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Opinion

New York State Do not expand Raise the Age law

The OBSERVER’s View

A 24-year-old Jamestown man has been indicted by a Chautauqua County Grand Jury in relation to a shooting on East Second Street in July 2025. The other person charged in relation to the same shooting is also 24. Imagine a future in which both of those are tried in Family Court. It’s ...

Mother Nature interferes with warfare

Commentary

Sometimes we think that, as humans, with all of our technology, we can conquer anything. It just takes a hurricane or a flood to remind us of who really is in charge. The same is true in warfare. You can have all of the fancy software and technology in the world—but war still takes place ...

Still working for fix to homeless problem

The OBSERVER’s View

Only in New York state is coming up with an acceptable letter to send to state officials about an unacceptable situation considered progress. But that’s the situation we’re in when it comes to housing the homeless in hotels. Sen. George Borrello and Assemblyman Andrew Molitor put ...

State ignores wind, storage warnings

Commentary

County legislators are questioning the logic of the state energy policy that has been careening toward higher utility rates, higher taxes and the use of vast areas of agricultural land, wetlands and woodlands that are cleared for projects that make very little power. “Why does the state ...

A life in a collection of mugs

Commentary

I don’t know about you, but I have a collection of assorted mugs that, in their own quiet way, mark the moments of my life. They sit on a shelf like an unassuming timeline. To anyone else, they’re just ceramic. To me, they are chapters. Jim and I crewed for many years in the Great ...

The best way to support the troops

Commentary

My father Edward was quite the paradox. A self proclaimed pacifist, he could be quite scrappy when it came to issues of importance to him. When Gulf War I broke out in 1990, Ed saw the conflict for what it was. One larger more corrupt country trying to take over a smaller corrupt county and ...