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The OBSERVER’s View

SHOP LOCAL: Support Small Business Saturday

On Saturday, Chautauqua County will join the rest of the nation in celebrating Small Business Saturday. It’s a celebration too big and too good to pass up. Geared to the start of the holiday shopping season and coming on the heels of Black Friday blowouts at national big-box retailers, the sole focus of the day is to encourage consumers to shop at locally owned and operated enterprises and thereby contribute to the myriad benefits that practice produces. American Express began Small Business Saturday in 2010, and in 2011, the U.S. Small Business Administration wisely joined in as a ...

FREDONIA Diver makes splash with state title

For six years, Elizabeth Pucci-Schaefer of Fredonia consistently exhibited excellence as a member of her area high school swim teams. In her final contest before graduating, she became a state champion. Pucci-Schaefer dominated in finishing with a score of 503.5 to win the State and Federation 1-meter girls diving title in Webster. “I’m very relieved,” she said about winning the state championship. “It took me five tries, but I finally did it. We’re going to have pizza and wings with my family so I just can’t wait. … I just feel awesome.” Her next journey, however, ...

Thanksgiving Counting our holiday blessings

Too often, we prosperous, free Americans take our many blessings for granted. Nearly all of us enjoy material wealth that is the envy of billions of people in other lands. We are free to do nearly anything our hearts desire, as long as our actions do not harm others. Our nation itself is a blessing. Our government is our servant. Public policy is meant to benefit us, not the other way around, as is the situation in many other countries. We govern ourselves by consensus, in effect - providing any agreement by the majority is not detrimental to those who happen to be in the minority. ...

SCHOOLS: Students take lead on more sharing

Our county’s population loss is being acutely felt in rural school districts, where the fairly small but steady population loss makes it difficult to provide elective courses and extracurricular activities that were common as recently as the mid 1990s or early 2000s. Shared sports teams have helped keep extracurricular options open for students, with few mergers working as well as those involving Clymer, Sherman and Panama students. That’s particularly true of the schools’ merged football team, which once again is in the midst of a deep state playoff run. Merging other sports ...

DUNKIRK: Expansion worth break from IDA

North county residents have to be impressed with the activity at Wells Enterprises. From miles away, you can see the signs of construction activity taking place at the manufacturer. Another phase of that major expansion was approved last week by the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency as part of a $175 million project. The expansion, which is considered Phase III, will help the company produce chocolate as an ingredient in ice cream production. It will create 20 new jobs, plus about 150 temporary construction jobs. According to the county IDA, when combined, all three ...

ECONOMY: Workforce efforts to get a new test

The Jamestown area got an early Christmas present last week with the announcement that the final piece of funding is in place for Electrovaya to open its lithium ion battery Gigafactory in Ellicott. The Canadian company will create about hundreds of new jobs in a local economy that has long needed the addition of dependable, non-seasonal, non-tourism-related positions. It’s been a long road for Electrovaya as company officials worked through the purchase of the former MD Electronics building in the Mason Industrial Park and then pieced together the puzzle of loans, tax incentives ...