1. By ROBYN NEAR
Special to the OBSERVER
T
hree women from the small
community of Ripley attended
the Women’s March on
Washington, D.C. on Jan. 21, the day
after the inauguration of Donald
Trump as the 45th President of the
United States. They traveled by bus
with 52 other people from Fredonia to
get to Washington.
In a statement from the organizers
of the March on Washington: “In light
of this past election where women,
immigrants, religious faiths, people of
color and disabilities, the LGBT com-
munity and others have
felt insulted and
threatened, an organ-
ized march was
planned to
show solidarity in numbers too large
to ignore.”
“I really didn’t think of it as a
protest or march so much as a rally for
various issues,” stated Amy Near,
retired social worker. “We want a ‘big
tent’ that includes all kinds of people.”
Voter rights and environmental
issues motivated Near to attend.
“Trump’s rhetoric about environ-
mental issues concerns me. Family
members of mine are involved in envi-
ronmental conservation,” she said.
These women from Ripley agreed
that they went as a show of support to
keep the rights “we fought so hard to
get.” Laurel Adams feels the Electoral
College is no longer
a relevant or
valid representative of the people.
“The election really doesn’t affect
me personally,” she said, “as far as
reproductive rights.”
She worries for friends and relatives
in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-
gender community, and she worries
about public park lands being sold to
private parties.
“Are they going to start digging up
our beautiful parklands for oil?” she
wondered.
Rhonda Thompson, Ripley librari-
an, went for the experience.
“I’ve never done anything like this
before,” she said. “My big con-
cern is the Affordable Care Act
and what will replace it.
MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2017135th Year · Number 30 Dunkirk-Fredonia, N.Y.
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DPW worker
to appear in
court today
OBSERVER Staff Report
WESTFIELD — A Westfield Department of Public
Works employee allegedly caught stealing equipment is
scheduled to appear in court today.
Mark Haskin, the whistleblower in the case of raw
sewage being dumped into Chautauqua Creek in 2014,
is scheduled to face a judge
in Westfield Town Court,
23 Elm St., at 7:30 p.m.,
according to Eric Balon,
Zone III commander of the
New York State Police.
Haskin is charged with
fifth-degree criminal pos-
session of stolen property,
a felony.
Over the course of two
years, a number of items
went missing from the
DPW inventory, such as
chainsaws, an air compres-
sor, power tools and other
equipment.
Earlier this month, State
Police at Fredonia recov-
ered the items after receiving a call stating that the
caller knew who the thief was, and where the items
were hidden. The thief was allegedly Haskin.
OBSERVER Photo by Dan Kohler
The Fredonia Fire Department responded to a fire in progress on Hahn Road in the town of Pomfret
at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday. Reportedly, there were no injuries, as the residents were out of town.
However, the structure appeared to be a total loss, with much of the exterior walls burned away.
Battling the blaze was made tougher by snow, wind and icy roads. The cause of the fire is report-
edly still under investigation. In addition to the Fredonia Fire Department, responders included New
York State Police; Sheridan, East Dunkirk and Cassadaga fire departments; and Chautauqua County
Emergency Services.
GONE
Hahn Road home goes up in flames
Ripley residents take part in Women’s March
See MARCH, Page A5
Chadwick Bay talks health
care consortium updates
By ANN BELCHER
OBSERVER Correspondent
BROCTON — Members
of the Chadwick Bay
Regional Development Corp.
met recently to review and
discuss items on their agen-
da from the John W. Dill
American Legion Post in
Brocton.
First on the list for discus-
sion were recent updates
concerning the potential cre-
ation of a health care consor-
tium.
At first, the group was led
to believe that each munici-
pality would need over 100
workers to qualify for the
consortium to be developed.
After consulting with attor-
neys from Brocton Central
School District about quali-
fying as a consortium includ-
ing their employees, the
group was informed that
they could sign on with
school employees, however
it may not be cost-effective
due to the expenses and level
of service of the school’s
plan, according to Dan
Schrantz, chairman.
From this point, reported
Schrantz, the corporation
will be reaching out to
municipalities, and can
reach as far as Cattaraugus
County via surveys to gage
who would be interested in
forming a consortium with
the intent to lower health-
care costs and expand on the
services offered.
Representative Juan
Pagan reiterated that the for-
mation of a consortium
should receive positive sup-
port as it falls in line with the
current trend of consolida-
tion across the state. New
York’s Tomkins County
paved the way for this type of
consolidation after success-
fully forming a consortium of
its own for the betterment of
education workers there.
The members also dis-
cussed parts of the water
main installation portion of
the North County Regional
Water project.
See UPDATES, Page A6
Donald Stanbro stands proud with his
Gowanda High School diploma in hand.
Veteran finally grips
diploma after 50 years
By ANDREW DAVID
KUCZKOWSKI
OBSERVER Staff Writer
GOWANDA — At 71
years of age, Donald
Stanbro can now look
back with one less regret.
He is now a Gowanda
Central School graduate
through the New York
State Division of Veterans
Affairs’ Operation
Recognition.
Operation Recognition
awards veterans their high
school diplomas if they
were on active duty for at
least one day during
World War II, the Korean
War, or in Vietnam. They
also must have been hon-
orably discharged.
Stanbro, once learning
this, contacted the
Gowanda Board of
Education with the aspira-
tions of getting a formal
degree.
“It was pretty emotion-
al; the whole process was
pretty emotional,”
Stanbro told the
OBSERVER via phone.
“I’ve always felt kind of
embarrassed. I had gotten
a GED, right out of the
gate, probably before I
would have graduated.
But still, it is not a high
school diploma.”
When Stanbro was in
high school, his home life
wasn’t too stable. His
grandmother was his pri-
mary guardian, and with
the difficulties at home on
the rise and his life not
going in a great direction,
Stanbro’s options were
limited.
However, some things
in life are just one (car)
door away.
“It deteriorated to a
point where I had to
leave,” Stanbro said. “The
story goes real quickly
where my grandmother …
was in Olean. She parks
and it just happens to be
out in front of a Navy
recruiting office.
“So she is gone, I walk
in and I join the Navy. She
comes back and I say,
‘Grandma, I joined the
Navy,’ and obviously, her
eyes got real big and it
sucked a lot of air out of
her for a little bit.”
The four-year veteran
now lives in Canton, Ohio,
and has for 50 years. It
doesn’t matter that his
accomplishment took 50
years — it’s an achieve-
ment that makes him
stand tall and proud.
“I think it’s awesome,”
Stanbro said of Operation
Recognition. “I wish I
could thank whoever came
up with the idea. It’s one
of those better things that
came down the pike. The
way it has been handled
through Gowanda, it was
just first class.”
Mark Haskin