Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

An Olean man is facing charges after his Jeep Cherokee crashed into the front porch of a vacant house on Jackson Avenue at about 11 o'clock Friday night. Bradford City Police tell WESB and The HERO that 19-year-old Victor Farr III was traveling at a high rate of speed, illegally passed another vehicle, couldn't negotiate a sharp turn and lost control of the vehicle. The owner of the house at 8 Jackson Avenue is Arthur Goodman of Bradford. Farr had four passengers in the vehicle -- three female juveniles and an adult male. Bradford City Ambulance personnel treated four of the five people for mild to moderate injuries and transported them to BRMC. Farr is charged with DUI, corruption of minors, reckless endangerment, reckless driving, illegal passing and underage drinking. He was arraigned in front of District Judge Bill Todd and sent to McKean County Jail.

A Smethport man is facing charges following a crash this morning on Route 46 a mile north of Route 146 in Norwich Township. Police tell WESB and The HERO that at 12:23 a.m. an SUV driven by Frank DeBlaso crossed the center line and continued to travel off the berm and up an embankment, where it rolled over. Police say DeBlaso was determined to be driving under the influence and arrested. He wasn't hurt. The vehicle was towed from the scene.

Lake Worth, FL, resident Paul DiPrima had originally gone to Zippo.com looking to buy lighter fluid. He’s coming away - make that riding away - with a lot more than that. On Friday at Palm Beach Harley-Davidson®, Paul DiPrima was handed the keys to his brand new 2010 Harley-Davidson Iron 883 motorcycle, top prize in the “Red Hot and Ridin’ Sweepstakes” on Zippo’s music website, ZippoEncore.com . His name was chosen at random from thousands that entered the contest. DiPrima is a motorcycle rider but doesn’t currently own a Harley-Davidson. He bought a Zippo lighter at the Zippo-sponsored Cruzan Amphitheater in West Palm Beach during a Toby Keith concert. He was going to give the lighter to a friend and needed to buy fuel for it so he went to Zippo.com , where he ordered his fuel and entered the contest. “I never thought twice about the contest after that,” admitted DiPrima. His wife and riding buddies thought he was crazy when he told them he had won. One of his first stops will ...

More than 130 special athletes from McKean, Warren, Elk and Cameron counties gathered at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford Sport and Fitness Center pool today for the annual Special Olympics Swimming Invitational, Sponsored by Dallas-Morris. The invitational is the culmination of the swimming season for most of the athletes, who have been in training for several months for this event. Seven swimmers, whose names will be announced, will advance to the Pennsylvania Special Olympics Summer Games at Penn State, June 10-12. Gold medal winners were: 15yd Walk:Adam Rakieski, Cody Pellerito, Matt Rounds, Kyle Fortman, Elizabeth Meyerink 10yd Assisted:Derek Hottel, Devin Guras, Zack Frontera, Aleana Swanson 15yd Unassisted:Devin Guras, Ron Decker, Robert Marshall, Matt Latshaw, Aleana Swanson, Jean Zumstein 15yd Adapted: Tina Whitford 15yd Float: John Sandlin, Zach Hussey, Matt Latshaw, Steph Heffner 25yd Float: Devin Guras, Zack Frontera, Charlie Black, Aleana Swanson, George Burton...

Congressman Eric Massa is resigning, effective Monday. Massa announced earlier this week that he wouldn't be seeking re-election because of a recurrence of cancer, but the House ethics panel is reviewing a complaint by a male staff member who reportedly felt uncomfortable in a situation with Massa that had sexual overtones. Massa represents most of the Southern Tier of New York, including Cattaraugus County. You can read an open letter from Massa here .

University of Pittsburgh at Bradford student Andrew Hwang, a business management major from Horsham, is the first recipient of the NEXT STEP Business Grant Competition. Sponsored by the Pitt-Bradford entrepreneurship program, the grant awarded $1991 to Hwang for enhancements to his business, LPX (Land Party Extreme) Gaming, located on South Avenue in Bradford. Hwang was one of four students who made presentations before judges Jill Foys of North Central Regional Planning and Development Commission, Brian Jadlowiec of Northwest Savings Bank and Students in Free Enterprise student Alyssa Smith. “Andrew’s grant request for his LPX Gaming business was distinguished by the fact that Andrew has already started this fledgling business and has put sweat equity and his own money into it,” said Laura Megill, director of the entrepreneurship program. “He talked to his early customers about what they wanted, and his grant was to provide these items. Andrew has d...

The Eldred Borough Fire Department is receiving $27,389 from the federal government. Federal funds are awarded through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, administered by FEMA under the Department of Homeland Security. Senator Bob Casey announced the grant today.

U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) has introduced legislation that seeks to help domestic manufacturers by enforcing trade remedy laws. The Unfair Foreign Competition Act of 2010 provides a private right of action for domestic manufacturers injured by illegal subsidization or dumping of foreign products into U.S. markets. Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) are cosponsors. The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Finance. “Job creation and job retention in this country depend, in large part, on our ability to enforce existing trade laws,” Senator Specter said. “This legislation would give an injured industry the opportunity to seek reliable enforcement in federal court so that we can stop anticompetitive, predatory trade practices which steal jobs from our workers, profits from our companies, and growth from our economy.” “Unfair trade practices have shipped Pennsylvania jobs oversees and increased our trade deficit," said Senator Casey. “...

Red Stick Ramblers, a Cajun, country, string and swing band with a music video aired on Country Music Television, will perform March 20 at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Bromeley Family Theater of Blaisdell Hall. Tickets are $26 or $22 for the public and $11 or $9 for all students,. The show is a part of Pitt-Bradford’s Prism Series. “This definitely isn't your grandfather’s Cajun band,” said Randy Mayes, director of arts programming at Pitt-Bradford. “This is addictive, toe-tapping music that washes over you and makes you move to the beat whether you want to or not.” Drawing on Louisiana culture, the band combines Cajun, country, stringband and swing. The Red Stick Ramblers’ shows are reminiscent of all-night dances, laid-back campfire sessions, dusty honky-tonks and raucous family reunions. Now a five-member band, Red Stick Ramblers formed in 1999 in Baton Rouge, La., and released its self-titled debut in 2002. Since then, the ban...

The Visiting Scholars program at St. Bonaventure University is sponsoring a lecture March 16 by Dr. Robert Jewett titled “Jesus, Captain America, and Barack Obama: The Superhero Myth in Contemporary American Culture.” The talk will look at the various ways in which popular images of superheroes have influenced American thinking about both religion and politics, often to our collective detriment. It will take place in the auditorium of the William F. Walsh Science Center at 7:30 p.m. Dr. Jewett is one of the leading New Testament scholars in the world. Since his retirement in 2000 from his longtime position as professor of New Testament Interpretation at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill., he has served as visiting professor of New Testament at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Dr. Jewett has published 20 books and nearly 150 academic articles covering a wide range of topics across the discipline of New Testament studies, including “Paul's Anthropologi...

A Salamanca woman has been indicted on theft charges for stealing more than $50,000 from a business over a period of eight years. The Cattaraugus County District Attorney's office tells WESB and The HERO that 24-year-old Elizabeth Smith took the money from NAFCO on Broad Street in Salamanca from May of 2000 to November of 2008. She's charged with second-degree grand larceny, tampering with physical evidence and falsifying business records. Also, 39-year-old Demont Ramseuree of Buffalo has been charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal sale of a controlled substance for incidents in the City of Olean in August. They will both be arraigned on March 15.

A Kill Buck man is facing charges following an incident Tuesday on Kill Buck Road. Sheriff's Deputies tell WESB and The HERO that they responded to a domestic in progress but, upon their arrival the suspect, Michael Stephan Jr., had left the scene. He was arrested the next day for allegedly slapping, pushing and choking the victim in front of their 12-year-old daughter. Stephan was arraigned on charges of attempt to commit assault and endangering the welfare of a child. He's scheduled to appear in Town of Great Valley Court on March 17.

General surgeon Jasmine E. Malcolm, M.D., has joined Bradford Regional Medical Center’s medical staff. The announcement was made by David Kobis, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Bradford Regional Medical Center. Dr. Malcolm is board-certified with the American Board of Surgery. “As part of our ongoing strategy to recruit more physicians to the Bradford area, I’m extremely pleased to announce Dr. Malcolm has joined BRMC's surgical staff,” Mr. Kobis said. “Dr. Malcolm has exceptional surgical skills and will be a wonderful addition to medical services in the region.” Dr. Malcolm just completed a one-year trauma fellowship at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax, Va. From 2005 to 2009, she was a general surgeon at Milton Cato Memorial Hospital of St. Vincent in the Caribbean. She also was at Milton Cato Memorial Hospital for a year, starting in 2003. Dr. Malcolm was a research fellow from 2004 to 2005 for the Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery at the Oschner Clini...

(CNN) -- Two Pentagon police officers and a suspect are believed to have been shot Thursday outside the Pentagon Metro station, a public affairs officer for the Pentagon Force Protection Agency said. For video and more, go to CNN.com .

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Bradford Mayor Tom Riel has always been vocal in his belief that the city's code enforcement program is a failure. This afternoon, he told WESB and The HERO that he believes code enforcement should be taken out of the fire department and possibly moved to the Office of Economic and Community Development. "My hope is that the City of Bradford Fire Department would do the right thing and vote to let code enforcement go so we can move on and try to build a better Bradford," Riel said. "Code enforcement's been operated this way out of the city's fire department for 15 years, and you'd think after 15 years they'd have it figured out -- there wouldn't be such a problem, there wouldn't be so much confusion and it wouldn't seem so dysfunctional." Riel said one of the advantages of moving code enforcement to the OECD is that the code enforcement officers wouldn't be getting the salary and medical be...

Seneca Nation Executives, Councilors and community members gathered today to hold a ribbon cutting ceremony commemorating the opening of a brand new $30 million administration building on the Allegany territory. The construction project, which began in October 2008, is a three-story 90,000 square-foot structure that was designed by a Native American owned firm, Two Row Architects from Six Nations, Ontario and Buffalo-based firm Kideney Architects. The facility will house the Nation’s governmental offices and meeting rooms and features a Grand Hall and state of the art high tech Council Chambers. Leaders of the Seneca Nation remarked upon the significance of the new building. “In many ways, today is a day of new beginnings for the Seneca Nation,” said President Barry Snyder. “With the opening of this beautiful new administrative complex, we take another step forward in the history of the Seneca Nation. This building is more than just a new home for our government, or a place where impor...

A New York appeals court has upheld the conviction of Ralph "Bucky" Phillips, who killed a state trooper in 2006 during the largest manhunt in New York state history. The unanimous ruling from the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court in Albany rejected Phillips' claims that his guilty plea was coerced and that he'd gotten bad advice from a court-appointed lawyer. Phillips is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole after telling a judge in 2006 that he was "guilty as hell." Phillips admitted fatally shooting Trooper Joseph Longobardo and wounding troopers Donald Baker Jr. and Sean Brown after escaping from the Alden Correctional Facility. He spent five months on the run and was captured by Pennsylvania State Police in a Warren County cornfield.

The communications director for New York Governor David Paterson has quit as an ethics scandal continues to unfold around the governor. Peter Kauffmann handed in his resignation earlier today. He is the third person to quit since questions were raised into how Paterson received a set of Yankees World Series tickets and how he handled an aide's alleged domestic abuse case. As the lead spokesman for the governor, Kauffmann handled media inquires about both incidents. For more on this story, go to CNN.com .

The New York State Senate has passed legislation that would allow blood drug and alcohol content evidence taken from the scene of accidents to be used to prosecute potentially impaired drivers. This bill would remove the requirement that a physician supervise the withdrawl of blood from an intoxicated driver allowing blood evidence to be used in a court of law. “A simple conflict between current medical practice and a statutory requirement in the Vehicle and Traffic Law should not be a loophole for drunk drivers to get a free pass,” said Senator William Stachowski (D-Lake View). “This legislation would close that loophole to allow drunk drivers to be prosecuted and get them off our roads.”

Nine people have been arrested for illegally selling drugs following investigations by the Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force. Those arrested are 42-year-old Dolores Redeye of Salamanca; 25-year-old Brian Williams of Ishua; 27-year-old Dwayne Smith of Little Valley; 35-year-old Jason Dille of Great Valley; 18-year-old Timothy Reese of Gowanda; 57-year-old Claudia Cleveland of Randolph; 26-year-old Duane Dearmyer of Ashford; and 24-year-old Shauna Lewis and 46-year-old Kip Lewis, both of Perrysburg. Four K-9 teams and more than 40 officers took part in the raids and the warrant executions. Among the law enforcement agencies involved were the Cattaraugus County Sheriff's Department, New York State Police, Salamanca and Gowanda police, Seneca Marshals and the state Community Narcotics Enforcement Team.