By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
OLEAN — Bev Bennett passed by the Olean Municipal Building recently and saw her father’s Hometown Heroes banner on a light pole outside the entrance to the Olean Police Department.
“Isn’t it wonderful,” she thought. Her late father, father, retired Olean Police Chief Michael Luty was still watching over patrolmen and officers of the Police Department.
Luty was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Marines.
The retired police chief’s banner was unveiled two years ago at State and Union streets, where Luty and members of his family, including Bennett, were present. He died in November 2023. Luty retired in 1993 after serving 25 years as police chief.
“Mayor Bill Aiello said later they’d put it in front of the Police Department entrance on East State Street,” Bennett said. It hung in the same location last year.
“He always used to say ‘This is my other home,’” Bennett recalled in an interview with the Olean Star on Friday. “They moved it to just the right spot.”
Bennett said a bench with Michael Luty’s name on it is expected to be placed nearby.”I want his legacy to live on. I miss him terribly, but he’s with Mom. He’ll be watching over the police.”
The son of another longtime popular political figure, Rick Smith, saw his father’s Hometown Heroes banner on a pole outside the main entrance to the Municipal Building for the first time earlier this week.
William O. Smith was a master sergeant in the U.S. Army.
“I noticed it the other day,” Smith said of his father’s Hometown Heroes banner. “What an honor for his picture to be up there and all the other veterans.”
Smith said his father was involved in the Battle of the Bulge in France at the end of World War II in Europe. “He never talked about his service days. I wish he had. He was very proud about being in the service.”
Smith said, “It’s very nice they put his banner there. It’s a fitting place by the front door of the Municipal Building.” He served as an Olean alderman and longtime mayor.
“I don’t know how he did it, serving as mayor on top of a full-time job,” said smith, who is a former alderman himself and now serves as a Cattaraugus County legislator representing Olean and surrounding towns.
“He and Mayor John Ash did a heck of a job,” Smith added. Smith served as mayor from 1970 to 1985.
