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Opinion

Competing with convenience on meals

Commentary

In a town of fast-food restaurants, Starbucks runs and energy drinks, SUNY Fredonia has the potential to leave the trends behind and begin to make the community healthier. Sustainable food is the key to happier campus members, and eating locally and seasonally is the best way to support our farmers, our nutritional health and, in the long run, our wallets. According to an article published in July 2024 by the American Heart Association, “Having to pay for those transport fees, the refrigeration fees, all of those things… really add up and can make the out-of-season foods more ...

The OBSERVER’s View: Rising numbers add concerns over homeless

The OBSERVER’s View

Since a crisis put Jamestown in a statewide spotlight in the summer of 2024, homelessness has become a major issue in Chautauqua County. A website poll finds that readers are in agreement. Last week’s question, “Are you concerned about the homeless problem in Chautauqua County?” found 64% of the 462 who answered said yes while 36% said no. This month, the issue came up during the county Human Services Committee meeting. There, legislators learned a portion of the Clarion Pointe Hotel, formerly known as the Comfort Inn on Route 60 just outside of Jamestown, that houses ...

Star power fueled company’s rise

Commentary

Editor’s note: North county business and community leader Stanley Albert Star died Friday, May 29 at 89. Here is a column written in 2014 that highlights his work in creating Cliffstar. What started as a kosher wine business in northern Chautauqua County near the turn of the 20th century became one of the greatest success stories that Dunkirk-Fredonia has ever known. In 1971, Stanley Star and his Uncle Leo Star created Cliffstar, which would become the nation’s largest private-label juice company. “I was convinced that the popularity of juice as a regular drink was going to grow ...

A beautiful day on the expressway

Commentary

Most people now call it I-86, but I still call it the “Southern Tier Expressway.” That expresses what it truly is. On an overcast day last fall, my wife and I were returning from the Syracuse area where one of our kids lives. It is quicker to take the Thruway to get home, but I always opt for the back roads and the expressway that threads through the hills of the Southern Tier. As we came up the big hill heading west from Bath, the clouds were almost touching the ground as we came to the summit of the pass at Howard. When we drove by Hornell, I said to my wife, “I think we will ...

The OBSERVER’s View: No derailing county wage hike train

The OBSERVER’s View

We still struggle to justify automatic pay raises each year for Chautauqua County lawmakers — though judging from last week’s vote Republican lawmakers have no such struggle. In 2024, the county legislature voted to increase the base salary of individual legislators from $9,000 to $14,732, an increase of about 64%. It was the first pay hike in about 20 years. It’s a failing of the legislature that, in our opinion, they’re overcorrecting with the automatic pay raises now. The only reason the legislature didn’t get a raise over the course of 20 years is that the body didn’t ...

The OBSERVER’s View: Once again, merger ideas take time

The OBSERVER’s View

On its own, it’s not the biggest news that the towns of Ellington and Charlotte are looking to merge courts and share one judge. In 2021, the towns of Sherman, Mina, French Creek and Clymer merged their courts to a single operation. That was followed by the towns of Harmony and North Harmony court merger that took effect Jan. 1, 2025. These mergers are a logical reaction to the county’s declining population and the resulting decrease in rural court caseloads. There is no good reason why Ellington and Charlotte should not move forward with a formal court merger since they ...