Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

To hear a recording of the meeting, go to WESB.com/listen , click on the "local programs tab, and scroll to "Bradford City Council 4-14-15. A group of rude and unruly people – some from the townships – disrupted Tuesday’s Bradford City Council meeting to the point where Mayor Tom Riel threatened to adjourn the meeting early. While the eight or so were loud enough that council and the media had to ask them to quiet down, the rest of the standing-room-only crowd was polite and respectful. The antics came about when council was asked about several issues including business privilege tax, a proposed storm water fee and the crime rate. Mayoral candidate Paul Berg, who seemed to be making statement rather than asking a question, wanted to know why General Electric (parent company of Dresser’s) does not pay a business privilege tax. Riel and City Solicitor Mark Hollenbeck tried to explain that the Interstate Commerce Clause precludes them from paying it. Riel also added that t...

The City of Bradford Water Authority is anticipating the present condition to extend for several days, the following advisory is being issued to assist the community: -Obviously a major concern of this issue is the health and sanitation of the citizens, with that being said the disposal of waste in your toilets can be done by melting snow and putting it into your toilet tank and flushing in this manner. -If your heating system is dependant on water pressure from the Bradford Water Authority you should be prepared to be without heat for the duration of this emergency. Take necessary safety precautions. -The Red Cross will have some shelter space available to those in need at the Sawyer Evangelical Church, located at the intersection of South Kendall Ave and Looker Mountain Trail. -If persons are in need of water, the City of Bradford had secured bottled water that will be available to area residents upon request. If you have an immediate need of drinking water tonight and do...

From Police Chief Chris Lucco: City Police will not be not be enforcing parking meters today, due to the inclement weather. We do not want to put people at risk attempting to get to the meters. However, we are also issuing a travel advisory for no unnecessary travel until the storm slows down and the road crews can get ahead of the storm. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Bradford Police are hoping a new ordinance will cut down on thefts of scrap metal and other stolen items. The ordinance – which is only in draft form right now – would require businesses that buy items such as scrap metal, jewelry and precious metals to keep more detailed records and send those records to police weekly. During a City Council work session last night, McKean County District Attorney Ray Learns said tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of items have been stolen and sold under the guise of being scrap. "The real problem is that sometimes what’s being sold as scrap was never intended to be scrap. So it’s not that somebody is stealing a pile of rusty metal behind a house that they were going to use as scrap," Learn said. "The bigger problem is when they’re cutting good copper pipe out of a house, or they’re cutting up a good well jack, or they’re cutting up a power station or they’re cutting up something else that has a legitimate use and then selling it fo...

Property taxes in the City of Bradford won’t be going up nearly as much as anticipated. The average property owner will see an increase of about $4.50 a month. They had been looking at an increase of around $10. Mayor Tom Riel says they were able to knock the millage down from 4.9 to 1.5 in the past month. “It was kind of scary when we did the first reading (of the millage ordinance),” Riel said. “I want to commend council for their efforts working with everybody to lower that down to 1.5 mils.” “I wish it was nothing,” he said, “but we can’t go without a tax increase every year.” He added that there has not been a tax increase for the past three years. Eliminating the purchase of new vehicles for the police, fire and property maintenance departments is one way they trimmed the budget. Health insurance, pension costs and contract obligations were among the increases expenses they had no control over. Councilman Fred Proper, who oversees accounts and finances, said although the for...

A Bradford man accused of threatening a neighbor and city police officers pleaded no contest in McKean County Court, because he says he was drunk at the time of the May 19 incident and doesn’t remember it. 35-year-old Jason Dickerson was allegedly yelling obscenities and pounding on a neighbor’s door at the High Rise on Bushnell Street. When confronted by police, he threatened them, became defensive, kicked at them, spit at them and had to be carried from the building by Chief Chris Lucco and Officer Steve Caskey. Dickerson is scheduled for sentencing on December 4. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

A hoax bomb threat evacuated Fretz Middle School for a short time this morning. Bradford Area School District Assistant Superintendent Sam Johnson tells WESB someone called the FBI’s new reporting system saying he or she saw a bomb threat on Twitter. The school was evacuated while police and school district personnel did a sweep of the building. Police visited the home of the person purported to have called the FBI but learned it was not only a hoax but that the person had been “spoofed” – meaning another person used a program to make it look as if the call to the FBI came from the first person’s phone number, Johnson said. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

A Bradford man accused of threatening a neighbor and city police officers waived his preliminary hearing today. Court papers say 35-year-old Jason Dickerson was yelling obscenities and pounding on a neighbor’s door at the High Rise on Bushnell Street. When confronted by police, he threatened them, became defensive, kicked at them, spit at them and had to be carried from the building by Chief Chris Lucco and Officer Steve Caskey. Police eventually had to use Mace on him. Dickerson remains jailed on $100,000 bail. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

A Columbus, Ohio, homicide suspect is in McKean County Jail after City of Bradford Police found him on Mechanic Street this morning. Chief Chris Lucco says the United States Marshal Service contacted city police this morning and asked for help in finding 37-year-old Robert Tucker, who was believed to be in the area. City police and marshals checked numerous locations in the city before finding Tucker at 96 Mechanic Street. Tucker allegedly shot and killed a man during a robbery in Columbus, and then fled to West Virginia, where a female co-defendant was apprehended. Law enforcement had information that Tucker then came to Bradford, then traveled to Buffalo and back to Bradford. Tucker was taken into custody without incident and charged by city police as a fugitive from justice. He was taken to McKean County Jail without bail and is awaiting extradition to Ohio. Pictured, City of Bradford Police Officer Greg Boser puts homicide suspect Robert Tucker into a car this morning after he...

City taxpayers will not see a tax increase, according to the 2014 budget unveiled by Bradford City Council Tuesday night. Councilman Jim Evans, who oversees accounts and finances, thanked all city employees, especially City Clerk John Peterson, Deputy City Clerk Teri Cannon, Chief Financial Officer Mike Shanks and all the department heads for their work on this budget, and for keeping costs in line for 2013. Specifically, he thanked them for “continuing to live within our budget, looking for new sources of revenue, making sure we leave no stone unturned” in terms of spending and looking for new revenue sources, and watching spending. Evans said the city is “in a very enviable position,” noting that while the city is not “flush with money” it is “running in a very sound manner financially.” After Evans read his letter to the city that declared no property tax increase, Mayor Tom Riel said, “... in the next couple of weeks, as numbers continue to come in, maybe we can lower them a li...

Items that could potentially be used to make explosives were found in a Bradford man’s home Monday. Police Chief Chris Lucco says city police officers and agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were at 20 Mechanic Street speaking with 44-year-old Eric Cramer when they could see what appeared to be multiple items that could be used for making an explosive device. Officers secured the apartment, evacuated the building and called the Erie Bomb Squad. Police also searched a storage locker leased by Cramer and found several items that could be used to build and/or detonate an explosive device, as well as detailed notes on how to manufacture such a device, Lucco said. At 10:45 Monday night Cramer was arraigned by District Judge David Engman on felony charges of unlawful possession or manufacture of weapons of mass destruction and causing a catastrophe and sent to McKean County Jail on $300,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday. Lucco thanked the McK...

Several Pearl Street residents took a neighborhood problem to Bradford City Council Tuesday night. Kevin Caldwell told council he and many of his neighbors are fed up with the 17 people living in a single-family house at 41 Pearl. He said the neighbors are concerned about cleanliness, safety and noise. Among the problems, he said, are that the people sleep all day and stay up all night making noise. “When you’re going to work (in the morning), they’re still on the porch partying,” Caldwell said. “I wouldn’t want to live next to it,” said code enforcement officer Mike Cleveland. But he added that there are never any major code violations when he visits the house and the violations he has found, they managed to fix. “I feel for ya,” Cleveland said. Police Chief Chris Lucco added he is “more familiar with the situation than I’d like to be,” adding that he did an emergency welfare check and found that every person had a bed and “the house was cleaner than many, many, many houses I’...

A Bradford woman is accused of going to two stores, stealing a number of items, running from police and then giving them a false name when they caught up with her. 21-year-old Megan Buterbaugh went into the Family Dollar in Union Square on July 24 and stole two boxes of feminine hygiene products and a cordless phone, according to papers filed in District Judge Dominic Cercone’s office. She then went to Save-A-Lot and stole boneless chicken, bologna, sliced ham, bratwurst and mustard, and then ran away. She continued to run after police spotted her and ordered her to stop. When they finally did stop her, Buterbaugh didn’t give Chief Chris Lucco her correct name, according to court papers. Buterbaugh is charged with flight to avoid apprehension, false identification and retail theft. She waived her preliminary hearing and remains jailed on $10,000 bail. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Smile, you’re on “Candid Camera.” Well, you will be after the much-talked-about security cameras are installed in downtown Bradford. City Council on Tuesday opened three bids for the cameras. Police Chief Chris Lucco will review the bids and council is expected to award the contract during its June 11 meeting. The cameras are being paid for with private donations, not tax dollars. An East Washington Street business owner asked if businesses not on Main Street and its side streets will be able to hook into the city’s system once it’s installed. Mayor Tom Riel said other business owners and church leaders have asked the same question and the answer is, yes, they will be able to connect to the system. On the other end of the spectrum, city resident Ben Palagonia asked if there has been an increase in crime in the city to make the cameras necessary. “I haven’t felt unsafe,” he said of walking in Bradford at night. “I feel more unsafe walki...

At 12:23 p.m. City of Bradford Police and firefighters/paramedics were dispatched to 86 Main Street for a report of a 2-year-old that had fallen from a third-story open window and was injured. Chief Chris Lucco and Lt. Steve Caskey went from the station to the scene on foot because it is near Subway. They found the child’s father, Andrew Lorenzi, who rushed both officers and paramedic J.D. Tehle upstairs to his apartment and showed them where the child had fallen, and was now trapped in between two buildings. The area were the child, Carlyn Lorenzi, had fallen was 12 to 15 feet down and was only a 2-foot by 2-foot triangle. Carlyn was crying and had visible bleeding wounds, but could not be accessed from where they were. Lucco and Caskey rushed down to the 2nd floor apartment, where they believed there was a window that could access the area where the child was trapped. They forced open a window, which would only go up 10 to 12 inches. But they were able to reach out and grab the ch...

For the 12th year in a row, the Bradford Area School Board will not be raising taxes. The preliminary budget was introduced and approved during last night’s board meeting. It will be on display in the district office until it’s adopted at next month’s meeting. Also during last night’s meeting, the board tabled a proposal that would hire a second school resource officer for the next school year. Assistant Superintendent Sam Johnson asked the board to put the measure on hold because Bradford City Police Chief Chris Lucco is trying to get grant money to pay the officer’s salary. Current school resource officer Butch Bartlett was at last night’s meeting, and introduced some of the members of the high school’s Criminal Justice Club who recently traveled to Washington, D.C. The students presented a slide show and talked about the highlights of their trip. For more pictures, and video, of the trip you can go to the club's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/BAHS-Criminal-Ju...

Bradford City Police Chief Chris Lucco says rumors are still circulating about threats at the schools. He called us to say all the schools are secure and the rumors are unfounded. Lucco said he will keep WESB and The Hero updated. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

In light of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, Bradford Area School District superintendent Katy Pude wants to assure the community that the safety and security of every student and staff member in the district is their number one priority. In a letter to the community, she said although the district has safety plans and procedures in place they are continuing to examine ways to improve on the current protocol. District administrators have meet with City of Bradford Police Chief Chris Lucco and School Resource Officer Butch Bartlett to examine existing procedures. As a result of the meeting, parents may be inconvenienced by having to sign-in when entering a school and wearing a visitor’s badge, but Pude said the new procedures are for the safety of students and staff. Letters outlining the new procedures will be mailed to parents on Thursday. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Bradford Police say they believe the robbery that was reported Sunday night in the city was a false report made by the man they picked up last night as a fugitive from justice. Chief Chris Lucco says the person who reported the robbery identified himself as Louis Black, but he was later identified as Carlouis Brack, who was taken into custody on Tibbetts Avenue last night as a fugitive from justice from Illinois. Lucco says there hasn’t been a final determination yet as to whether Brack will be charged with filing a false report and false identification to law enforcement. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Waide E. Nolf entered a plea of no contest today in McKean County Court and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. From the DA's office: Nolf pleaded no contest to one count of first degree murder in the death of Tonya Haight, 24, of Bradford and one count of Involuntary Manslaughter in the death of Haight’s three week-old infant daughter. By pleading no contest, Nolf agreed that the Commonwealth could prove the facts alleged if the case went to trial. On March 19, 2010, the Defendant, Waide Eugene Nolf was residing at 56 Pleasant Street, City of Bradford, McKean County. Also residing in the residence was Tonya Haight, her husband John J. Haight Jr, their infant daughter Tamara Haight (DOB 02/25/2010), other children of Tonya Haight, another adult couple and their children. Sometime between 0300 hours and 0900 hours, Nolf was in the bathroom located on the first floor of the residence. Tonya Haight entered the bathroom while Nolf was in it, angering the...