State police say they've arrested a Pennsylvania man who led them on a high-speed chase that ended in a rollover. They say 31-year-old Willie Brown of Erie was spotted speeding in a Chevrolet Tahoe on I-86 in the Chautauqua County town of Harmony on Tuesday, refused to stop for a trooper and sped off the highway onto a local road. Troopers say Brown was clocked at one point doing 97 mph in a 45 mph zone before losing control at an intersection and rolling the SUV. Brown, who troopers say wasn't injured, was charged with fleeing an officer in a vehicle, unlawful possession of marijuana and a variety of traffic violations. He was being held for arraignment Tuesday afternoon.
The number two-elected official in New York State will be in Jamestown later this week to push for creation of the new, "Tax-Free" zones being proposed by Governor Cuomo. Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy will be at the Jamestown Community College city campus late this coming Thursday morning. Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce Spokeswoman Shelia Webster says Duffy will be at the Week's Reception Room at 11 AM. She says Duffy was originally scheduled to be here a couple of weeks ago. Webster says they're encouraging their business members to be on hand if they can be. Members from the county Chamber... and, the Manufacturer's Association of the Southern Tier are also being urged to contact the Empire State Development Corporation if they plan on attending. Sheila Webster says you must contact the ESD office in Buffalo at 846-8250 before Noon today because there is limited seating available.
More than one-thousand demonstrators again filled a park outside the state Capitol Tuesday calling for repeal of New York's new gun law. While cheering former Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino and Jeannine Pirro, a broadcaster and former Westchester County district attorney, protesters sang ``God Bless America'' and held signs for the Second Amendment right to bear arms. Pirro says authorities should hunt criminals, not try to criminalize gun owners. The law generally sets a seven-bullet limit in magazines, tightens the definition of illegal ``assault weapons'' and requires owners of many formerly legal semi-automatic guns to register them. Repeal now appears unlikely. Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos says amendments haven't been discussed in recent meetings between the governor and legislative leaders.
Boaters and others who use Chautauqua Lake are being warned about large amounts of upstream debris in the Lake due to the recent rains and stormy weather in the region. Chautauqua Lake Association President Doug Conroe says the problem has been so prevailent... they've had to divert crews from weed harvesting and training to debris removal. Conroe says they've found that a lot of the tree... and, other debris has come from the streams and canals that feed into the lake. Conroe says a lot of the problems upstream are caused by unstable stream banks. He says the CLA expects more debris to be found due to more rainy and stormy weather predicted through the end of the week. Conroe also expressed the group's appreciation to the county for helping them find a disposal location for those four truck-loads of debris. Conroe says the problem points back to what the CLA, the Watershed Conservancy... and county Soil and Water Association have "been saying for years." That's that more attention needs to be paid to streambank stabilization so these problems don't happen in the future.
He's proven to be a strong leader... and, has shown the ability to improve student achievement under difficult circumstances. Those were some of the reasons given by the leaders of various selection committees involved in the selection of Tim Mains as the new Jamestown School Superintendent. Mains... who most recently was the Rochester City School's director of Internal School Operations... was unanimously approved by the school board at Monday night's special meeting. Central Administration Team Leader Jesse Joy welcomed Mains with a sense of "confidence and excitement...." The president of the Jamestown Principal's Association, Phil Camarata, said they are all excited and look forward to working with Mains. Camarata says he especially liked his "leadership by example." Students also made up a team. One of them, Kirstie Hanson, says they know he handled some "tricky" problems in Rochester, and they're very interested to see how he'll "do here." In addition to starting as a social studies teacher in 1971 in the Greece Central School System... Mains was K-through-12th grade Social Studies director... and, principal of a larger school in the Rochester district. He was also a member of the Rochester City Council for about two decades.
The Warren County School Board has narrowed it's list of candidates for a new superintendent from 10 to one. The Warren Times-Observer says the search was cut to the lone candidate at a meeting two weeks ago. The board Monday night stated that... with the application period closed..."the search consultants have guided the board through a review of the candidate credential files... and, the first round interview process." Following that... a statement released by the board said they decided to move ahead with one candidate, who will now meet with a special focus group. The candidate was not identified.
