State Department of Health and Human Services, confirmed another death in New Hampshire.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said it learned of the problem during an investigation of a cluster of E. coli 0157:H7 illnesses in Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts.

The recall was for distribution centers in eight states, but the company said some retailers may have sent the affected beef to other states.

The bacterium can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration and kidney failure.

Retail outlets include: ACME, BJ's, Ford Brothers, Giant Food Stores, Price Chopper, Shaw's, and Trader Joe's. The products affected are listed on the USDA Web site.

Other grocers may also be recalling the products, which are already at least 23 days past their expiration date, meaning they are no longer being sold as fresh.

"We're assisting our customers in conducting this recall, and continue to urge consumers to check their freezers for ground beef products that are listed in the recall," said CEO Ron Allen in a news release. "Consumers who identify these products should return them to the point of purchase for a full refund."

The Case for Modesty, in an Age of Arrogance

2009-11-01T17:48:00.000-08:00

By NANCY GIBBS Monday, Nov. 09, 2009

Virtues, like viruses, have their seasons of contagion. When catastrophe strikes, generosity spikes like a fever. Courage spreads in the face of tyranny. But some virtues go dormant for generations, as we've seen with thrift, making its comeback after 40 years in cold storage. I'm hoping for a sudden outbreak of modesty, a virtue whose time has surely come.

You can understand why this one went out of style. It was too often twisted into a demand — that a lady demurely contain herself, not make a spectacle, do nothing that makes a man feel like anything but a king. At least in Western cultures, that attitude did not survive the '70s and all the exuberant liberations attending. By the time the Reagan era dawned and a new Gilded Age beckoned, women were invited to swagger as much as they liked. For men and women, a global economy meant survival of the fittest, which did not involve playing down one's skills and gifts and certainties.

So self-aggrandizement became both fashionable and fashion, especially for girls, with everything dropping by inches — necklines and waistlines but not hemlines, which climbed upward until a skirt became little more than a strap. Professional athletes flaunted their immodesty, egos on steroids bashing at the plate and dancing in the end zones; where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio, whose name was synonymous with greatness and grace? Developers etched their names into their towers in letters 6 ft. high; financiers built cottages the size of cathedrals. Politicians talked louder but did less, or declared Missions Accomplished that had barely begun.

Even technology conspired to inflate us. Modesty's power was mystery, its flirty allure, its clandestine strength, what lies hidden and unknown and requires patient excavation or intimacy hard-earned. We are not billboards; we are secrets and codes, except that the modern age of constant communication, each tweet and text, makes secrecy all but impossible and intimacy indiscriminate.

So in the face of all that deterrence, how is modesty to survive? First, let's strip gender out of it; use it more interchangeably with humility. Modesty means admitting the possibility of error, subsuming the self for the good of the whole, remaining open to surprise and the gifts that only failure can bring. There are many ways to practice it. Try taking up golf. Or making your own bagels. Or raising a teenager.

Modesty in private life is attractive, but in public life it is essential, especially now, when those who immodestly claimed to Know It All have Wiped Us Out. The problems we face are too fierce to accommodate arrogance. Humility leaves room for complexity, honors honest dissent, welcomes the outlandish idea that sweeps past ideology and feeds invention. We want to reimagine the health-care system, confront climate change, save our kids from a financial avalanche? The odds are much better if we come to the table assuming we don't already have all the answers.

I suspect that Barack Obama works at projecting that aura of postpartisan open-mindedness because he understands its political value. There's the chance his opponents will have a good idea; there's the certainty that independent voters will give him points for listening. And there's the need for inoculation against the charge that he is all sizzle, no steak, a need he admitted when he mocked himself at last year's Al Smith dinner. "If I had to name my greatest strength, I guess it would be my humility," he said. "Greatest weakness, it's possible that I'm a little too awesome."

Humility and modesty need not be weakness or servility; they can be marks of strength, the courage to confront a challenge knowing that the outcome is in doubt. Ronald Reagan, for all his cold-warrior confidence, projected a personal modesty that served his political agenda well. I still don't know what President Obama's core principles are, but the fact that he even pays lip service to humility as one of them could give him the upper hand in the war for the souls of independents — a group that's larger now than at any time in the past 70 years. He was aggressively modest acknowledging his inconvenient Nobel Peace Prize. He regularly makes fun of his ears.

But I heed Jane Austen's warning that "nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast." If Obama appears proud of how humble and open-minded he is, if he demonizes opponents instead of debating them, if his actual choices are quietly ideological while his rhetoric flamboyantly inclusive, he will be missing a great opportunity — and have much to be modest about.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nancy Gibbs

Chautauqua's own, Nancy Gibbs!

Nancy Gibbs is the author of nearly 100 TIME cover stories, including four "Person of the Year" essays and dozens of stories on the 1998 impeachment fight and the 1996 and 2000 presidential campaigns. She wrote TIME's September 11th memorial issue as well as weekly essays on the unfolding story and its impact on the nation. Ms. Gibbs's article "If You Want to Humble an Empire..." won the Luce Awards' 2002 Story of the Year and the Society of Professional Journalists' 2002 Sigma Delta Chi Magazine Writing Award.

Ms. Gibbs joined TIME in 1985, first in the International section. She then wrote feature stories for five years before joining the Nation section.

She graduated in 1982 from Yale, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and also earned a degree in politics and philosophy from Oxford University. In 1993 she was named Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University, where she taught a seminar on Politics and the Press. Her writing is included in the Princeton Anthology of Writing, edited by John McPhee and Carol Rigolot.

NY fears cigarette tax dispute could spur violence

2009-10-28T22:31:00.001-07:00

NY fears cigarette tax dispute could spur violence
AP
POSTED: October 28, 2009

NEW YORK (AP) — State Police are concerned that a government effort to block the flow of tax-free cigarettes onto New York's Indian reservations would lead to violence and possibly escalate into a "military problem," an adviser to Gov. David Paterson said Tuesday.

The governor's chief legal counsel, Peter Kiernan, told a state senate committee that a police "threat assessment" predicted that tribes based in western New York would fiercely resist any attempt to interfere with their multimillion dollar cigarette business.

The cost of enforcing order, he said, could run as much as $2 million per day — a figure based on the state's experiences when it tried to impose cigarette taxes on the reservations in 1992 and 1997.

Both of those efforts ended after members of the Seneca tribe set up blockades on state highways, set fires and in some cases brawled with troopers.

Questioned by skeptical lawmakers, Kiernan declined to reveal how the State Police came to the conclusion that there might be bloodshed, other than to say it was based on law enforcement "intelligence."

Scores of Indians from across the state who traveled to the city to attend Tuesday's hearing by the senate's committee on investigations and government operations listened largely impassively as Kiernan discussed the potential for violence, although a few seemed offended at the suggestion that they would be the instigators of any conflict.

Still, J.C. Seneca, tribal councilor to the Seneca Nation, made it clear that the tribe takes its sovereignty seriously.

"Your government has no authority to collect taxes in our territory," he said, citing 19th Century peace treaties that, among other things, gave the Seneca control over land and freed them from any state taxes.

"We will fight to uphold these rights, now and forever," he said.

A small group of Seneca expressed their defiance Tuesday by lighting a fire near the state Thruway on the Cattaraugus reservation — an action that mirrored protest fires set in 1997. State Police Capt. Michael Nigrelli said traffic wasn't disrupted, and Seneca leaders assured state police the demonstration would remain peaceful.

New York already has a law on the books assessing taxes on cigarette sales to all consumers who are not members of a tribe, but a series of governors has declined to enforce it, in part because of the fear of unrest.

As a result, reservation shops have become some of the biggest cigarette suppliers in the state, selling hundreds of millions of packs a year.

Some of that product is bought by smugglers, who transport cartons of cigarettes off the reservations and resell them elsewhere. A sizable percentage also is sold over the Internet to buyers around the country.

Paterson has pursued a dual track with the tribes, attempting to negotiate while also litigating the tax issue in state courts. Tribes in other states have signed revenue-sharing compacts with the states regarding taxation on cigarettes, but most of the largest New York tribes have rejected any such compromise.

State Sen. Martin Golden, a Brooklyn Republican and a member of the committee on investigations and government operations, said during Tuesday's hearing that the time for negotiating is over. He said he favors a "drop dead" date, to start charging the tax whether the tribes agreed to it or not.

Wagging his finger at Indians in the audience, he said the U.S. victory over the British during the Revolutionary War gave the government the right to tax its citizens, and he suggested that the tribes benefited from state health, education and public works programs and should therefore be required to pay the same taxes.

"Is it too much to ask?" he said.

His comments were met with boos, and he was jeered again as he left the room.

Among members of the tribe, the issue is a simple continuation of a pattern that dates back centuries.

Arthur "Sugar" Montour, owner of the Seneca brand cigarette company, stood up before the start of the hearing, called himself a warrior and thundered that it was the state — not the tribes — that were the aggressors.

"Today is about taking away the birthright of our people," he said.

"It's just taking our land all over again," Sally Snow, chairwoman of the Seneca Free Trade Association, said during a break in the hearing. "How much do they want from us?"

Kiernan said the governor is ready to enforce state tax law, but hopes to avoid conflict through negotiation.

Bats reintroduced into Vermont caves hit by fungus

2009-10-28T22:23:00.000-07:00

AP
POSTED: October 28, 2009

ALBANY, New York (AP) — Wildlife biologists studying a mysterious fungus killing off hundreds of thousands of bats around America want to find out if they can repopulate caves decimated by the disease.

Researchers will introduce 79 healthy little brown bats to two hibernation sites in Vermont hit hard by the fungus, which may have killed as many as 500,000 bats in the eastern United States over several winters.

Scientists suspect a fungus that thrives in cold, moist caves causes white-nose syndrome, named for the sugary smudges of fungus on the noses and wings of hibernating bats.

The repopulation experiment starting Tuesday at caves in Bridgewater and Stockbridge, Vermont, is not aimed at curing the disease. But it could show whether affected caves can sustain new populations of hibernating bats.

"Can you have bats successfully survive there? Or will they develop the disease even if there aren't any infected bats there?" asked Al Hicks, a wildlife biologist for New York's Department of Environmental Conservation.

Hicks said that if the bats shipped in from Wisconsin survive the winter, that could provide evidence that bats can be successfully reintroduced to caves that housed infected animals. It also could show whether the disease persists at hibernation sites even after infected bats are gone.

Entrances at the two sites are screened to keep in the bats. Gates will keep out people.

First noted in upstate New York in 2006, the disease has spread around the U.S. Northeast and has been detected as far south as Virginia. Researchers worry about a mass die-off of bats, which help control the populations of insects that can damage wheat, apples and dozens of other crops.

The repopulation project is a cooperative effort among conservation officials from Vermont, New York and the federal government.

Lewis C. Petitt

2009-10-26T22:45:00.000-07:00

Lewis C. Petitt of Chautauqua passed away in his home with his loving family at his side Oct. 25, 2009.

A Chautauqua resident for most of his life, he was born March 8, 1919, the son of Florence Wassink Petitt and Clarence Petitt.

Lewis served in the U.S. Army during World War II, part of the 817th tank destroyer battalion. He served in northern France, Rhineland, Ardennies, central Europe and Battle of the Bulge. He received a good conduct medal and four battle stars for the service to his country. This past June he attended his 64th consecutive battalion reunion.

He owned and operated a contracting business with his wife, Mary. In retirement, he was a realtor with Stranburg Real Estate in Chautauqua. He was a life member of the Chautauqua Volunteer Fire Department with 63 years of service. Lewis was a member of Hurlbut Memorial Community Church, having served as a trustee as well as being active on numerous committees. He was a charter member of the Chautauqua Memorial Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8647, the Masonic Lodge, Mayville, and the Rod and Gun Club of Lakewood, N.Y.

As an avid golfer, he was a member of The Chautauqua Golf Club playing in the Wednesday and Thursday night leagues. He was a Senior Club Champion and also won the Senior Member-Guest Tournament with his brother.

Lewis was a lover of life, a great teacher, who could always saw the sunny side. He was generous, kind, and loved by all who knew him. He enjoyed the lake, winters in Florida, fishing, and most importantly family and friends.

He will be sadly missed by his three daughters and one son: Marilyn (Carl) Scarpino of West Ellicott, N.Y., Sharon (James) Kiracofe of Howland, Ohio, Mary (Terrance) Hogan of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and Frederick (Kimberly) Petitt of Orlando, Fla.; a brother, Floyd (Trudy) Petitt of Ormond Beach, Fla.; and a sister, Helen Snyder of Chautauqua, N.Y.; eight grandchildren: Patty (An-drew) Burnight of Potomac Falls, Va., Cindy (Thomas) Massey of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Elizabeth Kiracofe of Cleveland, Ohio, Emily Kiracofe of Howland, Ohio, Allison (Brady) Hively of Columbus, Ohio, Kevin Hogan of Chicago, Ill., and Amanda and Megan Petitt of Orlando, Fla; and three great-grandchildren: Alexander and Reagan Burnight and Addison Massey.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, Mary; and his sister, Mae Petitt.

The funeral service will be held at 1:30 p.m. at Hurlbut Memorial Community Church in Chautauqua Institution. The family will receive friends on Thursday 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at Freay Funeral Home in Mayville, N.Y. Memorials can be made to Chautauqua Fire Department or Homecare Education and Resource Team Support (HEARTS) P.O. Box 474 Burton, Ohio 44021.

Hurlbut Memorial Church in Late October

2009-10-26T00:13:00.000-07:00

Hurlbut Memorial Community United Methodist is located inside the grounds of Chautauqua Institution. The local congregation of about 150 meets on Sundays September through June for Church School at 9:30 a.m. and worship at 10:45 a.m. and at 5:30 Wednesdays for Midweek Vespers. During July and August,, the congregation meets at for communion at 8:30 am Sundays and shares in the Chautauqua programs and worship at the Chautauqua Amphitheater. Hurlbut is a "church home away from home" for many seasonal Chautauquans and visitors.

Miller Bell Tower

2009-10-26T00:09:00.000-07:00

The Chapel of The Good Shepherd

2009-10-26T00:07:00.000-07:00

The Athenaeum Hotel in Oct.

2009-10-26T00:05:00.000-07:00

The Historic Athenaeum Hotel sits on a tree-shaded hill overlooking Chautauqua Lake on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution in the southwest corner of New York State. Serving guests in style since 1881, and now listed on the National Hisotric Register.

Battle builds against NYS license plan

2009-10-26T00:01:00.001-07:00

Paterson wants new plates next April and added fee

Updated: Friday, 23 Oct 2009, 8:05 AM EDT
Published : Friday, 23 Oct 2009, 8:05 AM EDT

CANTON, NY - A northern New York county clerk is carrying out an online petition drive to thwart Gov. David Paterson's plan to require all New Yorkers to purchase new license plates next April.

St. Lawrence County Clerk Patricia Ritchie said it's an outrage to ask families and businesses to pay more for new license plates they don't need or want when they are being battered by the ongoing recession.

Beginning April 1, the state will begin requiring new license plates for every one of the estimated 10 million cars, trucks, trailers and ATVs registered in the state at a cost of $25 — a $10 increase over the current cost.

Ritchie said more than 5,000 people have signed the petition at www.nonewplates.com in the first week to protest the new license plan.

'Extreme Makeover' coming to Buffalo next month

2009-10-23T17:45:00.001-07:00

By Stephen T. Watson

ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" reality TV series is coming to Buffalo next month for the first time.

The show has selected David Homes to design and build an environmentally friendly home for a deserving family somewhere in the City of Buffalo, David Stapleton, the president of David Homes, announced today.

The identity of the lucky family will be revealed Nov. 7, the same day that David Homes will begin construction on the home.

David Homes is donating its employees' labor as well as some building materials and other resources.

David Homes and Western New York AmeriCorps will coordinate the subcontractors and other small businesses, skilled laborers and members of the public who are expected to volunteer their services for the construction project.

Work on the house will take one week and will be featured on a later episode of "Home Edition."

swatson@buffnews.com

EPA move roils Great Lakes maritime industry

2009-10-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

By Kari Lydersen and Juliet Eilperin

updated 2:49 a.m. ET, Fri., Oct . 23, 2009

DULUTH, MINN. - A horn blasts, seagulls screech and tourists clap as the longest ship in the Great Lakes, the 308-meter Paul R. Tregurtha, glides through Duluth's canal and heads into Lake Superior, loaded down with coal bound for Midwestern power plants.

Piles of crushed limestone, salt, iron ore and coal line the shores of the Great Lakes' busiest port, destined to forge steel, de-ice roads and build skyscrapers throughout the heartland. The towering grain elevators along the harbor's shores are stuffed with wheat and soy waiting for the trip out the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic Ocean, then on to Europe, North Africa or South America.

Underlying this show of commercial strength is a maritime industry many see as fragile, threatened not only by a weak economy but also by broader environmental initiatives. The emissions from these ships -- the only mode of transportation not under new federal air pollution regulations -- have been linked to increased levels of heart and lung disease.

Now, an Environmental Protection Agency proposal that would compel the vessels to burn cleaner fuel and upgrade their engines has sparked a furious behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign that has come to a head this week, pitting congressional Democrats against a Democratic administration as lawmakers allied with Midwestern and Alaskan shippers pressure the EPA to back down and protect jobs.

High stakes
The outcome of the battle -- which has delayed consideration of the EPA's budget -- has implications for a region battered by unemployment and one of the Obama's administration's key environmental strategies.

Large vessels rank second only to power plants as to the health risk their air pollution poses, and the EPA estimates the proposal will produce more health benefits than those it has applied to off-road vehicles, diesel trucks and other sources. Without further regulation by 2030, the agency projects that smog-forming nitrogen oxide emissions from the ships will more than double, to 2.1 million tons a year.

Environmental and health groups say the new standards, proposed in July and set to be finalized by Dec. 17, would prevent up to 33,000 premature deaths a year from problems such as heart disease, respiratory illness and cancer. Although coastal areas would reap the biggest clean air benefits, air quality would also improve for states hundreds of miles inland, including Nevada, Tennessee and Pennsylvania, and parks such as the Grand Canyon and the Great Smoky Mountains.

The proposal would limit air emissions from ships in the United States' exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles from its coasts. This includes the 133 American and Canadian "Lakers" that spend their whole lives in the Great Lakes or St. Lawrence Seaway and the smaller "Salties" that go between foreign and Great Lakes ports.

The agency wants to require vessels to switch by 2015 from viscous bunker fuel, which contains about 30,000 parts per million sulfur, to fuel that contains no more than 1,000 parts per million. Trucks are required to use fuel with no more than 15 ppm sulfur, and by 2015 locomotives, bulldozers and barges will have similar limits.

Great Lakes shipping industry officials say the cost of the new fuel and the engine overhauls needed to burn it would undermine their competitive edge and shift commodity transport to rail and truck.

Lake Carriers' Association President James H.I. Weakley said the rule would cost U.S. and Canadian ships an extra $210 million a year for fuel. Out of a U.S. fleet of 65, he predicted that 13 steamships with 429 mariners would be scrapped and that 13 ships with old diesel engines might face premature retirement.

Great Lakes shippers said the process is incomplete. The EPA analysis that the policy's health benefits would outweigh its compliance costs by at least 30 to 1, they said, fails to grasp the impact the rule would have on a region experiencing double-digit unemployment -- a problem that could spread to iron ore miners, farmers, salt miners and others if exports decrease. Iron ore shipments from Great Lakes ports are nearly half of last year's, with coal shipments falling by a third.

"We asked them to pause, go back, study the economic impact, work with industry," said Steven Fisher, executive director of the American Great Lakes Ports Association. "We applaud their goal of clean air, but how do we get there without wrecking this economy and wrecking this industry?"

The government has required businesses as small as bakeries, dry cleaners and auto body refinishing plants to curb emissions, said S. William Becker, executive director for the National Association of Clean Air Agencies. "How can all of these other industries be expected to clean up," asked Becker, "while this one, spewing all this stuff, be exempted?"

Lawmakers’ doubts
In an economic downturn, however, many lawmakers appear to have little patience for such arguments. Led by House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.) and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.), they are trying to soften the rule for Great Lakes shippers.

Neither Oberstar nor Obey would comment. But Rep. Candice S. Miller (R-Mich.) said she and others have asked the "EPA to really rethink what they're talking about. You can't imagine how bad it is in a state like Michigan. We're looking at this, and we could lose 50 percent of our shipping capacity -- that's what the shippers are telling us."

On Oct. 8, Oberstar arranged for EPA officials to meet with him, Miller, Obey and Reps. Kathy Dahlkemper (D-Pa.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Dale E. Kildee (D-Mich.) and Don Young (R-Alaska). They raised the prospect of attaching language to the annual Interior and Environmental Appropriations Bill that could halt implementation of the rule, Kaptur and Miller said, and have delayed moving the bill as they seek to resolve the matter.

Kaptur said the lawmakers want "a realistic effort to assist our industry transition." Miller said the EPA could explore options such as exempting Great Lakes shippers temporarily as it studies the issue or permanently.

EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan said the agency is aware of the industry's concerns and its international obligations to curb emissions. The EPA, he said, listens to public comments and prides itself on "taking them into account."

New York's new restrictions on open burning go into effect

2009-10-22T20:33:00.001-07:00

New York's new restrictions on open burning go into effect

The new law prohibits open burning of residential waste throughout the state, regardless of community size.

Officials say backyard burning of trash releases toxic compounds, and is the largest single cause of wildfires in the state.

Exceptions to the ban include burning limbs and branches between May 15 and the following March 15 in towns with less than 20,000 people, as well as burning organic agricultural waste, and small cooking and campfires.

The law takes effect October 14, 2009

http://www.schodack.org/docs/OpenBurn.pdf

ALBANY, NY (10/05/2009)(readMedia)-- Taking a step to reduce harmful air pollutants and help prevent wildfires, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has extended restrictions on the open burning of residential waste effective Oct. 14. The open burning of residential waste will be prohibited in all communities statewide, regardless of population, with exceptions for burning tree limbs and branches at limited times and other certain circumstances (detailed below). Previously, the ban applied only in towns with populations of 20,000 or more. The New York State Environmental Board approved this state regulation on Sept. 1.

Chairman of the Environmental Board and Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis said: "Burning household trash is dangerous on several levels. It can release potentially dangerous compounds – dioxins and other potential carcinogens – from materials burned in backyard fires. And it is the largest single cause of wildfires in the state."

Once considered harmless, recent studies demonstrate that open burning releases substantial amounts of dangerous chemicals into the air. A study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in conjunction with DEC and the New York State Department of Health, found that emissions of dioxins and furans from backyard burning alone were greater than those from all other sources combined for the years 2002-04. Trash containing plastics, polystyrene, pressure-treated and painted wood and bleached or colored papers produce harmful chemicals when burned. The study found that burning trash emits arsenic, carbon monoxide, benzene, styrene, formaldehyde, lead, and hydrogen cyanide, among others.

"While bygone generations burned their garbage, that practice now must end. Decades ago, garbage didn't contain plastics, foils, batteries, paper bleached with chlorine and other materials used today," Commissioner Grannis said.

In addition to releasing pollutants, open burning is the largest single cause of wildfires in New York State. Data from DEC's Forest Protection Division show that debris burning accounted for about 40 percent of wildfires between 1986 and 2006 - more than twice the next most-cited source. In 2006 alone, debris burning triggered 98 wildfires in the state.

"The extension of the ban on open burning to all municipalities in New York will afford people living in all communities the chance to breathe air that is free from the contaminants that are byproducts of open fires," said Michael Seilback, Vice President of Public Policy and Communications at the American Lung Association in New York. "We thank and commend Commissioner Grannis and the DEC for adopting these regulations that will undoubtedly improve the quality of the air we all breathe and improve the lives of people suffering from asthma and lung disease."

"We have known for many years that open burning of garbage releases toxic fumes and poses a serious fire hazard," said Laura Haight, NYPIRG's senior environmental associate. "Burn barrels are considered the major uncontrolled source of dioxin, a potent cancer-causing chemical that is created when plastic and other materials are burned together. We applaud Commissioner Grannis and his department for taking this critically important action to protect our health."

Jackson Morris, Air & Energy Program Director for Environmental Advocates of NewYork said, "We commend DEC for finalizing the state's new open burning regulations. This rule will result in immediate, on-the-ground improvements in air quality, as the open burning of household waste spews volumes of toxics into our air. Millions of New Yorkers will breathe easier with this rule on the books."

Open burning of residential wastes in any city or village or in any town with a population of 20,000 or more has been prohibited since 1972. DEC moved to expand the prohibition to all communities after holding meetings to receive input from stakeholders and state agencies. A proposal was released in May 2008 and was followed up with public hearings and an extended public comment period. Approximately 1,800 comments were reviewed by DEC.

As a result of public comments, modifications were made to the original proposal to include an exemption for burning of tree limbs and branches in smaller municipalities during certain times of the year.

The regulation bans all open burning except for the following:
On-site burning of limbs and branches between May 15th and the following March 15th in any town with a total population less than 20,000.
Barbecue grills, maple sugar arches and similar outdoor cooking devices.
Small cooking and camp fires.
On-site burning of organic agricultural wastes, but not pesticides, plastics or other non-organic material.
Liquid petroleum fueled smudge pots to prevent frost damage to crops.
Ceremonial or celebratory bonfires.
Disposal of a flag or religious item.
Burning on an emergency basis of explosive or other dangerous or contraband by police, etc.
Prescribed burns performed according to state regulations.
Fire training with some restrictions on the use of acquired structures.
Individual open fires to control plant and animal disease outbreaks as approved by DEC upon the request by the Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets.
Open fires as necessary to control invasive plant and insect species.

Towns totally or partially within the boundaries of the Adirondack and Catskill Parks are designated fire towns under Environmental Conservation Law. The law prohibits open burning without a written permit from the DEC. On-site open burning of limbs and branches allowed under the new regulation still requires a permit if it occurs in a fire town. To find out if your town is a Fire Town and/or to obtain a permit, contact your local DEC Forest Ranger. A list of rangers and their phone numbers may be obtained at http://www.dec.ny.gov/about/677.html or by calling 518-897-1300.

In addition to the open burning regulation, the Environmental Board also approved two additional rule proposals - a regulation that requires automobiles to include environmental performance label standards and a regulation that sets new limits on emissions of smog-causing Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from 11 new categories of consumer products.

A complete outline of common questions and answers on the new regulation is available at http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/58519.html on the DEC website.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I live out in the country where people have always burned chairs and shingles and large pieces of plastic etc.. Here I am living out in this rural area and I can hardly breath much of the time. Some of my neighbors were the worst offenders. They burned mattresses, and the plastic wraps off of big hay bales, and many other toxic things. Mark Findley used to burn up to 20 heavy-duty industrial oil filters every week from their fleet of Interstate Battery trucks as they ran an Interstate Battery business out of the barn across the street. Although this bites into my rights some I will enjoy not walking outside to plumes of black smoke and the smell of plastic in the air all the time. Many households on my road regularly burned plastics and trash. Between that and Interstate 86 and it's smoking trucks I have to take allergy medicine almost year round and every day. My guess is there will be allot of people who still sneak and burn and just hope they won't get caught. I hope everyone respects the law, I would like to smell fresh mown hay and spruce trees not smoldering shingles when I go outside.

Mansion owned by Peace Bridge

2009-10-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

Mansion owned by Peace Bridge Authority gets landmark status
By Brian Meyer
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: October 13, 2009

The Common Council voted unanimously today to give landmark status to a long-vacant mansion on Busti Avenue, complicating plans by the Peace Bridge Authority to tear it down.

Preservationists and some neighborhood residents tout the 146-year-old structure at 771 Busti as an architecturally and historically significant building. It was once owned by Col. Samuel H. Wilkeson, grandson of the builder of Buffalo's harbor.

But the Peace Bridge Authority cited studies indicating that the three-story Italianate-style building is unsound and cannot be adapted for reuse.

Peace Bridge Authority General Manager Ron Rienas said today that while he's disappointed by the Council vote, he doesn't expect it to have an impact on the long-debated Peace Bridge expansion. Rienas contended that even with the structure being designated a local landmark, bridge officials are confident that an ongoing federal process would clear the way for demolition, assuming the expansion moves forward.

Meanwhile, city Preservation Board member Timothy A. Tielman said he's hoping the landmark designation will have a two-pronged impact. He said the Council's action should send a signal to the Peace Bridge Authority that it has an obligation to fix a blighted structure that it has owned since 1996. In the longer term, said Tielman, he hopes various groups will band together to restore the once-opulent mansion.

"This is the front door to Buffalo," said Tielman of the Busti Avenue site. "It would be a wonderful monument as a museum or even as a home that is occasionally opened to visitors."

The Preservation Board had urged the Council to name the Wilkeson House a city landmark.

Tielman said relocating the house to another site would be imprudent, claiming its location in the Prospect Hill neighborhood is one thing that adds to its historic character.

Some Council members said they based part of their decision-making on testimony Rienas gave last week in City Hall when he stated that a landmark designation would have no effect on bridge expansion plans. Rienas clarified his remarks to a reporter today, saying what he meant was that the authority believed it would eventually be permitted to demolish the building even if it became a local landmark.

Rienas said the Council legally agreed to the demolitions several years ago when it adopted a plan that called for tearing down structures on Busti between Vermont and Rhode Island streets. He said officials were in agreement that the demolitions would improve the neighborhood by providing additional greenspace and other enhancements.

"This isn't consistent with the position that members of the Common Council took before," said Rienas.

bmeyer@buffnews.com

Sean P. O'Rourke

2009-10-13T02:35:00.000-07:00

Sean P. O’Rourke

Sean P. O'Rourke, 24, of Dunkirk died Saturday afternoon (Oct. 10, 2009) as the result of an accident in the town of Pomfret. He was born Jan. 13, 1985 in Dunkirk, the son of James S. and Carol (Ludwig) O'Rourke of Dunkirk.

A lifelong resident of Dunkirk, Sean graduated with honors from Dunkirk High School, Class of 2003. While there, he had been a member of the cross country and indoor/outdoor track teams. He earned an associate's degree in welding engineering from Jamestown Community College in 2006.

He had been employed by Dunkirk Metal Products as a welder. Sean was a former parishioner of St. Hedwig's Church, where he had been an altar server and Eucharistic minister. A loving son and brother, and devoted uncle and godfather, Sean was a hard worker who enjoyed his welding job. He also enjoyed fishing, disc golf, music and working on cars with his buddies. Sean and his friends shared their time, labor and resources to keep each other going. Besides his parents, he is survived by his twin brother, USAF Staff Sgt. Brian O'Rourke of Brandon, England; two sisters, Kerry O'Rourke of Dunkirk and Erin (Andrew) Hellwig of Fredonia; two nieces, Ashleigh Hellwig and Allison Hellwig; one nephew, Gabriel Hellwig; his maternal grandmother, Caroline Ludwig of Fredonia; and his paternal grandmother, Janet O'Rourke of Liberty, NY. Many aunts, uncles, cousins and his canine companion, Boomer, also survive. He was preceded in death by his maternal grandfather, Edward Ludwig; paternal grandfather, John O'Rourke; and and aunt, Janet (Siegelman) O'Rourke.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Thursday morning at 10:30 in St. Anthony's Church, Fredonia. Friends are invited to call Wednesday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. at the McGraw-Kowal Funeral Home. Memorial donations can be made to Roswell Park Alliance Foundation, Elm & Carlton Streets, Buffalo, NY 14263 or Lakeshore Humane Society, P.O. Box 12, Fredonia, NY 14063.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sean was the son of our rural Mail carrier, Jim and our thoughts and prayers are with the O' Rourke family in this difficult time.

Troopers Release Names of Deceased in North County Train Collision

2009-10-12T15:05:00.001-07:00

Troopers Release Names of Deceased in North County Train Collision
By April Diodato editorial@post-journal.com
POSTED: October 12, 2009

Emergency crews respond to the scene of a collision between a train and moving truck Saturday afternoon between Van Buren and Berry roads in Pomfret.
Photo by Tim Latshaw

Three Dunkirk residents succumbed in an accident Saturday afternoon when a train collided with their U-Haul rental truck in Pomfret.

Sean P. O'Rourke, 24, was identified as the operator of the vehicle, with William T. Marquardt, 24, and Zachary P. Nydahl, 25, as passengers.

The three victims were pronounced dead on arrival by Chautauqua County Coroner Richard Mackowiak.

According to a report from New York State Police, the truck attempted to cross the railroad tracks after driving around the safety gates, with crossing gates lowered and lights flashing, while traveling northbound on Van Buren Road at approximately 2:39 p.m.

The U-Haul was struck by a westbound CSX train, with the train and truck coming to rest about half a mile west of Van Buren Road, nearly to the next crossing on Berry Road in Pomfret.

The accident was reportedly witnessed by several people waiting at the crossing.

One witness, who requested not to be named, said the crossing barriers had been lowered but some vehicles chose to drive around them.

"Two cars came around and one ahead of us went; and when this last car was coming through, the train was coming and hit them," the witness said.

According to the Associated Press, witness William Brown said the U-Haul "just exploded when the train hit it."

The Fredonia Fire Department reported that the vehicle was trapped underneath the train.

The Chautauqua County Sheriffs Office and CSX investigators also assisted at the scene.

An investigation into the collision by the State Police and CSX continues.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Victims in train accident may have thought gates malfunctioned
By Gene Warner

A mistaken assumption -- that the crossing gates and warning lights were malfunctioning at a Chautauqua County railroad crossing -- may have led to the tragic accident that claimed three lives Saturday, state police investigators suggested today.

Three Dunkirk residents were killed Saturday afternoon when their rental truck was struck by a westbound CSX train in the Town of Pomfret.

Investigators believe the driver of the rental truck tried to drive around the crossing gates, which remained in the down position shortly after an earlier slow-moving train had just cleared the tracks from the opposite direction.

State police also say that at least one other vehicle in front of the rental truck went around the crossing gates. So investigators believe the drivers of both vehicles may have assumed the crossing gates and flashing lights were malfunctioning after the first train had gone through the crossing.

"The one train cleared, and they probably figured that the gates just didn't go up," State Police Capt. Richard S. Allen said today. "So we assume they drove around the gates thinking the tracks were clear."

All three Dunkirk residents in the rental truck were pronounced dead at the scene. They were identified as Sean P. O'Rourke, 24; William T. Marquardt, 24; and Zachary P. Nydahl, 26.

State police say they have found no evidence of any drinking or drug use.

O'Rourke was driving the rental truck north on Van Buren Road in the Town of Pomfret shortly after 2:30 p.m. Saturday, state police said.

After the first eastbound train cleared the tracks, the gates remained down and the lights flashing. The driver of the rental truck, apparently like the driver in front of him, tried to cross the tracks, but his vehicle was struck by the second westbound train that was traveling at about 59 mph.

Calling it a terrible tragedy, Allen, zone commander of the state police in Chautauqua County, cited the lessons that can be learned from the horrific accident.

"The gates are down for a reason," Allen said. "There are occasions when they do malfunction, but we get [an officer] to direct traffic around the gates. Unless someone is telling you to go around them, you should never go around activated warning lights."

Allen also used the concept of a crossing-gates malfunction as a safety tip. Even when the gates aren't down, he suggested, drivers should look in both directions before crossing the tracks.

Following the accident, the weight and speed of the train kept it and the truck traveling about a half mile west of the impact site.

"To safely stop a train, it usually takes up to two miles," Allen said. "In this case, it took about half a mile."

gwarner@buffnews.com

Fans toast ‘Office’ wedding

2009-10-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

Television vows celebrated with cake and champagne at Hard Rock Cafe
By Denise Jewell Gee
NEWS NIAGARA REPORTER
Updated: October 09, 2009, 10:56 AM / 1 comment

NIAGARA FALLS — The guests of honor weren’t real and they only showed up on television.

But that didn’t deter dozens of fans of “The Office” from downing champagne and wedding cake at the Hard Rock Cafe on Thursday in honor of fictional bride and groom Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly.

The much anticipated hourlong episode of the NBC comedy — in which the fictional Dunder Mifflin officemates finally wed aboard the Maid of the Mist—drew loud cheers and laughter from fans gathered to see Niagara Falls on national television.

“It lets people know we’re still here, we’re still a tourist town,” said Youngstown resident Clara Kuntz, 21, who has been watching the show since its first season. “We’re still the Honeymoon Capital.”

Several fans gathered to watch the debut of Niagara Falls on “The Office” on Thursday were also extras in late August when the cast and crew taped scenes in the city outside the Red Coach Inn and on the Maid of the Mist boat.

Those extras—who got a glimpse nearly two months ago of the show’s surprise ending aboard the Maid — were sworn to secrecy about its plot.

That proved a tough task for some who described themselves as “huge” fans of “The Office.”

“I told people to keep an eye out for me,” said Andrew Piniarski, a 22- year-old Cheektowaga resident and film major at the University at Buffalo who was an extra. “It’s really tough. You want to tell everybody, but you can’t. But it’s just part of the fun.”

The show’s “Niagara” episode that aired Thursday was set in Niagara Falls for the wedding of Jim and Pam. The double episode was heavily promoted on NBC as the culmination of a lengthy romance between two of the show’s main characters.

The first few minutes of the show — packed with Niagara Falls references and a “Viagra Falls” joke — drew laughter and loud cheers from the local fans.

“What happens in Niagara stays in Niagara,” office worker Andy

joked before they headed from their fictional office in Scranton, Pa., to the Falls.

Actors Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski, who play Pam and Jim, spent a day in Niagara Falls on Aug. 27 along with the show’s crew to film outdoor scenes.

Filming aboard the Maid of the Mist provided a challenge for “The Office” crew. The scenes were taped on regularly scheduled boat tours of the Maid of the Mist. Extras dressed in plastic blue ponchos were used to buffer the cast and crew from real tourists on the boat.

Producer Randy Cordray — who also played a captain in the episode — described the mist from the falls as like “having someone spray a hose right in your face.”

The crew also shot a scene in front of the Red Coach Inn, renamed the Statler Falls Hotel for the show.

Extras from Western New York dressed in blue ponchos taped scenes several times in August to get the final moments of the show just right.

“It’s amazing how many times we did it over and over again, and how little of it they used,” said Karen Wall, a Hamburg resident who got on the show as an extra because her oldest daughter works on the program.

Most of the episode’s scenes were shot on a set or inside a restaurant and chapel in Los Angeles.

Cordray, speaking by phone to the fans at the Hard Rock Cafe shortly before the episode aired Thursday night, said the on-site taping in Niagara Falls almost never happened because of budget concerns. Cordray said studio officials at first suggested the show use a green screen to replicate Niagara Falls.

Shooting on-site prevailed. “Jim and Pam are spontaneous people, and they do things on the spur of the moment,” Cordray told the crowd. “And it seemed so perfect for these characters that they would get married on the Maid of the Mist. So it was our goal to make this happen.”

Cordray called it the “best episode” he has been involved with.

“There is a moment,” Cordray said, “where Jim and Pam start walking down the ramp down the sidewalk to the Maid of the Mist, I get chills and I tear up every single time.”

The crowd gathered at the Hard Rock on Thursday to watch the episode and raise money for Niagara Falls State Park was emotional even before the show began.

Falls Mayor Paul Dyster gave a brief toast to the fictional couple shortly before it aired.

“To a long and successful marriage for Jim and Pam,” Dyster told the crowd as they lifted champagne glasses. “May you return to Niagara Falls often in the future to visit once again to honor and to celebrate your romantic love and your new marriage. Cheers.”

The waterfalls didn’t make their television debut until the final minutes of the episode.

The couple — desperate to escape their wacky officemates — snuck off from their ceremony to wed on the Maid of the Mist. They exchanged vows. Drenched in mist from the falls, the couple embraced.

And waterfalls roared in the background.

djgee@buffnews.com

Prince Charles to visit Niagara Region

2009-10-07T10:14:00.001-07:00

Royal couple to stop at Niagara-on-the-Lake

Updated: Wednesday, 07 Oct 2009, 8:28 AM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 06 Oct 2009, 12:51 PM EDT

TORONTO, Ont. - The Niagara Region is preparing for a royal visit. Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwell are planning a visit to Niagara-on-the-Lake next month.

The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that the royals will be in Canada from Novemer 2 through November 12.

The couple will be taking in four provinces and will spend time in Toronto and Hamilton during their visit.

A complete itinerary will be announced soon.

This will be the 16th visit to Canada for Prince Charles and the first for the Duchess.

Bonnie Loch Fiddlers

2009-10-03T21:14:00.000-07:00

Fiddlers at Harmony Harvest Festival

2009-10-03T20:08:00.000-07:00

Great Fiddling at the Harmony Historical Society in Blockville, NY

A wonderful time was had by all at the Harmony Historical Society's
Fall Harvest Festival. Its not too late to get over there tomorrow. The lilting music was provided by the young fresh fiddle players known as the Bonnie Loch fiddlers. They all hail from right here in the greater Chautauqua Lake region of New York. The band consists of 5 fiddlers backed up by keyboard, guitar and percussion. The fiddlers are ages 14 -17 excluding their director. They have many honors and awards among them and perform regularly throughout the region as well as a recent performance in Inverness Scotland as part of a Trans Atlantic exchange concert series. Bonnie Loch member, Lydia Byard recently earned the title of the US National Scottish Fiddle Champion and is featured on track No. 7. She is the youngest ever to win this honor. This CD, though primarily of Scottish influence, is an exciting combination of genre’s both contemporary and traditional and features exciting originals composed by members of the band.

Bonnie Loch Fiddlers

Harmony Historical Society's
Fall Harvest Festival - October 3-4

Harmony and North Harmony Celebrate

2009-09-27T18:02:00.000-07:00

Harmony Historical Society's
Fall Harvest Festival - October 3-4

The main source of income for the historical society is their Fall Harvest Festival, held on the first weekend in October. It is free and open to the public. They will have many people who sell craft items and local churches sell home made baked goods. Apples and cider are available.

In addition, there are several demonstrators of historical nature:

Weavers set up and work on looms in the weaving shed
spinners show how to use spinning wheels
wood carvers demonstrate their craft
learn how to hue a beam from a log
basketmaking
soapmaking
forge work
fireplace cooking

All of the society's buildings will be open for the public both days of the Festival.

http://harmonyhistoricalsociety.org/home

-Busti Apple Festival

2009-09-27T11:11:00.001-07:00

Busti Apple Festival

Sunday, September 27th - 11 AM to 4 PM

One of the largest festivals in region. Arts/Crafts vendors, 19th-century life-skill demos, 1838 grist mill tours, apple cider & apple favorites. Ready to eat & take-home concessions, farmers market and 1838 grist mill tours.

National Geographic features Falls Primate Sanctuary

2009-09-22T20:56:00.001-07:00

"Explorer' episode focuses on owners, effect of captivity on two chimpanzees

Two chimpanzees and their Niagara Falls home, the Primate Sanctuary, will be featured tonight on the National Geographic Channel.

Charlie and Kiko, along with sanctuary owners Carmen Presti and his wife, Christie, will appear in an episode of "Explorer," called "Chimps on the Edge." The episode airs at 10 p.m.

A crew from New York City-based Pangloss Films — founded by Buffalo native Peter Yost — came to town in May.

The crew spent three days filming for the show, which will explore the question of whether a new form of chimp is evolving in captivity, according to the channel's Web site.

"My chimps gave them everything they wanted," Carmen Presti said. "They were on their best behavior."

The footage taken of Charlie and Kiko included them using tools, having blood drawn from their arms, watching a violent television program and eating pizza.

Presti, the sanctuary's vice president, said he hopes the national attention will spur the fundraising effort to move the sanctuary from Livingston Avenue in the Falls to 30 acres of farmland that the couple owns in Wilson. The couple already has built a new home on the site.

The sanctuary has been running as a not-for-profit since 2000, though the Prestis have been operating a refuge for primates since 1990. Presti and his staff care for the two chimpanzees, 26 monkeys and 18 exotic birds.

Presti and his chimps have appeared on numerous television shows, including "Animal Planet" and "Live With Regis and Kathie Lee" in the late 1990s. Their main star was Charlie, who has since retired from being "the karate chimp." Charlie's martial arts expertise on video is still licensed to help raise funds for the sanctuary. Footage of Charlie also has been popular in the United Kingdom and Japan.

Presti said his facility is bursting at the seams, though it recently took in two homeless primates.

Mya, an 8-month-old rhesus macaque, came to the sanctuary two months ago after the state Department of Environmental Conservation took her from a home in Dansville, in Livingston County. Mya, who weighs a healthy 4 pounds, had been purchased over the Internet.

Another primate, a capuchin monkey, had been living in a Niagara County residence for 22 years before it recently bit one of its owners and the sanctuary took it in.

The monkey had been treated very well by his owners, Presti said.

If the state can't find a facility to accept illegally owned and seized primates, they could be euthanized, Presti said.

Under a 2005 state law, it is illegal to own a dangerous animal in New York without having a permit through the DEC, Presti said. He stresses his firm belief that these kinds of animals do not make good pets. "I'd like to see all the selling of primates just stop," he said.

Presti and some of his primates will be featured at the Wildlife Festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Niagara Power Project, 5777 Lewiston Road, Lewiston.

To donate or find out more about the Primate Sanctuary, visit www.thekaratechimp.com/primatesanctuary.htm.

The National Geographic Channel can be found on Time Warner Cable, channel 120; Dish Network, channel 186; and DirecTV, channel 276.

A clip of the episode with Presti, Charlie and Kiko, is posted on the National Geographic Channel Web site.

abesecker@buffnews.com

Cornfields by Prendergast Creek

2009-09-20T23:17:00.000-07:00

Ode to the West Wind

2009-09-20T23:06:00.001-07:00

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed

The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave,until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow

Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill:

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!

II
Thou on whose stream, 'mid the steep sky's commotion,
Loose clouds like Earth's decaying leaves are shed,
Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,

Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread
On the blue surface of thine airy surge,
Like the bright hair uplifted from the head

Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge
Of the horizon to the zenith's height,
The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge

Of the dying year, to which this closing night
Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre
Vaulted with all thy congregated might

Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere
Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: O hear!

III
Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams,

Beside a pumice isle in Baiae's bay,
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the wave's intenser day,

All overgrown with azure moss and flowers
So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou
For whose path the Atlantic's level powers

Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below
The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear
The sapless foliage of the ocean, know

Thy voice, and suddenly grow grey with fear,
And tremble and despoil themselves: O hear!

IV
If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;
If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share

The impulse of thy strength, only less free
Than thou, O Uncontrollable! If even
I were as in my boyhood, and could be

The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven,
As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed
Scarce seemed a vision; I would ne'er have striven

As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
Oh! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!

A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed
One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.

V
Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:
What if my leaves are falling like its own!
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies

Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,

Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawakened Earth

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

Run to send Alice Ward on a Peace Mission to India

2009-09-20T12:25:00.001-07:00

I rode my mare, Twig 8 miles with a group of runners on foot yesterday and had a wonderful day.

Hurlbut Church's Paul Womack and friends ran from Chautauqua to Panama (NY) on Sept. 19. You can still make a pledge and support Alice Ward's Mission of Peace trip to India.

The Mission of Peace is a yearly journey of
discovery and Shalom (peace) to nations in our
global community sponsored by the Northeast
Jurisdictional Council on Youth Ministries of the
United Methodist Church. This year's MOP is to India.
I, Alice Ward, have been chosen as one of four youth
from the Western New York Conference of the United
Methodist Church to go and share in this journey this
coming winter.
The MOP is a life changing experience! It is a journey which leads each participant to discover God's
Spirit at work in the world. It is an experience of God's extended family. It is a journey of discovering
God's Shalom. It is primarily a people to people experience in which we learn from our hosts how they
live as disciples of Jesus Christ in their country. It is a mission which has brought us closer to God's hoped
for community where all are sisters and brothers.

Each youth who journeys on the Mission of Peace is expected to share their experience at least five
times upon their return. I am looking forward to telling my story of Shalom.

Each year the Youth who represent the Annual Conferences of the United Methodist Church in the
Northeastern Jurisdiction must raise the money which supports their MOP. In the spirit of Shalom, the
Jurisdictional and Conference Councils on Youth Ministries humbly ask churches and individuals for
prayerful consideration of a monetary gift to the MOP

http://www.mayvilleevents.com/MOP

Alice Ward MOP Fund
C/O Hurlbut Community Church
PO Box 33
Chautauqua NY 14722

The NOs have it.

2009-09-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

NORTH HARMONY - The town of North Harmony said no Saturday during a a special election on a proposal to spend $59,235 to prepare a sanitary sewer map, plan, report and enhanced aerial and Lidar survey. The results were 262 no votes to 78 yes votes.

NORTH HARMONY Sewer

2009-09-12T22:51:00.000-07:00

NORTH HARMONY - A special election was held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12 at North Harmony Town Hall. The question put to voters was whether the town should contract for studies that could allow for a sewer district along the lake. The results have yet to be announced.

The studies pertain to a proposed district along Route 394 and Chautauqua Lake, the southwest shore, for which federal funds will be sought.

On June 8, the town board adopted a resolution to do the studies that would include one with Tomlman Engineering, PLLC for an amount not to exceed $30,000 for maps and plans and one with Kucera International Inc., not to exceed $29,235 for aerial photography and a survey in case the funds are secured.

The ballot asked those voting if the town should spend money for the studies "for the availability of a sewer district to be formed ... in the event that federal stimulus or grant funding become available."

Only North Harmony registered and qualified voters were eligible to vote at the special election.

Because a sewer district opens up lake frontage to be further developed and allows for multiple family units to be erected on small parcels of land I do not think that a new sewer district would prevent further pollution of Chautauqua Lake. I feel it will contribute to further degradation of the watershed and certainly increase traffic on and around the lake front. I voted NO! The Lake is currently over developed and is being pushed to its limit.Only 10% of Chautauqua Lake's shoreline remains in a natural, undeveloped condition. The wetlands and streams that feed our lake and provide important wildlife habitat continue to be constricted by filling and channelization.

http://www.townofnorthharmony.com/minutes/Minutes_-_6-1-09_SCSD&Chaut..pdf

http://www.townofnorthharmony.com/

Hospital Considers Electronic Records

2009-09-05T22:43:00.000-07:00

Hospital Considers Electronic Records
WCA Hopes To Take Advantage Of Stimulus

You've been sitting on the exam table idly kicking your feet and reading the posters on the wall for what seems like an eternity. The swollen glands that have kept you awake for the last few nights throb painfully and you feel achy, cold and tired.

Soon, though, the doctor enters the exam room, laptop in hand. Setting the computer on the counter, your doctor gently palpates your throat and asks you a few questions. Satisfied with the exam results, the doctor picks up a stylus, pokes at the laptop's screen a couple of times and tells you that your prescription will be available at the pharmacy shortly.

That's how - with a not-so-gentle nudge from the federal government - visits to the doctor's office will go in the near future. The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act dedicates nearly $20 billion to information technology for the health care industry.

The vast majority of that money - some $17 billion - will flow directly to physicians and hospitals through the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Starting in 2011, physicians and hospitals who adopt certified electronic health record systems will be eligible for extra money. But that carrot is also attached to a stick - those who fail to adopt electronic health record systems by 2015 will miss out on those federal subsidies and will get reduced Medicare payments as a penalty.

To qualify for those federal subsidies, providers will need to demonstrate they're using electronic health record systems in a ''meaningful'' way, though the government has yet to define ''meaningful.''

But one way or the other, health records will soon be created and maintained without the use of so much as a single piece of paper.

MORE EFFICIENT SYSTEM

At least one local physician office has already made the move to electronic health records.

Ten years ago, Family Health Medical Services, which has offices in Jamestown on Dunham Avenue and Jones Hill, invested several hundred thousand dollars in an electronic health record system - and Dr. Robert Berke says the system has ''really streamlined the way we do things.''

''I can remember the days when I'd have a stack of folders on my desk about two feet high,'' Berke said. ''They were all the medical records I'd have to go through before I could leave for the day. Now, I have a laptop and I just need to make a few clicks on each person's profile. And better yet, I can log in to the system from my home and send in prescriptions or make notes that I didn't have time to make during the course of a day.''

Family Health Medical Services uses Medent's electronic medical record system.

That system presents health care providers with an interactive screen showing a list of patients that need to be seen in a day. It includes their appointment time; a code signifying the visit's purpose; the patient's name; a field listing whether the person has arrived for their appointment, already been seen or has had to reschedule; the time they were shown to a room and the number of the room they're in.

Using the system, physicians can click on a person's name to pull up their medical record, which includes links to the patient's past medical history and family history. The physician can write an electronic note to include as part of the medical record or, for offices that use dictation, can instantly record a transcription voice note that is attached to the electronic record.

''There's so much this allows us to do,'' Berke said. ''We're still learning about it. I think I learn something new about this system every day.''

Berke said the system allows him to be ''much more efficient'' with his time than the old paper records.

''With those old folders, you were always taking a chance that a piece of paper would work its way loose and fall out,'' he said. ''And if someone in billing needed a patient's file, it might be sitting on a physician's desk for a couple of days waiting for the loose ends to be tied up. It was very bulky and very inefficient.''

But now, thanks to the new electronic health record system, Berke said his time is ''better spent.''

''The paperwork has been streamlined and eliminated,'' he said. ''With just a couple of clicks, I can update a patient's record and save it. I can revisit it at home if I need to. I can instantly send prescriptions to any pharmacy. Anybody here who needs to get to a patient's file can get to it when they need it. And it has become much easier to send a patient's record to a hospital should they need surgery.''

The system has proven invaluable over the last 10 years, Berke said.

''I really don't think I'd go back to the old system,'' he said.

'A COMPLICATED SYSTEM'

WCA Hospital is moving toward a hospital-wide electronic health record system. The hospital is in the process of evaluating different vendors and the systems they offer, according to Dianne French, the hospital's director of health information management.

The hospital has been searching for an electronic health record system for at least the last nine years, according to Keith Robison, the hospital's chief information officer. But the costs associated with implementing such a system for a hospital - infinitely more complicated than that for a physician office - prevented the hospital from taking what Robison called a ''big bang approach.''

That's because the stimulus package doesn't offer hospitals and medical centers any money to cover the up-front costs of implementing electronic health records. And that's a problem because a hospital's electronic health record system must be more complex than that implemented in a private physician office. That's because a hospital setting offers several different so-called ''points of capture'' for a patient. In a private physician office, the patient can only come in one way - by making an appointment. But in a hospital, a patient could come in through the emergency room, through the surgical ward, or in any one of a number of specialty departments for an appointment.

''A lot of systems will need to work together in order to create an electronic medical record for a hospital,'' Mrs. French said. ''There are systems we use to schedule and pre-admit. They need to work with systems already in place all over the hospital and work with systems that we have yet to implement. That's part of the challenge. Every system has to talk to each other.''

All of that means WCA will spend millions of dollars to purchase and implement an electronic medical record - money it doesn't have. But the hospital is working with vendors to see if they will extend to the hospital a line of credit to allow for the purchase of an electronic health record.

Hospital officials know they will need to purchase software - the most expensive portion of an electronic health record - but its still unclear what the hardware portion of the electronic health record will look like.

''It could be computer carts, wireless tablets, laptop computers or even computers embedded in the wall,'' Robison said. ''We just don't know. Each department is going to need its own method - and that method could differ between departments. It just depends on what's the most usable for the people in that particular department.''

Since the federal government in May announced the stimulus package contained money for health information technology, WCA has gone through what Robison called ''a fast-paced plan'' that will allow the hospital to take advantage of as much stimulus money as possible. Their goal - to implement electronic health records within the next 18 months.

WCA already has electronic medical records in radiology, lab and pharmacy, Robison said. That means the hospital is already a Level 1 electronic medical record according to the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, or HIMSS.

''We need a system that's easy for the physicians to use,'' Robison said. ''Otherwise, it's not worth it.''

There are a number of issues the hospital has yet to address - among them how best to make the millions of pieces of paper that already exist as patient records part of an electronic record system. There are security concerns, too, such as whether to implement biometric measures for those who need access to electronic patient records.

Even so - at least for Mrs. French - the move to electronic health records is an exciting one.

''I've been here for 32 years, and this has been a dream of mine for at least the last 10 years,'' she said. ''It's exciting to finally be making this move.''

http://www.post-journal.com/page/content.detail/id/539238.html?nav=5018

Chautauqua Institution Spotlights Compassion

2009-08-31T01:49:00.001-07:00

by Amy Novogratz
August 17, 2009 02:26 PM

When Karen Armstrong won one of the three 2008 TED Prizes, we knew her wish -- to create a worldwide Charter for Compassion -- was a powerful one with the potential to develop into an innovative and international movement. As the final document is being crafted, we are starting to see the word spread about its message of compassion, universal justice and respect.

Since Monday, the Chautauqua Institution, a not-for-profit, educational center in southwest New York, has offered five days of afternoon discussions centered on Armstrong's wish to establish the Charter. Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, Director of the Institution's Department of Religions, and a member of the core Charter for Compassion team, put together the sessions, based on the theme, "Imagine a World of Peace through Compassion." The discussions culminated Friday when Armstrong was the featured afternoon speaker.

And as part of the week's events, TED worked with the Department of Religion on a special, one-hour program for the Charter for Compassion. Rev. James Alexander Forbes, Jr., Robert Thurman and Sri Swami Dayananda Saraswati each gave an 18-minute talk Wednesday afternoon for the audience. The talks were filmed and will be edited, translated and distributed by TED and the Charter for Compassion team. They will then be released on the Charter for Compassion website, and as part of the TED Partner Series.

All three speakers are powerful voices for peace through compassion. Dr. Forbes, Senior Minister Emeritus of Riverside Church, New York City, is co-chair of A Partnership of Faith, an interfaith organization of clergy among New York's Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim communities. Robert Thurman holds the Jey Tsong Khapa Chair in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University. He has studied Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism for almost 30 years as a personal student of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Sri Swami Dayananda Saraswati, acclaimed throughout the world as a spiritual leader and Vedantic teacher, convened in 2001 the first World Congress for the Preservation of Religious Diversity in Delhi, inaugurated by the Dalai Lama.

The Chautauqua Institution was founded in 1874 as a training camp for Sunday school teachers. Today it is a summer center that encompasses the arts, education, religion and recreation, where some 7,500 people are in residence on any day during its nine-week season. The Institution's Abrahamic Program endeavors to teach about and build relationships among the Family of Abraham: Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Karen Armstrong has been honored around the world especially as an intercessor among the Abrahamic faiths. We've watched as her TED Prize wish to establish a document that would bring attention back to Abrahamic principles of universal justice and respect has expanded into a multi-faith, multi-national movement.

We've posted here the many ways people can help to promote the Charter and Armstrong's amazing work, including expanding contacts with the spiritual leaders who have inspired our readers' thinking the most. We hope that thousands of leaders from all religions, will agree to the Charter for Compassion, add their signatures and address their congregations on compassion during the week following the Charter launch on November 12.

The afternoon lecture series at the Chautauqua Institution was a great way to introduce the Chautauqua community to TED. And it's a terrific example of how, through the TED Prize, Karen Armstrong's wish is reaching new audiences and inspiring important, positive action on expanding justice and respect for all the world's communities. Look for the official launch of the Charter for Compassion this November.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-novogratz/chautauqua-institution-sp_b_259964.html

Sleep center accredited at WCA Hospital

2009-08-30T23:11:00.000-07:00

JAMESTOWN

JAMESTOWN—The WCA Hospital Sleep Center in Jamestown has been accredited in sleep medicine, hospital officials announced Friday.

A recent survey by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine led to the five-year accreditation, signifying the center meets or exceeds standards for professional health care as established by the academy. It is the only accredited sleep center in Jamestown.

“The center is a significant resource to the local medical community and will provide academic and scientific value in addition to the highest quality care for patients suffering from sleep disorders,” said Dr. Clete Kushida, academy president.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE POOR IN LIBERAL POLITICS?

2009-08-29T22:43:00.001-07:00

by Ezra Klein, Washington Post

Ezra Klein, Washington Post - Groups such as MoveOn.org or True Majority [are] all in favor of efforts to address poverty, but it's not the core item on the agenda, and that's because their constituencies fundamentally aren't poor. Because of that, they're a lot more aggressive on policies that appeal to their membership's political beliefs - the public option being a good example - than policies that directly help the poor. . .

Conversely, the groups that spend a lot of time on poverty - the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, or Families USA - aren't member-driven. They're advocacy organizations, they tend to rely on foundation grants or endowments, and they tend to play a bit more of an inside Washington game, because they don't have funding sources or a membership structure that lends itself to grass-roots pressure. Foundations, after all, give a lot of money for research, but not that much money for attack ads. And people living just above the poverty line don't tend to send in $100 when you tell them subsidies in a bill are about to be cut, even though those subsidies will hurt them a lot more than the public option will help most of MoveOn.org's members.

Put another way, the basic problem is that poor people, by virtue of being poor, can't donate a lot of money to popularize their concerns, and are fairly marginalized from the political process in general. The result isn't that those concerns are entirely ignored in Congress, as many of these institutions are very effective, and many legislators take this stuff very seriously. . .

The effects of this can be a bit weird: The health-care bill, for instance, spends pretty much all of its money on the poor, and its structure is primarily designed to increase coverage among low-income Americans. But pollsters have advised Democrats not to talk about that, and so they don't. Instead, they talk about how insurers are evil, or the public option is good, because those issues are more resonant both among the broader electorate and the liberal base.

http://prorev.com/2009/08/whatever-happened-to-poor-in-liberal.html

'Office' filming takes tourists by surprise

2009-08-27T21:36:00.001-07:00

By Denise Jewell Gee
NEWS NIAGARA REPORTER
Updated: August 27, 2009, 11:54 PM / 0 comments

NIAGARA FALLS -- The Horseshoe Falls took a back seat Thursday morning when tourists on the Maid of the Mist discovered they had walked onto the set of the NBC comedy "The Office."

Actor John Krasinski and actress Jenna Fischer stood at the front of the famous boat attraction as they filmed a scene for an upcoming episode set in Niagara Falls, where their characters -- Pam Beesly and Jim Halpert -- finally tie the knot.

The cast and crew and about two dozen extras took two 30-minute rides through the swirling waters below the falls as they shot and reshot what could become a crucial scene in the show's fourth episode this season.

Above them, on the boat's second-floor deck, tourists who had come from as far as Australia and Japan to see the waterfalls got a bird's-eye view of the two television stars at work.

"We come up here one time, and we get on the Maid of the Mist and they're shooting a show," said Lynn Bryant, a milk delivery driver from Hampton, Va.

Like the time and location of Thursday's production, details of the wedding of Jim and Pam, the fictional Dunder Mifflin employees, have been kept a secret.

But Fischer did wear a white empire-waist wedding gown with beaded trim, and Krasinski wore a black tuxedo with a boutonniere of two white flowers during their Maid of the Mist ride.

The pair also wore blue Maid of the Mist slickers, but took them off as they neared the falls. Heavy mist soaked their clothes and left them dripping wet throughout several takes as the boat rocked in the water.

"None of us expected this whatsoever. The actors were completely drenched," said Randy Cordray, producer. "It was like standing in your backyard and having someone spray a hose right in your face, but John and Jenna played their scene beautifully, and the troupers that they are, they powered through it."

Cordray said staff from the show twice scouted the location by taking Maid of the Mist rides three weeks ago and again on Wednesday, but did not encounter the amount of water that sprayed over the actors Thursday morning.

"Once the actors got wet, there's nothing you can do about it," Cordray said. "So we just stayed wet, and we took another boat ride, and we went around again, and we played it wet for the second go-round."

Cordray also played a boat captain in the episode.

The shooting took place on regularly scheduled tours of the Maid of the Mist.

Filming the show aboard the boat was a challenge for the cast and crew, which typically shoots on a studio set in Los Angeles. That meant abandoning the high-definition cameras the crew typically uses and instead using a 16mm camera with a spinning device that keeps water droplets off the lens.

Fischer's hair and makeup also were factors under the falls.

"We had to think of waterproof mascara, anything that wasn't going to run, while still keeping them fresh-faced," said Laverne Caracuzzi-Milazzo, head makeup artist for "The Office." "Obviously due to this particular episode, we still needed to keep them looking good at all times."

The characters Pam and Jim, whose office romance has been a focal point on "The Office," were engaged last season and found out in the season finale that she was pregnant.

Cordray said the show's head writers, Greg Daniels and Paul Lieberstein, chose the American side of the falls for the wedding over its Canadian counterpart.

"It's the most romantic spot in America," Cordray said. "They wanted an iconic natural location for the wedding to take place in, and what a better spot?"

Fischer and Krasinski also shot a scene outside the Red Coach Inn -- renamed the Statler Falls Hotel for the episode -- in which Fischer carries her wedding dress into the hotel as Krasinski talks to the camera in the show's mockumentary style.

About 30 local residents served as extras in the filming. Some stood in rain ponchos on the Maid of the Mist, while others walked by the hotel in the background. "It's like [the movie] "Groundhog Day,' because we had to do the scene like eight or nine times," said Jackie Flynn, a Buffalo resident and teacher at Starpoint Middle School, who was an extra. "But it's one of my favorite shows."

Cordray said most of the episode was shot at inside locations in Los Angeles, including a restaurant and a chapel.

The episode is scheduled to air Oct. 8 as an hourlong special, said Tim Clark, Buffalo Niagara film commissioner.

A few clues to the episode's plot were visible to the public Thursday, but producers were mum on the details. Fischer wore white boots with her wedding gown, and Krasinski's black tie was cut in half. There was also a long kiss between the two on the boat.

"Our show unfolds to our viewers like magic, and you don't want to peel back the layers behind the curtain. So we're very secretive about the nature of our story lines," Cordray said. "All I can really say is that the wedding does happen in Niagara Falls, and Jim and Pam decide that they would really like to get closer to the waterfall, and so to do that, they take a ride on the Maid of the Mist."

The shooting -- which the crew tried to keep secret until Thursday by dubbing it the "Chandler project" -- drew a small crowd of in-the-know spectators who bought tickets for the Maid of the Mist ride.

Others arrived just to see the falls and got an extra treat.

"That's fantastic," said Australian resident Samantha Pesaturo, who visited the falls with her aunt and happened upon the set. "We had no idea. It's an added bonus."

djgee@buffnews.com

Roger Tory Peterson, a Jamestown lad

2009-08-25T22:56:00.000-07:00

Born: 28 August 1908
Birthplace: Jamestown, New York
Died: 28 July 1996
Best Known As: The author of Field Guide to Birds

Roger Tory Peterson was an artist and avid birder who revolutionized the world of bird-watching when he published his Field Guide to Birds in 1934. His detailed paintings and a simplified method of identifying birds helped to make birding a popular hobby. The guide was so successful that Peterson's system was applied to all manner of flora and fauna. Beginning with his 1934 Field Guide to the Birds, Roger Tory Peterson introduced literally millions of people to the pleasures of observing birds in the wild. His field guide, which has gone through five editions and sold more than four million copies, fostered an appreciation for the natural world that set the stage for the contemporary environmental movement. When Rachel Carson's Silent Spring sounded a warning about the threat to birds and their habitats in the 1960s, the Peterson field guides had already prepared the public and the scientific community to heed the warning and fight to save habitat and protect endangered species--a result that Peterson wholeheartedly approved.

Peterson was the son of Swedish immigrant Charles Gustav Peterson and German immigrant Henrietta Bader. The influx of Swedes into Jamestown during the Industrial Revolution upset the status quo of a city comprised primarily of descendants from the landed English gentry. At the time, Jamestown was a city of worsted woolen mills; industrious Swedish craftsmen soon changed it into a city of furniture factories.

Peterson's father Charles came to Jamestown in 1873 at the age of two. The family’s downward economic slide started just months later when his father died. Charles was forced to work in the woolen mills by the age of ten to support the family. With only a third grade education, Charles became the breadwinner. Later, his expectation of his son Roger was to get a high school education and then go to work in one of the city's many machine shops or furniture factories. He was hard on Roger and found it difficult to understand the boy’s curiosity about nature that occupied all of his time. As a youngster, Roger resented his father. It was not until he grew older that Roger fully appreciated "the odds that this man struggled against.”

Peterson’s mother, Henrietta (Nettie) Bader was brought to America when she was four years old. A religious woman, she attended Holy Trinity Lutheran Church with her children Roger and Margaret. When the new minister came to visit, Nettie remarked on how much Roger enjoyed birds and natural history. The minister said "Well, that makes for unbelievers." Roger seriously questioned the church from then on. He grew up at 16 Bowen Street with his parents and sister. His paternal grandmother, an aunt, and six cousins also shared the Peterson’s quarters. Some say that this was the reason Roger was forever outside exploring the countryside.

Peterson was born in Jamestown, New York. After graduating from high school‚ Peterson moved to New York City‚ where he attended the Art Students League (1927-1928) and the National Academy of Design (1929-1931). He then taught science and art at the Rivers School in Brookline, Massachusetts. In 1934 he published his seminal Guide to the Birds, the first modern field guide, which sold out its first printing of 2‚000 copies in one week, and subsequently went through 5 editions. He co-wrote Wild America with James Fisher, and edited or wrote many of the volumes in the Peterson Field Guide series on topics ranging from rocks and minerals to beetles to reptiles. He developed the Peterson Identification System, and is known for the clarity of both his illustrations of field guides and his delineation of relevant field marks.

Paul R. Ehrlich, in The Birder's Handbook, said this about Peterson:

In this century, no one has done more to promote an interest in living creatures than Roger Tory Peterson, the inventor of the modern field guide.

Peterson received every major American award for natural science, ornithology, and conservation, as well as numerous honorary medals, diplomas, and citations from America and elewhere, including the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Order of the Golden Ark of the Netherlands. He died in 1996 at his home in Old Lyme, Connecticut. The Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History in Jamestown, New York is named in his honor.

http://www.rtpi.org/

"The philosophy that I have worked under most of my life is that the serious study of natural history is an activity which has far-reaching effects in every aspect of a person's life. It ultimately makes people protective of the environment in a very committed way. It is my opinion that the study of natural history should be the primary avenue for creating environmentalists…" – Roger Tory Peterson.

Painting by Roger Tory Peterson of Snowy Owls

I was lucky enough to meet Roger Tory Peterson twice. Once when he gave a lecture in Chautauqua when I was still in high school about 1975 I think, and once in the 80s I think it was at the Jamestown Audubon Center and I gave him a pack of my note cards and he kindly thanked me. I grew up on his books as both my Mother and Father loved to use his Field Guide to Eastern Birds to identify species. My Mother still enjoys using it.

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/peterson/

http://www.petersonbird.com/

10,000 Maniacs a Jamestown Band

2009-08-25T21:59:00.000-07:00

10,000 Maniacs is a United States-based alternative rock band, formed in 1981

1981-1993

The band was formed as Still Life in 1981 in Jamestown, New York, by Dennis Drew (keyboards), Steve Gustafson (bass), Chet Cardinale (drums), Robert Buck (guitar), and Terry Newhouse (Buck's ex-wife and vocalist). Steve Gustafson invited Natalie Merchant, who was 17 at the time, to do some vocals. John Lombardo who was in a band called The Mills (along with brother guitarist/vocalists Mark Liuzzo and Paul Liuzzo and drummer Mike Young) and used to play occasionally with Still Life, was invited to join permanently on guitar and vocals. Newhouse and Cardinale left the band in July, and Natalie Merchant became the main singer. Various drummers came and left. The band changed its name to Burn Victims and then to 10,000 Maniacs after the low-budget horror movie Two Thousand Maniacs!.

They performed as 10,000 Maniacs for the first time on September 7, 1981 - Labor Day, with a line-up of Natalie Merchant, John Lombardo, Robert Buck, Dennis Drew, Steve Gustafson, and Tim Edborg on drums. Tim Edborg left and Bob "Bob O Matic" Wachter was on drums for most of the 1981 gigs. Tired of playing cover songs - though oddly enough their first notable American hit was found in covering Cat Stevens hit "Peace Train" - the band started to write their own music, usually with Natalie Merchant handling the lyrics and John Lombardo the music. In February-March 1982, with Jim Foti on drums, the band recorded an EP album called Human Conflict Number Five. More gigs followed in 1982. It was during this time that they lived in Atlanta, Georgia for a short while at the encouragement of friends who said that many gigs were available there. The band moved back to Jamestown in November 1982.

At the beginning of 1983, Jerry Augustyniak joined the band as their permanent drummer. The Maniacs met Augustyniak when they played in Buffalo, New York, where he was in a punk band called The Stains. Between March and July, the band recorded songs for a second record, Secrets of the I Ching - their debut full-length album, which was pressed by Mark Records for the band's own label Christian Burial Music. The record was well-received by critics and it caught the attention of John Peel - DJ at Radio BBC Radio 1 in London. One song, "My Mother the War" turned out to be a minor hit in United Kingdom, and it entered the independent singles chart. During 1983 and 1984, touring was a way of life for the band, which included gigs in the UK.

Peter Leak, an Englishman living in New York City, became interested in the band, made contact and was made their manager. With the help of Leak and Elektra Records A & R man Howard Thompson, 10,000 Maniacs signed to Elektra in November 1984. In the spring of 1985, they recorded their second full-length album, The Wishing Chair, in London at Livingston Studios, with Joe Boyd as producer. Though the album was not a blockbuster hit, its status the band's major label debut did win it some notice, and it received significant critical acclaim.

Co-founder John Lombardo left the band during a rehearsal on Monday, July 14, 1986. The remaining five members started the recordings of a new album in Los Angeles, with Peter Asher as the producer. In My Tribe, a more pop-rock oriented record, was released on Tuesday, July 7, 1987, hit the charts where it stayed 77 weeks, peaking at #37 and established a large US audience for the group and was also well received in the UK. The next album, 1989 Blind Man's Zoo hit #13 and went Gold further increased the group's following. In 1990, with the help of John Lombardo, they remastered their first two records Human Conflict Number Five and Secrets of the I Ching and released them as a compilation called Hope Chest: The Fredonia Recordings 1982-1983. John Lombardo and Mary Ramsey, who had formed a folk act called John & Mary, opened gigs for the Maniacs on the Hope Chest Tour in 1990. In 1991, during the recordings of a new album, Natalie Merchant revealed to the other members that she would be leaving for a solo career in two years' time. In 1992, Our Time in Eden was released. On Wednesday, April 21, 1993, 10,000 Maniacs recorded MTV Unplugged and Natalie Merchant announced her leaving the band on MTV on Thursday, August 5, 1993. The MTV Unplugged (10,000 Maniacs album) album was released in October 1993. The band also played President Clinton's Inaugural Ball in January 1993, with Merchant a vociferous supporter of the Democratic Party

I was friends with Terry Newhouse in High School at Chautauqua Central and we had allot of fun in Creative Writing class. I recall those years when I was newly married and the Maniacs played at "Smokes" in Mayville on summer nights.

Chautauqua County Exports are solid Gold

2009-08-25T20:59:00.001-07:00

Natalie Anne Merchant (born October 26, 1963 in Jamestown, New York, USA) is a professional musician. She joined the alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs in 1981 and left it to begin her solo career in 1993. Merchant has a contralto vocal range.

The History of Chautauqua County's largest City

2009-08-25T20:44:00.001-07:00

The first white man to seriously consider the place now Jamestown as a possible site for settlement was James Prendergast, and it is from him that the city takes its name. The members of the Prendergast family were prominent in the early history of the county, and had in 1806 bought 3,500 acres of land in the vicinity of Mayville, and were rapidly clearing away the forest. James Prendergast, the youngest of the family of eleven children, was sent out to find a team of horses which had strayed away, and before catching up with them at what is now Rutledge, Cattaraugus county, had traversed the great pine tree region of the Conewango Valley, Kiantone, one of the granaries of the Six Nations, and a great deal of the then unbroken wilderness now Southern Chautauqua county.

To such a man as James Prendergast proved to be, his view of the magnificent pine forests must have impressed him with a conception of their great future value, as with rare judgment he chose the site for mills, home and future city. Two years after his discovery of the Outlet and rapids, he made his first purchase of land, his brother, under the instructions of James Prendergast, purchasing 1,000 acres, the present boat landing being about the centre of that tract, two dollars per acre the purchase price.

In the early fall of 1809, James Prendergast visited his purchase with a trusted employe, John Blowers, to whom he confided his plans for founding a settlement and engaging in the manufacture of lumber by utilizing the water power of the outlet. Blowers evidently thought well of the plan, for in 1810 he erected a small log cabin on the banks of the outlet, an event of historic importance, for it was the first building erected on the site of Jamestown. Later, a story and a half log house was built on the banks of the outlet for the use of James Prendergast and family. Then followed a dam for water power, a saw mill, a grist mill, and so Jamestown's foundations were laid.

But the "kicker" arrived soon afterward, and it is astounding to learn that in 1812 James Prendergast was indicted by the grand jury for erecting this dam "to the great injury and common nuisance of the liege citizens of the State." He was found guilty, and fined fifteen dollars and substantial costs. He removed the dam, rebuilding on a new site where it was evidently not considered a "common nuisance." In December, 1812, Captain William Forbes came, moving into the second log house built by James Prendergast, the location of that house on now Cherry street, between First and Second streets. The first frame house was built by John Blowers, who built the first log house. This building was finished in 1813, and was also the first tavern in the town and known as the Blowers House, in honor of its first proprietor. The house was sold in 1814 to Dr. Laban Hazeltine, and occupied by him as a residence for nearly forty years. No trace now remains. Fire destroyed the Prendergast early mills, but they were quickly rebuilt. The second war with Great Britain also interferred with the growth of the settlement, and a second time the Prendergast buildings were destroyed by fire, but James Prendergast clung to his belief in the value of the location, never lost his courage, and finally settlers began to arrive, the outlet was bridged and other improvements followed.

In the spring of 1815 the first operations in real estate began. A number of lots fifty by one hundred twenty feet were surveyed and placed on the market at $50 each, and we are told that $50 was the ruling price for a lot for a period of about ten years, beginning with 1815. Under existing conditions this was enough, for there was little, about the location in and of itself to attract any but the adventurous pioneer. Indeed, Jamestown in 1815 was little more than a crude lumber camp, as will be readily seen from the perusal of a sketch written by Judge Foote, who describes the village as follows:

A one and one-half story gristmill building, with two runs of stones, two single sawmills and one gang sawmill, all owned by James Prendergast. There was one small store of goods owned by Jediah and Martin Prendergast, of Mayville, managed by Thomas Disher, a clerk. Two small shanty blacksmith shops were occupied by Eleazer Daniels and Patrick Campbell, and a small out of doors tannery owned by John Burge and James Rice. The chief business was cutting lum-ber. In November, 1815, there were thirteen families living on Jamestown territory, occupying rude cabins, and some men without families. A few families lived in adjacent territory; one in the extreme northwestern corner of the city limits, and two or three at Cass Mills (East Jamestown).

Among the early settlers whose names must always be included in any list of the "founders of Jamestown" are these: Abner Hazeltine, Daniel Hazeltine, Samuel Barrett, Samuel A. Brown, Thos. W. Harvey, Royal Keyes, Rufus Pier, Wm. Hall, Silas Tiffany, Doctor Foote, Horace Allen, Col. Augustus F. Allen, Dascum Allen, Col. Henry Baker, Adolphus Fletcher, Solomon and Ellick Jones, Chas. R. Harvey, Silas Shearman, Geo. W. Tew, Wm. H. Tew, Woodley W. Chandler, and John W. Winsor.

The settlement was locally known as "Prendergast Mills" and "The Rapids," but in 1815 the name "Jamestown" was adopted, and a year or so later a post office was established and Jamestown was a fixture on the maps of the county.

By 1827 the number of settlers had increased to such an extent that the desirability of a village government was manifest, and an act of incorporation passed by the Legislature became a law March 6, 1827. The first village election was held at the home of Solomon Jones and these officers were elected: Trustees, Thomas W. Harvey, Jediah E. Budlong, Daniel Hazeltine, Jr., Samuel Barrett, Alvin Plumb; treasurer, Samuel A. Brown; clerk, George W. Tew; collector, R. F. Fenton. After the election, B. T. Foote, Horace Allen, S. A. Brown, Abner Hazeltine and Joseph Waite were appointed to draft a constitution and by-laws, and when their work was completed Jamestown was ready to assume the duties and responsibilities of a village.

The act incorporating the village of Jamestown was drawn with great care. In terse language, the act defined the rights and prescribed the duties of the inhabitants and officials, and all in all was a very satisfactory scheme of government, as may be inferred from the fact that the principles that were then laid down were in a large degree adhered to in the amendments made from time to time to meet the demands of a growing village.

To adequately protect the village from the ravages of fire was one of the first duties of the newly formed village government, and to provide fire protection a meeting was held July 5, 1827. At that meeting it was decided to raise $300 by tax. Eventually it was raised, and August 31, 1829, the first fire company was organized-Fire Company No. 1. This company had a little hand pump which was hauled to the nearest reservoir at the outbreak of a fire, and with a dozen muscular young men on the brakes did more or less effective work. The first officers of this company were: Ellick Jones, captain; William H. Tew, captain's mate; Phineas Palmeter, Jr., engineer; James H. Culver, assistant engineer. All these officers were prominent citizens. Ellick Jones, the captain, was the father of Orsino E. Jones. It is evident from a perusal of the early village records that the purchase of equipment for the department, the management of the same and the selection of officers, cut quite a figure in the politics of the village, and the minutes of a meeting held May 13, 1844, show that the main topic for consideration was a fire department controversy.

The first system of fire protection consisted of a series of small storage reservoirs located in various sections of the village. Crude hand engines supplied water pressure for hose, and thus the villagers were able to cope with an ordinary blaze. With the growth of the village came the demand for additional reservoirs and engines and to meet this demand hose companies and engine companies were organized from time to time. The first engine company, Engine Company No. 1, was later known as Deluge Engine Company, and claims the distinction of being the oldest in the volunteer department. This claim was sharply disputed by the Ellicott Hook and Ladder Company, and there are no records available which decisively settle this dispute, although an impartial investigation which was conducted in August, 1892, resulted in a decision that the Deluge Company was entitled to claim the seniority.

The order in which the present companies of the department were organized is as follows: Deluge Engine Company, Ellicott Hook and Ladder Company, Rescue Hose Company, Eagle Hose Company, Prendergast Hose Company, Jeffords Hose Company, Fire Police, Martyn Hose Company.

The village grew so rapidly that in a few years it was found impracticable to adequately protect the buildings with the reservoir scheme, and a private company constructed a simple system of water works with mains running through the business section of Main street. Pressure was supplied by a large steam pump and thus the business section of the village was fairly well protected, residents of the outlying portions of the village still relying on the reservoirs and hand engines.

In 1886, a general system of water works was projected. This system covered the entire town, and with powerful steam pumps provided ample pressure for all localities. Then the old hand engines were laid away forever, and the volunteer firemen assumed the task of protecting the property of the village under more favorable auspices. In turn, the volunteer department gave way to the modern paid department with motor equipment on engines, hose carts and hook and ladder trucks. There are six fire stations with the most modern fire alarm system, having boxes all over the city. Fire headquarters are at No. 1 Spring street, Howard S. Rodgers, chief (July, 1920.)

The documents prepared by the Chautauqua County Bank in 1831, in which they applied for a charter from the Legislature, set forth these reasons why a charter should be granted:

In 1816 there was no post office within twenty miles of Jamestown, where it is proposed to locate this bank.

The City of Jamestown.

Population of Jamestown, January, 1827, 393.
Population of Jamestown, June, 1930, 884.

It has now eleven stores, one woolen factory, one sash factory, one gristmill with three fun of stones. one gang sawmill, three common sawmills, two printing offices, and a great number of mechanic establishments. A steamboat of eighty tons burden plies daily between Jamestown and Mayville on the Chautauqua Lake. One of the Lake Erie steamboats is solely employed in doing the business of Chautauqua county.

Jamestown is ninety miles on the route usually traveled, from the nearest banking institution in this State (United States Branch Bank at Buffalo). The bank at Lockport is the nearest State institution. There is no bank in the southern tier of counties from Orange to Lake Erie.

The lumber included in this estimate is produced in a territory about the size of Chautauqua which is partly in this county, partly in the county of Cattaraugus, and partly in the State of Pennsylvania, and of which Jamestown is the commercial center.

The county of Chautauqua ranks among the first in the State for size, commercial advantages, and fertility of soil. It has no large swamps nor barren mountains, and is probably capable of supporting as numerous and dense a population as any in the State.

The charter for this bank was granted April 18, 1831. The institution was organized under the safety fund act, with a capital of $100,000, and the privilege of issuing bills to twice the amount of the capital. The first directors were Leverett Barker, John G. Saxton, William Peacock, James Hall, Samuel Barrett, Jediah E. Budlong, Oliver Lee, Thomas Campbell, Daniel Shearman, Elial T. Foote, Alvin Plumb, Abner Hazeltine, Richard P. Marvin. The first officers were Elial T. Foote, president, with an allowance of one cent for each bill signed by him, and Arad Joy, cashier, with an annual salary of $550.

The prudent, conservative policies adopted by the founders of this bank have always been strictly adhered to not only by their successors but also by the officials of the other excellent banking institutions which in the course of time followed, and it is a pleasure to record the fact that there has never been a bank failure in Jamestown, and that all the banks have at all times maintained the most harmonious relations with each other. The present banks of the city (1920) are the Chautauqua County National Bank; First National Bank; American National Bank; Bank of Jamestown; Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank; Liberty National Bank; Union Trust Company.

James Prendergast, with his rare foresight, early realized the temporary character of the lumber manufacturing business, and did everything possible to induce manufacturers in other lines to settle in Jamestown. This policy has always been adhered to, and new industries have been liberally dealt with, the result that Jamestown is a manufacturing city, its growth due to the development of industrial enterprise.

The first manufacturing industry of which there is any record was a small cabinet-making shop started by Royal Keyes about 1815. The same year the Chautauqua Manufacturing Company was organized for the manufacture of cloth, and each year has seen the number increase until to-day (July 6, 1920) Jamestown manufactures in city and suburbs, wood and metal furniture, voting machines, washing machines, pianos, paving brick, wrenches, woolen dress goods, suitings, towels, window screens, blinds, tools, rubbing, carving and sanding machines, mirrors, automobile running gears complete, veneer, and bee hives. The census (State) of 1915 gives the names of 96 principal manufacturing firms and states that there are 73 smaller factories-in all employing 6,616 men, 1,785 women, 141 children and 561 office workers. The largest employing concern was the Art Metal Construction Company, with two plants and 1,130 hands; the William Brodhead Mills second, with 809; and the Salisbury Wheel and Manufacturing Company, 335.

The furniture factories employ by far the greater number of hands, 70 factories and about 5,000 people being engaged in that line of manufacture, the city ranking second in the manufacture of wood furniture. Twice a year a furniture market is held, hundreds of buyers coming to the city to select and place orders. A nine-story furniture exposition building has been erected, in which the goods are displayed and large additions are now planned. The worsted and woolen of Jamestown and Falconer are known through their products all over the land and have added greatly to the wealth of the city. At this writing, five years after the State census from which the foregoing figures are taken, there are 263 factories in and around Jamestown. representing a great variety of industries.

Jamestown has always possessed a high grade of retail and wholesale merchants, and its stores of all kinds are modern examples of merchandising. The seven financial institutions of the city have ably played their part in the development of manufacturing and merchandising and the diversified industries of the city have attracted a very desirable class of citizens, of whom a large percentage own their own homes.

The first railroad to reach the village of Jamestown was the Atlantic & Great Western, now a part of the Erie system, which ran its first train into the city August 23, 1860. Jamestown is now on the main line of the Erie between Chicago and New York, and is the southern terminal of the Buffalo & Southwestern branch of the Erie, and in close touch by street cars with the Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley & Pittsburgh railroad at Falconer, that road beginning at Dunkirk and terminating at Titusyule, Pennsylvania. Jamestown is connected with the New York Central system by the Jamestown, Westfield & Northwestern railway and the Chautauqua Traction Company, the lines of these roads extending from Jamestown to Westfield on both sides of Chautauqua Lake. At Mayville, connection is made with the Pennsylvania system. The Jamestown Street Railway serves the cities, Celoron and Falconer. The Warren & Jamestown Street Railway Company connects Jamestown with Warren, Pennsylvania, while excursion steamers make frequent trips around the lake touching at the various landings.

Jamestown took upon herself the dignity of a city, April 19, 1886, after nearly a year spent in the discussion of the details incident to the preparation of a city charter. The committee of ten appointed to draft a charter was: Robert N. Marvin, A. N. Broadhead, F. E. Gifford, Porter Sheldon, John T. Wilson, Orsino E. Jones, John J. Whitney, James I. Fowler, Jerome Preston and Oscar F. Price. The proposed charter, perfected to the satisfaction of all, was passed by the Legislature March 31, 1886, the act was signed by Governor David B. Hill, and Jamestown became a city. By the provisions of this charter the city was divided into five wards. The legislative branch was vested in a common council or board of aldermen, with two representatives from each ward. The executive authority was vested in the mayor. The first election was held April 13, 1886, and resulted as follows: Mayor, Oscar F. Price; city clerk, Fred R. Peterson; Aldermen, First Ward, Adam Ports, John G. Wicks; Second Ward, W. T. Bradshaw, T. E. Grandin: Third Ward, C. F. Hedman, J. S. Ellis; Fourth Ward, Conrad A. Hult, E. F. Carpenter; Fifth Ward, H. S. Hall, E. R. Bootey; police justice, Henry J. Yates; justices of the peace, Marshall P. Strunk, DeForest D. Woodford, Egburt E. Woodbury, Herbert U. Bain; assessors, James C. Swanson, John W. Johnson, John M. Farnham. There was no contest for the office of mayor. The total vote was 1,950, of which number Mr. Price received 1,780.

The change from a village to a city took place on the evening of April 19, 1886, on which occasion the old board of trustees met, canvassed the vote of the election and declared the result. In retiring, Major Hiram Smith, one of the trustees, took occasion to review briefly the past history of Jamestown and express his confidence in the ability and integrity of the newly elected officials.

In addition to the usual city officials, Jamestown has a board of estimate and review, a board of water and lighting commissioners, a board of hospital commissioners, a board of park and city planning commissioners, and a civil service commission.

Jamestown was one of the pioneer cities of New York in advocating municipal ownership of public utilities. Just what has been accomplished is best set forth in an address of welcome delivered by Mayor Samuel A. Carison to the New York State Conference of Mayors and Other City Officials in session in Jamestown the week of July 4, 1920:

It is fitting that you should meet here because Jamestown is one of the cities in which many successful experments in municipal democracy have been made.

We invite you to inspect our municipally owned water works which is self-sustaining and which, notwithstanding our high hills and high cost of labor and material has continued to supply our citizens with the purest water on earth at the low cost of one cent per barrel.

We invite you to examine our municipally owned lighting system by the means of which we are able to supply electric light at 4½c per K. W. And we call your attention to the fact that notwithstanding this low rate, the plant pays all expenses, all interest and principal on bonds and makes proper allowance for depreciation. The plant has never cost the taxpayers a dollar, except the $48.00 per year charge for each street light, and it has met the test and scrutiny of every antagonistic expert investigator.

We invite you to look over our municipally owned public market system and buitding which has paid for itself without any tax assistance and which is patronized by thousands of our people every week.

We invite you to inspect our municipally owned hospital which is maintained at a cost to the city of less than one cent per week per capita, and in which 15,000 persons have been treated since its establishment ten years ago. We hold that it is just as much the function of city government to rescue a citizen's life from the menace of disease as it is to rescue his property from the menace of fire.

We invite you to inspect our municipally owned sand and gravel pit and our municipally constructed pavements, by which we have eliminated the profiteering element usually imposed by contractors.

We invite you to visit our beautiful parks, our institutions of worship and social uplift, our Chadakoin Valley, filled with thriving industries, and our hillsides covered with homes owned by those who toil in these industries. Wherever you find home-owners you find no Bolsheviki.

We call your attention to the annual publication of our entire assessment roll, which enables our whole taxpaying citizenship to constitute itself into a board of review. Less than 1 per cent, of our total tax levy remains uncollected in any year.

We call your attention to our sanitary method of handling garbage by which each householder is required to wrap his garbage in paper bundles thereby minimizing the task of its collection and rendering it suitable for consumption by some 500 hogs, making an inexpensive substitute for a disposal plant.

Our milk supply is subject to a bacteriological test at a laboratory conducted by our Health Department.

And all our health regulations are such that Jamestown now enjoys, I believe, the lowest death rate of any city in this State. We put the emphasis on a low death rate rather than a low tax rate.

We call your attention to the fact that we have successfully put into practice the referendum method of determining important questions of public policy on which citizens are divided in opinion.

And all commissioners in charge of our public utilities are appointed without any reference whatsoever to partisan politics.

Had this speech been delivered about six weeks later, Mayor Carison could have referred to the municipal milk plant which was voted at a special election held in August, 1920.

These innovations did not come easily or quickly, but through the public-spirited leaders and the determination of the citizens. The municipal lighting plant was won after a long fight, and at a special election held September 26, 1890, three propositions were submitted to the voters of Jamestown- one to issue bonds for the construction of a sewer system, carried; another, to issue bonds for paving, lost; another, to issue bonds for the equipment of an electric light plant. Bonds were issued and sold at a premium, the contract for the construction and equipment of the plant was let, and on July 4, 1891, at 9 p. m., the machinery was started and electric lights flashed up in all parts of the city. During the evening a demonstration was arranged in honor of George M. Martyn, one of the leaders in the fight, and later a considerable sum was subscribed by his friends, and a bronze drinking fountain was erected at the corner of Main and Third streets.

The sewer system was begun at the corner of Sprague and West Second streets on the morning of April 11, 1893, and paving followed naturally. A determined effort was made in 1893 to secure the removal of the county seat from Mayville to Jamestown. but on submission of the question to the voters of the county the proposition was lost, there being 282 votes cast "against" in Jamestown, which had they been cast "for" would have brought the county seat to Jamestown. The city quietly acquiesced in the decision and at once began the erection of a City Hall, costing $85,000, the cornerstone being laid with Masonic ceremonies, September 28, 1895.

Public improvements followed fast, and finally an abundant and unfailing water supply became the great unsolved problem. The Jamestown Water Supply Company had surceeded to the earlier rights and franchises granted by village trustees and city aldermen, and had a plant which gave the city satisfactory pressure for fire protection, and there was no objection to the quality of the water or the service. But municipal water service was demanded and a committee was appointed to investigate the two plants which had been bought-the purchase of the plant of the Jamestown Water Supply Company and the erection of a new plant. The committee employed J. F. Witmer, a hydraulic engineer, who began his work January 21, 1901, reported in September, 1901, and negotiations were opened for the purchase of the plant of the water company. A proposition to purchase the plant for $600,000 was submitted to the voters, a bill was enacted creating a water commission, bonds of the city were sold, and on April 1, 1903, the city took possession of its own water supply system.

The source of supply is at Levant, three or four miles east of the city. Artesian wells tap an unfailing supply of pure and cold water. This supply has been constant even during the greatest drought and it is believed it will be ample to supply the city for all time to come.

Oscar F. Price was mayor of Jamestown from its incorporation as a city until 1894, when he retired, and Eleazer Green was elected by practically a unanimous vote. Mr. Green had for some years been one of the leading attorneys of the city and an active and aggressive Republican. In an appreciative and timely biographical sketch, the "Journal" said: "His nomination was a recognition of his fitness, progressive business spirit and sterling integrity, and his overwhelming election was further proof of the trust reposed in him. No man could enter upon his official career with greater evidence of esteem and confidence than does Mr. Green. He was selected with the expectation that the city would be conducted in a business manner, and that there should be a clean, creditable administration."

Mayor Green took the oath of office in the Common Council chamber May 7, 1894. On that occasion Mayor Price presented to Mayor Green the handsome silver tipped gavel which he had received so many years ago, and said he was glad to surrender this emblem of authority to a man of honor and ability. "Since coming to this council eleven years ago," said Mayor Price, "the city has more than doubled its population. This has been due to the enterprise of her citizens and to the wisdom of those who have shaped its destiny during the early days of its cityhood."

In the fall of 1895 Mr. Green was elected district attorney of Chautauqua county, assuming the duties of the office January 1, 1896. He therefore retired from office upon the expiration, and was succeeded as mayor by Oscar F. Price, his predecessor, who two years later was succeeded by Henry H. Cooper, who took the oath of office April 11, 1898. In the spring of 1900, Mayor Cooper was succeeded by J. Emil Johnson, during whose administration the municipal water plant was acquired.

In 1908 Samuel A. Carison was elected mayor of Jamestown and in 1920 he began his seventh term as chief executive of the city-.

The following table gives the population of Jamestown from 1827 down to the last census: 1827, 393; 1830, 884; 1840, 1,212; 1845, 1,642; 1855, 2,625; 1860, 3,155; 1870, 5,336; 1880, 9,357; 1890, 16,038; 1892, 18,627; 1900, 22,892; 1905, 26,160; 1910, 31,297; 1915, 37,780; 1920, 38,898, corrected, 38,917.

The schools of Jamestown are included in the educational chapter, Dr. Rovillus R. Rogers, editor. Jamestown is a city of churches, and perhaps no city in the State has in proportion to its population as large a religious element or as many imposing church edifices. Rev. Eliot C. Hall in 1900 prepared a brief sketch of Jamestown's church history, which is here quoted, as it contains all the essential facts concerning the various church denominations:

The early settlers were, for the most part, interested in religious matters, and favored the formation of churches. Many meetings, however, were held before any church was formed, and no minister of any denomination visited the place without being invited to preach.

The First Congregational Church was organized in 1816 by Rev. John Spencer, a missionary from Connecticut, and legally incorporated in 1821.

A Methodist class was formed at Worksburg in 1814, and a Congregational church in what is now Kiantone, in 1815. (Both Worksburg and Kiantone were then in the town of Ellicott, in which township Jamestown was also located.) A building formerly used for school purposes known as the Old Academy served as a place of worship until the year 1828, when a church building was erected on the southwest corner of Main and Fifth streets.

A commodious brick church edifice was erected in 1869 on East Third street, which has been enlarged and remodeled and is now used by this church.

Rev. Isaac Eddy was the first pastor of the church. The present First Methodist Episcopal Church grew out of the class formed at Worksburg in 1814. This class was duly organized into a church arid moved to Jamestown in 1823. Their first church edifice was erected at the junction of Second and Chandler streets, and completed in 1833. They now occupy a fine brick structure which has a seating capacity of about 1,500. This church has had a remarkably vigorous growth, and has the largest membership of any of the Englishspeaking churches of the city.

The First Baptist Church was organized in 1832. Their first church edifice was built in 1833. The present building, constructed of Warsaw blue stone, is one of the finest in the city. It is situated at the corner of Fourth and Church streets and is a monument to the zeal and devotion of both pastor and people.

The First Presbyterian Church was organized in 1834 by Rev. E. J. Gillett, forty-one members of the Congregational church having withdrawn to unite in its formation. In 1837 a substantial church edifice was built of wood, on the corner of West Third and Cherry streets. This building was burned in 1877, but was replaced by a large and commodious brick edifice, the interior of which was destroyed by fire in 1890. The building was immediately rebuilt with all modern conveniences and facilities for church work. The church has a large and growing membership, and has been ably served by its pastors.

St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal Church was organized in 1834, but was without a stated pastor until the year 1853, when Rev. Levi W. Norton took charge of this parish. The first church building of wood, erected on the corner of Main and Fourth streets, was consecrated in 1856. This building was burned in 1862 and replaced by a second building upon the same foundation in 1865. The present beautiful church edifice was the munificent gift of the late Mrs. Mary A. Prendergast, as a memorial to her daughter, Catherine. It is constructed of Medina sandstone, is fire-proof and complete in all its equipments. It has a clock tower which contains the only chime of bells in the city.

The Free Methodist Church was incorporated in 1874, the outgrowth of a class formed in 1871. The present church building was erected in 1884 on the corner of Lincoln and East Seventh streets.

SS. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church occupies a fine stone building on the corner of West Sixth and Cherry streets. For a number of years Jamestown was part of a large parish embracing several towns served by one church official. In 1874 a separate parish was formed here under the care of Rev. Father Richard Coyle, under whose wise administration the church greatly prospered.

The English Lutheran Church has a modest brick house of worship on West Fourth street. The church was organized by Rev. S. G. Weiskotten in 1877.

The First Unitarian Church was organized by Rev. J. G. Townsend as an Independent Congregational Church in 1885. Its church property at the junction of East Second and Chandler streets was purchased from the First Methodist Episcopal Church and completely remodeled and refurnished.

The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was organized in 1882 as a Union Church, but subsequently placed itself under the care of the African Methodist Episcopal Conference. It has a new church building on its lot on Spring street.

The Seventh Day Adventists have a church building on Cherry street.

The First Church of Christ (Scientist) has a unique church building on the corner of East Fourth street and Prendergast avenue.

A Primitive Methodist Church has recently been organized, and a house of worship erected on Allen street.

The Brooklyn Heights Methodist Episcopal Church has a neat house of worship on the corner of Sprague and Palmer streets.

The Salvation Army holds services in both the English and Swedish languages. There are also six chapels where Sunday Schools and occasional preaching services are held.

There is also a Spiritualistic and a Theosophic Society which meet by appointment in different places.

Jamestown has a large Swedish population, and they are largely a church-going people. A Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church was formed here as early as 1852. This church now occupies a fine brick structure on the corner of Chandler street and Foote avenue.

The First Swedish Lutheran Church was organized in 1857. Rev. Carl Otto Hultgren, D. D., became pastor in 1864. A large and imposing Medina sand stone church building is located on Chandler street.

The Swedish Mission Church was organized in 1879 and has recently erected a fine brick building on Chandler street.

The Swedish Christian Zion Church was organized by members who withdrew from the Mission Church and have a fine brick house of worship on College street.

The Swedish Immanuel Lutheran Church was formed from members who withdrew from the First Lutheran Church in 1887. They have a commodious brick church on East Second street.

A Danish service is held each Sunday in the Congregational church on Institute street.

Since the above was written, the Pilgrim Memorial Church has been located on McKinley and Forest avenues. The Salvation Army has a handsome citadel on the corner of Spring and Third streets. The Calvary Baptist Church is located at the corner of Ashville and Livingston avenues. The Swedish Baptist Church is located on Chandler street. St. James' Church, Roman Catholic, is situated on Victoria avenue. Holy Trinity, English Lutheran, is located on Fourth street, between North Main and Cherry. Buffalo Street Methodist Episcopal Church, at Buffalo and Falconer streets. Grace United Brethren Church at North Main and Fourteenth streets.

The newspapers of the city are:
The Chautauqua Democrat (weekly). Published by the Jamestown Evening News Company.

The Evening Journal. Published daily except Sunday, at 12 West Second street by The Journal Printing Company, Frederick P. Hall, president and general manager; James A. Clary, vice-president and managing editor; Henri M. Hall, treasurer and business manager.

The Jamestown Journal. Twice-a-week, published at 12 West Second street, by The Journal Printing Company (for officers see above); established 1826.

The Morning Post. Published daily except Sunday at 311-313 Washington street, by The Post Publishing Company, Ralph C. Sheldon, president; Edward L. Allen, secretary and managing editor; Robert K. Beach, treasurer and business manager. Established in 1901.

The Evening News. Published daily except Sunday, by the Jamestown Evening News Company, Inc. 307 Spring.

The St. Clairsville Commercial. Published every Thursday by The Jamestown Evening News Company.

The Vart Land (Swedish). Published at 307 Spring street every Thursday by the Vart Land Company, F. G. Curtis, president; S. A. Carlson, secretary.

Skandia (Swedish). Published every Thursday by Liberty Printing Company, 14 West Second; C. E. Lindstone, editor.

The Union Advocate. Published every Thursday by The Jamestown Evening News Company, 307 Spring.

The Furniture Index. Devoted to furniture trade, and published once a month by the Furniture Trade Publishing Company.

The following are the philanthropic institutions of the city:
The Woman's Christian Association Hospital, corner Foote avenue and Allen street, one of the best in the country, and supported largely by voluntary contributions.

Gustavus Adolphus Orphans' Home, 1381 East Second street. This institution is controlled by the Lutheran Augustana Synod (Swedish).

During the year 1911 the O. E. Jones Memorial Hospital, erected on a tract of ground willed to the city by O. E. Jones, was opened to the public.

Jamestown has a number of handsome public buildings, viz.: Federal building, City Hall, James Prendergast Library and Art Gallery; State Armory.

The Young Men's Christian Association owns a building and plant valued at $100,000, and the Young Woman's Christian Association a handsome building, which with lot cost $65,000.

The Agnes Association owns a large brick residence and grounds which is conducted as a boarding home for working girls.

The Warner Home for the Aged, the latest of Jamestown's benevolent institutions, had its beginning in 1911 and received at the hands of Mrs. Mary H. Warner the L. B. Warner homestead in Forest avenue as a memorial to Mr. Warner, who died in 1905.

A comprehensive park system has been planned and a park commission composed of public-spirited citizens who have given and are giving much time gratuitously to the work of developing these parks into beauty spots that will be a credit to the city. One of the largest of these parks is the Allen Park located on the south side, a most picturesque and beautiful spot.

What is known as the "Hundred Acre Lot," a woodland lying on the borders of the city has been acquired, through public subscription, for the particular benefit of the pupils of the public schools.

There are two parks on the north side, one between West Fourth and West Fifth streets, known as Baker Park, and the other between West Sixth and West Seventh streets, known as Dow Park.

The Soldiers' Memorial Park, the purchase of which was authorized at a taxpayers' election in the spring of 1919, has been turned over to the local American Legion Post as a Memorial Home for Jamestown's soldiers. This park was formerly the Governor Fenton Homestead, is near the center of the city and with the mansion and grounds is a very fitting memorial to the soldier boys.

The Jones Memorial Park is on the shores of Chautauqua lake outlet. It is still in a rough state but in time will be made into a modern park.

The area of the city is approximately nine and one-half square miles, or 6,136 acres. There are more than 33 miles of paving, mostly shale brick, although some of the business streets are paved with bitulithic and asphalt block.

The assessed valuation of the city in 1908 was $13,347,981; in 1909, $13,498,331; in 1910, $14,133,149; in 1912, $16,046,366; in 1913, $16,981,395; in 1914, $16,455,020; in 1915, $17,713,396, and in 1918, $23,850,405.

On the settlement of the affairs of James Prendergast, son of Alexander T. and grandson of James Prendergast, the founder of Jamestown, whose funeral was held December 26, 1879, a brief memoranda was found which requested that the business block at the corner of Main and Third streets should be made available as an endowment for a free public library. On January 2, 1880, The James Prendergast Library Association was incorporated, and January 3, the association was duly organized and took title to the property. Mary (Norton) Prendergast, mother of James and wife of Alexander T. Prendergast, and the last survivor of the family, died in Rochester, December 22, 1889. By will she devised the by far greater part of her estate to public purposes. The various Prendergast bequests are as follows:

The James Prendergast Library (which has extended notice in chapter on Libraries) was completed at a cost of $60,000, and furnished with an art gallery costing $45,000. The grounds upon which the building is located cover an entire city square in one of the best residence districts of the city. It was opened to the puiDlic, December 1, 1891, and then contained 8,666 volumes, a number which has been constantly increased during the twenty-nine years the Library has been in existence,

A bronze drinking fountain erected near one of the main entrances to Lake View Cemetery at a cost of $2,000.

The magnificent St. Luke's Episcopal Church edifice, erected at a cost of $125,000.

The sum of $2,000 set aside and the income derived therefrom is divided annually into four prizes to be paid to students in the Jamestown schools for superior merit in scholarship, the same to be determined by competitive examinations.

The sum of $500 set aside and the income derived therefrom is expended in the purchase of books for the library of the Mission Sunday School conducted under the auspices of the Woman's Christian Association.

The rental of the Prendergast building at the corner of Main and Third streets provides an income sufficient to defray the operating expenses of the library. Thus it will be seen that the Prendergast family imposed no restrictions, for they not only built the library but they equipped it, and provided an endowment sufficleat to support it for all time to come-a truly royal gift.

The general welfare of the city of Jamestown is promoted by a Chamber of Commerce, a Manufacturers' Association and lesser business organizations. The fraternal orders are well represented, the Elks, Eagles, Odd Fellows and Masonic orders all being well housed in their own buildings. There are many literary, musical, art and social clubs.

The leading clubs are the -Jamestown Norden and Mozart, the list, however, being capable of great extension. There is a chapter of the Sons of the Revolution located in the city and a chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Other patriotic orders are: James Hall Camp, No. 11, Sons of Veterans; James M. Brown Post, No. 285, G. A. R.; Woman's Relief Corps, No. 73; Encampment No. 95, Union Veteran Legion; Auxiliary No. 24, Ladies of the Union Veteran Legion; Ira Lou Spring Post, American Legion.

There are lodges of the Scandinavian Fraternal Association of America, Swedish Brotherhood, Swedish Sisterhood, Sons of St. George, Daughters of St. George, and many others, social, athletic, religious and fraternal.

History of Jamestown, NY
FROM: History of Chautauqua County, New York and its people
John P. Downs - Editor-in-Charge.
Fenwick Y. Hedley Editor-in-Chief.
Published By American Historical Society, Inc. 1921

Jamestown, NY

2009-08-25T20:37:00.001-07:00

The early settlement of the City of Jamestown, started on the north side of the Chadakoin River known as "The Rapids," was purchased from the Holland Land Company in 1809 by the Prendergast family. In 1810, John Blower built the first log house at "The Rapids," in which he operated a tavern for keelboatmen, who sold their goods between Pittsburgh and Mayville. The following year, James Prendergast built a long house saw mill and mill dam on the north bank of the river. By 1815, the year the settlement officially received its name, Jamestown consisted of a clearing of about sixty acres with only thirteen families in residence. Jamestown, at this time had a general store, a blacksmith shop, a sawmill, a gristmill and a wool carding business. Many of these businesses were located on the north side of the river, along Main Street between First and Fourth Streets.

The initial growth and development of the settlement was spurred on locally by the abundance of natural resources. The lumber furniture, and textile industries were established. The Chautauqua Lake Outlet supplied the waterpower for the mills and machinery, and the Allegheny River provided transportation for the distribution of manufactured goods to outside markets. The developing furniture industry would always play an important role in Jamestown history. Phineas Palmiter, emigrated from Rhode Island and established himself as Jamestown's first furniture maker. He was a carpenter, joiner, millwright, machinist, and metal worker, but James Prendergast first employed him in the erection of buildings for the expanding village. In 1827, Palmiter established a chair factory on East First Street. At this early stage, furniture was produced for local sale only, but by 1825 Royal Keyes was shipping furniture to southern markets. Between 1814 and 1823 the woolen industry began with a wool carding establishment, the first woolen mill and wool-weaving factory. In the fall of 1835, Joel Partridge, a local carpenter and joiner, bought a half interest in a pail and tub factory, which became known as the Wood and Partridge Company.

The early roads of Jamestown were primitive, but a wooden bridge, built in 1814, at the foot of Main Street connected the south side of the village. The poor road condition of the first half of the nineteenth century in the Chautauqua County region of the Holland Land Company made water travel a key mode of transportation for Jamestown. Locally manufactured items were shipped on boats for sale down the Chadakoin River and Conewango Creek to the Allegheny River and the Ohio River in flat and keelboats. Water transportation was most important until the advent of the railroads in 1860.

The railroad presence encouraged further expansion of industry by providing a reliable network for distribution of goods. Jamestown's first railroad was the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, which arrived in 1860. This line was later operated by the Erie Railroad that offered both passenger and freight services between New York and Chicago and operated another branch from Jamestown to Buffalo. The railroad paralleled the Chadakoin River and helped to greatly expand the industrial corridor in the heart of the city. Jamestown's population increased dramatically after the introduction of the railroad, from 3,155 residents in 1860 to 15,000 residents in 1886, the year in which Jamestown achieved city status.

Ross, Claire, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Partridge/Sheldon House, nomination document, 2000, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.

The Furniture Industry

2009-08-25T18:48:00.000-07:00

The Development from 1816 to 1945

by Paul A. Spengler, Our Town Magazine, Jamestown Vol.1 Issue #7

The Economic Development of Jamestown Before 1860

The industrial development of Jamestown before the Civil War depended primarily on two resources, wood and water. In the early nineteenth century, Western New York was heavily forested, with as much as 100,000 board feet of timber per acre in upland areas like Chautauqua County. Southwestern New York was rich in white pine, hemlock and such valuable northern hardwoods as maple, oak, beech, birch, chestnut, walnut, sycamore and cherry. Southern Chautauqua County was covered with dense pine forests.

The county was also crossed by several creeks which provided water power for early nineteenth century factories. The creeks did not, however, provide a unified system of transportation. Chautauqua County is divided by a large terminal morraine known as "the ridge." The ridge is 600 to 1,400 feet in elevation and runs parallel to lake Erie, from three to six miles inland. West of the ridge, Cattaraugus Creek, Canadaway Creek and Walnut Creek flow into Lake Erie, while east of the ridge Lake Chautauqua, the Chadokoin River and Conewango Creek flow into the Allegheny River. Before the coming of the railroad, towns located west of the ridge, like Dunkirk, Fredonia and Westfield, were economically tied to the settlements of northern Ohio and Central New York, while Jamestown was tied to western Pennsylvania and the Ohio valley.

Overland transportation in the early nineteenth century was primitive and expensive. The high cost of transportation made it difficult for Chautauqua County farmers to import manufactured goods and prohibited the exporting of an agricultural surplus. Consequently, most farming in antebellum Chautauqua County was on a subsistence basis, while village industry consisted mainly of small artisan shops serving the needs of local farmers.

Timber was the only resource Chautauqua County possessed that could bear the transportation costs to urban markets. Soft pine woods were cut into boards, piled into rafts and floated down the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. The hardwoods were burned and their ashes used to make potash. Ten acres of hardwood land yielded up to a ton of potash, worth as much as $200. The potash was shipped to New York and Pittsburgh, where it was used as an ingredient in the manufacture of soap, glass, baking powder and gun powder.

Jamestown's location on the Chadokoin River, in the heart of the pine country, made it an early center of lumber milling. As early as 1804, Edward Work and Thomas R. Kennedy built a sawmill near Jamestown. In 1809, James Prendergast established the first settlement at "the rapids," as Jamestown was then known. He built a sawmill in 1810, and two more by 1816. Other settlers erected additional sawmills, and by 1830 Jamestown was shipping forty million board feet of timber per year, with an annual product value of $250,000. So many new mills were built during the 1830's that by 1840 most stands of first class pine timber had been exhausted.

Prendergast encouraged the settlement of skilled New England craftsmen in his village and many of them used their skills to launch manufacturing enterprises. New England artisans founded the village's first woolen mill and cabinet making shop. Other Yankees founded a scythe snath factory in Jamestown that quickly gained a nation-wide market, and a sash and pail factory that sold its goods as far away as New Orleans.

By the eve of the Civil War, Jamestown had developed a variety of industries. However, most of the village's business concerns were small establishments that provided for the needs of an agricultural area. Several factories manufactured farm implements such as grain measures, rakes and scythe snaths, while other entrepreneurs operated grist mills, sawmills, blacksmith shops, tanneries, wagon building shops and coopers' shops. Manufacturing not directly related to agriculture was limited largely to three woolen mills, two cabinet making shops and a chair factory.

Until shortly before the Civil War, Jamestown's industrial growth was severely hindered by lack of adequate transportation. In 1814, Jamestown was connected with the outside world only by keelboat. As late as 1880, some Jamestown merchants still traded on the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers from storeboats. Stage lines were opened between Jamestown, Warren, Mayville, Fredonia, Dunkirk, Erie and Buffalo during the 1820's. While stage coaches were adequate for passenger transportation, they were not sufficient for the movement of raw materials or manufactured goods. Plank roads, built in 1837, connected Jamestown with Fredonia and Dunkirk, but these were still not adequate to provide the transportation needed if Jamestown were to develop into an industrial city. Although the first railroad reached Chautauqua County in 1852, it went through the northern part of the county to Dunkirk, bypassing Jamestown. Until 1860, when the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad connected Jamestown to New York and Pittsburgh, Jamestown developed far more slowly than Dunkirk.

Jamestown's Furniture Industry Before 1860

The availability of wood and water not only made Jamestown a lumber milling center, but also made it possible for a furniture industry to develop. Jamestown was still basically a logging camp when in 1816, Royal Keyes started the first cabinet making shop in the village. Like many of Jamestown's early manufacturers, Keyes was an immigrant craftsman from New England. In 1820, Keyes formed a partnership with another Yankee immigrant, William Breed. In 1823 Breed bought out Keyes' interest and in 1837 he converted the business from a cabinet making shop based entirely on hand labor, to a water- powered factory. In 1827, Phineas Palmeter launched the village's first chair making factory which, like the Breed factory, later converted to water - powered machinery.

The water - powered machinery used in Jamestown's early furniture factories was very crude and most of the intricate work was still performed by hand. Nevertheless, by 1850 the Breed Company was selling furniture within a one - hundred mile radius of Jamestown, while the Rogers and Bill Chair Factory was shipping furniture in pieces to Pittsburgh. In 1858 Simmons, Tyrell and Company produced more than twenty types of chairs as well as bedsteads and other furniture. The company had large rooms for machinery, painting, finishing and storage. Most furniture factories built in Jamestown before the Civil War were located in the southeastern bend of the Chadokoin in order to make use of falling water. The area soon became known as Piousville, because so many of the factory owners were church deacons.

Economic Development of Jamestown after 1860

Several factors contributed to Jamestown's rapid growth after the Civil War. Of great importance was the development of railroads in southern Chautauqua County, beginning with the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad which reached Jamestown in 1860. Before 1860, railroad development in Chautauqua County had taken place only in the northern part of the county and benefited towns like Dunkirk, Fredonia and Westfield. Jamestown's only transportation before the Civil War was over rude plank roads, which were inadequate for shipping industrial goods. Lacking a railroad, Jamestown lagged behind Dunkirk. In 1855 Jamestown had only 1,625 people while Dunkirk had 4,754.

Jamestown's political and industrial leaders energetically worked for the construction of a railroad, and in 1860, they were able to interest the builder of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad in building their railroad through Jamestown. This gave the village a rail link with New York City and Pittsburgh. It also made it possible for Jamestown to import coal, the indispensible ingredient of nineteenth century industry. By 1865, the village's population had doubled to 3,155. The building of additional railroads also boosted Jamestown's growth. The Buffalo and Oil Creek Cross Cut Railroad, built in 1865, connected Chautauqua County with the coal and oil fields of northwestern Pennsylvania, while in 1875 the Buffalo and Jamestown Railroad linked Jamestown to Buffalo. Many towns in Chautauqua County subsidized railroad construction and in 1888 Jamestown promoters spent $1,080,000 to build a railroad linking Jamestown with Mayville and Westfield, which were on the routes of the New York Central, Pennsylvania and Southern Michigan railroads. By 1880, Jamestown had surpassed Dunkirk when its population reached 9,357 and by 1920, Jamestown's population was 38,917.

The establishment of rail links made it possible for Jamestown to import raw materials more cheaply and export finished goods more profitably. Also, by the end of the Civil War, businessmen in Jamestown had accumulated enough capital from lumber milling to invest in new and expanded industries. In order to attract new industries, the city sometimes subsidized plant construction. In 1872, for example, $5,000 was raised by subscription to get the Union Boulder Pail Factory to locate in Jamestown, and in 1874 William Broadhead got a $15,000 subsidy to help build his first worsted mill.

Throughout the late nineteenth century, as agriculture became more mechanized, people moved to the cities, expanding the industrial work force and creating a larger urban consumer market. Companies which had produced agricultural equipment began making goods for urban buyers. The F. Simmons Company and the H. W. Watson Company of Jamestown, for example, had originally made farm tools, but later produced furniture instead. The arrival of foreign-born immigrants also swelled the urban work force. In Jamestown, the arrival of Swedish immigrants after 1865 provided additional skilled workers for the furniture factories, while English immigrants made a major contribution to the city's worsted industry.

Jamestown never became a center of heavy industry. It was too far from the main lines of transportation, and its industrial growth began too late for it to compete with cities like Pittsburgh and Buffalo. Jamestown survived, however, and continued to grow by concentrating on smaller industries that did not require great capital investment or highly expensive technology. Throughout the late nineteenth century, Jamestown specialized in the manufacture of worsted cloth and wooden furniture, and by 1911 it was second only to Grand Rapids as a furniture manufacturing center. The city's entrepreneurs were also quick to branch out into new lines of light industrial production. In 1889, a group of Jamestown businessmen organized the American Aristotype Company, a pioneer in the manufacture of photographic paper, and in 1888 another group of Jamestown businessmen took the leadership in organizing the Art Metal Construction Company. Other metal furniture companies were soon organized in Jamestown and by 1911, the city was the leading manufacturer of metal furniture in the nation. Jamestown entrepreneurs also organized companies to manufacture a wide variety of goods, including metallic doors, voting machines, pianos, crescent wrenches, ball bearings and automobile parts.

The Furniture Industry in Jamestown, 1860 to 1920

In 1855, Jamestown had one chair factory and two cabinet making shops. By 1920, the city had twenty furniture factories, and by 1930, there were fifty. The post Civil War years brought economic prosperity to the North, while the railroads enabled Jamestown manufacturers to expand their markets. As the forests of southern Chautauqua County became depleted, furniture manufacturers were able to import wood. Immediately after the war, furniture production expanded. In 1870, the Jamestown Cane Seat Company spent $17,000 modernizing its plant while the F. Simmons Company converted from making farm tools to making furniture. New enterprises were started, including the Martyn Brothers Lounge Company (1865), Park Brothers (1865), Wood and Comstock (1869), the Jamestown Wood Seat Chair Company (1873), and the Jamestown Bedstead Works (1873). The formation of new companies was hindered for a time by the depression of 1873 to 1877, however, during the later nineteenth century additional companies were launched, including Shearman Brothers (1880), the Morgan Manufacturing Company (1890), and the Jamestown Furniture Company (1893). The first Swedish manufacturer of furniture in Jamestown, Augustus Johnson, began making doors in 1869 and beginning in the 1870's, the Swedes organized a great number of furniture companies, including the A. C. Norquist Company (1881), at Atlas Furniture Company (1882), Carlson, Bloomquist and Snow (1885) as well as a great number of firms launched early in the twentieth century, such as the Elk, Anchor, Allied, Acme, Active and Level Furniture Companies.

Furniture factories were a cheap investment primarily because they were not highly mechanized and did not require large numbers of workers. Jamestown furniture was made entirely by hand until 1837, when the first crude, water - driven equipment came into use.

William Maddox, founder of the Maddox Table Company, invented a variety of furniture making machines, which he sold to manufacturers throughout the United States. He owed much of his success, as a table manufacturer, to his invention of a machine for polishing wooden table tops. As late as 1900, however, the principal machines in the furniture factories were slash saws, band saws, planers, moulders and shapers, and many operations continued to be done by hand. Electric, motors were not introduced until shortly after World War I.

Most furniture factories employed a relatively small work force. In 1894, even well-established firms like the Breed-Johnson Company, the Jamestown Cane Seat Company, the Morgan Manufacturing Company and the Shearman Brothers Lounge Company only employed from 50 to 100 workmen. Smaller concerns often employed only one or two dozen men. As late as 1920, firms such as Elk, Acme, Active and Allied furniture companies employed 50 men or less. Large companies in 1920 included the A. C. Norquist Company, with 125 men, the Atlas Furniture Company, with 200 men, and Level Furniture Company and the Bailey Table Company, with close to 300 men each.

During the late nineteenth century, some of the larger furniture factories employed women and children on a piece-work basis. In 1870, the Jamestown Cane Seat Company employed from 30 to 40 girls and boys, paying them $.10 per seat. The children usually worked at home, and made from 6 to 10 cane seats per day. For more intricate work, however, companies relied on skilled adult woodworkers. Before the Civil War most of the woodworking was performed by Yankees, while after the war the Swedes began to play a major role in the city's furniture industry. Early in the twentieth century, Italians and Albanians also found work in Jamestown's furniture factories. The small scale of enterprise, and the continued reliance on hand labor, rather than inexpensive [expensive] equipment, made it possible for furniture workers to organize their own companies. This was especially true in the case of the Swedes. Several firms, including the A.C. Norquist, Atlas, Advance and Level furniture companies were founded by immigrant Swedish woodworkers.

The growth of the city's furniture industry depended also on entrepreneurs who sought new ways of promoting their products and expanding their markets. Before the Civil War, Jamestown furniture makers sold their goods largely in the local area. Even during the first two decades after the war, the market for the furniture was largely regional. From 1877 to 1886, for example, Jamestown Split Cane Seat Company sold its goods almost entirely in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. As transportation improved in the large nineteenth century, Jamestown businessmen were able to ship their goods profitably to more distant markets. At the same time, they were exposed to competition from other cities.

One of the ways in which furniture manufacturers in Jamestown increased their sales was by improved advertising and marketing arrangements. Until the end of the nineteenth century, dealers who wished to purchase Jamestown furniture made their selections from photographs carried by traveling salesmen. They rarely saw samples of the furniture they intended to order. One of the first manufacturers in Jamestown to experiment with new advertising techniques was William Maddox. He was one of the first furniture manufacturers in the United States to trademark his products, and in 1889, he sent a showman named Cedarine Allen on a world-wide promotional tour. In four months, Allen took Maddox tables to Great Britain, Spain, Egypt, Arabia, Ceylon, Malaya, China and Japan. The Ahlstrom Piano Company employed another advertising device when it appealed to ethnic pride by placing advertisements in Swedish-language newspapers urging their readers to buy their pianos from a Swedish-American company.

Jamestown's furniture manufacturers took a big step towards improved advertising in 1895 when they held their first furniture exposition in the Celeron auditorium. No further expositions were held, however, until 1910. Between 1910 and 1917, furniture manufacturers began to exhibit their wares regularly in their factories and in hotels. They timed their exhibits to coincide with the annual furniture exhibitions in Grand Rapids, and furniture buyers began visiting Jamestown on their way to Grand Rapids. In 1914, several of the city's furniture manufacturers organized the Jamestown Furniture Marketing Association. The leaders in this venture included a number of owners of important companies. In 1917, they built the Furniture Exposition Building, where manufacturers from the Jamestown area held regular showings of their new lines of furniture. By 1945 the association included thirty companies in Jamestown, Falconer, Frewsburg, Mayville, Brocton, Salamanca, Warren and Youngsville. The association mailed advertisements to over 10,000 furniture dealers and department stores, and advertised in a wide variety of trade journals as well as publications like Home and Garden, House Beautiful and The New Yorker.

The furniture industry in Jamestown also grew because entrepreneurs and investors took the initiative in launching new kinds of furniture concerns. In 1888 Arthur C. Wade, an attorney, and Alexis Crane, a druggist, took the leadership in organizing the Art Metal Construction Company. They were joined by Rueben E. Fenton, Jr., the governor's son, and by Frank E. Gifford, a leading manufacturer of wooden furniture. They bought out the nation's first producer of metal shelving, the American Shelf and Drawer Company of Milwaukee, and joined with firms in Saint Louis, Rochester and Milwaukee to found the Art Metal Construction Company, the first producer of metal furniture in the United States. Because of the leadership taken by Jamestown businessmen, Jamestown became the site of the company's general office. The Watson Manufacturing Company soon converted its operations from farm equipment to metal furniture and in 1904 a group of Swedes organized the Dahlstrom Metallic Door Company. By 1920, there were six companies in Jamestown which produced metal furniture, doors and shelving.

Successful furniture manufacturers also helped promote the city's development by supporting other business ventures. William Maddox, after succeeding as a table manufacturer, started a company to produce furniture making machinery. Arthur Wade and Frank Gifford, two of the leading founders of the Art Metal Construction Company, later took much of the initiative in organizing the American Voting Machine Company.

The Jamestown Furniture Industry, 1920 to 1945

By 1930, 50 of the city's 110 factories produced furniture and two of them, Art Metal and Marlin Rockwell, were listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1945 furniture was still Jamestown's biggest industry, but the number of furniture companys had declined to 25. A number of factors help account for the failure of so many companies. First, it was becoming more expensive to get raw materials. The great pine forest of Chautauqua County had disappeared by 1850, most of the valuable hardwoods had been used by 1875 and even the cheaper woods like hemlock, were nearly exhausted by 1900. The manufacturers were able to import wood, pigments, oils and resins by rail, however, these were often expensive items produced in foreign countries. By the end of World War II, Jamestown's furniture companies still obtained much of their popular, chestnut, maple, cherry and some of the oak timber locally. Other woods and materials had to be imported from abroad: mahogany from Africa, ivarra from the Philippines and primaverra from Mexico, sienna pigment from Italy, umber from Turkey and Van Dyke Brown from Germany, tung oil from China and Central America, and most of the resin came from South America and New Zealand. It was especially difficult for small firms to pay for these imported raw materials. Trade was interrupted during World War II which made these items even more scarce.

Conflicts between labor and management also become serious after World War I. Prior to this time, workers in Jamestown were seldom unionized, except for a few years during the mid-1880's, when the Knights of Labor organized a few craft unions. The Knights had few supporters among unskilled or immigrant laborers, and they quickly collapsed because of conflicts within the labor movement. Unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor began to organize in Jamestown in 1896 and by 1900 there were twenty-nine A. F. L. unions in the city. Like the Knights, the A. F. L. represented primarily skilled labor, but unlike the Knights they had considerable support among the foreign-born. Labor solidarity, however, was hindered by ethnic conflicts. On several occasions, businessmen made concessions on hours and wages, as long as they did not have to grant the unions legal recognition, and there was little violence until shortly before World War I.

Violent strikes became more common shortly before the war, and wartime inflation contributed to increased union militancy and to the reluctance of employers to raise wages. Consequently, in 1919, a mass strike closed 56 factories and involved 3,600 workers. Disagreement between moderate and radical labor leaders contributed to the failure of the strike, as did widespread public reaction against radicalism. Relations between labor and management remained very bitter for years afterwards. There were major strikes at Empire Case Goods and the Art Metal Construction Company in 1933, at the Dahlstrom Metallic Door Company in 1940, at the Blackstone Company in 1949, and at the Art Metal Construction Company, the Watson Manufacturing Company and the Jamestown Metal Corporation in 1955. Union leaders argued that wages in Jamestown were below the national average, while employers argued that the burden of rising wages and taxes force companies to leave the city or go out of business.

The most important reason for the failure of so many furniture companies, however, was the lack of capital to modernize. Before 1920, many factories had been founded with small amounts of capital and they were able to survive because manufacturing did not require highly expensive, complex machinery. Furthermore, until the end of the nineteenth century, many furniture companies in Jamestown traded primarily in a regional market. As Jamestown became more integrated into the national economy, and as furniture became more mechanized, it was increasingly difficult for small, marginal firms to compete successfully with larger and more efficient rivals.

Even before the Great Depression of the 1930's, economic downturns had caused furniture factories to fail. The depression of 1873 - 1877 witnessed the failure of Gates and Langford and Ford, Wood and Comstock. Business failures during the depression of the mid-1890's included Benson, Hand, and Frisbee and Schildmacher and Bauer. A number of firms went out of business, or were bought out by larger companies, even during the prosperous decade of the 1920's. The Kling-Triangle Furniture Company failed in 1925 and the Ahlstrom Piano Company and the Jamestown Case Goods went out in 1926. The year 1927 witnessed the failure of the Liberty Upholstery Company and the Herrick, Supreme and Standard furniture companies. In 1928, the Bailey Table Company, Himebaugh Brothers, Schulze and Van Stee and the Jamestown Period Furniture Company went out of business. The Ideal, Allied, Level and Star furniture companies failed in 1929. The number of companies that went out of business during the two or three years preceding the depression indicates that many firms, especially the smaller ones, were finding it difficult to compete successfully in a post-war economy characterized by larger firms and greater mechanization.

The depression itself wiped out many furniture companies, especially among the smaller Swedish firms founded with little capital during the early twentieth century. During the worst years of the depression, from 1930 to 1935, several other companies ceased operations: Jamestown Mantel Company, the Modern Cabinet Company and the Active, Excelsior, Elk, Premier and Diamond furniture companies. The recovery of the mid 1930's was followed by the recession of 1936 - 1939 during which Berkey Chair Company, and the Munson, Marvel and Dykeman furniture companies failed. Thomas, Superior and Anchor furniture companies, along with the American Carving Works and the Lake View Carving Company discontinued business in the early 1940's.

This period of the 30's and 40's were not years of total failure, however. A few successful new furniture companies were founded, including the Aluminum Chair Company (1937), Burns Furniture Company (1939), the Falconer Cabinet Corporation(1946) and the Chadokoin Furniture Company (1946). Although the Wright Metal Corporation failed in 1934, its place was taken by the successful Jamestown Steel Partition Company, organized in 1940.

Many companies merged or were bought by stronger firms. As early as 1919, the Maddox family sold its table making business to the Shearman Brothers Lounge Company. The Jamestown Metal Desk Company underwent reorganization in 1935, emerging as the Jamestown Metal Corporation. In 1940 it took over the Ellison Bronze Company then in 1950 it absorbed the Exel Metal Company. By 1945, there had been extensive mergers in the furniture industry in Jamestown; Burns Case Goods took over the Premier Cabinet Corporation, Empire Case Goods absorbed the Cadwell Cabinet Company, and Kling Factories bought out the Triangle Furniture Company and Carlson, Bloomquist and Snow. Davis Furniture Company absorbed the F. M. Curtis Company and then merged with the Randolph Furniture Works, which had previously taken over the Eckman and Himebaugh furniture companies. Of twenty-five furniture companies still in business in 1945, the four strongest were products of mergers: Union-National, Shearman-Maddox, Jamestown Royal and Davis-Randolph.

In the decade that followed World War II, a number of companies in Jamestown were bought by firms which had their headquarters in other cities. The Chautauqua Plywood Company became part of Magnavox, the Curtis Machine Corporation was purchased by the Carborundum Company, Conroe Concrete became part of Marietta Concrete and Weber-Knapp was absorbed by a furniture company in Grand Rapids. Other companies, like the Daystrom Company, the Newbrook Machine Corporation and Empire Case Goods, left the city. Some, like the Swanson Machine Company and Croft Steel Products, moved to the deep South, where wage and tax costs were lower. In the early 1950's, one Jamestown businessman noted that, during his years in the city, at least sixty-nine companies had left or gone out of business, while only seven successful new ventures had been launched. In 1945, however, none of Jamestown's major furniture companies had left the city, and furniture making was still Jamestown's largest industry.

The Furniture Industry and the Swedes

In addition to becoming Jamestown's leading industry, furniture making also provided jobs and economic advancement for many of the city's immigrants. While many of the foreign-born were unskilled laborers, other contributed important skills to the city's industries. British weavers were very significant in the growth of the worsted mills in Jamestown, and the Art Metal Construction Company imported skilled German metal workers from Milwaukee. The wooden furniture factories employed some Italian woodcarvers and many Albanian painters and lacquerers. Italians organized the Paterniti Table Company, and the Maddox Table Company was founded by the son of an English immigrant. The most important immigrant group in the furniture industry, however, was the Swedes.

In 1865, there were 205 Swedes living in the town of Ellicott, which included Jamestown. By 1920 there were 15,025 people of Swedish birth or parentage in Jamestown, making the Swedes the city's largest ethnic group. The peak years of Swedish immigration occurred between 1865 and 1900, and coincided with the rise of the city's furniture industry. A large proportion of the Swedes who came to Jamestown were skilled shoemakers, tailors, blacksmiths and woodworkers, and even at the peak of Swedish immigration in 1880, Swedes in skilled occupations outnumbered those doing unskilled work. A great many of the Swedes were skilled in making wood products and they quickly found jobs in Jamestown's furniture factories, where many operations were still performed by hand. By 1900, the Swedes generally made up a majority of the work force in furniture factories owned by native Americans, and in companies owned by the Swedes, almost all the workers were Swedish.

There were two main reasons for this change in Swedish occupational patterns. First, there was a change in the origins of Swedish immigrants. In 1880 most Swedish immigrants were peasants or rural craftsmen. By 1920, Swedish immigration included a larger proportion of factory workers with industrial skills. Second, among Swedes already settled in Jamestown there was growing occupational diversity. Wooden furniture making had given the Swedes a firm footing in skilled occupations and during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Swedes were able to branch out into other skills.

The first Swedish immigrant manufacturers in Jamestown also began by producing wooden furniture. Shortly after the Civil War, Swedes in Jamestown began going into business as grocers, tailors, cobblers and restaurant and saloon keepers. The first Swedish manufacturing concern in the city was a door factory, founded in 1869 by Augustus Johnson. During the 1870's there was a rapid growth in the number of Swedish enterprises. Augustus Johnson became a partner in Jamestown's oldest furniture company in 1870, when the Breed Furniture Company became the Breed-Johnson Furniture Company. In 1870 Olaf and August Linblad and P. J. Berquist began making custom-made furniture. C. A. Ahlstrom founded his piano factory in 1875 and in 1881 the Norquist brothers launched their first furniture business.

During the half century between the Civil War and World War I, Swedes in Jamestown founded at least seventy-five furniture companies. Most of them were small, and many of them were short-lived, but at least half of the forty furniture factories in Jamestown in 1920 belonged to the Swedes. Many of these companies were founded by Swedish craftsmen who saved money out of their wages, pooled their limited capital and took out bank loans in order to go into business. Some of Jamestown's most successful Swedish manufacturers, including Charles A. Ahlstrom, Augustus Johnson and Evald B. Seaburg, had been woodworkers in furniture factories before going into business for themselves.

Swedes went into the furniture industry, not only because many of them were skilled woodworkers, but because, like native Americans, they found that it was relatively inexpensive to start a furniture factory. The A. C. Norquist Company was founded in 1881, when August and Charles Norquist, with $175 capital, began making furniture in the loft of their father's barn. As business grew, they built a factory and by 1920 the A. C. Norquist Furniture Company employed 125 men, while another member of the family, Frank O. Norquist, had started two more furniture companies. The Level Furniture Company was founded by Swedish immigrants in 1905. At first the company employed only twenty-five men and made a cheap grade of bedroom and parlor furniture. By 1920, however, the company employed 275 men and produced better grades of furniture. The Atlas Furniture Company was founded in 1883 by Swedish immigrant workers with $1,400 capital. The Dahlstrom Metallic Door Company was funded by Charles P. Dahlstrom, an immigrant mechanical engineer, with the financial support of Swedish businessmen in Jamestown. He built his first factory on one floor of an old factory building in 1904. By 1920, the company comprised ten buildings and employed 500 men.

By 1920, the Swedes formed a considerable proportion of Jamestown's business and professional elite. Of 425 prominent citizens the city listed in John P. Down's History of Chautauqua County, one-third were of Swedish birth or parentage. The Swedes made up 40 percent of 193 business leaders born after 1850 and nearly half of these Swedish business leaders were furniture makers.

The furniture industry, therefore, not only provided jobs for Swedish workers, but also provided upward social and economic mobility for those who went into business. This industry became the means by which Swedes entered the city's business elite. The Swedish manufacturers later diversified and founded such companies as Dahlstrom Metallic Door Company, Crescent Tool Company and Jamestown Metal Equipment Company which produced, respectively, metallic doors, crescent wrenches, and automobile heaters and radiators. In 1910, Swedish businessmen organized the Swedish-American National Bank of Jamestown of which several stockholders and directors were furniture manufacturers.

The Swedish people, through their contributions to the furniture industry, both as workers and entrepreneurs, helped make Jamestown a major center of the furniture industry. The role of the Swedes in Jamestown was not unique. They also helped make Rockford Illinois a major furniture manufacturing center and they contributed greatly to the growth of the emory grinding industry in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Edward B. Green and his firm

2009-08-25T16:53:00.000-07:00

A modern marvel of architectural industry: construction in Chautauqua a century ago
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 8:58AM

Winter in Chautauqua County is long and discouraging: deep snow, cold temperatures, the heavy, protective clothing that hinder people as they try to get around. Say nothing about the roadways. Factors like these make it all the more remarkable that Chautauqua Institution’s Colonnade and Post Office building were constructed between January and June 1909.

To help Chautauqua audiences understand such a feat of architectural construction, Ed Evans, longtime Chautauquan, journalist, teacher and appreciator of modern marvels, will give a lecture titled “A Chautauqua Miracle: Two Buildings in Two Months” at 3:30 p.m. today in the Hall of Christ.

The 2009 Chautauqua Heritage Lecture Series is made possible by the Chautauqua Foundation’s Richard Newman Campen “Chautauqua Impressions” Fund.

Like many Chautauquans, Evans walked the grounds during his youth, recognizing the fine buildings, but not really thinking about who designed or built them.

“The architecture is a part of our lives,” Evans said.

But that does not mean people know much about it. Evans said that Chautauqua presents a particular dilemma of knowledge: Its architects might be known in their own particular area, but when they build one or two buildings at Chautauqua, people may know the name, but not the architect’s significance.

Architect Edward B. Green is one example. Green and his firm have connections to many of Chautauqua’s buildings, including the Miller Bell Tower and the Hall of Philosophy. But full recognition of the firm’s name and influence did not come until Phil Brunskill, a former vice president at the Institution, generated an interest.

In the spring of 2000, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum conducted a contest to select the Great American Post Office. The nominator had to include, among other things, the name and significance of the architect. Always interested in Chautauqua architecture, Brunskill identified Green as the building’s designer.

Fire destroyed many hotels in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among them were many wooden hotels that used to contribute to the landscape around Chautauqua Lake. Only two remain, the Hotel Lenhart in Bemus Point, N.Y., and the Athenaeum Hotel on the grounds. Unfortunately fire took more than hotels.

On October 19, 1908, fire consumed the Colonnade on Chautauqua’s grounds. The building needed to be rebuilt. Within the building had been the Institution’s main offices: the Chautauqua print shop and post office. They were both features of the Institution’s smooth running that, effectively, were left homeless.

In stepped E.B. Green, architect for Buffalo’s captains of industry, a man whose connections to steel manufacturers gave him ready access to manpower and materials. Evans said that a number of articles in The Chautauquan Weekly, the newspaper of the time, described breaks in weather when they could pour concrete.

Within six months, two new buildings bordered what is now Bestor Plaza.

The buildings’ records and architects were not forgotten so much as overlooked, until Brunskill nominated the Chautauqua Post Office for the Smithsonian award — which it won.

Evans’s book, Hidden Treasure: The Chautauqua Commission of Buffalo’s E.B. Green, is on sale in the Chautauqua Bookstore, and he will be available to sign copies after his lecture this afternoon.

by George Cooper, staff writer

Architect Edward B. Green his firm have connections to many of Chautauqua’s buildings, including the Miller Bell Tower and the Hall of Philosophy.

Fredonia Grange #1

2009-08-25T16:48:00.000-07:00

The first actual working local Grange unit was Fredonia Grange #1, (Chautauqua County) New York, organized by O.H. Kelly on April 16, 1868. From that humble beginning, over the past 142 years 1,600 Granges have been organized here in New York State alone

The Claim: Stress Can Make Allergies Worse

2009-08-19T22:02:00.000-07:00

This has been a rough Allergy season in Chautauqua County with all the rain the plants & grasses are going crazy and the mold!

The Claim: Stress Can Make Allergies Worse

By ANAHAD O’CONNOR
Published: August 17, 2009

This year’s allergy season has not been an easy one, with pollen counts at record highs in several major cities. But for many sufferers, a less stressful life may ease the allergy burden.

In recent years, studies have shown that psychological stress and anxiety — even at slight or moderate levels — can worsen allergy symptoms. Scientists suspect that it has something to do with the way stress affects the immune system, causing elevated levels of compounds that heighten the allergic response and remain unaffected by standard treatments for hay fever, like antihistamines.

One of the most recent and striking studies was published this year by scientists at Ohio State University. On two different days the scientists subjected hay fever sufferers to a series of skin prick tests to measure their responses to allergens, including the size of the wheals they developed. On one day the subjects gave speeches to a panel and then had to solve math questions in their heads. On the other day they had less stressful tasks, like reading magazines.

“Wheal diameters increased after the stressor,” the scientists wrote, “compared to a slight decrease following the control task.”

Even a day after the stressor, the most anxious subjects continued to show severe symptoms, suggesting a lingering response from the anxiety.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Studies show that psychological stress can heighten and possibly prolong allergic responses.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/health/18real.html?ref=health

Another CCS stalwart passes on, A. Victor Jonus

2009-08-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

A. Victor Jonus, 81, of 31 Birchwood Drive, Fredonia, died Aug. 17, 2009.

A devoted husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and friend to many. His joy was found in love he shared with his family and the companionship of his friends.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Alice (Cudney), brother Johnny Jonus, and by his five children: Victoria (Craig) Tirgrath, Mark (Dian) Jonus, Valerie (Ken) Keipper, Carol Lockwood, and Jeffrey Jonus. Also survived by 12 grandchildren: Adam, Shaun, Kelly, Lauren, Jacqueline, Audra, Kathryn, Alexandra, Hilary, Hannah, Andrew and Sean; and four great-grandchildren: Lily, Jack, Emerson and Lucy. Grandchildren Adam and Erica Marie pre-deceased Mr. Jonus.

He was a Navy veteran of World War II, wrote, directed and judged area drum corps for many years, was Chautauqua County Commissioner of the Boy Scouts of America, and was a retired school administrator of the Chautauqua Central Schools. He was a communicant of Trinity Episcopal Church in Fredonia and a member of Shorewood Country Club.

Friends will be received at Fantauzzi Funeral Home, 82 E. Main St., Fredonia from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 20 and Friday, Aug. 21. Burial rites will be held at Trinity Episcopal Church, Day Street, Fredonia on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009, at 10:30 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be given to Trinity Episcopal Church or to the Friendly Birchwood Invitational Golf Memorial Scholarship administered by the North Chautauqua Community Foundation. Internment will be in the Forest Hill Cemetery, Fredonia.

Fear for Obama's Safety Grows as Hate Groups Thrive on Racial Backlash

2009-08-16T22:36:00.000-07:00

Violent Signs, Gun, Standoff Latest in Emerging Anger Towards the President
By BRIAN ROSS, ANNA SCHECTER and MEGAN CHUCHMACH
August 14, 2009

Experts who track hate groups across the U.S. are growing increasingly concerned over violent rhetoric targeted at President Obama, especially as the debate over health care intensifies and a pattern of threats emerges.

Contentious health care debate heightens concerns for Obama's safety.

The Secret Service is investigating a Maryland man who held a sign reading "Death to Obama" and "Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids" outside a town hall meeting this week. And in New Hampshire, another man stood across the street from a Presidential town hall with his gun on full display.

Los Angeles police officers apprehended a man Thursday after a standoff with him inside a red Volkswagen Bug car in Westwood, CA – the latest disturbing case even though officials said the man had mental problems.

"I don't think these are simply people who are mentally ill or off their rocker," Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, told ABC News of those behind the threats. "In a very real sense they represent a genuine reaction, a genuine backlash against Obama."

Experts say a sharp growth in so-called militia groups that helped spawn a wave of domestic terrorism in the 1990s – and are now using YouTube, rock music and the Internet to recruit members and spread hate and fear - shouldn't be ignored.

"It's certainly a scary time," said former FBI agent Brad Garrett, now an ABC News consultant. Garrett said the Secret Service "cannot afford to pass on anyone," and he believes "they really do fear that something could happen to [Obama]."

Garrett said statements like one recently made by controversial radio host Rush Limbaugh comparing a logo for the White House plan to a Nazi symbol "legitimizes people who are on the edge to go do something or say something."

"And if you go and take a look at this, you will find that the Obama health care logo is damn close to a Nazi swastika logo," Limbaugh said.

Later, someone painted a swastika outside the office of Congressman David Scott of Georgia, one of Obama's supporters.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=8324481&page=1

Al Jones

2009-08-15T09:25:00.000-07:00

CHAUTAUQUA - Alfred F. Jones, 85, of 4909 West Lake Road, Mayville, died unexpectedly Tuesday (Aug. 4, 2009), in the emergency room of Westfield Memorial Hospital.

He was born April 21, 1924, in Mayville, the son of the late Alfred J. and Anna Moran Jones.

Al was a veteran of the U.S. Army serving in World War II with the 751st tank battalion as the tank commander.

Al was the superinten-dent of buildings and grounds for Chautauqua Central School for more than 40 years. He had also been in charge of Chautauqua Cemetery for 40 years, 15 years as Town Justice for the Town of Chautauqua, eight years as a Chautauqua County Legislator in District 20, where his efforts in the legislature were instrumental in the completion of the Interstate 86 expressway. He championed the slogan for that cause "The Missing Link", and received a Certificate of Merit from Jess Present for "Leadership, Vi-sion, Dedication, and Perseverance" regarding the completion of the Inter-state 86 Expressway.

He was a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Mayville, where he was a former warden, a life member of both the American Legion and of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, a former Boy Scout leader, past president of the New

York State Association for Superintendents of School Buildings and Grounds, founded the Youth Recreation Program for Chautauqua Central School, and had been the advisor for the Camera Club, the golf team and the yearbook staff. He was the first president of the Chautauqua Fire Department, and was recognized in 2009 for 60 years of service to the Fire Department, a member and past master of Peacock Masonic Lodge in Mayville, and was grand sword bearer for Chautauqua District of the Masonic Lodge, he was named Senior Citizen of the Year by the United Senior Council, past chairman of TRIAD, and had been chairman of the North Chautauqua Lake Sewer Board.

Al devoted his life to his community and was ever conscious of the needs of others, he made a lasting impression on the many students he mentored at the high school, and he exemplified integrity in every aspect of his life.

Al loved hunting, fishing, golf, and spending time with his family.

He is survived by his wife, Juline "Judy" Kinder Jones, whom he married May 11, 1946, in Mayville; two daughters: Karyn (Don) Fahey of Geneva, Fla,, and Carolyn (John) Murray of Mayville; one son, William (Michele) Jones of Mayville; six grandchildren: Dan Fahey, Ginger White, Scott Olson, James Murray, Kevin Jones and Brian Jones; seven great-grandchildren; one sister, Helen Mae Gleason of Elkhart, Ind.; and eight nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents; and a sister, Lorene Gleason.

The funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday (Aug. 15, 2009), in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, in Mayville. The Rev. Dr. Gordon DeLaVars, rector will officiate. Interment will be in the Chautauqua Cemetery.

No callings will be observed.

Memorials may be made to the Chautauqua Fire Department, Box F, Chautauqua, NY 14722.

The Freay Funeral Home in Mayville is in charge of arrangements.

Al Jones will be laid to rest today.

2009-08-15T09:23:00.001-07:00

I'm going to the funeral today at 2:00. Al Jones is going to be laid to rest in the very cemetery that he was the overseer of for so many years. Its fitting he will be laid to rest in the Cemetery that is adjacent to his own property. He will rest not far from my Dad. I remember he showed me the very cool little bench that will be his marker a few years back. His son Bill lives so close to the cemetery he can almost see the plot. My Mom still lives right across the street. She can walk over to tend Dad's plot. Dad was 85 when he passed and so was Al. Both men lived close to the old school where they worked and both men will be resting very close together in the cemetery. There is something very comforting about this.

Storm damage and Flooding in Chautauqua County

2009-08-10T21:47:00.000-07:00

There is a great deal of flooding and wind damage in Chautauqua County after a series of thunderstorms moved though western, NY since Sat. Gov. David A. Paterson declared a State Disaster Emergency for Erie, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties in the wake of heavy thunderstorms and flooding that took two lives and caused extensive damage and disruption during the last two days.

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/759654.html

http://www.post-journal.com/page/content.detail/id/537231.html?nav=5018

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/silver_creek_devastated_by_storms_090810

$5 million grant to help Erie County adopt 'no kill' policy for animals

2009-07-28T20:11:00.000-07:00

By Phil Fairbanks
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: July 28, 2009, 4:50 PM

Erie County would become the largest county in the nation to adopt a communitywide "no kill" policy toward animals as part of a new $5 million grant announced today by the local SPCA.

The grant will allow the SPCA to work with other public and private shelters across the county to ensure that all healthy and treatable animals are adopted.

"We should be proud of this," said Barbara Carr, executive director of the local SPCA. "Maybe we can't get the Stanley Cup or win the big football games, but we have a community that's going to make sure all healthy and treatable animals have a home."

Money for the program is coming from Maddie's Fund, a family foundation whose mission is to create a nationwide "no kill" policy. The fund is named after the family's Miniature Schnauzer, who passed away 12 years ago.

Carr said the grant will ensure that every shelter in the county will stop euthanizing healthy and treatable cats and dogs over the next five years. The grant is tied to the shelters meeting that goal.

Maddie's also will fund a spay and neutering program that will focus, in part, on feral cats, as well as a new program for evaluating pit bulls and other animals at the City of Buffalo shelter.

"We would be the largest county in the nation to have a communitywide no-kill policy," Carr said. "I think that says a lot about our community."

Carr said the foundation was initially reluctant to fund a traditional shelter like the Erie County SPCA but, over time, came to view the agency as a leader in the "no kill" movement.

She is quick to note that her shelter already has reached that goal … not a single healthy dog or cat has been euthanized at the SPCA over the past 12 months … and the county's other shelters are expected to follow suit.

"The whole reason they looked at us," Carr said of the foundation, "is because this community has really stepped up. They're critical, and I know they'll be there for us. They always have been."

Maddie's Fund was created and endowed with $300 million from David Duffield, a wealthy businessman, and his wife, Cheryl. The foundation's goal is to "create a no-kill nation where all healthy and treatable shelter dogs and cats are guaranteed a loving home."

Aside from the SPCA, Maddie's partners include Buffalo Humane, the City of Buffalo Animal Shelter, HEART, Second Chance Shelter, OperationPETS and the Ten Lives Club.

pfairbanks@buffnews.com

Moths of Chautauqua County

2009-07-19T22:46:00.001-07:00

Pachysphinx modesta

Pachysphinx modesta, the Poplar Sphinx or Modest Sphinx ranges through southern portions of all Canadian provinces and is found in the eastern half of the U.S. from Maine to northern Florida. James P. Tuttle has range maps showing it as far west as eastern Washington southward to extreme northeastern New Mexico. Most of the western specimens appear to be P. occidentalis.

-Bill Oehlke

Family: Sphingidae, Latreille, 1802
Subfamily: Sphinginae, Latreille, 1802
Tribe: Smerinthini, Grote & Robinson, 1865
Genus: Pachysphinx Rothschild and Jordan, 1903
Species: modesta (Harris, 1839)

Big Poplar Sphynx or Modest Sphinx. A large sphinx moth that belongs to the family Sphingidae and has a wingspan of 10-12 cm. Larvae feed on poplar and willow trees. Adults are active at night. These moths are among the fastest fliers of all moths. Found across North America.

Another Jewel of a Moth who paid me a call.

2009-07-17T21:18:00.001-07:00

The Polyphemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus) is a North American member of the family Saturniidae, the giant silk moths. It is a tan colored moth, with an average wingspan of 6 inches (15 cm). The most notable feature of the moth is its large, purplish eyespots on its two hindwings. The eye spots are where it gets its name – from the Greek myth of the Cyclops Polyphemus. The caterpillar of the Polyphemus moth can eat 86,000 times its weight at emergence in a little less than two months. It is widespread throughout much of North America, from southern Canada to parts of Mexico.'

Male Antheraea polyphemus of the Saturniidae family.

Tiger Moth in Stedman tonight

2009-07-16T00:26:00.001-07:00

Description The Virgin Tiger Moth is a member of the family Arctiidae. The tiger moths are small or medium-sized, with stout, furry bodies and broad wings, spanning 1/2-3 1/8" (12-80 mm). Some are largely white; others are boldly patterned in black and white or yellow; and still others have different colors. Tiger moths are similar in size and shape to owlet moths, but are usually lighter and more brightly colored. They resemble some boldly patterned ctenuchids, but can be distinguished from these and other similar-looking moths mostly through differences in wing venation. They also have a well-developed hearing organ, or tympanum, on each side of the thorax. Many tiger moths contain toxic substances, and their conspicuous patterning serves as a warning to predators. Adults generally do not feed. Eggs are laid in flat masses or loosely scattered over low vegetation. The caterpillars are hairy or bristly and like the adults are boldly marked and toxic. They pupate in loose cocoons made of silk and their own hair.

"Tiger Moth"
Family: Arctiidae
Grammia virgo

http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/Files/JV/JV42.5.shtml

A collection of old Post Cards of Hurlbut Church

2009-07-13T10:57:00.001-07:00

http://www.ramshornstudio.com/postcards_of_hurlbut.htm

The church is named after Dr. Jesse L. Hurlbut (1843-1930), a Methodist minister and educator. He was a leader of religious education at the Chautauqua Institution and the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle activities for 50 years. He designed Palestine Park, the model of the Holy Land beside Chautauqua Lake. He is author of Hurlbut's Story of the Bible, a religious classic, and The Bedtime Bible Story Book, featuring 365 stories.

Mary Artemisia Lathbury

2009-07-13T01:24:00.000-07:00

Mary Artemisia Lathbury

1841-1913

Miss Lathbury holds a unique place among our American hymn-writers. She was long known as the "Laureate of Chautauqua." It has been given to few poets to have their hymns used by as large and enthusiastic and cultured audiences as have sung the hymns of this gifted woman.

The child of devout Christian parents, she was born in Manchester, New York, in 1841. Her father was a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and two of her brothers were ordained to the Methodist ministry. She early developed a talent both for composing verses and for drawing, and as a mere girl her favorite pastime was the writing of short poems adorned with original illustrations. But almost from the first the pastime became a part of her religion. One day she seemed to hear a voice saying to her: "Remember, my child, that you have a gift of weaving fancies into verse, and a gift with the pencil of producing visions that come to your heart; consecrate these to me as thoroughly and as definitely as you do your inmost spirit." She was not disobedient to the heavenly call.

As the years passed and her talents matured, Miss Lathbury became widely known as a contributor to periodicals for children and young people. In 1874, Dr. John H. Vincent, who at that time was Secretary of the Methodist Sunday School Union, engaged her as his assistant in the editorial department. Not only did this widen her opportunity for usefulness as a writer for children, but it brought her into close touch with the Chautauqua movement at its very beginning. The Chautauqua idea appealed to her strongly and she gave herself enthusiastically to its promotion. Her poetic gift was at once appreciated, and through the years she was appealed to again and again for hymns to be sung on special occasions. She gladly responded, and it was in this way that her best-known hymns had their origin.

The one written for the Centennial celebration in 1876, with the chorus:

"Arise and shine in youth immortal,

Thy light is come, thy King appears!
Beyond the Century's swinging portal,

Breaks a new dawn—the thousand years!"—

impressed Frances E. Willard as "the most complete utterance of that sublime period," and it was a favorite with the author herself.

Although Chautauqua started out as a Methodist enterprise, under the liberal leadership of Dr. Vincent it soon lost its sectarian character and made its appeal to all Christians alike. Miss Lathbury caught the spirit of her chief, and for the summer of 1881 she wrote her greatly admired hymn on "The Nameless Fold":

"O Shepherd of the Nameless Fold—

The blessed church to be—
Our hearts with love and longing turn
To find their rest in thee!

" 'Thy Kingdom come'—its heavenly walls

Unseen around us rise,
And deep in loving human hearts
Its broad foundation lies."

It was a beautiful prayer for that spirit of Christian unity for which Chautauqua has stood through all the years.

One of her finest poems, meriting a wider use than it has received, especially as a morning carol, is the one which opens with the lines:

"Arise, all souls, arise! the watch is past;
A glory breaks above the cloud at last.
There comes a rushing, mighty wind again!
The breath of God is still the life of men;
The day ascending fills the waiting skies,
All souls, arise!"

The two best-known hymns by Miss Lath- bury, "Break Thou the bread of life," and "Day is dying in the west," were given to Dr. Vincent in 1887. The former of these, a little gem, she called a "Study Song," and it has always been a rare favorite. When we remember that it was intended primarily for the hungry students of the Word on the shore of Lake Chautauqua, we feel the appropriateness of the allusion to the breaking and blessing of the loaves "beside the sea" of Galilee. The hymn is loved both at home and abroad. Dr. G. Campbell Morgan always asked the congregation to sing it at the weekly meetings of his great Bible class in London, just before he began the exposition of the lesson:

"Break thou the Bread of life,

Dear Lord, to me,
As thou didst break the loaves

Beside the sea;
Beyond the sacred page

I seek thee, Lord;
My spirit pants for thee,

O living Word!

"Bless thou the truth, dear Lord,

To me, to me,
As thou didst bless the bread

By Galilee;
Then shall all bondage cease,

All fetters fall;
And I shall find my peace,

My All-in-All!"

Without doubt the finest hymn that Miss Lath- bury ever wrote, and the one that everywhere has been received with praise, is, "Day is dying in the west." It was written at the request of Dr. Vincent. From the beginning, the vesper hour at Chautauqua, in a peculiar way, has seemed to gather about it the spiritual beauty and uplift of the whole day. But there was no hymn quite suited to the hour till this "poetess and saint," as Dr. Vincent used to call her, made her contribution. Since then this lyric has been sung around the world. Some years after its first appearance, W. Garrett Horder, the well- known English anthologist, chanced to see it in a book recently received from an American friend. Who Miss Lathbury was he had no idea, but his practiced eye immediately recognized in the poem a masterpiece. In the enthusiasm of a genuine discovery, he wrote: "It is one of the finest and most distinctive hymns of modern times. It deserves to rank with 'Lead, Kindly Light,' of Cardinal Newman, for its pic- turesqueness and allusionness, and above all else for this, that devout souls, no matter what their distinctive beliefs, can through it voice their deepest feelings and aspirations." It is sung in many places and by many voices, but to be fully appreciated it must be heard in the great auditorium at Chautauqua, where the people know it and love it as nowhere else, and where the words, pealed out to the matchless melody of Professor Sherwin, to which they were long since wedded, sweep the soul up to the very throne of the eternal God two stanzas. In 1890, in response to the earnest request of many friends, Miss Lathbury added a third and a fourth stanza:

"Day is dying in the west;
Heaven is touching earth with rest;
Wait and worship while the night
Sets her evening lamps alight

Through all the sky.
Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Hosts!
Heaven and earth are full of thee!
Heaven and earth are praising thee,

O Lord most high.

"Lord of life, beneath the dome
Of the universe, thy home,
Gather us who seek thy face
To the fold of thy embrace,
For thou art nigh.

"While the deepening shadows fall,
Heart of Love, enfolding all,
Through the glory and the grace
Of the stars that veil thy face,
Our hearts ascend.

"When forever from our sight
Pass the stars, the day, the night,
Lord of angels, on our eyes
Let eternal morning rise,
And shadows end."

Miss Lathbury lived in and near New York, where she carried on her literary and artistic work. She died in 1913.

http://www.ramshornstudio.com/day_is_dying_in_the_west.htm

From The story of the American hymn By Edward Summerfield Ninde

Little Brown Bats in Stedman

2009-07-12T15:01:00.000-07:00

Myotis lucifugus has brownish-black fur that has a glossy sheen to it and a belly that is grey-brown. The bat’s feet are mainly for clinging while it roosts. The wings of a bat are superbly constructed and include four fingers and a thumb. At the end of the thumb is a hooked claw, which serves to help the bat climb and crawl along surfaces.

Little brown bats are insectivores, eating moths, wasps, beetles, gnats, mosquitoes, midges and mayflies, among others. Since many of their preferred meals are insects with an aquatic life stage, such as mosquitoes, they prefer to roost near water. They echolocate to find their prey. Often they will catch larger prey with a wingtip, transfer it to a cup formed by their tail, then eat it - smaller prey are usually just caught in the mouth. They often use the same routes over and over again every night, flying 3-6 meters high above water or among trees. An adult can sometimes fill its stomach in 15 minutes; young have more difficulty. If they do not catch any food, they will enter a torpor similar to hibernation that day, awakening at night to hunt again.