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The OBSERVER’s View

Law Enforcement FBI failures need examination

People should be gravely concerned about reports that the FBI is falling short in referring allegations of child sexual abuse to local and state law enforcement. More than concerned — people should be furious. In a review prompted by the FBI’s mishandling of allegations against former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nasser, the bureau’s inspector general found that there is no evidence that the FBI followed mandatory reporting requirements in about 50% of cases. According to an Associated Press report, the FBI appears to have referred allegations within the 24-hour timeframe its ...

Baseball Silent Section 6 adds to dilemma

There indeed needs to be a penalty on the Cassadaga Valley Central School baseball team in regard to a forfeit last year in the boy’s postseason tournament, but does it need to be so harsh? School and booster club members are asking Section 6 to reconsider its rules that if a team does not play a contest after the brackets are finalized, that team will be ineligible next year. The Cougars had a 7-10 record last year under head coach Al Roller. Six seniors were on the team, with five underclassmen. The team was set to host Randolph on Friday, May 17 in the opening round of the Section ...

SEPT. 11 A day worthy of reflection

On this day 23 years ago, many Americans had hardly gotten settled into their workday when the day was shattered by the news that jetliners had struck both towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, another jetliner had crashed into the Pentagon and a fourth plane still was in the air over Pennsylvania and was headed in the direction of Washington, D.C. Of course, that last plane ended up crashing in a field alongside a wooded area just outside of Shanksville, Somerset County, miraculously sparing that community and neighboring Indian Lake Borough of what could have been a ...

COUNTY Battery oversight just the beginning

The sale of nearly 12 acres of vacant land in Ellicott for battery storage likely won’t see any development for a few years as required studies are completed. And that’s a good thing, because a rash of fires at three such facilities in New York last year alone raises some questions about how local fire departments will handle such storage facilities. Within a two-month period from late May to late July 2023, a battery at a substation on Long Island caught fire, followed by a fire in one of two battery units in Orange County and then another fire in a battery on a solar farm near ...

COUNTY Start planning to spend our funds

County legislators had quite the discussion last week about how much more of your money the county should keep for a rainy day. In the past the county’s Financial Management Policy gave legislators a 10% range between 5% and 15% of the county’s budget where the county’s surplus should fall at the end of each year. Legislators approved a change to the policy last week recommending a 12.5% of the county’s budget be kept in the surplus. For comparison, the surplus coming into this year was 13.9% of the county’s budget. Having a surplus isn’t a bad thing. It prevents the ...

DUNKIRK Muddling council offers no fixes

Did anyone else notice the irony of the Dunkirk Finance Committee meeting last month? During that gathering there were two topics: first was the city’s lack of paying bills it owed to the state for the retirement program. The second centered around complaints that those who owed money to the city were not paying their bills. Is there a problem with this picture? You bet. It is the stark realization that Common Council members — in fighting for dimes and nickels — still cannot grasp the concept that the city is broke in ginormous dollars. If New York state did not allow the ...