Twenty years ago — 1999 Ashley Hamilton of Westfield was chosen Miss Festival of Grapes ‘99 at the annual pageant in Silver Creek, which provided and evening of entertainment and enchantment for the attendees. Her talent was a dance routine to “All That Jazz.” First runner-up was ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 More than one million people were told to evacuate the Atlantic coast and NASA all but abandoned Cape Canaveral as Hurricane Floyd — one of the most powerful storms ever to threaten the United States — charged toward Florida with potentially catastrophic 135 mph ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 Cheerleaders Jenna Lee Mansfield and Brooke Antolini, both of Fredonia, and Ashley Hamilton of Westfield, recently attended cheerleader camp at Ohio State University, sponsored by the Universal Cheerleaders Association, where they were chosen for the UCA All Stars ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 About 160 new manufacturing-related jobs will be created in Chautauqua County in the near future under projects announced recently by the Industrial Development Agency. Forty-four of those jobs will be in Dunkirk as a result of projects at Cliffstar Corp. and ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 For the past 50 years, Gernatt Asphalt Products Inc., based in Collins, has been a pillar of the community with expansion to include eight locations throughout Erie, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties. Nearly 200 persons are employed with Gernatt, a significant ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 School-to-Work, a Chautauqua County program that helps students relate their education with the work force, will begin its second year in schools this fall. Eighteen schools in the county as well as Randolph Central School participate in the school-to-work ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 A “Do You Remember?” photo taken by James M. FitzGerald of Fredonia shows the Honor Roll located in the West Barker Common in Fredonia in the early 1940s (about 1943) which listed all the veterans from the village of Fredonia and the town of Pomfret who were in ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 The Cardinal Mindszenty Class of 1979 gathered together the weekend of July 30-31 to celebrate their graduation 20 years ago. The Class of 1979 was the final graduating class of that school prior to its closure. Members honored the valiant life of Cardinal Mindszenty ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 Dr. Bernard Lewinsky, father of Monica Lewinsky, recently received a request from the Clinton Legal Expense Trust asking for help in paying off the $10.5 million in legal expenses of President Clinton and his wife Hillary. Dr. Lewinsky wrote “Return to sender” on ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 Jamestown Community College has been awarded a $1.75 million development grant as part of the “Strengthening Institutions Program” of Title III of the United States Higher Education Act. According to college officials, the award, to be received over a five-year ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 Gowanda florist Barry Hager hopes to put a smile on 2,500 faces as he plans to give away that many roses to village residents as part of the fourth annual Good Neighbor Day in Gowanda. The first 166 people to walk through his floral shop doors at 25 W. Main St. will ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 Eager businesses and frugal shoppers geared up for the third tax-free clothing week in Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties. The brief respite from sales tax has become a boon for back-to-school shoppers and those in search of good clothing deals. Clothing and ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 It took a lot of patience and loving care on the part of retired firefighter John Woloszyn but he finally got his Crepe Myrtle tree to bloom behind his house at 55 Ounce St., Dunkirk. Normally found only in the South (the Carolinas and farther south), Mr. Woloszyn ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 Dunkirk Boilers is pleased to announce that this year’s winner of the Malcolm C. Reed Memorial Scholarship is Kipp Bailey Lanham, a 1999 graduate of Fredonia High School. Kipp will be attending Muhlenberg College this fall to pursue a double major in music and ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 The Fredonia Farm Festival has been a tradition in Barker Common, the twin downtown parks which serve as the village’s centerpiece, for 31 years. According to Fredonia Mayor Frank Pagano, “The Farm Festival is an important part of our heritage. This event ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 The future of AL Tech Specialty Steel Corp. is expected to be decided shortly when union employees vote on a collective bargaining agreement with the new ownership of the plant. If it doesn’t go through, everybody loses. The jobs are gone, the benefits are gone, ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 A sewing machine was presented to Kathy Halpainy of Newborns in Need, an all-volunteer, not for profit organization that specializes in premature and newborn baby clothing and bedding for the needy. The sewing machine was presented by Dorothy Mache and Dorothy ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 At the annual Southwestern Firemen’s Convention hosted by Doyle Hose 1 in Cheektowaga, the East Dunkirk Volunteer Fire Co. received three trophies for various competitions. First place was received in the grotesque parade float division and the grotesque parade ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 At a recent change of command ceremony, 40-year-old Lt. Col. Thomas F. Woloszyn, son of Chester and Mary Woloszyn of Dunkirk, became the U.S. Army Umatilla Chemical Depot’s 30th commander. A master parachutist, Lt. Col. Woloszyn has held numerous chemical officer ...

Twenty years ago — 1999 Two women who made judicial history in New York State will be honored when their portraits are put on permanent display in the Chautauqua County Courthouse in Mayville. Photographs of Chief State Judge Judith S. Kaye and M. Dolores Denman of Buffalo, presiding ...