On Tuesday, thousands of voters will go to the polls to approve school budgets and elect school board members. Individually, there is little wrong with the budgets that voters will be voting on. Several don’t raise local property taxes at all, while others raise taxes token amounts. ...
Editor, OBSERVER: Last year was a monumental year for many reasons, including the census. The census population counts will impact much in New York state, from school funding, to Medicaid, to how our legislative lines will be redrawn for the next 10 years. The League was a proud partner ...
Editor, OBSERVER: The Leon Fire Co. would like to thank everyone who so generously donated to our annual fund drive. The department consists of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for the Leon Fire District. They are also on call to provide mutual aid ...
Giant wind turbines and vast fields of solar panels are not made of fairy dust brought by unicorns. Do “greens” think we can’t see that huge quantities of raw materials and fossil fuels are used to mine, manufacture, transport and construct these intermittent, unreliable, grid crashing ...
Susan Parker is running to represent District 4 in the Chautauqua County Legislature in a June 22 Democratic Primary. She is the kind of candidate we need. I spoke with her recently, and asked her what she would bring to the job? The job of a county legislator is to adopt resolutions and ...
Thirty years ago — 1991 The “Chautauqua Experience” is being featured in this summer’s issue of “Victorian Homes” magazine. The 17-page article contains many large color photographs of the area, the people and the buildings. The article not only talks about Chautauqua Institution, ...
Liz Cheney has been ousted as House Republican conference chair, likely soon to be replaced by Elise Stefanik of New York. The reason is that Cheney has called Trump out on the election lie and is trying to get the GOP to be honest. She’s losing that fight. The party’s federal lawmakers ...
I’m so happy I write these columns for it seems I’m learning new things every time. Winter now past (or close to it), I was eager to get back to what’s outside at this time of year. I’m set to write about a prime nuisance in many parts of my yard. Yet when I go to the internet ...
Northern Chautauqua Catholic School in Dunkirk has been somewhat of an unsung hero throughout this trying academic year across our region. With public districts struggling last summer and early on in the fall to come up with a plan to bring students back to in-person learning during the ...
It is not a surprise that Democrats on the Chautauqua County Legislature were defeated in court over their pick to be the next Democratic Election Commissioner. We foresaw this outcome more than a month ago. The text of state law is clear, as state Supreme Court Justice Lynn Keane wrote in ...
It is not too early to talk about high school graduation. In Gowanda, the district has already begun to plan for ceremonies on June 25. According to a recent school board meeting, the ceremonies will be held in person and outdoors at Hillis Field. The whole class will be there and parents ...
Dunkirk City Schools could be charting a new path beginning later this afternoon. Its Board of Education will meet at 5:15 p.m. via Zoom when a decision on a new model could be approved. At the last meeting in April, school board members seemed to be all on board with a plan that would ...
We humans, around the world, are born into families that run the gamut from, love your enemies, to kill them. It is actually true however, that “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Those words can be found in the Bible’s book of Proverbs, 23:7, and for better or worse are true. To ...
Thirty years ago — 1991 The brand new Quality Market opened May 5 after a grand opening ceremony and ribbon-cutting. Louis Dispenza is the manager of the new store which is located in the D & F Plaza. Special drawing and giveaways were held with grand prizes including a trailer/camper ...
Keep an eye on the pending consolidation of four Chautauqua County town courts into one. French Creek and Mina officially merged judgeships earlier this year after home rule legislation was signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Sherman officials tried to consolidate two judge positions into one last ...
Governments here ‘being choked’ Editor, OBSERVER: The “ ‘Outmigration’ is a bipartisan pickle” commentary (April 30) seems to suggest that local county governments are to blame for our state’s population decline. The assumption that local county governments in rural ...
It does not seem that long ago, but it happened when I was 6 years old. It was a beautiful spring day in early April. The sun rose that morning with a warm beaming brilliance that only a day in spring could bring. The birds were chirping their springlike calls as they were staking out ...
Thirty years ago — 1991 An OBSERVER photo show Carl Lyle and Donald Corson leading the procession of athletes around the Silver Creek High School pool, site of the inaugural Northern Chautauqua County Special Olympics Swim Meet. A total of 75 swimmers took part in both shallow- and deep-end ...
I nearly missed my submission date on this article. My vast research staff and I were probing the depths of the image that was presented to America on the evening of April 28. It was the night of President Biden’s speech to Congress. During his speech he told America, looking us right in ...
Editor, OBSERVER: “Mother, a woman who loves unconditionally, leads by example, and puts others before herself.” Sunday is a day to honor motherhood and all mothers. As a son, husband and brother, I am grateful for the lessons learned from the women in my life. Especially my own ...