The Altamont Enterprise

Wednesday 19 June

Laurel Dover Searle

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New Scotland

Voorheesville’s oldest school employee reminisces on work ethic

Details: Published on Friday, 14 June 2013 21:00

By Tyler Murphy

dsc 1223-web The Enterprise — Tyler Murphy
Clocking-in with an antique time piece, 87-year-old Joseph Albright demonstrates how laborers punched into work on the pendulum and gear-powered mechanism a 100 years ago. A collector of relics, Albright is the oldest employee of the Voorheesville School District and has tried to live life by his own advice: “Keep very busy and maintain a good sense of humor.”

NEW SCOTLAND — Growing up in an Albany orphanage, 15-year-old Joseph Albright started his own business in 1941.

With permission from caretakers, Albright cleared out an unused storage shed at the home and began raising chickens, selling the eggs for 25 cents a dozen in the city streets.

“With the money, I was the only boy in the home at 15 buying his own clothes,” recalled Albright.

“We had a lot of boys who were very athletic; they played sports in school. I was not that type. I was an entrepreneur,” he said.

Reflecting on his childhood and how it shaped his life, Albright said, “I remember going hungry, I will never go hungry again.”

Now, at the age of 87, Albright is the oldest employee of the Voorheesville School District.

Albright’s general life advice: “Keep very busy and maintain a good sense of humor.”

New Scotland approves a 12-home development after extended review of water drainage concerns

Details: Published on Monday, 10 June 2013 19:44

By Tyler Murphy

NEW SCOTLAND — After hearing residents’ concerns last month, the planning board voted on Tuesday to approve the construction of 12 new upscale homes near the intersection of Route 85A and Picard Road.

The major subdivision will turn 31.4 acres of rural land, consisting mostly of cornfields and woodland, into 12 lots.

Before the board approved the application, the contractor, MJ Biernacki Builders, agreed to some additions and stipulations, aimed at addressing concerns that development at the rural site might alter water drainage and negatively impact neighbors.

One of the modifications includes building a one-foot tall earthen berm through part of the property, and across several of the lots, to reinforce its drainage systems. Board members also requested a clause be added to the new homes’ deeds making homeowners legally and financially responsible for taking care of their on-property drainage systems. Those duties mostly include keeping the basins and shallow drainage ditches, known as swales, free of debris and plant overgrowth.

With planning board Chairman Charles Voss absent from Tuesday’s meeting, members Thomas Hart Jr., Kurt Anderson, Stewart Morrison, Robert Stapf, and Acting Chairwoman Jo Ann Davies approved the application without dissent.

Claremont Estate dwellers raise concerns about 15 more homes

Details: Published on Tuesday, 04 June 2013 00:38

By Jo E. Prout

VOORHEESVILLE — Residents packed village hall Tuesday to ask the board to use village water as a tool to control the next phase of Claremont Estates, a housing development in their neighborhood, only weeks after the town’s planning board reviewed the plan for the second phase of the development that falls outside the village limits. Town and village officials who reside in the neighborhood joined the group to protest the next construction phase.

Town Planning Board Chairman Charles Voss said earlier this month that residents in the first development reported water and drainage problems, flooded basements, and flooded streets during bad weather. One resident told the village board Tuesday that he drives through 4 to 12 inches of standing water after a downpour.

The second phase of the development would add 15 homes within the village of Voorheesville. Confusion about the construction stems from the site’s location in a New Scotland zoning district on the town’s tax map.

Residents at the planning board asked the board to link the original development to the second phase so the board could compel the developers to correct some of the issues involving the original project.

Billy’s Legacy

Details: Published on Tuesday, 04 June 2013 00:23

img 8740-web The Enterprise — Michael Koff
Younger generation: On Monday morning at Hotaling Park in Voorheesville, the grandchildren of William Hotaling unveiled a plaque that will sit in front of the tree donated in his name by the Helderview Garden Club. Unveiling from left are: Julia Hotaling; P.J. Parker; Noah Parker; Logan Hotaling, with the tree behind him; Ryann Hotaling; and Will Hotaling.

On eve of D-Day anniversary, Veterans recall horrors of war

Details: Published on Monday, 03 June 2013 23:55

By Tyler Murphy

dsc 0882-web The Enterprise — Tyler Murphy
A combat veteran of the Allied D-Day invasion of Normandy, Harold Williams, shows his World War II military identification card to those joining him and other service members at Home Front Café this month.NEW SCOTLAND — Despite uncertain weather reports and choppy seas, the world’s largest amphibious invasion was to land in Nazi occupied Normandy, France, at just after 6 a.m. on June 6, 1944.

Known by the operation’s code word, D-Day became a defining moment of World War II and involved the mobilization of nearly 160,000 Allied servicemen, about 13,000 aircraft, and 5,000 ships.

By the next morning, June 7, 1944, the Allies successfully took the first steps in securing the beaches but almost 9,000 soldiers were killed or wounded.