Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
With a Digital Only subscription, you’ll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime.
If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 716-372-3121 or email nfinnerty@oleantimesherald.com.
As a current print subscriber, you receive 24/7 access to our website and online e-edition at no additional charge. All you have to do is activate your access. To activate digital access, you will need your account number. You can find your account number on any recent subscription notice or bill.
Sorry, no promotional deals were found matching that code.
Promotional Rates were found for your code.
Sorry, an error occurred.
do not remove
Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading.
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Welcome! We hope that you enjoy our free content.
Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in or create an account to continue reading.
Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.
Thank you for signing in! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Checking back? Since you viewed this item previously you can read it again.
Generally cloudy. High around 30F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph..
Considerable cloudiness. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Low around 15F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
Updated: January 2, 2022 @ 2:55 pm
Law enforcement personnel are at the scene of a crash March 28 in War Veterans Park. An Olean police officer will not face charges for shooting at the vehicle during a chase early that morning.
The Portville volleyball team wore t-shirts in support of Colt Matz, a Portville boy battling leukemia, before the Panthers’ playoff match against Salamanca on May 11. The shirts read, “Colt 45 Strong,” with an orange leukemia awareness ribbon.
Cole Geise (second from right) was found May 15 and reunited with his family after being missing for nearly two weeks.
Law enforcement personnel are at the scene of a crash March 28 in War Veterans Park. An Olean police officer will not face charges for shooting at the vehicle during a chase early that morning.
The Portville volleyball team wore t-shirts in support of Colt Matz, a Portville boy battling leukemia, before the Panthers’ playoff match against Salamanca on May 11. The shirts read, “Colt 45 Strong,” with an orange leukemia awareness ribbon.
Cole Geise (second from right) was found May 15 and reunited with his family after being missing for nearly two weeks.
Beyond the top 10 stories of the year, other events led to discussions and arguments, as well as laughs and tears. Here’s a look at some of those stories.
The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, which permits personal possession of up to three ounces of cannabis in New York, was passed in March. A provision allowing municipalities to opt out of on-site and off-site sales saw some localities passing resolutions by the Dec. 31 deadline.
While some communities opposed the measures entirely — confusion over the law has led some members of the public and even officials to think such votes were to ban marijuana possession entirely — others said they were voting on a “wait and see” basis as rules for zoning and licensing are still up in the air.
Seventeen Cattaraugus County municipalities and 15 in Allegany County — along with about 400 other communities across the state — approved such resolutions. The city of Olean, citing the tax benefits from sales, chose to pass nothing, with Common Council members occasionally thanking neighboring towns on social media for locking out sales and limiting competition with future Olean vendors. On the opposite end, Salamanca city officials passed a resolution supporting sales, as most sales will likely be on the Seneca Nations of Indians territory and not subject to state laws anyway.
A year after hundreds protested in favor of police reform and racial justice, a proposal to improve oversight on police slowed in Olean.
A committee tasked with creating a police reform plan for the city issued its report in March, with the Common Council approving a 15-point plan which, among other measures, recommended a civilian review board for the police department.
The city came under additional pressure to adopt a committee following a March 28 incident involving a city police officer shooting at a fleeing vehicle.
In an early morning chase of a vehicle involving an alleged drunk driver who refused to stop at road blocks, a city police officer fired his sidearm into the vehicle, striking the side of the vehicle but causing no injuries. The vehicle then drove for about a mile before crashing in War Vets Park. A special prosecutor announced in June that no charges would be filed against the officer, who was deemed to have been justified as the vehicle swerved and almost struck him while he was on foot on a sidewalk.
The initial report from the committee — which saw the majority of its members quit amid arguments between members in the closed-door sessions — was rejected by aldermen as too broad and granting too many powers, including over its own budget and membership, that did not comply with the city charter or state law.
However, the Democratic-majority panel moved ahead with a rewrite. Initially going line by line through the proposal, three aldermen began working on a new draft that made the panel an advisory board to the police chief, reviewing cases and offering suggestions to the chief on individual cases and to city leadership on policy and procedure changes. By the end of the year, several drafts had been prepared of updates, and city officials said they planned to move it to attorneys in the later winter months for markup and a vote.
As Olean and Cattaraugus County officials look back on a good year of infrastructure accomplishments in 2021, they are also looking at the opportunities from funding under the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed over the summer.
City and county officials are expecting millions more for capital projects in the coming year from the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden.
In Olean, Phase 2 of Walkable Olean was completed with the $1.3 million reconstruction of Main Street between North Union and Front streets, which includes another roundabout.
Walkable Olean Phase 3 entered the home stretch toward planning, including an East State Street project near Bradner Stadium and War Vets Park. That project breaks ground in 2022.
The Sullivan Street water main replacement was another major project in the city in 2021.
And in late fall, the state Department of Transportation closed Interstate 86 between exit 24 in Allegany and 23 in Seneca Junction until Dec. 23 to replace a culvert that was discovered to be deteriorating over the summer.
Cattaraugus County mounted a major road paving program in 2021 with an additional $2 million for paving by private contractors and plans an even more ambitious infrastructure program in 2022.
The county’s 2022 $27 million capital plan includes $18.2 million for road, bridge and culvert construction and an additional $4 million for paving by private contractors to tackle more of the 400 miles of county roads.
On Nov. 18, 2019, Ron and Betty Jo Volz’s house on West Branch Road in Allegany was leveled by an explosion.
Two years to the day later, the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued a 451-page report that ruled out several possible causes and stated the most likely cause was explosive methane gas that leaked into the aquifer from the adjacent Dimes Energy Co., oil and gas lease found its way into the Volzes’ basement via the water well.
The gas from the water well apparently followed a conduit that housed pump controls from the well about 20 feet to the home. The Cattaraugus County Fire Investigation Team had concluded within weeks that an explosive gas buildup had occurred prior to the explosion, but did not speculate on how the gas got into the basement.
The Volzes had earlier filed a $1 million lawsuit against Dimes Energy. Buffalo attorney Richard Lippes, who is representing the Volzes, said he hoped the situation would be remediated so that the same thing did not happen at other area homes.
A DEC spokesman said water samples from dozens of area homes have been sampled for traces of methane gas. The company has been told to take samples of water from area wells before drilling begins so the baseline data will be available.
A Dimes Energy spokesman said the Volzes’ well was not up to current code even though it was installed in the 1980s. The conduit provided a path into the basement for the gas. The family noted in a complaint that they had lived there since 1983 and had not had any problems with gas in their basement before Dimes started drilling and fracking wells in the area.
The Volzes, who had left the home only a short time before the explosion, bought a house and moved into the village shortly after the explosion.
Their dog, Hemi, who was at home at the time of the explosion, survived, but doesn’t like loud noises.
Several local organizations welcomed new leaders during the year.
Just a few months after announcing the widely unpopular merger of services between Olean and Bradford, Pa., hospitals, president and CEO Jeff Zewe resigned and left the company. Mary E. LaRowe, president and CEO of Brooks-TLC Hospital System in Dunkirk was named interim CEO.
Meanwhile, James Helms, a vice president and chief financial officer of Jones Memorial Hospital in Wellsville, took over as the hospital’s president and chief executive in July upon the retirement of Eva Benedict. Helms, in addition to his VP and CFO role at Jones, has also been serving as chief financial officer at St. James Hospital in Hornell since 2019.
In the city’s Catholic churches, the Rev. John Adams began serving as priest and administrator/rector of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels, administrator of St. John’s and administrator and oratory of Sacred Heart in Portville. He replaces Rev. Patrick Melfi, who now serves as regional pastor in Franklinville, Ellicottville and Salamanca.
At Canticle Farm in Allegany, Gina Anderson was named the new executive director of the nonprofit farm sponsored by the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany. She replaces Sister Melissa Scholl, who left the farm but not the area as she was promoted to serve the Congregation in an administrative position.
A pair of vulnerable people were embraced by the community in 2021, with outpourings of support for a child with leukemia and a lost young man.
In April, 11-year-old Colt “45” Matz of Portville was diagnosed with leukemia, remaining hospitalized ever since at Oishei Children’s Hospital in Buffalo.
Orange and yellow ribbons, Colt’s favorite colors, were immediately hung throughout Portville at local businesses and trees in front of family homes. The ribbons are still there, fading in winter’s cold light, and waving a reminder for those in Portville of one of its own. At grassroots events like chili cook-offs and chicken barbecues, thousands of dollars were raised to help with expenses.
Those who aren’t raising money are raising awareness, from a call sign flown over the opening game at New Era Stadium to a meet with Bills quarterback, Josh Allen, garnering widespread publicity for young Colt 45. Colt 45 T-shirts are worn everywhere in the area and lawn signs showing support are still in front yards. Stones painted “Colt 45” occasionally show up around the village.
The first two weeks of May were occupied by a search for 22-year-old Cole Geise. On May 16, the search led to the ending many hoped for — but few expected.
Leaving home May 2, the young man, who has been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, spent two weeks wandering the area or staying in an abandoned home in South Olean.
An early morning spotting in the town of Olean led to a two-day coordinated search by forest rangers, law enforcement, firefighters and volunteers. Coordinated checks of sheds and backyards, trail areas, detailed searches of the river by divers, drones and boaters — even desperate searches following recommendations of psychics — proved fruitless, as Geise generally stayed in the area and was trying not to be found.
On May 15, he was spotted alive and well walking into the Olean Wendy’s restaurant. Later that evening, he was reunited with his family.
The oldest cemetery in Olean, established sometime in the 1700s, was abandoned to the town of Olean this year after a controversial vote among plot owners.
Like all nonprofit cemeteries, Pleasant Valley Cemetery was run by a board, the Pleasant Valley Cemetery Association, and managed since the 1980s by the Oakes family, who were ready to retire.
After an unsuccessful months-long attempt to find someone to take over the management and the board seat, a special meeting was called in October. In attendance were several board members, Dana Oakes, cemetery superintendent and Cindy Craig, of the state’s Division of Cemeteries. About 35 plot owners were there, making it one of the largest crowds ever seen at a meeting of this type, according to Craig.
After learning of the cemetery’s needs, several plot owners offered to volunteer, which isn’t possible due to liability and insurance issues. Brad Spink, president, reassured the owners that the cemeteries that have been turned over to surrounding towns have done so successfully.
After further discussion, it was voted that the cemetery would indeed be turned over to the town on Oct. 29. Upkeep of the cemetery is now a part of the town of Olean annual budget, and town ownership also means the cemetery can attempt to obtain state funding for maintenance expenses of abandoned cemeteries.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Would you like to receive our ads to go? Sign Up Today!
Would you like to receive our breaking news? Sign up today!
Want to receive notice about our circulation promotions and contests? Sign Up Today!
Get the latest local and national news.
Would you like to receive our daily headlines? Sign Up Today!
Would you like to receive our lifestyle headlines about food and wine, Olean living, local history and more? Sign Up Today!
Get our expert short-term forecast, summary of the weather details and news of any severe weather.
Would you like to receive our latest obituaries? Sign Up Today!
Would you like to receive our sports news? Sign Up Today!
Please help local businesses by taking an online survey to help us navigate through these unprecedented times. None of the responses will be shared or used for any other purpose except to better serve our community. The survey is at: www.pulsepoll.com $1,000 is being awarded. Everyone completing the survey will be able to enter a contest to Win as our way of saying, “Thank You” for your time. Thank You!
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Would you like to receive our ads to go? Sign Up Today!
Would you like to receive our breaking news? Sign up today!
Want to receive notice about our circulation promotions and contests? Sign Up Today!
Get the latest local and national news.
Would you like to receive our daily headlines? Sign Up Today!
Would you like to receive our lifestyle headlines about food and wine, Olean living, local history and more? Sign Up Today!
Get our expert short-term forecast, summary of the weather details and news of any severe weather.
Would you like to receive our latest obituaries? Sign Up Today!
Would you like to receive our sports news? Sign Up Today!
Includes our e-Edition at no extra cost!
