Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

Barry Bryan, transportation director for the Bradford Area School District, will be on Thursday's LiveLine on 1490 WESB. Harrisburg – As the new school year begins, PennDOT reminds drivers to remain vigilant as students and school buses return to the roadways. “Our ultimate goal is to make sure everyone safely arrives at their destination,” said PennDOT Secretary Barry J. Schoch. “Motorists should avoid distractions and obey school bus and school zone traffic laws so we have the safest possible environment for students boarding and exiting buses.” By law, motorists approaching from all directions are required to stop at least 10 feet from a school bus with its red lights flashing and stop arm extended. The only exception is when a driver encounters a school bus stopping on the opposite side of a highway clearly separated by a divider, such as concrete barriers or grass medians. Even in this situation, motorists should be alert for students trying to cross the road to catch the bus....

A Cattaraugus man is facing charges – including a Leandra’s Law violation – after hitting a utility pole Thursday night in Cold Spring. Sheriff’s deputies say 27-eyar-old Kirk Sterling hit a utility police with the trailer he was towing behind his truck. He tried to leave the scene by was stopped by local residents. Deputies learned he was driving while intoxicated and had a 4-year-old in the truck with him. Sterling will answer the charges at a later date. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Cornell University plans to start installing nets on several bridges over the Ithaca gorges where three students committed suicide in early 2010. The Ithaca Journal says the city and the school have reached an agreement that calls for installing nets on five bridges around the Cornell campus.. The students committed suicide by jumping from gorge bridges within a month of each other in 2010. According to the newspaper, 27 people committed suicide between 1990 and 2010 by jumping from the bridges. That number includes 15 students. Temporary chain-link fences were installed and then replaced with less obtrusive black fencing after the 2010 suicides. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

A Little Valley man is accused of having sexual contact with two 6-year-olds. 20-year-old Eric Kuhaneck allegedly had the contact with the children Wednesday afternoon. The Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Bureau conducted the investigation and on Friday charged Kuhaneck with two counts of sexual abuse and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Kuhanek is jailed on $2,500 bail. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

A Jamestown woman suffered serious injuries in an accident Sunday morning on Route 62 in the Town of Carroll. Sheriff’s deputies say 54-year-old Sherell Baker swerved to miss an animal in the road when her vehicle went off the road, flipped over and ended up in a ditch. She is being treated at UPMC Hamot. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

A tractor-trailer and a motorcycle collided Sunday morning on Route 60 in the Town of Gerry, but the bike rider suffered only minor injuries. Sheriff's deputies were called to the scene at around 1:30 a.m. and learned that a tractor trailer driven by 27-year-old Matthew Numeracki of Cheektowaga was passing 48-year-old Kris Sosinski of Dunkirk on his motorcycle when at some point, Sosinski made contact with the trailer and lost control. Numeracki was not hurt. The investigation is continuing. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Police have released the names of the people who died in a house fire early Sunday morning in Bolivar. 42-year-old Tina Kemp and her grandchildren, 3-year-old Eric Holmes and 2-year-old Jessica Holmes were trapped in the house and died. 62-year-old Terry Green, a friend of Kemp’s, and one-year-old Charles Holmes were able to escape. They were treated at Olean General Hospital. Authorities are still trying to determine what caused the fire. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

No parking will be allowed on School Street between North Center and McClellan streets from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday of next week. The parking restrictions will be in place while sidewalk reconstruction is going on in the area. Vehicles parked in the area will be towed at the owner’s expense. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Two deer carcasses were dumped at the edge of field in Keating Township on Monday, and the state game commission is trying to find out who did it. They say an adult doe and an adult buck were shot in the head, and some of the meat was removed from both of them. The antlers were also taken from the buck. The animals were found at the edge of a field along the West Valley Road about a mile and a half south of Irish Hollow. Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact the game commission. A reward is possible. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

A Franklinville, New York, man is facing charges for allegedly running from police after a hit and run crash early Friday morning on Route 155 near Route 120 in Cameron County. Police say 26-year-old Brandon Cole fell asleep at the wheel of his SUV, causing it to leave the road and hit a road sign and a utility pole. Cole then drove away from the scene. A witness called police, who saw the SUV pull into a driveway on West Fourth Street in Emporium. Cole got out of the vehicle and ran away but, after a short foot chase, police caught up with him and charged him with DUI, resisting arrest and traffic violations. He’s free on $2,500 bail. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

A Freedom, New York, man has pleaded guilty to federal charges of mail fraud for running a scam to defraud his employer. 34-year-old Nicholas Polcz created a shell company while working at Ziphany Company in April 2010. He told Ziphany that the shell company would provide wireless services, while telling Ziphany’s actual provider to forward all future bills to the shell company. Using this scheme, Polcz was able to charge Ziphany a higher amount than the wireless services cost, paying the provider and keeping the extra for himself. In all, prosecutors say he scammed the company out of $28,000. Polcz is scheduled for sentencing in November and could face up to 20 years in prison. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

A jury has found a Salamanca man not guilty of assaulting another man outside the Dudley Hotel last August. After the four-day trial, the jury deliberated for two hours before finding 31-year-old Douglas Farnham not guilty of ambushing and seriously injuring 39-year-old David Jacobson. Cattaraugus County Public Defender Mark Williams successfully argued that it was Jacobson who ambushed Farnham, and Farnham acted in self-defense. Testimony from several eye-witnesses collaborated Farnham’s account of the events that happened at around 2:15 a.m. on August 7 of last year. Read Williams' news release: A Cattaraugus County Jury today of seven women and five men found Douglas Farnham, 31, of Salamanca, NY, not guilty of two counts of felony assault 2nd after deliberating for about 2 hours. It had been alleged that Mr. Farnham assaulted Salamanca resident David Jacobson, age 39, on August 7, 2011, at approximately 2:15 a.m. outside the Dudley Hotel in Salamanca. Mr. Jacobson suffered fr...

A Dunkirk man has been sentenced to 70 years in federal prison for possessing and producing child pornography. 32-year-old Roger Luczkowiak had nearly 600 images of child pornography and more than 80 videos when police seized his home computer in June of last year. Some of the images and two of the videos were of Luczkowiak and a 6-year-old victim. If he is ever released from prison he will be under federal supervision for the rest of this life. http://www.justice.gov/usao/nyw/press/press_releases/Luczkowiak3.pdf The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

The Community Blood Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania is holding its biggest promotion in years during the hardest month of the year for the blood supply. Through August 31 everyone who comes to give blood with the Community Blood Bank can enter to win a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando! This trip is valued at $4,000 and includes airfare, hotel stay at a Disney hotel and four Park-Hopper tickets to Disney parks for four people! The Community Blood Bank is holding a blood drive on Monday August 20th from noon to 4pm at the Mount Jewitt Health Center. The Community Blood Bank is also holding a blood drive on Tuesday, August 21st from 11am to 6pm at the Holy Redeemer Church on Pennsylvania Avenue in Warren. No appointment is needed "Hakuna Matata! A safe blood supply means No Worries," said Dan Desrochers, Director of Marketing at the blood bank. "Make the Community Blood Bank the second happiest place on earth by giving blood!" The news l...

Clarion University Special Libraries Association's student chapter will have a Book-Based Designz display and sale from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays, Aug. 20 to Sept. 7, in Gemmell Student Complex. The students will offer an assortment of book-based décor - books that have been repurposed into lamps, vases, bookmobiles, book safes, shelves and more - perfect for dorms and apartments. "Many of the books which were used to create the artwork would have been otherwise discarded, so the fundraiser incorporates the values of both recycling and artistry," said Michael Widdersheim, a recent graduate of the Master of Science in Library Science program at Clarion University and SLA president. "We scheduled the fundraiser during first-year orientation and move-in so that students could find items for dorms and apartments, and also so that parents could view our display. We hope this event not only helps support our student organization, but that it also inspires others to repurp...

Bradford City firefighters were called to a land rescue at the Mechanic Street Bridge this morning. At about 11:15 a boy was either playing or on his bike and fell off the bridge and into the edge of the water. Captain Eric Taylor says firefighters used a Stokes basket and Tower One to hoist him out. The road was closed for a just over half an hour during the rescue effort. Taylor could not provide any further information on the child or his condition because of privacy laws. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Harrisburg – Governor Tom Corbett has signed execution warrants for three men, each of whom were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Terry Ray Chamberlain, Andre Staton and David Richard Ramtahal are scheduled to be executed in October. They are incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Greene. Terry Ray Chamberlain, 60, was found guilty of breaking into the home of his estranged wife, Sherri Chamberlain, and her boyfriend, Greg Inman, on Aug. 22, 1991, where he shot each of them multiple times, including an execution-style shot to the head. A neighbor testified that on the morning of the murders, Mrs. Chamberlain telephoned her home, saying she and Inman had been shot, asking her to call an ambulance and identifying the gunman as Chamberlain. The neighbor’s husband arrived at the home and found the pair dead. A Bradford County jury convicted Chamberlain of two counts of first-degree murder and returned two death sentences on May 13, 1994. Chamberlain i...

A man is facing charges after a crash that destroyed his motorcycle early this morning. Sheriff’s deputies say 60-year-old David Gordon of Findley Lake, New York, was on Route 430 in the Town of Mina at 12:40 a.m. when his bike crashed and caught on fire. Gordon has been charged with driving while intoxicated. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

A Brocton, New York, man is in jail for allegedly choking a woman during a domestic incident early this morning in Brocton. Sheriff’s deputies say 30-year-old Brian Trask also pushed the victim through a glass door. Trask is charged with criminal obstruction of breathing and harassment. His bail is $1,500 cash. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Accused rapist Joseph Chapman of Emporium pleaded guilty Thursday in McKean County Court to an escape charge. The 28-year-old walked away from the McKean County Jail in July of 2007 and spent nearly five years on the run. He was arrested on May 20 near Dunkirk, New York, after a TV viewer recognized him on the show “America's Most Wanted.” He was originally in jail after being charged with raping a seven-year-old and eight-year-old girl in Cameron County. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947