1. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2017135th Year · Number 39 Dunkirk-Fredonia, N.Y.
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LAURA GERACI
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Business...................B10
Classifieds ..............B5-7
Comics.......................A8
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Entertainment ...........B9
Living.........................A9
Local/Region ......A3, A5
News ......................A6-7
Opinion......................A4
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QUESTION OF THE
DAY: Do you think
Cuomo’s free tuition plan
will come to fruition?
To register your opinion,
go to www.observerto-
day.com. Results of the
previous day’s question
are on Page A4.
NEW SPACE
Rotary Club discusses Rockefeller Arts
Center improvements. Lifestyles, A9
I N S I D E T O D AY
• Senior Scene section highlights activities, events <<
• Opera House to screen “Fences.” Entertainment, B9
‘Making College
Possible’
Dunkirk Mayor
Willie Rosas
SUNY Fredonia President
Virginia Horvath
Fredonia Mayor
Athanasia Landis
Local leaders back free higher ed tuition
OBSERVER Staff Report
B
UFFALO —
Some local leaders have gone on
record saying they back Gov. Andrew
Cuomo’s plan for free
tuition, including
Dunkirk Mayor Willie
Rosas, Fredonia
Mayor Athanasia
Landis and State
University of New
York at Fredonia
President Virginia
Horvath.
Cuomo on
Tuesday kicked off
the Excelsior
S c h o l a r s h i p
Campaign touring
SUNY and CUNY
campuses to make
college tuition-free
for middle-class
families across New
York. At a rally at
Buffalo State
College with a
crowd of over 600
students and local
supporters, Western
New York leaders,
including Buffalo
Bills Hall of Famer
Thurman Thomas, Buffalo Mayor Byron
Brown and Erie County Executive Mark
Poloncarz, endorsed the Governor’s plan to
make college possible for New York fami-
lies making under $125,000 per year.
Approximately 80 percent, or 68,712
Western New York families, would qualify
to attend SUNY or CUNY tuition-free
under the Governor’s bold proposal.
As part of the new campaign, the
Governor is also deploying Lt. Gov. Kathy
Hochul and cabinet
members to meet
with students and
faculty at SUNY
and CUNY campus-
es statewide in sup-
port of the first-ever
free tuition plan at
both two- and four-
year colleges.
The Governor
also announced
New York state will
host the first-ever
statewide coding
competition for
SUNY and CUNY
students at all cam-
puses, the “Making
College Possible
Coding Challenge.”
The challenge will
encourage students
to use technology to
share information
about the Excelsior
Scholarship.
“In New York,
education was
always the great equalizer, but today far too
many young people have been deprived of
the advanced degree they need to get ahead,
compete in the global economy and secure
the jobs of tomorrow,” Gov. Cuomo said.
Submitted Photos
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday
kicked off the Excelsior Scholarship
Campaign, touring SUNY and CUNY
campuses to make college tuition-
free for middle-class families. Cuomo
held a rally at Buffalo State College
with a crowd of over 600 students
and local supporters.
David N. Coia
Man charged
with raping
minor
OBSERVER Staff Report
HANOVER — A well-known Hanover
resident has been charged with two counts
of second-degree criminal sexual act (class
D felony) and one count of second-degree
rape (class A felony).
David N. Coia, 62, of Hanover, who runs
the annual Olivia 5K Wish Run in honor of
his late daughter, was taken into custody
Friday by the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s
Office. The arrest warrant had been issued
by the Hon. James F. Bargnesi.
Allegedly, investigation found that Coia
had engaged in sexual intercourse with a
subject younger than 15 years old for a time
period between October 2008 and October
2009 in the town of Hanover.
He was arraigned in Chautauqua County
Court and bail was set at $250,000 cash,
$500,000 property and revocation of his
passport if bailed.
Sources say that recently, Coia had trav-
eled outside of the United States and mar-
ried a woman who is not a U.S. citizen.
Coia was taken to the Chautauqua
County Jail.
Pomfret town board signs off on
badly needed truck purchase
By GREG FOX
OBSERVER Assistant News Editor
A desperately needed snowplow
for the town of Pomfret will hope-
fully arrive by the next winter sea-
son.
The town board — during a
recent meeting — unanimously
approved the purchase of a 2018
Freightliner 114SD chassis, togeth-
er with the optional equipment,
extended engine warranty and RF
spring boost, from Fleet
Maintenance Inc. at a cost of
$121,429. As part of the same reso-
lution, the board authorized the
purchase of the Everest Plow
Equipment package from Valley Fab
and Equipment Inc. at a cost of
$94,298.
Both purchases are off a bid
through Onondaga County, which
allows other municipalities in New
York state to take advantage of its
contractual pricing.
“Having adopted that (resolu-
tion), I willingly ask you to focus on
how you’re going to pay for this
thing,” Town Attorney Jeffrey
Passafaro advised the board. “If it
does not come through, you need to
do a bond resolution, and remem-
ber, once we do a bond resolution,
we’ll need to prepare that in
advance. After adoption of the bond
resolution, we have to do the estop-
pel notice publications, and only
then can the supervisor sell the
bond anticipation note. So it’s about
a 45- to 60-day process.”
Supervisor Donald Steger noted
the town is still waiting to hear word
on a grant application for the 10-
wheeler. That will influence how
much the bond will be for, he added.
A current bond anticipation note
will be paid off so it will not have to
be renewed, he said.
Highway Superintendent Daniel
Bigelow mentioned he is not trading
in the vehicle being replaced.
Instead, the town will keep it as a
spare.
“Nothing went down yet, but
they do break and we don’t have a
spare,” he remarked.
He also thanked the board for
allowing him to purchase a badly
needed piece of his aging and crum-
bling highway fleet.
County legislator
contradicts Landis
on water district
By NICOLE GUGINO
OBSERVER City Editor
The Northern Chautauqua County
Regional Water District is moving for-
ward, but blaming Dunkirk for it doing so
without Fredonia is all wet, according to
District 2 County Legislator Bob
Bankoski.
The Fredonia
Village Board dis-
cussed the results
of a $150,000 engi-
neering study on
Monday, which
outlines the cost to
repair or decom-
mission its dam
and build an inter-
connect to
Dunkirk.
At that meeting,
a resident men-
tioned the village
was once being
considered as a
secondary supplier
for the district.
Mayor Athanasia
Landis gave a rea-
son why that is no longer the case.
“It’s not on the table anymore mainly
because Dunkirk doesn’t want that to
happen,” she said.
At Tuesday’s Common Council meet-
ing, Bankoski stated this is simply not
true.
“I was kind of disturbed this morning
when I read the paper with Mayor Landis,
who I thought took a shot at the city of
Dunkirk, because in my opinion, she felt
we were trying to force Fredonia out of
being a supplier for the North County
Water District. That is the farthest thing
away from what actually happened,” he
said. “Fredonia was offered an opportuni-
ty to be a provider for the water district
and County Executive (Vince) Horrigan
sent them a letter asking them to get on
board with the water district, but they
continued to drag their feet.”
District 2 County
Legislator Bob
Bankoski
See LEGISLATOR, Page A5See TRUCK, Page A5
See TUITION, Page A5