Dale’s Briefs – Wednesday November 2nd

A hunter is in serious condition after he fell 30 feet from a tree. 44-year old John Starkweather of Bethany was taken by Mercy Flight to ECMC. He was climbing down from a tree stand around 7 last night when a branch snapped and he lost his footing. He used a cell phone to call for help.

West Seneca police think they’ve solved a string of burglaries and vehicle thefts. Michael Doblinger and Diana Perry both of West Seneca were arrested yesterday morning when they were found transporting a stolen SUV. Police also found burglary tools, walkie talkies and binoculars in their vehicle.

A head-on crash yesterday morning in Chautauqua County killed the driver of a car when it collided with a tractor trailer on Route 60 in the Town of Charlotte. 38-year old Timothy Welch of Cassadaga was pronounced dead at the scene. As a result, a 5 ½ mile stretch of Route 60 was closed for several hours.

For the second time this year Time Warner cable is raising rates. Starting next month some bills will go up an average of just over 4 percent. Time Warner says about half of their customers won’t see any change on their bills.

Bon Ton is closing two stores in Rochester in March as well as stores in Ohio and Pennsylvania. No word on any closings in the Buffalo area.

New York State has been singled out by an education report as being the only state where fourth-grade math scores fell significantly during the latest round of national testing to below the national average. In addition, New York was singled out, along with Iowa and West Virginia, as states where academic progress in reading and math has come to a virtual standstill in the past eight years.

Coming off a very poor effort against Florida on Saturday, the Sabres continue their homestand tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers are without Danny Briere and defenseman Chris Pronger, both out with injuries.