The Altamont Enterprise Feature Stories for the week of February 4, 2010:
Stirring the pot
Voorheesville student spurs debate on medicinal marijuana
This week in the Town of Guilderland
Energy to expand
Plastic to pour into NEIP
GUILDERLAND — Even as New York Independent Systems Operators plans to consolidate its workforce away from its Guilderland site, it plans to build a 13,000-square-foot addition on its property here to store equipment. The town planning board last week gave NYISO site-plan approval for its addition.
Also, a plastic cartridge manufacturing company hopes to open in May at the Northeastern Industrial Park. The company could employ up to 50 people.
NYISO is a not-for-profit organization based in the Capital Region that controls the regional flow of electricity.
The planning board approved the NYISO building addition on Carman Road, after suggesting, but not requiring, the construction of a sidewalk for its employees.
— Jo E. Prout
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Kids in the Electronic Age speak the words of the Bard
Photo: The Enterprise — Melissa Hale-Spencer
Pictured above:
Bewitching witches: Altamont Elementary School fifth-graders who will portray the three witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth next week enthusiastically display some of their “really gross” props. From left, Shannon Blakeley holds a newt by its tail, Alyssa LiVecchi hoists high a fenny snake, and Maria Mawson holds a stirring stick in one hand and the thumb of a sailor’s wife in the other. Behind them are some of the scenic panels that will transform the school stage.
ALTAMONT — Maddie Jerominek has been standing outside of her home, even in this bitter cold weather, to scream.
“It has to be a blood-curdling scream,” she says, “so I go out in the snow and practice.”
With a small smile and shrug, she adds, “The neighbors say, ‘What’s the matter?’”
Nothing is the matter.
As a fifth-grader at Altamont Elementary School, Maddie is practicing for her role as Lady Macbeth.
The work of William Shakespeare isn’t something distant and tedious for Maddie and her classmates; it is vivid and real. The Elizabethan world was in the midst of a transition from oral tradition to the printed word. The Bard came down on the side of living language — the spoken word on stage.
The fifth-graders at Altamont Elementary have memorized those words and now are making them their own. The 400 years between the first production of The Tragedy of Macbeth and the one to be staged next week in Altamont forms no barrier for the kids who will take the stage.
They have different takes on the story of the Scottish thane who, with a vaulting ambition to be king, is goaded by his wife to murder. Some of the young actors see the play as an action-packed drama while others see it as a way to understand the ravages of conscience. It is both.
Some of the boys delight in the swordplay. Some of the girls, playing the prophesizing witches, eagerly recite their lines as they hold up their macabre props for a visitor to admire.
This will be the school’s 20th Shakespearean play; the very first one was also Macbeth.
Fifth-graders — with the help of their parents and teachers as well as consultant Christine Saplin from the New York State Theatre Institute — take on everything from costumes and sound effects to scenery and acting.
— Melissa Hale-Spencer
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“Reeks of public bid-rigging,” says assessor
Grimm jumps in with proposal for appraisal
GUILDERLAND — The town is slated to go to court on March 1 to defend its assessment of the Metro 20 Diner. The diner’s owner is seeking a $1 million reduction, from $1.6 million to $664,500.
The town board, at a Jan. 19 meeting, was unable to agree on hiring GAR Associates to do an appraisal of the diner for $5,000. Republican councilmen Warren Redlich and Mark Grimm abstained because they felt they hadn’t been presented with enough information; Democrats Patricia Slavick and Kenneth Runion approved, but with fellow Democratic councilman Paul Pastore absent due to illness, it was a stalemate. (For the full story, go online to altamontenterprise.com, and look under the Jan. 21 archives for Guilderland.)
Runion and the town’s assessor, John Macjeka, said the lack of an outside appraisal would handicap the town’s ability to defend its assessment of the diner.
At a town board meeting on Feb. 2, Grimm indicated that he had found a company willing to do the appraisal for less a few hundred dollars less than the $5,000 bid by GAR Associates, and that the company would be able to finish the project before the March 1 court date.
— Anne Hayden
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Pine Bush Commission to control another 191 acres
Photos, left: The Enterprise — Michael Koff; right: Submitted by the Pine Bush Commission
Pictured above left:
Donated land: The 191 acres of land that will now be managed by the Pine Bush Commission were donated to the town by various developers. Woodsfield Estates backs up to this patch of trees along Lydius Street. Other parcels included in the acreage were donated by the developers of the Lone Pine and Fusco subdivisions.
Pictured above, right:
Over 190 acres in four parcels: Town-owned land, broken up into four parcels — A, B, C, and D on the map — and divided by Lydius Street, will be put under the management of the Pine Bush Commission, according to Guilderland Supervisor Kenneth Runion. The land will still be owned by the town, but the commission will maintain the Pine Bush ecosystem on the acreage.
GUILDERLAND — The amount of land preserved and maintained by the Pine Bush Commission has increased by 6 percent.
One-hundred-and-ninety-one acres of land owned by the town of Guilderland has been dedicated to the Pine Bush Preserve, which is currently 3,100 acres; the town will continue to own the acreage, but the commission will manage and maintain it. The transfer of control will have no effect on town taxes, said Supervisor Kenneth Runion.
The land is located in the northern part of town along Lydius Street, and is broken up into parcels. It was donated to the town by various developers over the past two decades, including the developers of the Lone Pine subdivision, the Fusco subdivision, and the new development-in-progress, Woodsfield Estates. The town requires developers to set aside a certain amount of park space or pay a fee.
— Anne Hayden
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Salary set in $175K range
School board holds public session to start super search
GUILDERLAND — The search is on.
Ads will be placed this week for a new superintendent for the Guilderland schools.
The school board met for two hours in an open session Tuesday night with two consultants from the Capital Region Board of Cooperative Educational Services — Superintendent Charles Dedrick and Mark Jones — to set a salary and work out other details of the search.
An unannounced closed meeting had been scheduled for last Tuesday but, after The Enterprise ran an editorial on Jan. 21, “When an elected board flouts the law, the public loses,” criticizing the school board for holding closed sessions in violation of the state’s Open Meetings Law, the meeting was cancelled. (For the full story, go online to www.altamontenterprise.com and look under Guilderland archives for Jan. 28, 2010 and under “Editorial” for Jan. 21, 2010.)
Proper notice was sent of the Feb. 2 meeting, which just a handful of people attended.
Guilderland’s current superintendent, John McGuire, who started working for the district on Nov. 12, 2007, surprised the school board in November by announcing that he would be retiring on July 1, 2010, after just two-and-a-half years.
Tuesday’s meeting started with Lynne Wells presenting research she had done on superintendent transitions for her doctoral degree at Sage. It ended with a review of a timeline Dedrick termed “aggressive.”
Applications must be postmarked by May 2 for first-round interviews in early May. Top candidates are to be interviewed by the board in early June with an appointment made that month so that the new superintendent can begin work in August or September.
The board may decide to hire an interim superintendent if a permanent candidate can’t be found in time.
The process will start this week with online and print advertising that can be placed now that a salary range is set, Dedrick said.
— Melissa Hale-Spencer
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This week in the Town of New Scotland
Voorheesville wants to sell water to increase village funds and decrease development
VOORHEESVILLE — Mayor Robert Conway hopes to curtail new development around the village by striking a water deal with the town of New Scotland for homes that are already built, reasoning, if the village water is used for existing structures, it won’t be available for new ones.
At the Jan. 13 workshop meeting, Conway referred to a conversation he had with New Scotland Supervisor Thomas Dolin about the possibility of making permanent a planned temporary pipe connection between Voorheesville and the Orchard Park neighborhood outside the village line in New Scotland. By account of both municipal leaders, such an agreement would be mutually beneficial.
“We have the capacity. I’m not concerned about selling too much water,” said Conway. “What I’m concerned about is, when we grant water, that it possibly opens the door for further expansion. I think part of my thought process behind talking to Supervisor Dolin about Orchard Park is those are current residents that have a water issue. The village would realize an increase in revenue but it does nothing to expand the development of the area. Those are already current homeowners. By granting them water, it’s not encouraging development.”
Rising levels of iron and manganese in the Northeast Water District prompted the pipe connection between the village and Orchard park, Dolin said in November.
— Philippa Stasiuk
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This week in the The Hilltowns
Chase moved records
Super fires up waste-oil furnace
RENSSELAERVILLE — The dust has settled since the long-time Democratic highway superintendent was ousted by newcomer Gary Zeh.
The highway department files are still in the town’s records room, but Zeh has had no problem accessing them for his work. The records had disappeared from the highway superintendent’s office before Zeh took over on Jan. 1.
“I got my maintenance records back, but I have to go through the rest of the files,” Zeh said this week. “I haven’t had any resistance, but nobody can tell me why they were taken out of here.”
Zeh is now working on a plan with Jon Whitbeck, the town’s recycling officer, for using the waste-oil furnace at Town Hall, he said at the January town board meeting. He said this week that it should be in place by the end of February. Using the waste-oil furnace had been a long-standing goal of the last administration.
Zeh spent much of his first weekend as the new highway superintendent in January plowing snow, but he was unsure of how much salt the town had or how much it had ordered because files from his predecessor’s office were moved up to the records room at Town Hall.
G. Jon Chase, the previous superintendent who was at the center of several town controversies, left his post ahead of schedule, announcing his retirement in a Dec. 15 letter to the town. This prompted then-Supervisor Jost Nickelsberg, a Republican who did not seek re-election, to change the locks at the highway department.
Nickelsberg said at his last meeting as supervisor, on Dec. 30, that, after learning Chase had left, he called the State Police, and Trooper Steve Nutting advised him, “If the people are no longer with you, you have to secure the area.”
But Nickelsberg said later that he had nothing to do with the removal of Chase’s files from the office.
Town Clerk Kathleen Hallenbeck explained the situation this week.
“The superintendent retired,” she said of Chase, “and he just had his records moved up here into the records room, I guess because there wasn’t going to be a superintendent in there till January. I don’t really know the reason for moving them up here, but that’s the only logical thing I can think. [Chase] had the highway guys put them on rolled carts and bring them up here.”
Chase was unavailable for comment.
Recycled heat
The town’s waste oil furnace, if put to use, will cut down on the need to purchase heating oil for Town Hall. According to Zeh, the problem with the waste-oil furnace is that the town never had a proper system for acquiring the waste oil.
— Zach Simeone
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Will school bell ring in the new town hall?
Enterprise file photo
Pictured above:
The Westerlo School housed students in kindergarten through 12th grade when it first opened 60 years ago. But now that the town of Westerlo has offered the Berne-Knox-Westerlo School District nearly twice the building’s appraised value, this institution may be transformed into Westerlo’s next Town Hall.
WESTERLO — As of Tuesday night, the town is set to offer the Berne-Knox-Westerlo School District $145,000 for the Westerlo School, which it hopes to use as a town hall.
The BKW School Board met Tuesday morning in an executive session to discuss the status of the Westerlo School. That night, the Democratic majority of the Westerlo Town Board voted to make its offer to BKW; Councilman Jack Milner abstained, saying later that he felt he had been kept out of the loop.
Interim BKW Superintendent Kim LaBelle said Wednesday that, while she could not comment on Tuesday morning’s executive session, “We’re very happy about that offer, and very happy for the town of Westerlo.” The district, with falling enrollment, has not used the school since 2005.
Westerlo’s town board has repeatedly expressed interest in purchasing the Westerlo School from BKW and converting it into a new town hall, because space is tight at the current town hall. The building would also serve as a center for community activities, along with youth and senior programs, town board members have said.
The building’s current occupant, the Helderberg Christian School, has offered to buy it, as has the Westerlo Volunteer Fire Company.
Asked how the town will afford the $145,000 payment, Attorney Aline Galgay said after the meeting, “I would think we’ll seek grants,” as this would be the best way to purchase the building without burdening the taxpayer.
Built more than 60 years ago for Westerlo students, the traditional brick building just outside the Westerlo hamlet had housed BKW students in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade since it merged with the Berne-Knox Central School District.
Not long after the school closed in 2005, the Helderberg Christian School began leasing the building for classroom space on a yearly basis, and currently has 38 students there.
The Westerlo School Advisory Committee had estimated that closing the school would save BKW over $100,000, not including what the district could make by selling the building.
This past December, the BKW School Board unanimously approved a title search on the Westerlo School after Helen Lounsbury, then president of the school board, recalled hearing of a promise made, back when Westerlo merged with Berne-Knox to form BKW, that the building would always remain a school, even if it were to eventually change hands. The title search, however, turned up no such promise.
Both BKW and the Helderberg Christian School had the building appraised in 2009, and both found that the building was worth $80,000, according to Timothy Tryon, president of the Helderberg Christian School Board. In October of 2004 — just five years before the latest appraisal — the building was appraised at $185,000.
— Zach Simeone
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This week in Sports
Bulldogs use non-league tournament to gear up for sectionals
Photo: The Enterprise –– Jordan J. Michael
Pictured above:
Shoulder weight: Sophomore Matt Casullo (top) of the Berne-Knox-Westerlo wrestling team pinned Ryan Pappalau of Galway in 2:26 on Saturday at the Wasaren League Tournament at Tamarac. Casullo went 2-2 on the day.
The Berne-Knox-Westerlo wrestling team got a sneak preview of sectionals on Saturday in the Wasaren League Tournament at Tamarac.
The Bulldogs have made an annual stop at the non-league event because it’s the best way for the team to get ready for the Class D sectionals. Last year, the Wasaren Tournament included 10 of the 30 athletes who made the state competition.
“I want our team here because this is one of the most stacked tournaments around,” said Head Coach Jeff Vogel. “It’s the best tune-up and temperature gauge I can find. It’s a no- brainier.”
— Jordan J. Michael
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Meyers: A great example of perseverance in sports
Behind the mask: Guilderland field hockey goalie Beth Meyers was recognized on the All-State Team this past season. As a senior, her time is over with the Lady Dutch, but she wants to play in college.
GUILDERLAND –– Beth Meyers lets her actions speak for her. She fell in love with field hockey because she refused to quit.
Currently a senior at Guilderland, Meyers was the starting goalie for the Lady Dutch field-hockey team over the last three seasons. She was twice a first-team all-star and she was once recognized on the All-State Team. She also played in the 2008 Empire State Games in Binghamton for the Adirondack team.
However, Meyers wouldn’t have reached all those goals without relentless perseverance. As a freshman, she almost quit the sport during tryouts for the junior- varsity team.
— Jordan J. Michael
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