Goodbye to Cable 8 News

(SEE UPDATE AT END)

Tonight's 10pm newscast of Cable 8 News on Time Warner Channel 8 in Chautauqua County and Warren, Pennsylvania will be the last for that news show. After today, Cable 8 News is being absorbed into YNN Buffalo as part of the Time Warner Cable YNN (Your News Now) network.

The Cable 8 news program will be greatly missed in this area. It was the only television news program dedicated to covering Chautauqua County news and sports. While the Buffalo TV stations do cover the big stories, they generally don't come down here to report on stories like the various city, town, and village board meetings; school board meetings, county legislature meetings, and other more "mundane" items that aren't sexy and splashy, but have a great affect on area residents. They also don't give top billing to our athletic sports at area schools and colleges like Cable 8 has done for over a decade.

Fortunately, while the news show will be no more, there will still be 2 news reporters and a sports reporter dedicated to Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Allegany Counties to provide stories to YNN Buffalo. While I don't completely understand how it will work, our local stories will air sometime in the "wheel" of YNN Buffalo's 24 hour news programming. There is a chance now that stories that come out of this area, if interesting or big enough, can be more easily distributed to other YNN stations around New York State

There have been some hints of these changes over the past year. A glossy, happy story titled, Covering the Community, appeared in the Buffalo News on June 11, 2011. Another story, Staff changes expected at YNN, appeared as part of a business section article in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle on March 22, 2011. Even with my inside contacts and friends who work for Time Warner/YNN, I don't feel comfortable giving an explanation of why this has all come about and what it means going forward.

I am grateful for the 10 plus years of Cable 8 News. Sure, they weren't as slick as some of the larger TV markets, but when you consider this was the first full-time TV job for many of the people who came across our airwaves, then it brings some perspective. Cable 8 News was a springboard for many to go onto bigger markets:

• Former Sports Director Kevin Carroll anchors the YNN Buffalo sports desk. 
• Former News Reporter Dayna Roselli is the Morning News Co-Anchor at KLAS-TV (CBS) in Las Vegas. 
• Former News Reporter Casey Bortnick reports for YNN Rochester. 
• Former Sports Reporter Jay Harris is a sports producer for WIVB.  
• Former Sports Director Jeff Russo anchors the sports desk at WKBW.
• Former News Reporter Sawyer Van Horn works for NECN (New England Cable News) 
• Former Sports Director Don Heins is the weekend sports anchor for YNN Buffalo.
• Former News Director Elizabeth Carey reports for Business First & WKBW.
• Former Sports Director Ron Vitrano is the Sports Director for ESPN Radio in Tallahassee, FL. 
• Former News Director Stephanie Hoey is the Account Manager at NBC CT, formerly a WKBW reporter and Executive Producer of Special Projects for NBC.
  

Anyone reading this who can think of others I missed, please add them in comments.

On a personal note, the 6 years I anchored a newscast for WKZA and then WRFA-LP would not have been possible if not for Cable 8 News. They provided me their nightly news script that I re-worked into a radio-friendly script to read for the 2 minutes of airtime I was given each week day.  Without them, I would not have had the material to create a newscast. I'm indebted to Mark Goshgarian and the other reporters for providing me that information for all those years. It's been a fun ride with all of the Cable 8 staff. Here's to seeing you somewhere in the "wheel"!

UPDATE: I'm still working on confirming these details, but apparently how the "wheel" will work is that YNN Buffalo will carve a 10 minute block in the 7 and 10 o'clock newscasts following the "Weather On the 9's" after the top of the hour for news stories from this area. Whether that includes local sports, I do not know yet. While 10 minutes is nowhere near the same as having 20 minutes of local news, at least Time Warner subscribers can still tune in about the same time as they used to with Cable 8 to see the news for the day for this area. I will update as I learn more.

Slow Death of Radio: Part 2

This week has turned into a rather dark one for the radio industry.


Yesterday, Clear Channel laid off about 150 employees at radio station across the country due to heavy debt issues (Partial list of those laid off here and here). The people laid off were mostly on-air staff ranging from talk show hosts, news reporters, DJs, producers of those shows, and others. They are being replaced with syndicated programming that Clear Channel doesn't have to pay an extra dime for since they already have the rights to those shows. Once again, radio markets lose. Of local interest, Brendan O'Riordan, who had worked as a news reporter for WJTN from late 2000 to early 2002, was one of people let go from WHAM in Rochester. These are talented radio people and their on-air presence will be sorely missed.

I wrote about how local radio is dying in a 2004 post called, Slow Death of Radio. What I said then has been clearly demonstrated by Clear Channel this week. A Syracuse Post-Standard article does a great job at filling in those details and other historical background on how the hell this all has come to be.

On the brighter side, since 2004, two local stations have come on the air in Jamestown and in the Southern Tier. One of those is not-for-profit, Arts Council-owned WRFA-LP. The other is Seneca Nation-owned commercial station WGWE. Both stations provide local programming and local hosts. Money is probably the biggest issue why WRFA doesn't have more live on-air staff and local programming but they are fortunate to have some dedicated volunteers along with some of the hardest working radio guys I've met with Public Affairs Director Jason Sample, General Manager Dennis Drew, and Consultant Steve Shulman.

On a not so brighter side, a good chunk of the money WRFA receives has come the past few years from a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Earlier year, there were threats to cut money to CPB and National Public Radio (NPR). Fortunately, that did not happen, but now the GOP has geared up again to go after funding to NPR.

Why should you care?

When you have radio conglomerates where local programming is homogenized across the country, public radio is often one of the few places where you can hear a local newscast or hear local personalities. Of course, with the syndication of NPR programming, the chances that you'll hear much difference from one NPR station to the next is just as bad as listening to any given Clear Channel Kiss station (note: WKZA in Jamestown is NOT a Clear Channel Kiss station). Local radio has become less personal and more canned across the country. Fortunately, in Jamestown we still have local voices on the air, but there are a lot of instances where those voices are pre-recorded and aired later in the day.

My probably unrealistic hope is that Clear Channel will get to a point in its financial state where it's forced to divest itself of some of the radio stations it owns, thus potentially allowing the ownership of some of those stations to return to independent groups that don't already own over 3 stations in a market. Given the economy and the cost of running a radio station, I don't know if this will ever come to be.

Please support your local radio stations that do provide local programming and local personalities. Consider donating to the public radio stations that depend on local listeners to extend that small bit of federal funding they may receive to exist. I'll repeat my urgings from 2004 to contact your representatives in Congress to tell them not to cut funding to CPB or NPR; and to urge them to scale back the flawed Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Tweeting Fun & the Erie County Executive Debate

For some odd reason, I decided to watch the Erie County Executive Debate on WNED tonight. I had gotten the heads-up about it from WNYMedia.net earlier in the day about what hash-tags to use (#ECDebate) if you were going to tweet while watching, so I thought, "Well, this could be fun."

Totes fun.

Okay, I've been out of the politics game for quite awhile even though I still do stuff here and there depending on what my husband begs me to do. There are no contested races in my election district this Fall and that's including the mayoral race for the City of Jamestown. Many people are lacking reasons to get to the polls in this county. It's pretty damn sad. And then I look to the north to Erie County and see there's a County Executive race. That could be fun.

The debate was proof of such fun. I'm a Democrat, so I was rooting for Comptroller Mark Poloncarz. Disclosure, etc. That said, I've seen and heard enough debates to know when one side is doing a better job than the other. Poloncarz missed some opportunities in his statements, but overall he crushed incumbent County Executive Chris Collins. You almost got the impression like this was Collins' first time on the political debate circuit.

From a fluff standpoint, someone needs to get Collins better make-up so that he doesn't look like he's sweatin' like Nixon all over the podium (actually thought of the Buffalo band first before the actual historic reference).

All that aside, it's the #ECDebate twitter tag that made this all fun. I laughed out loud so many times tonight. It reminded me of the old Bfloblog days of watching Sabres games and the live blogging/comments. Maybe it's the whole MST3K feel to it all. Anyway, I want to thank all the WNY Tweeps who made my Thursday night and helped me become a little more educated on what's happening politically in Erie County.

Banishing The Blahs

I consider myself at risk when it comes to getting the winter blahs. Living in Western New York, we have a lot of gray days that are already sunlight deprived as we head through Fall and Winter. Every year, I know that the dark months are coming, but I often don't prepare. This year, I'm not going to let the blahs catch me off guard and am going to use this article as a guide to alleviate the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD.

For the past year, I've been on a mission of minimalism. This doesn't mean I'm getting rid of every article of clothing, books, CDs, DVDs, accessory in our house but it does mean I'm working harder to eliminate the clutter. I've been giving my cache of clothing a hard look and then doing my best to get rid of what doesn't fit and what I'm not wearing. The upside is that I've made some cash off of the items that were in better shape that I took to a local consignment shop. I've also cleared out enough items that I will be able to get rid of a clothes rack in the back room that I affectionately refer to as my "walk-in closet." Don't think this has lessened my shoe shopping habits, but I've made myself think very hard about what I had and how much use I would get out of what I wanted to buy.

We also made additional monies when we had a garage sale last month where we did our best to sell off more items I had cleared out. It's an on-going process, but slowly I'm seeing corners of rooms that I hadn't before. I now have this luxury of trying to decide how I want to revamp my "walk in closet" in terms of whether to make it my closet and a library, or leave it a blank canvas.

Going from the house we live in to the body I'm housed inside of, I started thinking about food and diet from a "Well, I want to look good for (fill in random trip/event/happening)" stand point. Instead of thinking, "I want to lose 5 pounds" it's more of a "I want to look good when I go to our friend Meg's wedding reception so I will feel better if I go to Zumba tonight and I don't eat that cannolli that looks really good in the display case at Jones Bakery." I'm not totally depriving myself or ignoring my body when it's telling me to rest, which is important given that my schedule sometimes does mess with when I can exercise or do a sit down meal with Matt. It's some of the same thinking as when I consider whether I need to hold onto a physical item, "Do I need to put this in my body? Will I feel better or worse for eating or drinking this? Is it worth it?" I'm also considering giving meditation a permanent spot in my schedule since I rather enjoyed a session at local Yoga studio that I attended two Sundays ago.

Do I think I'll completely avoid the blahs? Probably not, but I'm hoping to not get stuck in them for long periods too.

Sun & Blue Skies in February

It's a rare sunny and blue sky filled day today in Western New York.  We've had more than our fair share of cloudy grayness for the past couple months.

Zumba

I decided I enjoyed taking the class so much that I signed up for Instructor Training with my friend, Ali.  We head up to Rochester after work tonight for an all day session tomorrow.  There's a serious need for evening classes in the Jamestown area with only one being offered at the Y after the 5 o'clock hour.  I'm hoping Ali will be able to fill the gap, with me filling in if needed.  On a related note, I re-joined the Jamestown Y since as long as I make it there at least 3 times a month, it pays for itself in terms of the cost of adding me to Matt's membership. 

Violin

I won't be performing in any musicals this Spring as the school I usually play for doesn't have a violin part written into the musical they are doing.  This means I won't be playing again until the Spring concert for Jamestown Community Orchestra.  On the non-performing side, I still have 2 students at Infinity.  After almost 10 years of prodding, T.R. McKotch finally got me to write a violin part so one of my students could accompany an ensemble that's covering "Back To The Earth" by Rusted Root.  I can't really say I'm writing the part as all I'm doing is transcribing the background vocals so my student can follow along.  It's still more than I've dared to try in years.

Radio

I'm still faithfully recording the news every Sunday through Thursday night for WRFA.  I've also been voicing a segment called "This Week In Metal" whenever I'm sent scripts by Len Barry.  It's a goofy segment, but it's fun to do something different than straight news reading.  For the past month, I've also been mentoring the Public Affairs coordinator at the station to give him some pointers, story ideas, and delivery tips.  He has some radio background, but he's left to his own devices a lot of times so I thought it would be helpful to offer some guidance.

Health

I've had a cold/sinus drainage issue for over 5-weeks now.  I was knocked down pretty good for 2 of those weeks but my doctor didn't recommend any kind of medication.  I'm hoping it will go away soon since it has been keeping me from being as active as I'd like.  Otherwise, I keep trying to eat healthy, get enough rest, get enough fluids, run the humidifier at night and exercising.

Another Song About The Rain

If you've been in Western New York for any amount of time this summer, you've experienced the wonders of an El Nino summer. Well, perhaps wonders isn't the best choice of word when you consider that rain has figured predominantly in the forecast for the past several months. On the upside, those who prefer milder winters may get their wish since the National Weather Service figures it won't be too bad of a winter.

Normally, an El Nino summer wouldn't bother me. I'm not a hot weather lover. If I only had to break out shorts or capris a week or two out of the year, that's cool. However, my new job has had me wishing for drought-like conditions. It's been a summer of rescheduling softball games, tournaments, concerts, playground events, and now we have major concern with the weather cooperating for the big Labor Day Festival. It's enough to make someone cry, and I think I have a couple times. It's preferable to taking a bat to someone's head. But if that happened, I doubt it would be due to weather.

Fortunately, Autumn is nearly here. Once we pass September 6th, I'm fine with whatever kind of weather we get, just as long as the snow melts and the spring showers end by early April.

Guest Spot

The next issue of the recently relaunched/revitalized Chautauqua Region Word comes out this week. I've been asked to provide the guest editorial for this issue. Those who know me best know that I generally avoid the truly controversial, so the editorial was more some observations I've made during the ten years I've lived here in Chautauqua County.

Pick up The Word at your favorite "third place" or read it online when it goes live sometime around Thursday this week. I welcome any thoughts you may have on it here. Full text of the guest editorial will be posted here after the paper has gone to print.

Time Warner Cable Starts 24-Hour News Station in Buffalo (and Jamestown)

As of 8pm last night, Time Warner Cable subscribers in Western New York have a 24-hour news channel.

In Jamestown, Cable 8 news will still continue to have a local newscast at 7pm and 10pm while the other 22 hours of the day will be whatever is on YNN out of Buffalo. Well, I say out of Buffalo loosely. The main sports anchor will broadcast from Rochester, which some Jamestown residents will like just fine because at last word that will be Cable 8 veteran Kevin Carroll. Then there's programming that comes from Albany (Capitol Tonight). Weather? That's being done from somewhere else as well. I believe Albany handles the weather reports you see if you watch R News in Rochester or the Time Warner news station in Syracuse.

Either way, there will now be a place you can watch whatever the top 4 stories of the day are for this section of the state over and over and over. Don't get me wrong, I love tuning into R News when I'm visiting my parents in Rochester. I know that if I miss something, it'll be on again in roughly 29 minutes. Ditto for the weather, except that happens ever 9 minutes. I just hope that when given that many hours a day to fill with content, that we get quality coverage.

Continental Airlines Flight 3407 Crash In Buffalo

When I turned on my monitor this morning and saw I had 113 Tweets to read, my first thought was "WTF was everyone up to last night that I have that many tweets??"

Then I started reading. Since they're stacked newest to oldest, I got the picture very quickly that a plane crash in Buffalo had killed 50 people (Number corrected).

My first thought was of our friend Clair, who is a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines. As I scrolled, I saw that it wasn't her airline. My next thought was, "Did Jen14221 make it back from Philadelphia? Who did she say she flew with??" until I saw she had tweeted earlier in the evening that she was home with her family. Then I started wondering if Buffalo Blogger BuffaloPundit was affected given that the crash happened in Clarence (His Account.

I don't recall a commercial airline crash of this magnitude ever happening in Western New York (Scroll down for last instance in 1942). It's the kind of story that, even if it happened 50 years ago, still gets around. The proximity of the story and the number of family and friends we have in Buffalo make this a hard story to digest. My heart is hurting for those who have lost loved ones in the crash and I send my prayers to you.

Sometimes I cope best with these kinds of news stories by drawing on my inner geek. Here I go.

One thing that struck me was that it was a good 5 minutes before I read an actual news story online after reading the first tweet that gave me an indication that there had been a crash. I scoured for the Breaking Headlines and CNN Breaking News updates. Then I opened up Facebook and started scrolling through the LiveFeed and Status Updates. Finally, it occurred to me to read a news story.

You'd think the first place I'd hit up would be a Buffalo source, right? No. For some reason, I decided to get a feel for how far the story got by clicking over to Drudge. I grimly noted that Matt Drudge saw fit to sensationalize the story with a fiery picture of the crash and the words "Fireball" before coming to my senses and clicking on the Democrat & Chronicle Twitter link for an early story.

I spent the rest of the time before I had to head off to work scrolling through my subscriptions in Google Reader looking for other people's accounts on this story. I commented to Matt later that how I learned and informed myself about this story is so different from just a few years ago. I would have known almost immediately after it happened if I had my Twitter notifications turned on my cell. I don't feel less connected because I didn't. In fact, I know I would have felt an obligation to stay up to find out the latest details while trying to gather enough credible information so I could re-do the volunteer newscast I provide for WRFA. I almost feel guilty, like by not having an updated newscast I did the listeners a disservice by not letting them know the gravity of the situation 70 miles to the north of us. But I have to let it go.

What will follow is speculation to what happened, if anyone was at fault, and the heartbreaking stories about those who have died and the people they've left behind. I wish grace and integrity for those who will be covering this story.

Updates:

- Story hits closer to home: Another employee of the airline, Capt. Joseph Zuffoletto, a Jamestown resident who was off-duty at the time, was also killed.

- Three (Chautauqua) County Residents Killed in Crash

- Buffalo News - List of Victims (Updated as news becomes available)

- Buffalo News Blog on Clarence Plane Crash - Updated Frequently

- Twitter Updates on #ClarencePlaneCrash

Buffalo Getting A 24-Hour News Channel

Time Warner Cable has finally announced that Buffalo will be getting its own 24-hour TWC news channel.

After Adelphia got the boot in Buffalo and Time Warner took over, we knew it was only a matter of time before the Queen City got a TWC news channel. Part of that was because we heard that they were from our Time Warner Cable news friends here in Jamestown.

And speaking about that, Chautauqua County is pretty lucky to have at least one tv news station, even if only available through Time Warner, that can report on the area and local sports. Plus, it's a good training ground for reporters looking to get a start in the business. Having worked in radio news, Jamestown is a great place to get experience.

My hope, since the article mentioned that the Buffalo station will be serving Buffalo and Western New York is that Cable 8 News here in Jamestown isn't going away. It will be wait and see for now, I guess.

RIP : Tim Russert

I just received via several twitters the news that Tim Russert died of an apparent heart attack at age 58 this afternoon.

This is his last story, filed today: Russert: Vigilance needed on campaign claims.

New York State Backs New Kind of Coal Power

(Image Courtesy of Governor Paterson's website)

Fresh from Governor Paterson's press conference in Jamestown this morning comes this story:

State Plans New Kind of Coal Plant

Of course, Walter Simpson has an opinion and is quoted here. But I find it hard to take a hypocrite's opinion too seriously.

Nick Dean from the Jamestown Post-Journal posted this video from the press conference:


Addendum: I added a round-up of news and blog posts below and will probably update this for the next few days.

News Round-Up:
Gov. Paterson's Press Release
Praxair Press Release

6/11/08 Articles
Tonawanda News: ERIE COUNTY NOTEBOOK: Clean coal on the move, but not in Tonawanda
Jamestown Post-Journal: State Backing
Jamestown Post-Journal: State, Local Officials Respond To Announcement
Buffalo News: ‘Clean coal’ plant for Jamestown boosted
WIVB: Major supporter for Jamestown coal power plant
WBFO: Governor Supports Plans for Jamestown Power Plant

6/10/08 Articles
Governor supports BPU clean coal project with $6 million grant
Buffalo News: Governor backs Jamestown coal power plant, described as breakthrough in clean power
Environmental Advocates of NY: ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS CALL ON NY GOVERNOR TO DITCH PLANS FOR COAL POWER PLANT
Crain's New York Business: Governor pushing "clean coal" experiment
WGRZ: Governor Paterson Supports Advanced Coal Power Plant in Jamestown
Reuters: NY to support carbon burial demonstration plant
Newsday: Paterson supports cleaner coal plant in Chautauqua County
CNN Money: NY gov supports cleaner upstate coal plant
Albany Times-Union: Environmentalists call new coal plant costly waste

Blog Round-Up
1490 Newsblog: Paterson Visits Jamestown; Announces Power Plant Plans
Nick Dean (Post-Journal): Gov. David Paterson during Tuesday's BPU announcement
Politics on the Hudson: Paterson Backs Coal Plant In Western NY (Updated)
Re-ENGERGIZE BUFFALO: New Coal Power-Advance or Big Mistake?
the BUFFALOg: Jamestown Power Plant A Go?

So Long Upstate? (And Thanks For All The Fish?)

New governor may eliminate upstate development office

I think that this is where one of Buffalo Pundit's "FAIL" pictures he puts up for WNY (example here) should be employed for this.

Blog Wanderings on a Friday Night

It's only 9:30 on a Friday night, which generally means if I'm online I'm just killing time before we head over to Forte for a drink. We spend enough time there that all our co-workers and counter-parts in other agencies know just to ask us what the latest news and excitement is there. I now wonder how many people think I drink constantly, when in reality I'm a one-drink kinda girl.

Anyway.

While I was checking all my online social spaces, I came across a blog by a fellow alumnus of WBNY. Rita is one cool cat. She did a talk show after my "covers" show on WBNY as part of the WBNY 25th Anniversary event in October. Give her blog a look and say hello.

Bring Anthony Bourdain to Buffalo!

The folks with the Travel Channel and the show Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations decided to hold a contest where you submitted videos to convince Tony to come to your town.

The contest is over with, but you can still view Nelson Starr's plea to Tony to come to Buffalo, rate, and comment on it.

The New "Day One" - Monday, March 17th

While he has officially announced his resignation, Eliot Spitzer is our Governor for a few more days. I've had a range of emotions regarding what has happened over the past few days. I even compared the news of this scandal, and Spitzer's inevitable resignation, as a heartbreak.

Like so many, we had hopes when Spitzer announced he was running for governor. And when he won with over 70% of the vote, we thought that maybe this would be when New York could turn around. Hell, look at what he did on Wall Street!

Then his term began. I remained optimistic. Even with the pitfalls, I thought, "He'll find his groove. He'll find a way to make it work." I waited. I grew concerned. I wasn't feeling too good about Spitzer's ability to work with others and implement his ideas. "Where is his head at?" I wondered.

Then I wandered over to Drudge by chance at 1:30pm this Monday and found out.

Am I worried for the future of this state? Sure. I also retain some optimism. Governor-to-be David Paterson said in a press conference today that Buffalo and Western New York remain as important to him as it was to Spitzer. I believe that all of Upstate needs to hold him accountable for that statement and to not forget what the former administration had tried to begin with revitalizing the region.

Day One begins Monday at 1pm.

Twittering the Road Hazards

Alan AKA Buffalo Pundit alerted me of a another tool I can use in regards to Twitter with his post: Traffic via Twitter.

So all I need to do now is send a twitter to "@commuter JHW (insert traffic dilemma here)" to let everyone in Jamestown know why they had to wait through two lights, thus making their 10 minute commute a 12-minute ordeal. Okay. I jest.

I see this being really useful for those times when you're wondering just how bad it is on the snow ridge going up Route 60 to Dunkirk, if traffic is at a standstill on 394 because of everyone trying to get in or out of Chautauqua Institution, or if a deer has caused a massive chain reaction crash on I-86.

Of course, the only way this becomes useful is if more people sign up and contribute to the twitter knowledge pool.

Effectiveness of a New York State Program

Newspapers across the state are carrying stories today about Attorney General Tom DiNapoli's report on the effectiveness of the Empire Zone program.

Here's the full report.

My opinion? A pretty good program got fucked up. Some of the empire zones in the state fucked it up by abusing it. Some businesses made it worse by finding every loophole they could and exploiting it. We won't get into what the state did with it. Meanwhile, the empire zones that have tried to live by the law and run the program as it was intended suffer.

Just feeling bitter today.

Four Seasons In One Day

We had ice, rain, and snow today. I'd swear I saw a spit of sun, but I suspect it was a hallucination.

A First for Western New York

While looking through news stories for the region today, I came across one about one of Jamestown's newest City Council members. It was something I had discussed with Matt after the Inauguration ceremony held on January 1st:

Jamestown Picks Openly Gay Council President

I've known Greg Rabb since I moved here in 1999, and Matt has known him longer, having had him as a professor at Jamestown Community College. Later on, we were lucky enough to rent a house from him and then, when we bought our own house, make it possible for Matt's parents to become tenants in that house.

I wouldn't say Jamestown is place where you find the gay population loudly proclaiming their pride in being here and being queer. There are no parades, no rallies, no well-published support or social groups. The two gay/lesbian bars in town, Sneakers and Sky Bar, seem to have their share of the straight crowd just because there's nowhere else to go dancing. Subtle pride stickers can be found in the windows or on the bumpers of cars, but overall I'd say being gay in Jamestown is like being Polish. You know that some people are, but it's hard to tell. The Swedes and Italians have got everyone beat when it comes to the pride department.

Because of the quietness, I've often found it's hard to get a read on the homophobic-meter for the city. Even after nearly nine years, I'm not sure if it's just that the general population doesn't care, or that the gay population is comfortable enough that they don't feel a need to proselytize a need for tolerance to the public. Of course, the stereotype of a rural city does linger in the back of my mind and I wonder if this city is really more homophobic than I'd like to admit.

Being "out" is a personal decision. I think most adults who are gay don't feel a need to broadcast that fact. Once you realize you're gay, at any level of the Kinsey scale, there generally seems to be a time period where you want to proclaim this fact to everyone. After all, it's a revealing of a part of you that maybe wasn't so obvious before. Plus, someone has to break it to your mom and dad that while there may be grandchildren, that may come about in a less traditional manner than they were expecting. But after this period, some see being gay is more like another part of their personality that they can choose to share, or not. I'd liken that attitude to the frequency of telling someone your ethnicity. I don't tell every new person I meet that I have an ethnic mix of Polish, Scottish, German, English, and Welsh. Why would I? There are so many other things about me that are far more interesting and have a more active role in my every day life.

I'm curious about your thoughts, especially if you live in Chautauqua County.