In 1912, a long, continued drought lasting from the middle of June until broken by the heavy showers of the present week, had combined with the earlier cold and backward spring to give corn, potatoes, sowed crops and even hay, to say nothing of pastures, a very bad start throughout Chautauqua County. The rains of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week, which were especially severe south of Jamestown, had not reached into the grape belt and the conditions of extreme heat and dryness continued there with such intensity that it was affecting the outlook for grapes and the berry crop was in bad shape.
Women's fashions were in a state of transition and the result was that a greater variety of styles might be seen than for many years. The pannier had been made to serve as name for a host of drapery movements that had little in common with the original pannier and there was a prevailing impression that the lower on the skirt this drapery movement was introduced the less did it detract from the slenderness of the silhouette. With some figures this was true, but oddly enough it was often the shorter and more bouffant pannier drapery that gave the impression of slenderness. The underskirt or main body of this skirt was clinging, narrow, limp and the short panniers were so evidently extraneous, that they did not detract the eye from the real outlines.
In 1937, naval authorities, directing a vast aerial search along the equator for Amelia Earhart and her navigator, missing 12 days, reduced the number of searching planes and indicated the hunt would be ended Saturday, July 17. Fliers of the aircraft carrier Lexington awaited passing of a tropical storm before resuming their "last chance" search for the aviatrix and Frederick J. Noonan, who disappeared on a flight from New Guinea to tiny Howland Island on July 2.
Al Hakes, prominent amateur golfer of Dunkirk was recently fined $15 for operating an unlicensed motorboat on Chautauqua Lake after his boat had struck and almost cut in two a rowboat in which a man and woman were riding off Bemus Point July 4. He appeared before members of the Chautauqua Lake Navigation Commission, Joseph D. Dornbarger, Matthew Taylor and Curtis A. Swanson. No one was injured in the crash.
In 1962, an order restricting use of water by all consumers in Jamestown was signed by Mayor William D. Whitehead. The order would be in force until the present emergency was over and the order canceled. It came in the wake of a month with no appreciable rainfall, resulting in a steady decline in the ground water level at the city's wells in the Cassadaga Valley. Banned was lawn watering, car washing, and hosing of sidewalks and driveways. Also banned was use of continuous flowing drinking fountains or ornamental fountains.
The vacation trip of two Colorado youths was forced to a temporary halt in Silver Creek by a New York State law which prohibited operation of motor vehicles by out-of-state residents under 18 years of age, even though duly licensed, unless accompanied by an adult driver. The car carrying the Colorado boys was stopped on Route 5, east of Silver Creek because of a noisy exhaust. After ascertaining that the boys were 17, the driver was cited for operating a motor vehicle without a license recognized as valid in this state. The boys were enroute to Connecticut to visit relatives. Their car was impounded and they were required to remain here until one of their relatives from Connecticut could be summoned to take over the driving for the rest of the way across New York state.
In 1987, a "NO" sign outside a home on Fairmount Avenue in West Ellicott was among about 50 that had been posted three consecutive days on two occasions to protest proposed construction of a five-lane highway in that part of the township. Opponents contended it would destroy the present character of the neighborhood.
A World War II vintage Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" bomber would be among aircraft on display at Jamestown Rotary Club's Aviation Days and Airshow August 8-9 at Chautauqua County Airport, according to Chairman Daniel Maginnis. He said the plane was owned by the National Warplane Museum in Geneseo and was one of only nine known to still be flying in the United States. Maginnis said the B-17 was one of the premier bombers of the Second World War and was armed with 13 guns, carried a crew of 10 and up to 17,600 pounds of bombs. Nearly 12,700 of the craft were built.
