Dale’s Briefs – Tuesday December 6th

The Erie County Legislature has come up with thousands of dollars in funding for dozens of arts and cultural organizations in Erie County – many of them that went without county funding last year. It needs the OK of the full legislature today. The Legislature has also come up with a compromise plan to borrow 3-million dollars to build a new polar bear habitat at the Buffalo Zoo. The zoo potentially could lose their polar bears if something wasn’t done.

It now appears the death of a hunter over the weekend in Chautauqua County may have been a homicide. 33-year old Jeffrey Roberts of the Town of Sheridan was shot and killed while he was dressing a deer he had just shot near Route 60 in the Town of Stockton. Police are looking for help in trying to locate who fired the fatal shot.

In Chautauqua County, a Town of Poland woman was killed when she failed to stop at a stop sign and her car plunged into Cassadega Creek. She was pronounced dead at the scene. A passenger is in critical condition at a trauma center in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Former Sabre Matthew Barnaby’s drunk driving arrest has cost him his analyst job with ESPN. The sports network says Barnaby has been terminated effective immediately. State police arrested Barnaby after he was spotted driving in Clarence without a front tire. He may also be deported back to Canada as a result. After that domestic dispute with his ex-wife and her boyfriend last summer - he was ordered to stay out of trouble. He didn’t. >

A Genesee County couple both face DWI charges and violations of Leandra’s law for a drunk driving crash with their kids in the car. Witnesses say the couple switched places after a crash on Transit Road in Clarence. The husband had a previous DWI conviction and was trying to avoid a felony charge.

An Orleans County corrections officer is facing charges – accused of smuggling contraband into the jail in Albion. 35-year old Shawn Nicholson is being held on 10-thousand dollars bail.