The event will take place, rain or shine, at 11:00 a.m. on the Jamestown Riverwalk.

The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities, along with the assistance from a local leprechaun, will turn the Chadakoin River green in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Celtic music will be playing to add to festivities.

The event will be held along the Riverwalk near the Main Street Bridge.

Kyle Seekings

JAMESTOWN – Four individuals have been arrested following an investigation into a spree of vandalism and criminal mischief acts that took place in late November.

According to the Jamestown Police Department, 21-year-old Kyle Seeking of Jamestown faces several felony charges for damaging both private and city property and causing an estimated $30,000 in damages.  His accomplices included three juveniles whose names are not being released due to their age.

The charges are the result of criminal mischief complaints from Nov. 21 to Nov. 26 after damage was reported along First Street and the Jamestown Riverwalk.

The four are allegedly responsible for breaking windows to numerous businesses, homes and vehicles, as well as damaging lighting fixtures along the Riverwalk and behind the National Comedy Center.  At one point the group also allegedly threw rocks and snowballs at moving vehicles from the viaduct on North Main and Foote Avenue.

Video surveillance from local businesses helped to identify the suspects.

Seekings was charged with six counts of felony second-degree criminal mischief and seven counts of felony third-degree criminal mischief. He was awaiting arraignment in Jamestown City Court.

The three juveniles will be petitioned to family court.

Several winter items are hung up at Lillian Dickson Park in Jamestown as part of the ‘Keeping Each Other Warm’ project.

JAMESTOWN – Donations are being accepted all winter long for Keeping Each Other Warm in Jamestown, NY – a community outreach project spearheaded by local residents and whose purpose is to help neighbors in our community neighbors who need support to keep warm during our bitterly cold winter.

The project involves hanging winter clothing items on clothes lines in public places around Jamestown, and giving anyone in need of winter clothing the opportunity to take what they need.

The project is coordinated by residents Georgeanna Guiffrida Culpepper and Audrey Ralston.

Guiffrida Culpepper said they started working on the project in 2014, during an especially bitterly cold winter. “I came across a picture on Facebook that showed scarves tied around trees with the simple message, ‘If you’re stuck out in the cold, take me,'” she explained. “From there the idea grew. I talked with my family and collected our old winter items, the things my kids grew out of and things we didn’t use anymore. I talked to Audrey and she thought it was great and started looking through her items.”

“And then we started thinking, let’s expand the idea,” Guiffrida Culpepper said. “Instead of scarves, lets also provide gloves and hats and all kinds of things and so the idea took off from there with the clothes line and keeping the items clean and dry. So we just kind of kept brainstorming and came up with the basic premise of keeping each other warm.”

Keeping Each Other Warm encourages the donations of adult and children hats, scarves, earmuffs, ear bands, gloves and sock, along with children’s coats and snow pants.

The project will also accept monetary donations to assist in keeping lines in good repair, in addition to buying winter gear to hang.

Anyone wanting to donate items can do so by dropping them off at locations located throughout the city, including:

• Aftercare Nursing Services (Medical Arts Building, 500 Pine Street)The Medical Arts Building (500 Pine St.)
• Phoenix Rising Wellness Studio (212 Pine St.)
• First Lutheran Church (120 Chandler St.)
• Custom Carpet Center (Fairmount Ave., Lakewood)
• Joe Z Coffee (98 Forest Ave.)

Items can be found during the winter months hanging on lines located at:

• Jamestown Riverwalk
• Reg Lenna Center For The Arts (in front of The Reg Studio)
• Dow Park (across from James Prendergast Library Association, in the lower corner at 7th and Washington Streets)
• Lillian Dickson Park (Falconer Street)
• Joe Z Coffee (corner of Forest and Prather Streets)

More details on the project can be found at the Keeping Each Other Warm in Jamestown, NY Facebook page. Both Guiffreda Culpper and Ralston will also discuss the project during this week’s Community Matters program, which airs at 5 p.m. on Thursday on WRFA.

Image from Google Street View

JAMESTOWN – Public art could soon be coming to the Washington Street Bridge Barrett Ave. connector  in Jamestown.

On Monday night representatives from GA Family Services appeared before the Jamestown City Council to share their proposal for a mural for the street wall at the Barrett St. Exit off of Washington St.

Billy Torres is group facilitator for the Accountability and Responsibility Program at GA Family Services. He told members of the city council that the organization is seeking a use of occupancy permit and a highway work permit from the state that would allow for the mural project to go forward. He said the organization is seeking an endorsement from the city council to secure both.

“We’d like to see if the city would have interest in supporting project and signing a partnership agreement, covering the annual fee of having the mural on the wall,” Torres said, adding that the city’s share of the cost would only be $1 while GA Family Services would cover the bulk of the cost, which he said is several hundred dollars.

“It’s 180 by 26 feet and we have numerous partners and everybody is excited about it. It’s a highly anticipated project.. we’ve gotten great feedback from the state,” Torres said. “If this were to happen the permit we’d only have a about five weeks to work on it.”

Torres also said that if permission is granted, the plan would be to commission a local artist to design a mural focusing on the four seasons of Chautauqua County, with GA students and other volunteers helping to paint.

The cost of the project would be covered by GA Family Services, along with support from various partners and volunteers. The any upkeep cost for the mural, once completed, would also be covered by GA Family Services.

Erica Garcia, GA Family Services Accountability and Responsibility Program Manger, said current community partners for the project include the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation, the Prendergast Library, Chautauqua Tapestry, SPOA, Jamestown High School, Jamestown Community College, SKF, and local churches.

In other news from Monday night’s meeting, Mayor Sam Teresi and City Development Director Vince DeJoy updated the council on an effort to secure state funding for a project to illuminate the Jamestown Riverwalk. The project would cost $400,000. Officials are hoping that 50 percent of the funding can be covered by the state’s Consolidated Funding Application program,  and the other half from local foundations. More details on that project will provided during the WRFA’s Wednesday morning news update.