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The OBSERVER’s View

POMFRET One way to build a bigger kingdom

Government wants to become bigger. That is at least the impression one could get from the new law being proposed by the town of Pomfret that would allow a new municipal building in certain mixed-use residential and commercial districts. A public hearing on the law will be held next month. ...

Dunkirk Honoring city’s key piece in suffrage

Next week, a prominent Dunkirk citizen who played an important role in the successful passage of women’s suffrage will be remembered with the placing of a historical marker at 627 Washington Ave. Elnora Babcock, a native of northwestern Pennsylvania, moved to Dunkirk around 1880. She became ...

EDUCATION Not enough worries over lower scores

Last week’s report that test scores in civics and history are dropping should be concerning not just to teachers, but to all of us. The National Assessment of Educational Progress — known as the “nation’s report card” — tested about 7,800 students across the country in civics, ...

FRedonia Inconveniences of long weekend

Every college town in the nation faces what the village of Fredonia does for one week a year. For all the good the State University of New York at Fredonia does for the community, there is a residential distaste for the Non-Fred Fest event that takes place annually in the spring. Normally, ...

PREGNANCY Use of drugs becomes alarming

Virtually every day, readers, listeners and viewers of the latest news accounts are updated about arrests, court cases and prison sentences tied to the use or sale of illegal substances — plus, on some days, provided reports about overdose deaths associated with those substances. Too ...

ROUTE 60 Necessary work has safety as goal

Motorists who use Route 60 from the Fredonia roundabout to Airport Hill in the town of Ellicott are facing a bit more stop-and-go traffic in recent weeks. Two projects to improve the stretch — and make it safer — have forced the two-lane road to be reduced to one. To the north in Pomfret, ...