eedition The Daily Mail December 14-15 2019

CMYK

The Daily Mail Copyright 2019, Columbia-Greene Media Volume 227, No. 246

n WEATHER TODAY TONIGHT SUN

The nation’s fourth-oldest newspaper • Serving Greene County since 1792

All Rights Reserved

Missing Elizaville man found dead Columbia-Greene Media

Cloudy and windy

Rather cloudy and cooler

HIGH 49

LOW 37

43 23

Complete weather, A2 Saturday - Sunday, December

14-15, 2019 - C1

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By NICOLE FORSYTH The Mercury News

a lot of Chances are you have According pet lovers in your life.

Pet Ownto the latest National by the ers Survey conducted AssoAmerican Pet Products ciation, 67% of U.S. households to have a pet, which equates about 85 million families. the With holidays just around we could corner, we thought by sharmake life easier for you dog and ing some gift ideas for cat lovers.

DOG LOVERS

“Sesame Street” characters

Oscar the Grouch, Ernie,

Bert, Big Bird, Julia,

Rosita, Elmo, Cookie

Monster, Abby Cadabby,

Grover and the Count.

Mark Mann/Washington

Post

After 50 years

‘SESAME STREET’ IS STILL

teaching us how to be nice

For those on a budget is This Travel water bottle — are ala great gift for those who pups. ways on the go with their Prices start around $7. colCooling collar — These to cooling lars use evaporative temkeep pups cool in hotter$5. at peratures. Prices begin This Wine-lover glass — glass cheeky 15-ounce stemless drinking reads, “It’s not really It sells alone if the dog is home.” for $12.99. is the Coffee mug — This anperfect mug for dog lovers, so my nouncing, “I work hard It is life.” dog can have a better priced at $10.99.

Splurge gift ideas may be Furbo — The Furbo of the pet the most well-known Not only monitoring devices. for cats does it dispense treats a two-way and dogs, it also has Furbo chat and bark alert. The averages $199. trailers Dog Trailer — Bike st any pet,

INSIDE TODAY! ogram is 50,

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n SPORTS

Price $2.50

Saturday-Sunday, December 14-15, 2019

By Amanda Purcell Cloudy, rain tapering off

WEEKEND

STUYVESANT — The body of a man who was reported missing Dec. 5 has been found in Stuyvesant, according to a statement from the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.

The body of William Amato, 29, of Elizaville, was found on the Dutch Hollow Farm in Stuyvesant, Columbia County Sheriff David P. Bartlett said Friday.

It is unclear how Amato died. An autopsy will be scheduled at Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, Bartlett said.

“At this time, it does not appear that there is any foul

play with the death of Mr. Amato,” according to the statement from Bartlett’s office. “However, the investigation William Amato is continuing and Sheriff’s Office investigators are awaiting the autopsy results.”

Amato had not been seen since the evening of Dec. 4.

Police launched a search the following day.

On Wednesday, the family offered a $5,000 reward for

any information regarding his whereabouts. A social media post about Amato’s disappearance was shared by thousands of people this week.

Amato was last seen Dec. 4 at 7:30 p.m., his family said, according to the sheriff’s office. Amato indicated to a family member that he was going to be gone for about two hours, but he did not return home.

Amato’s vehicle was found on the farm on Dec. 5, and his body was located late Thursday afternoon. A regional missing person alert was issued as deputies continued with the investigation.

Additional family members and known friends were contacted and interviewed but they did not see or have contact with Amato after Wednesday, the sheriff’s office said.

Amato’s cellphone was pinged to try to obtain a GPS location, but the cellphone was either turned off or had a dead battery, police said.

Amato’s aunt, Barbara Thomas, said she does not believe that Amato had a reason to be at the farm. He is not a hiker or avid outdoorsman.

He likes to spend his free time with his friends, she said.

At about 5:35 p.m.

Thursday, the sheriff’s office was contacted by the owner of Dutch Hollow Farm, located on Running Creek Road in Stuyvesant. The farm’s owner reported a suspicious vehicle parked behind one of the cow barns. The vehicle is a red Honda Civic with North Carolina plates and was registered to Amato, police said.

Columbia County sheriff’s deputies responded to investigate the call and found the vehicle was discovered at the barn at approximately 7:30 a.m. Thursday. The person who reported finding the car See MISSING A2

Long contract stalemate may be settled

File photo

Repairing the bridge on County Route 40 in Windham near Big Hollow Road was one of the projects of the Greene County Highway Department last holiday season.

Berlin grapplers top Greenville Berlin earned a 46-30 victory over Greenville in Thursday’s Patroon Coference wrestling match PAGE B1

n REGION Fire destroys mobile home A fast-moving fire razes a mobile home in Columbia County, but a man is able to escape without injury PAGE A3

n INDEX Region Opinion State/Nation Obituaries Sports Classified Comics/Advice

A3 A4 A5 A5 B1 B4-B5 B7-B8

On the web www.HudsonValley360.com Twitter Follow: @CatskillDailyMail Facebook www.facebook.com/ CatskillDailyMail/

By Sarah Trafton Columbia-Greene Media

CATSKILL — A six-year standoff between Greene County and the union representing county highway department workers may be coming to an end.

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, is the last of the county’s six unions to switch to the county’s current insurance plan. Because of this, the county has been unable to

renew the union’s contract or issue any raises since 2014.

In October, lawmakers accepted a fact-finder’s review of the latest contract.

The union also accepted the review at its meeting on Tuesday, Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden said at the Public Works meeting Wednesday.

The union also requested modifications to the contract, Groden said.

“If the terms are agreeable, we will

have a special Public Works meeting on Monday,” he said.

The Public Works Committee voted to table Wednesday’s resolution, which was to enter into a oneyear contract with the union with the same terms they have had since 2014.

A one-year deal would bring both parties back to the negotiating table in 2020, Groden said.

The county’s highway department currently has eight vacancies,

Deputy Highway and Solid Waste Superintendent Scott Templeton said.

“This should help us in the recruitment area,” Groden said. “We will finally be able to give raises, which will help us be competitive.”

Due to high health insurance deductible costs, the highway union has not renewed its contract with the county in six years.

See STALEMATE A2

County eyes impact of juvenile law reforms

By Sarah Trafton Columbia-Greene Media

CATSKILL — Lawmakers are anticipating the financial impact that changes to the state’s Persons In Need of Supervision cases are going to have on the county.

Persons In Need of Supervision, or PINS cases, occur when someone under the age of 18 commits a status offense such as running away, using marijuana or narcotics or skipping school. A PINS petition can be filed by the youth’s parents, school officials, police, victims of the offense, local human services agencies or probation departments.

Effective Jan. 1, the state Legislature passed a series of reforms regarding how PINS petitions are handled. These unfunded mandates include eliminating PINS detention and limiting the

“

This will become a crisis for schools, counting absences from previous school districts is key.

Sooner or later, parents have to be held accountable.

— Shaun Groden, Greene County Administrator

use of pre-dispositional placements and time limits on post-dispositional placements. Additionally, PINS petitions will no longer apply to students skipping school, known as truancy, county lawmakers said.

The new law will change the way the county manages troubled youth, Commissioner of Social Services Kira Pospesel said.

If unsuccessful with the Greene County Youth Bureau, the youth will be referred directly to the Department

”

of Social Services, rather than to probation, Pospesel said.

“We currently are managing five [cases],” Pospesel said. “Probation has 18.”

Of those 18, 10 are truancy cases, Pospesel said.

Without truancy included in the PINS petition, it will be up to school districts to ensure students are attending school, Pospesel said.

“This will become a crisis for schools,” Greene County

Administrator Shaun Groden said.

“Counting absences from previous school districts is key. Sooner or later, parents have to be held accountable.”

The Cairo-Durham, Greenville and Catskill school districts have aligned their attendance policies, Greene County Department of Human Services Executive Director Therese McGee Ward said. This way, if a student transfers to a new district, their absences from a previous district are factored in.

The Mental Health Clinic in Cairo has a School Avoidance Task Force that meets regularly with school districts, Pospesel said.

Another method is to have the Greene County District Attorney send letters home to the parents, Ward said.

“We have been doing the DA program since Terry Wilhelm was the See REFORMS A2

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COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA • THE DAILY MAIL

A2 - Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019

Weather

Reforms

FORECAST FOR HUDSON/CATSKILL

TODAY TONIGHT SUN

From A1

MON

TUE

WED

Cloudy, rain tapering off

Cloudy and windy

Rather cloudy and cooler

Times of clouds and sun

A wintry mix

Clouds and sun

HIGH 49

LOW 37

43 23

34 29

40 24

32 16

Ottawa 38/25

Montreal 41/31

Massena 41/30

Bancroft 34/21

Ogdensburg 38/33

Peterborough 36/26

Plattsburgh 42/33

Malone Potsdam 42/30 41/31

Kingston 38/31

Lake Placid 42/28

Watertown 40/32

Rochester 39/33

Utica 44/32

Batavia Buffalo 38/30 39/32

Catskill 49/37

Binghamton 44/31

Hudson 50/38

Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

SUN AND MOON

ALMANAC Statistics through 3 p.m. yesterday

Temperature

Precipitation

Yesterday as of 3 p.m. 24 hrs. through 3 p.m. yest.

High

Trace

Low

YEAR TO DATE

43.9

Sun. 7:17 a.m.

4:24 p.m.

8:04 p.m.

10:19 a.m.

Moon Phases NORMAL

37.77

39

Today 7:16 a.m.

4:24 p.m.

6:55 p.m.

9:29 a.m.

Sunrise Sunset Moonrise Moonset Last

New

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Dec 18

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out-of-home placements,” according to the county’s resolution.

Statewide PINS filings are down 37%, PINS detentions are down 41% and placement admissions are down 45%, according to the resolution.

The 2020 state budget does not include any funding for this program, according to the resolution.

One local option the county has is to refer families to Common Ground, which mediates dispute resolution, Ward said.

“The problem is, it is a volunteer-based program and families don’t have to

comply,” she said.

The Department of Social Services is beefing up its resources for the reforms, Pospesel said.

The department is adding a senior case worker and an IPPT or Institute of Professional Practical Therapy team.

“These teams have an over 90% success rate at keeping children out of placement and out of foster care,” Pospesel said.

The IPPT team would be contracted, not additional employees, Groden said.

“We will be ready to roll Jan. 1,” Pospesel said.

The House did something unusual: It voted on a Friday Philip Bump The Washington Post

Albany 47/38

Syracuse 44/35

Hornell 40/32

Burlington 45/36

DA,” she said. “We modeled the program after Saratoga County.”

A dilemma for Child Protective Services is that the department has to show the impact of the child not attending school, Pospesel said.

“Ninety-eight percent of the time, the school would pass the child,” Pospesel said.

Because the new mandates are unfunded, when a child requires a PINS petition, the cost of placing them

in a facility can be as much as $1,000 per day and will be 100% local share, Pospesel said.

The Greene County Legislature passed a resolution Nov. 20 urging Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature to fully fund family support services programs as part of the PINS reform.

As part of the new law, counties can create family support services programs.

“The goal of these programs is to provide community-based services to children and families to prevent PINS petitions from being filed, PINS adjudications and PINS

When House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., suddenly ended a hearing on proposed articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump late Thursday evening, Republicans were frustrated. Ranking member Douglas Collins, RGa., suggested that the move was indicative of a “kangaroo court.”

But he also had more practical concerns: Republicans on the committee had already planned travel out of D.C. on Friday, plans that would probably have to change.

Not entirely surprising.

It’s mid-December, a period when Fridays start to increasingly be used for travel instead of work. This, however, isn’t a function of members

preparing for a little weekend caroling. It is, instead, part of a long tradition of members of Congress using Fridays as a day to travel back to their districts instead of holding votes on Capitol Hill.

Since 2009, 82% of roll-call votes taken in the House - that is, votes in which members identify their vote by name were taken Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Only 11%t were taken Friday, though that’s still a higher percentage than were taken Monday.

This year was below average, with about 9% of roll-call votes taken Friday. (This is for the full House, not for any committee.)

Those figures are still dramatically better than the numbers in the Senate, where Fridays are rarely workdays. On average, only 5% of roll-call

votes taken in the Senate in the past 11 years were taken on a Friday. This year, only one has been. The most common day for roll-call votes in the Senate is Thursday - the deadline for voting to clear Friday for travel.

In fact, there are only twice as many roll-call votes that have been taken on Friday in the Senate since 2009 as Saturday. By comparison, the House has taken 13 times as many votes on Friday as Saturday over that period.

Part of that derives from the fact that, while the House usually isn’t taking votes Fridays - it’s done so on only about a quarter of Fridays since 2009 - the Senate seldom is. Pick a random Friday since 2009 out of a hat and there’s a 1-in-14 chance the Senate was having a vote. About 3.6 times a year

on average, the Senate is taking votes on a Friday.

In comparison to the Senate, the House looks like it’s got its nose to the grindstone.

That can be evaluated by considering it in the context of American work culture more broadly. If you showed up at the office Friday only about once a month, how would that go over?

Yes, yes, members of Congress will tell you that they’re working long hours all week and, once back in their districts, they’re often holding events and meeting with constituents. That response has the happy characteristic of being hard to evaluate. It also doesn’t really offer a robust answer to another question, though: Maybe put in a half-day on Friday on occasion?

“We haven’t had a raise in over a decade,” Maben said.

The base salary for highway workers is $34,000.

The county is unable to move on salaries until the contract is renewed, Groden said in April.

The offer in April included a raise of 40 cents for the next four years, Maben said, adding that the membership would find the amount laughable.

“They are offering us crumbs instead of a full meal,” Maben said. “You could make twice as much in the private sector.”

Groden said he believes the savings in premium costs will

balance out the deductibles.

“What they save in premium costs nearly pays for the new deductible,” he said.

“They can keep that money in their pockets until they have a medical need.”

The other five unions consist of about 500 employees including sheriff’s deputies and corrections officers represented by Council 82, solid waste employees represented by the Teamsters, nurses represented by United Public Service Employees Union and probation officers and dispatchers represented by Civil Service Employees Association 7002 and social services represented by CSEA 7000.

The other unions have made the insurance plan switch, Groden said.

“The work we perform is hard, requires long hours in heat and cold and is inherently dangerous,” Maben wrote to legislators in April. “Just being given an annual pizza event and handshakes from management and our local politicians no longer cuts it with us.

“It is only reasonable and proper that the hard working employees of the Greene County Highway Department, and as members of Local 968A of AFSCME, deserve a new contract that properly pays us for our efforts.”

Forecasts and graphics provided

by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019

CONDITIONS TODAY AccuWeather.com UV Index™ & AccuWeather.com RealFeel Temperature®

Stalemate From A1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

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0

41

42

43

44

45

49

51

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40

37

8 a.m. 9 a.m. 10 a.m. 11 a.m. Noon 1 p.m. 2 p.m. 3 p.m. 4 p.m. 5 p.m. 6 p.m.

The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index number, the greater the need for eye and skin protection. 0-2 Low; 3-5 Moderate; 6-7 High; 8-10 Very High; 11+ Extreme. The patented AccuWeather.com RealFeel Temperature is an exclusive index of effective temperature based on eight weather factors.

NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Winnipeg -2/-16 Seattle 46/37

Montreal 41/31 Billings 33/18

Toronto 37/29

Minneapolis 14/-5 Chicago 35/17

San Francisco 56/47

New York 57/42 Washington 51/41

Denver 37/22

Los Angeles 65/50

Detroit 40/28

Kansas City 34/20 Atlanta 54/40

El Paso 69/46

U.S. and China Reach Initial Trade Deal

Houston 73/56

Chihuahua 80/49

Miami 84/62

Monterrey 85/54

Alan Rappeport, Ana Swanson, Keith Bradsher and Chris Buckley

ALASKA HAWAII

Anchorage 34/30

-10s

-0s

0s

showers t-storms

Honolulu 83/73

Fairbanks 19/5

rain

Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.

Hilo 79/63

Juneau 37/28

10s

20s flurries

30s

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snow

50s ice

60s

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cold front

80s

90s 100s 110s

warm front stationary front

NATIONAL CITIES City Albuquerque Anchorage Atlanta Atlantic City Baltimore Billings Birmingham Boise Boston Charleston, SC Charleston, WV Charlotte Cheyenne Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland Columbus, OH Dallas Denver Des Moines Detroit Hartford Honolulu Houston Indianapolis Kansas City Knoxville Las Vegas

Daniel Diclemente, president of District 66 AFSCME, said neither he nor the local Greene County president wanted to comment on the matter in October.

The former president of the Greene County union, Donald Maben, found the deductibles to be unaffordable, he said in April.

A plan for two or more, which most employees would need, means paying out of pocket until they reach $2,000, Maben said.

Today Hi/Lo W 60/38 pc 34/30 sn 54/40 c 58/42 r 52/39 r 33/18 pc 57/40 c 40/24 pc 59/41 r 64/41 pc 43/35 r 58/37 sh 35/15 sn 35/17 c 44/27 r 42/30 r 41/28 r 62/46 s 37/22 sf 23/7 c 40/28 c 54/40 r 83/73 pc 73/56 s 42/21 r 34/20 s 51/36 sh 61/46 pc

Sun. Hi/Lo W 53/26 pc 33/24 pc 60/48 s 49/35 pc 49/33 pc 35/20 pc 64/54 s 37/22 c 48/29 pc 63/44 s 44/34 pc 58/42 pc 28/11 c 30/23 pc 39/32 c 35/27 sf 36/28 c 75/44 pc 30/15 sn 24/14 c 34/25 pc 46/25 c 84/72 s 81/66 c 34/27 c 30/21 sn 53/41 pc 58/38 s

City Little Rock Los Angeles Miami Milwaukee Minneapolis Nashville New Orleans New York City Norfolk Oklahoma City Omaha Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Portland Portland Providence Raleigh Richmond Sacramento St. Louis Salt Lake City San Francisco Savannah Seattle Tampa Washington, DC

Today Hi/Lo W 53/38 s 65/50 c 84/62 t 32/16 c 14/-5 c 53/37 c 68/53 pc 57/42 r 64/44 c 48/33 c 23/13 pc 77/51 t 57/40 r 71/48 pc 40/31 r 51/40 r 46/34 sh 59/38 r 58/39 sh 56/40 sh 58/37 sh 41/23 c 40/21 sn 56/47 sh 64/41 pc 46/37 pc 73/55 t 51/41 r

Sun. Hi/Lo W 57/51 sh 64/45 s 80/70 s 28/22 s 10/2 s 54/48 c 76/66 pc 49/32 pc 56/42 s 48/24 c 26/18 sf 75/58 s 49/31 pc 63/43 s 36/25 c 46/22 pc 44/35 c 47/26 pc 57/39 s 53/36 s 55/34 pc 33/26 sn 33/21 c 56/45 pc 65/46 s 44/33 c 75/59 s 51/36 pc

Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.

The New York Times News Service

WASHINGTON — The United States and China said they had agreed to an initial trade deal that would reduce tariffs on some Chinese goods and increase purchases of American farm products, a significant deescalation in the 19-month battle that has rattled the world economy.

“We have agreed to a very large Phase One Deal with China,” President Donald Trump said in a tweet Friday, shortly after Beijing announced the two sides had brokered a deal.

Trump said that a 25% tariff that the United States has placed on $250 billion of Chinese products will remain in effect, but that a 15% tariff he put on $120 billion of products

Missing From A1

believed that it belonged to a hunter parked on his property,

in September will be cut in half, to 7.5%. A round of tariffs scheduled for Sunday would be canceled, he said, and talks for a second phase of the trade deal would begin immediately.

“It’s a phenomenal deal,” he said during an event at the White House. “The tariffs will largely remain: 25% on $250 billion, and we’ll use them for future negotiations on the Phase 2 deal.”

The limited agreement was widely viewed as a détente that would prevent an escalation of tariffs before the 2020 election and could help reignite trade between the world’s largest economies. But the preliminary pact lacked the magnitude of change that Trump had promised to deliver before talks broke down earlier this year and many details that have hampered

past agreements continued to be in flux, including the size of China’s agricultural purchases.

As described, the agreement does not address U.S. concerns about China’s industrial subsidies and state-owned enterprises: There were no details on the currency provisions in the pact, how China will go about ensuring protections of American intellectual property, or the extent to which China plans to roll back its tariffs. And text of the agreement still needs to be translated, scrubbed and signed.

Wang Shouwen, China’s vice commerce minister, said at a Friday evening news conference in Beijing that the two sides had made “significant progress” and that the agreement would result in the United States removing some of the tariffs it has placed on $360 billion worth of Chinese

the sheriff’s office said. Police searched the property and the barns but did not locate Amato.

His interests were music, working out at the gym, snakes and kayaking with his friends, Thomas said.

Last Friday, sheriff’s deputies and investigators continued their search for Amato.

Sheriff’s K-9s were brought in to search a large area around the farm, but Amato was not found.

Looking for a New Home?

Local Open Houses • Local Agents Local Searchable Listings

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goods. Those tariffs would come off “phase by phase” and the United States would agree to exempt more Chinese products from being taxed, he said.

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CMYK

Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019 - A3

COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA • THE DAILY MAIL

CALENDAR Monday, Dec. 16 n Athens Town Board 6:45 p.m.

Fire destroys mobile home in Chatham

Town Hall, 2 First St., Athens n Catskill Town Planning Board 7 p.m. Town Hall, 439 Main St., Catskill n Greene County Legislature special public safety meeting; special public works; economic development and tourism; Gov. Ops.; finance and Rep. and Dem. caucus 6 p.m. Greene County Office Building, 411 Main St., Catskill n Greenville Town Board 7 p.m. at the Town Hall, 11159 Route 32, Pioneer Building, Greenville

Tuesday, Dec. 17 n Athens Village Planning Board 6:30 p.m. Village Hall, 2 First St., Athens n Durham Town Board 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 7309 Route 81, East Durham n Hunter Town Board 7 p.m. at the Town Hall, 5748 Route 23A, Tannersville

Wednesday, Dec. 18 n Catskill Library Board 6:45

p.m. at either the Catskill Library, 1 Franklin St., Catskill or Palenville Library, 3303 Route 23A, Palenville n Catskill Central School District BOE 6:30 p.m. High School Library, 341 West Main St., Catskill n Catskill Town Board Committee meeting 6:30 p.m. Town Hall, 439 Main St., Catskill n Greene County Legislature public hearing (senior citizen exemption) 6:20 p.m.; public hearing (LL 3 of 2019 exemption from rpts by persons with disabilities and limited income) 6:25 p.m.; regular legislature meeting No. 12 6:30 p.m. Greene County Office Building, 411 Main St., Catskill

Thursday, Dec. 19 n Coxsackie Village Planning

n n

n n n

COURTESY OF CHATHAM FIRE DEPARTMENT’S PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER A mobile home was destroyed by a fast-moving fire on Wednesday on Route 66 in Chatham. n

By Amanda Purcell Columbia-Greene Media

CHATHAM — A fire destroyed a mobile home on Route 66 on Wednesday, but the man who lived there managed to escape without injury, fire officials said Thursday.

The fire was reported around 8:30 p.m. at 3053 Route 66 by a neighbor who saw smoke and flames, according to a statement from the Chatham Fire Department.

The trailer was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, according to the statement.

A man, the sole occupant living in the trailer, made it out safely, firefighters said.

Although he was left homeless by the blaze, the man, who has not been identified, will stay with friends, firefighters said.

The cause of the fire was ruled accidental and believed to have got its start by a propane

heat source, firefighters said.

No major injuries to firefighters or the homeowner were reported.

A firefighter suffered n a minor cut as a result of lifting materials at the scene, accordn firefighters. ing to The structure was reduced n to ashes.

The 30-foot mobile home did not have smoke den tectors, firefighters said.

“The location of the fire well off the road on a private drive made fire attack difficult,” Chan Fire Chief Paul Rideout tham said. “The weather was cold and the nground was icy, adding to the stress of the scene. Firefighters were able to knock the fire down n within 15 minutes. They all did a great job under the circumstances.” n Chatham firefighters were assisted and supported by Chatham Rescue Squad Inc., n New York State Police, Columbia County NY 911 dispatch andnthe Columbia County Fire

Board 7 p.m. Village Hall, 119 Mansion St., Coxsackie n

Tuesday, Dec. 24 n Catskill Town Offices close at

noon in observance of Christmas

n

Wednesday, Dec. 25 in observance of Christmas n Coxsackie Village Offices closed in observance of Christmas n Greene County Office Building closed in observance of Christmas

n

the Town Hall, 512 Main St., Cairo

Starting 12/13 Now Friday Showing

A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

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Starring: Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Chris Cooper Running (PG-13) Time: 109 minutes Showtimes: week of Starring: Friday Thursday 12/19 Brie 12/13 Larson through & Scarlett Johansson 7:00pm daily Running Time: 181 minutes 2:30pm (SFS)Sunday Showtimes: week of 7:00pm (CC) Monday Friday 4/26 through Thursday 5/2

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Winterfest 2019

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COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA • THE DAILY MAIL

A4 - Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019

It’s time to dump the SAT

THE DAILY MAIL Established 1792 Published Tuesday through Saturday by Columbia-Greene Media

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OUR VIEW

Happy holiday to you, Rudy In a season of generosity and placing others above ourselves, an unnamed person this week gave the gift of life. A good Samaritan found a puppy hobbled by a broken leg and called authorities who brought the injured animal to the Columbia-Greene Humane Society.

The three-month-old black labrador mix, named Rudy by the staff at the Humane Society, was found crying in pain and unable to move by a concerned citizen on the side of the road on Thompson Street in the village of Catskill.

The good Samaritan, who has not come forward and has not been identified, contacted Catskill Dog Control officers, who brought Rudy to a veterinarian. The examination revealed that Rudy’s right front leg was fractured.

Veterinarians gave him a splint, but Rudy’s leg may

require orthopedic surgery to repair the break.

It is unclear whether the puppy was hit by a car and injured or was abandoned with the broken leg on the side of the road. Rudy was not wearing a collar when he was found, indicating he could have been an unlucky stray or simply abandoned in the street, wounded and suffering. We may never know.

Rudy is listed in fair condition, according to the Humane Society, which is handling the animal’s rehabilitation.

Rudy’s recovery, if surgery is not needed, will take about four to six weeks with the splint. Since Rudy is technically a stray, he has to be held for five days before he is eligible for adoption.

“We will adopt him out with the splint to the right people,” Columbia-Greene Humane Society President

Ron Perez said. “They have to understand that he will need follow-up care.”

If a surgical procedure is required, it may be a longer wait before Rudy can be adopted.

Cruelty to animals in an area where great value is placed on pets and livestock is a powerful offense. It can take the form of a dog like Rudy, perhaps the victim of a hit-and-run, perhaps the victim of a cruel abandonment.

And what of the people who might have heard or seen Rudy howling and writhing in pain and did nothing? Again, we may never know.

Letting actions speak louder than words is a fundamental feature of the holiday season. A good Samaritan in the right place at the right time saw to it that one “really wonderful little puppy” got a second chance.

ANOTHER VIEW

It appears Putin may have written the Democrats’ talking points on impeachment cannot rely on an election to solve our problems when HILLSBORO, Ohio - What- the president threatens the ever level of faith one puts in very integrity of that election the investigation conducted . . . and while he allows his by special counsel Robert personal interests and the Mueller into Russian interinterests of our adversary ference in the 2016 election, Russia to advance.” Do Schiff one unchallenged finding and Nadler not realize that must be remembered: Russuch hyperbole is more dansia’s main goal was to sow gerous to democracy than discord and distrust among anything they are accusing Americans about our elecTrump of doing, and, in its tions. own way, is just as complicit One wonders, then, did with foreign interference?

Russian President Vladimir To be sure, Schiff, Nadler Putin himself write the Dem- and their Democratic colocrats’ latest talking points leagues are not Russian on impeaching President operatives, any more than Donald Trump? It would Trump is. But the Kremlin appear so, especially after official currently in charge listening Tuesday to Rep. of the “distrust and discord” Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the campaign could have no House Intelligence Commit- greater evidence of success tee chairman, who said, “The than the impeachment argument, ‘Why don’t you of our president. One can just wait?’ amounts to this: imagine him reporting to ‘Why don’t you let him cheat Putin this week: “Look, Mr. one more election. Why not President! The Democrats let him cheat just one more are telling the American time. Why not let him have people that President Trump foreign help just one more cheated to win and will cheat time.’ “ again. They are trying to reDuring Wednesday night’s move him from office. Amercontentious impeachment icans are divided. Our efforts debate, House Judiciary have succeeded beyond our Committee chairman Jerrwildest dreams!” old Nadler, D-N.Y., said, “We Russia is most certainly

Gary Abernathy The Washington Post

The Daily Mail welcomes letters to the editor. All letters must contain a full name, full address and a daytime telephone number. Names will be published, but phone numbers will not be divulged.

Letters of less than 400 words are more likely to be published quickly. The newspaper reserves the right to edit letters for length, clarity and content.

Letters should be exclusive to this publication, not duplicates of those sent to other persons, agencies

not upset that it was caught interfering in our elections.

They and other foreign adversaries interfere in every U.S. election. Sure, they may have made a weak effort to pin it on Ukraine, but they can’t really care much either way. Whichever nation gets the blame, it has to count as success when Americans know that foreign interference happened and, in turn, suspect U.S. leaders of colluding in the effort.

The plan leads to success in every scenario. Russia knows that if Trump is impeached and removed from office, his supporters will consider it a “deep state” coup engineered for purely partisan reasons. If Trump survives impeachment and wins reelection, Russia knows that half of America will once more blame his victory on foreign intrusion.

If Trump is defeated by the Democratic nominee, Russia knows the other half of America will blame it on four years of unprecedented investigations, harassment and impeachment that severely crippled the president.

or publications. Writers are ordinarily limited to one letter every 30 days.

Stacy Torres The Washington Post

1160. My SAT score.

That I can still recall this number some 22 years after taking the exam tells you how much it stung then and casts a faint shadow even today.

My long-ago score is in line with the current reality of racial test score disparities in California, where I work as a professor. According to the College Board, which administers the SAT, in 2018 only 9% of AfricanAmerican and 12% of Latino students scored above 1200, compared with 45% of white and 55% of Asian-American students.

So I watch with interest as the University of California faces a new lawsuit brought by the Compton Unified School District, six advocacy organizations, and four student plaintiffs, who claim that requiring applicants to submit SAT and ACT scores discriminates against black and Latino students and those with lower incomes.

They want the vast, influential UC system to drop the tests as an evaluative tool, going beyond test-optional admissions policies adopted by more than 1,000 universities nationwide.

The plaintiffs are right. It’s time to ditch these exams if we care about diversity and providing those from underrepresented backgrounds in academe a fair shot at higher education. Even discounting the cheating involved in the college admissions scandal, it’s clear that wealthy, sophisticated parents can give their children a lawful advantage by paying for test coaching or helping secure special accommodations, such as extra test time.

No perfect metric exists, and the affluent will always have a leg up. But the least we can do in admissions is use an evaluative tool more closely correlated with academic success in college, such as high school grades,

studies, my score was just 30 points higher than my SAT, despite my achievements in the 10 intervening years.

And please note: This year the Educational Testing Service, which helps develop and administer the SAT, sought my permission to reproduce one of my published essays in their test materials. Apparently I have enough talent to help write the exam but not the right skills to ace it.

My skepticism about the value of standardized test scores only grew once I became a university professor.

Some of my most rewarding experiences have involved working with students like myself, diamonds in the rough with potential, as well as those fiercely determined students who struggled but improved through hard work.

I’ve found these are the characteristics that give results: curiosity; persistence; comfort with seeking help; openness to feedback; willingness to put in the time and effort to improve; humility; classroom engagement; and attentive listening. I doubt any single exam can measure these attributes.

And I believe the high school record provides more insight into a student’s abilities than the snapshot of a timed test.

College remains the most reliable path of upward social mobility for many Americans. My own story is evidence of the life-changing possibilities of higher education. We have a moral obligation to continue to extend this opportunity to the most people possible. Ridding college admissions of this biased screening tool will help further this goal.

I often joke that these days that, given the competition, I probably couldn’t gain admission to the schools I’ve attended. I hope I’m not right.

Torres is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California at San Francisco.

ANOTHER VIEW

Rectifying a racial injustice The Washington Post

With the stroke of a pen, Kentucky’s brand-new governor, Democrat Andy Beshear, is set to restore voting rights to more than 100,000 former felons, a move that will partly rectify an egregious, decadeslong racial injustice and put the Bluegrass State in line with 48 other states as well as most Western democracies.

On its face, Beshear’s executive order is race-blind.

But the Kentuckians it affects are disproportionately African-Americans - so much so that an estimated quarter of the state’s voting-age blacks are disqualified from voting, including roughly a third of voting-age black men. That is disenfranchisement on a scale so epic that it makes a mockery of democracy.

More than 5 million American adults remain unable to vote, mainly felons still serving their sentences or ex-convicts who committed violent crimes. Still, the tide has turned on granting voting rights to most former felons who serve their time and return to society. Last year, Florida voters, by a 2-to-1 margin,

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restored voting rights to perhaps 1 million ex-convicts, though even after the referendum Republican officeholders have tried to block as many people as they could from the voting booth. In Virginia, former governor Terry McAuliffe and his successor, incumbent Gov. Ralph Northam, both Democrats, have extended voting rights to nearly 200,000 previously disenfranchised former felons, all since early 2016. That’s enormous progress, although the state’s constitution retains a provision requiring permanent disenfranchisement without the intervention of the executive.

In Kentucky, Beshear’s father, former governor Steve Beshear, issued a similar order in 2015 only to see it rescinded weeks later by the man who succeeded him in office, Republican Matt Bevin. The younger Beshear defeated Bevin last month; by his decree, he ensures that his father’s wish will now be fulfilled. Better late than never.

Only in Iowa does it remain the case that voting rights continue to be permanently withheld from former felons, who, if they wish for their

restoration, must appeal to the governor through a cumbersome process. The Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, has insisted that only a constitutional amendment will suffice to reenfranchise tens of thousands of residents who have paid their debts to society but remain diminished and less than fully empowered citizens.

The huge populations of voteless citizens are partly a byproduct of harsh sentencing laws and mass incarceration that swept the country in recent decades. In Kentucky, just 3 percent of black adults disenfranchised by a felony were barred from voting in 1980; by 2016, it was 26 percent, according to the Sentencing Project, which advocates the restoration of voting rights.

In many states, politicians of both parties have stressed the importance of reintegrating former inmates into society. An array of programs is in place practically everywhere to encourage that. But without also restoring voting rights, ex-convicts can never take their place fully as citizens.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

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The Daily Mail 1 Hudson City Center Hudson, NY 12534 n E-mail: editorial@thedailymail.net

instead of relying on a highstakes exam that disadvantages students without the social capital or economic resources to excel.

Like the students in the UC lawsuit, I faced hardships that didn’t help my scores. My family’s low income made me eligible for a fee waiver for the exam, but we couldn’t afford adequate heat in our house, let alone my school-sponsored test prep course or other tutoring. I prepared with a used Barron’s SAT prep book and handmade flashcards, and racked up lackluster practice test scores. That year, my mother died, leaving a raft of medical bills and upending family life. I made it to the exam only due to the kindness of a neighbor, who gave me a ride to the test site.

I scored much more poorly on the SATs than anyone who saw my straight-A report cards (11th in a class of 611) would have expected.

My SAT score wasn’t just embarrassing - it had consequences. I didn’t even consider applying to more than three schools. I missed out on a generous merit-based scholarship at the university I attended, which required a 1200. Later, when I applied for a master’s degree, I avoided programs that required the SAT-equivalent exam for graduate school, the GRE. But the SAT shouldn’t have mattered that much.

Research has shown that such scores have little correlation with a student’s future academic performance; high school GPA is the most consistent predictor of college grades and likelihood of graduation. Again, my trajectory makes the case.

In college, I made the dean’s list for four consecutive years, graduated summa cum laude, received a competitive fellowship to an Ivy League MFA writing program and eventually earned a Ph.D. in sociology. When I had no choice but to take the GRE to apply for doctoral

‘For what is God’s will, but that we should be reconciled to ourselves.’

REGINA ULLMANN

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Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019 - A5

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Virginia C. Brandt GREENVILLE – Virginia C. and Richard J. (Elizabeth) Brandt, a resident of Green- Brandt; grandchildren, Ericka, ville since 1978, passed away Ashleigh, Will, and Angelina peacefully in the comfort Brandt; step-grandsons, Donof the home of her son and ald Ferguson and Thomas Sudaughter-in-law, Bill and Ei- peau; her dear friend, Michael O’Rourke; many nieces and leen.

Born in the Bronx, she was nephews. In addition to her daughter of the late Walter parents and husband, Virginia and Helen Wright Kummer, was predeceased by her siband wife of the late William lings, Jane Manning, Donald J. Brandt, who died in Janu- Kummer, and Richard “Dick” Kummer. ary of 1989. Following Calling hours will graduation, Virginia be Tuesday, Decemworked as a bank ber 17th from 4 to 7 teller at Dollar Savings p.m. at A.J. CunningBank, and as a secreham Funeral Home, tary, both in New York 4898 State Route 81, City. Since relocating Greenville. Funeral to Greenville, she has Mass will be offered worked in guest seron Wednesday, Devices at Sunny Hill Recember 18th at 10 sort, retiring two years Brandt a.m. in St. Patrick’s ago. Virginia attended Sacred Heart Church in Cairo, Church, 21 Main Street, RavOur Lady of Knock Shrine in ena. Weather permitting, East Durham, and St. Pat- burial will follow in Greenville rick’s Church in Ravena. She Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, enjoyed reading and solving if desired, memorial donacrossword puzzles, but most tions to Community Hospice of all, she enjoyed spending of Albany, 310 South Manning time with her family, especial- Blvd., Albany, NY 12208, or to St. Patrick’s Church, 21 Main ly with her grandchildren.

Virginia is survived by her Street, Ravena, NY 12143, will sons and daughters-in-law, be appreciated. Condolence William F. (Eileen) Brandt page at ajcunninghamfh.com.

Helen F. Mahoney SCHENECTADY — Helen always happy to spend time F. Mahoney, 72, passed away with her granddaughter, Sopeacefully at home after a phia. She enjoyed spending long illness with her family time with family and hosting by her side. She was born in Sunday and Holiday dinners, Brooklyn, NY to the late Rob- especially Christmas. She will ert Peterson and Mary be forever missed by Palladino Peterson. her husband, Michael She was married to J. Mahoney, her son, Michael J. Mahoney.

Michael J. Mahoney They were happily Jr. (Sheila), her grandmarried for 52 years. daughter, Sophia, her She graduated from Erasmus Hall High sister Barbara (RonSchool before workald) Root, and many ing as the Green loving friends and relCounty Family Clerk.

Mahoney atives. She now joins She would then start in eternal life, her parents; her family and raise her son, Robert and Mary.

Michael. She then went back A Memorial service will be to work at the Early Childheld by the family at a later hood Head Start in Catskill, date.

To leave a message or NY where she would retire in memory for the family, please 2013.

She loved crossword puz- visit DeMarcoStoneFuneralzles and reading. She was Home.com.

Nancy E. Spiewak Nancy E. Spiewak, 80, of bel Loomis, many grand, and Greenport, NY passed away great-grandchildren. She was peacefully at Columbia Me- pre-deceased by her first husmorial Hospital on Tuesday band Raymond E. Shook, Sr. December 10, 2019. in 1995. Nancy was She was born in also pre-deceased by Greenport, NY on Ocher son Raymond E. tober 7, 1939 to the Shook Jr., daughter late Clyde and CharCynthia Myrdycz, and lotte (Hagadorn) Avone sister Charlotte ery.

Bonafacio.

She will be missed There are no callby her husband of 21 ing hours. All services years, Peter Spiewak are private with Sacco of Greenport, also Spiewak Funeral Home in Hudshe leaves behind her sons: Timmy Shook, Mi- son. She will be buried in Livchael Shook, daughter De- ingston Cemetery. To read full siree Konkus, one brother obituary or leave online conClyde Avery, and sisters: Rose dolences visit: www.saccofuKrein, Doris Woodward, Ma- neralhome.com

Ronald J. Truesdell Ronald J. Truesdell, 79, of his brother (Josiah). He was Tannersville, NY died Dec. 6, preceded in death by his par2019, in his home in Tanners- ents; many friends and relaville. tives. Ron will be missed by He was born on July 24, his family and many friends in 1940, to Lena and the Tannersville UMC Levi Truesdell of Lexand remembered for ington, NY. Ron athis love of birds, NAStended Tri-State CAR and baseball.

University in Indiana Deceased’s Fuwhere he earned an neral Arrangements: engineering degree in Visitation will be Satcivil engineering. He urday, December 14, also served in the Air 2019, from 2-4 p.m. at National Guard from the Aston Basagic Fu1960-1964. He marTruesdell neral Home. Funeral ried Nancy Byrne and they had three daughters, services will be Sunday DeTerri Sadecki, Mary Truesdell cember 15, 2019 at 1 p.m. at May and DeDe Cimini. Ron is the Tannersville United Methsurvived by his three daugh- odist Church with Reverend ters, four grandsons (Jack, Juhye Hahn officiating. A reDylan, Noah and Kellar), one ception will follow the funeral granddaughter (Dede) and at the church hall.

www.HudsonValley 360.com

Michelle Obama tells Greta Thunberg to ‘ignore the doubters’ after Donald Trump’s latest attack Kayla Epstein The Washington Post

Hours after the president of the United States ridiculed a 16-year-old Swedish climate change activist who was chosen as Time magazine’s “Person of the Year,” a former first lady came to her defense. “@GretaThunberg, don’t let anyone dim your light,” Michelle Obama tweeted at her on Friday morning. “Ignore the doubters and know that millions of people are cheering you on.”

Though Obama did not specify who the “doubters” were, the teenage climate activist has a very vocal one in the White House.

On Wednesday, Time named Thunberg its Person of the Year for her climate activism, which has sparked youth-led protests around the world to demand government action on climate change. She became the youngest person - and one of only a handful of solo women - to receive it.

The next day, Trump fired off a derisive tweet to his 67 million followers, calling Time’s choice “so ridiculous.”

“Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend!”

Trump tweeted, before telling her to “Chill Greta, Chill!”

Democratic politicians swiftly criticized the president

TIME

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, is the youngest person to be named Time’s Person of the Year.

for attacking a teenage girl who has been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. Obama’s tweet, which focused more on encouraging Thunberg than criticism of the president, nevertheless added a highprofile voice to Thunberg’s

chorus of supporters.

Thunberg and Trump have become unlikely foils in the international debate over climate change. Thunberg leads a young, global movement of unapologetically frustrated climate change activists while

Trump has long espoused climate change skepticism and his administration has attempted to dismantle numerous environmental protections. His administration is in the process of withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, an international pact in which countries vowed to curtail their emissions in an effort to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Thunberg, a Swedish teen who began skipping school last year to hold weekly climate vigils, has not held back when it comes to chastising politicians - and older generations - on their inaction on global warming.

At a U.N. climate summit in September, Thunberg told world leaders, “You’re failing us, but the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say, we will never forgive you.”

Michelle Obama’s tweet is not the first time Thunberg has received the endorsement of the former first family. Thunberg met with President Barack Obama at his Washington office while visiting the U.S. in September.

“You and me, we’re a team,” the former president said, before they exchanged a fist bump. “Good luck.”

Southwest Airlines reaches confidential settlement for some of its 737 Max losses Lori Aratani The Washington Post

Southwest Airlines has reached a confidential settlement with Boeing for a portion of its financial losses tied to the grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max jet, the carrier announced this week.

The airline’s chief executive, Gary Kelly, said the company will share a portion of the settlement, roughly $125 million, with its employees through Southwest’s profit-sharing plan.

“Our people have done an incredible job managing through the MAX groundings, while providing the highest levels of customer service and one of the best operational performances in our history,” Kelly said in a news release.

The Boeing planes have been grounded worldwide since March, following the March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight. It was the second crash involving a 737 Max in less than five months. In all, 346 people died in the tragedies.

In October, Southwest reported that the grounding of the 737 Max had cost the airline $435 million through the end of September 2020. Southwest has 34 Max jets in its fleet. The planes continue to be grounded, pending FAA flight approval.

The company emphasized the agreement is only a partial settlement and that it continues “to engage in ongoing discussions with Boeing regarding compensation for

damages related to the Max groundings.”

Southwest’s pilots union is also suing Boeing. In a suit filed in October, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association alleged that the company deliberately mislead the organization and its members about the safety of the Max. According to the suit, the grounding of the jetliner caused the elimination of more than 30,000 scheduled flights and resulted in financial losses of more than $100 million for the airline’s more than 9,700 pilots.

The case is currently awaiting a federal judge to determine whether it will be heard in federal court or be sent back to Texas State Court, where it was originally filed.

In a memo sent to its

Boy, 13, arrested in fatal stabbing of Barnard freshman Michael Gold, Edgar Sandoval and Ali Watkins The New York Times News Service

NEW YORK — A 13-year-old boy was arrested and charged Friday in connection with the killing of Tessa Majors, an 18-year-old Barnard College student who was fatally stabbed while walking through a park near campus, law enforcement officials said.

The boy, who has not been identified, was charged with murder, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon, one official said.

In his statements to police, the boy, who lives in Harlem and is 5 feet, 5 inches tall, had implicated himself in the attack but had not confessed, the official said.

Investigators have evidence that the boy was part of a group that attacked Majors on Wednesday night as she was walking through Morningside Park in Manhattan, the officials said.

Detectives believe two other people participated in the stabbing, the official said. Another law enforcement official said that investigators currently believe the other two are also teenagers.

The suspect was expected to be arraigned at family court Friday afternoon. It remained unclear whether the Manhattan district attorney’s office would

charge the boy as an adult or a juvenile delinquent.

Under New York state law, minors charged with certain violent felonies, including second-degree murder, can be tried like adults but are adjudicated as “juvenile offenders” and do not have a permanent criminal record if convicted.

The killing of Majors, a firstyear college student from Virginia who was interested in journalism and played in a rock band, rattled university students and other city residents.

“I am absolutely confident that any individuals involved in this terrible, heinous attack will be brought to justice and will be brought to justice quickly,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in his weekly radio appearance on WNYC. Majors was walking in the park when she was approached by people near West 116th Street and Morningside Drive, said Rodney Harrison, the Police Department’s chief of detectives, on Thursday.

There was a struggle, and one of the assailants pulled out a knife and stabbed Majors several times, Harrison said. The attackers then fled, and Majors staggered up a flight of stairs, out of the park and onto the street, where a campus security guard found her.

Majors was taken to Mount Sinai St. Luke’s hospital, where

she died from her injuries, Harrison said.

“We are devastated by the senseless loss of our beautiful and talented Tess,” her family said in a statement Friday. “We are thankful for the incredible outpouring of love and support we have received from across the country.”

Majors grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia, and had just moved to New York for college.

She spent her weekends singing and playing punk rock.

She and her band, Patient 0, had just put out their first album in the fall, and they had played their first New York City concert in October.

Her father, Robert Inman Majors, who goes by his middle name, is a novelist and teaches creative writing at James Madison University in Virginia.

The park where Majors was stabbed, near the campuses of Barnard College and Columbia University, is in a precinct in Harlem that has grown safer over the years, with major crimes declining dramatically there over the last 20 years, according to police data.

But residents have raised concerns about persistent crime in Morningside Park, even as the neighborhood around it improved, and playgrounds and ball fields replaced patches that were once strewn with crack vials.

membership this week, Jon Weaks, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said employees appreciated that Boeing has recognized the importance of compensating employees for the financial hardships they’ve endured as a result of the grounding.

Boeing did not return requests for comments on the union’s lawsuit, but has previously said it was “meritless.”

FUNERAL DIRECTORS Copake, N.Y. (518) 329-2121 Pine Plains, N.Y. (518) 398-7777

VITO LAWRENCE SACCO Sacco-McDonald-Valenti Funeral Home 700 Town Hall Drive Hudson, New York 12534 • 518-828-5000 e-mail: smvfh700@gmail.com

M. GRIMALDI FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICES 25 Railroad Ave., Chatham, N.Y. (518) 822-8332 Mario A. Grimaldi, Manager

ATTENTION FUNERAL DIRECTORS Obituaries, Death Notices or Funeral Accounts Should Be Submitted Before 2PM Daily For The Next Day’s Paper.

Notices should be emailed to:

obits@registerstar.com or obits@thedailymail.net

Call Patti to advertise your funeral home: (518) 828-1616 x2413

For

CURRENT OBITUARY LISTINGS be SURE to CHECK our WEBSITE: hudsonvalley360.com

CMYK

COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA • THE DAILY MAIL

A6 - Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019

‘Talking points’ about getting a new puppy or dog

Ready to try something new and interesting

By Charlene Marchand

The Gulf Coast of Florida seems to attract mid-westerners more than any other parts of the state that I have visited.

That’s OK with me since the people I meet from Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois, are very friendly in general. There are also a lot of people here from western Ontario, Canada, which is directly north of some of these states and they seem to share the same good manners. The few New Yorkers I do meet are generally from central or western New York.

I think it is a common trait among these people to be friendly, but they also drive slower than I am accustomed to and they have far more patience with the long lasting and often pointless red lights. I wish the Manatee County and city highway departments would install devices to detect whether cars are actually near or waiting at an intersection. I spend far too much time waiting for red lights when there are no cars present at all. The midwesterners don’t seem to mind this nearly as much as I do. My attitude is that most of the people here, including me, are already old and I, for one, don’t want to waste my limited remaining time sitting at an intersection. I have better things to do, while the sand in my hourglass of life is draining!

The East Coast of Florida seems to attract far more people from New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Jersey and further north, from Montreal and the rest of Quebec. One might think since I am a born and bred easterner, I would prefer the East Coast, but I don’t. To the locals we are all just Yankees.

Now that I have lived in the

For Columbia-Greene Media

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Kwanzaa!

Though written for the holidays, the following “talking points” about getting a new puppy or dog apply all year long, and include cats and other companion animals, whether adopted or purchased. The message is timeless. These points for family discussion were featured in the November/December 2002 issue of the American Kennel Club’s Public Education Corner.

TALKING POINTS

Contributed photo

Looking for the perfect holiday addition? Maxx has been patiently waiting for his furrever home and would love to find it over the holidays. Pictured with Maxx is his favorite CGHS/SPCA Adoption Counselor, Alexa Caunitz. Maxx would be the perfect companion for an active household, loving to romp around in the yard. He prefers all the attention, so no other furry playmates, please.

LOVERS…We have many gorgeous kittens for adoption.

Feel free to call us with any questions at 518-828-6044 or www. cghs.org. Stop down and see us at 111 Humane Society Road, off Route 66 (about a mile south of the intersection with Route 9H) in Hudson. Our hours are 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m. every day. The Food Bank is open to any from the public in need of pet food or for those wishing to donate food anytime during business hours. All of our cats and kittens are “Furrever Free” with all expenses paid. Spay/ neuter clinics for cats are $76 male or female, including a rabies vaccination and a 5-in-1 feline distemper combination vaccination. Nail clipping services are available 10-11 a.m. every Saturday at the shelter, no appointment necessary, for a donation of $5 for cats and $10 for dogs. Charlene Marchand is the Chairperson of the Columbia-Greene Humane Society/SPCA Board of Directors.

She may be contacted at cghsaaron@gmail.com. eJa PuBliC sChool

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Please pick up a final activities schedule and map at the Athens Cultural Center on Dec. 14th!

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On-going Activities: Free Horse-Drawn Trolley, Hay Wagon & Motorized Trolley Rides from 1 to 5pm Historic House Tours 1-4pm: 12 S. Franklin St music by Frank Cuthbert & Carmen Borgia 2pm

Building Blocks Pre-School, 30 Second St 1-3:00 Make Holiday Cottages

Parlour Project Studio, 27 S. Franklin St Noon-5:00 Parallel Infinities Exhibition

Second and N. Franklin St,

26 S. Franklin St. Harpist Ann Carter, 1:15pm 30 S. Franklin St. Autoharpist Linda Drewello, 1 pm 98 Second St. MeadowSuite 2 pm 39 S. Washington St. Little Van Loon House, 1-4 pm 18 Second St. “Scents of Christmas”, 1-4pm Strolling Mime/Clown starts at the Library 1:45 pm Strolling Magician Sean The Prankster Doolan

Keeping your clothes looking new for the past 40 years

Athens Cultural Center, 24 Second St Noon 1-4:45 1-1:30 1-4:45 1-4:45

Athens Community Chorus Arts and Craft Vendors Strolling Pocket Lady Rob Halley’s Holiday Past Display Holiday Cottages Village Display Judging and Prize awarded at 3:15pm 1-4:45 Refreshments 2:45 Victorian Voices Carolers 3-4:00 Visit with Victorian Santa Hudson River Bells Grace Notes Ensemble 3:30 Selection of Passport Raffle winner 4:30

Athens Senior Center, Second & Warren 12-4:00 1-2:45 1-4:30 3:30

Senior Center Thrift Shop - Open Adirondack Baroque Consort Performance Drawings by Caricaturist Phil Singer Victorian Voices Carolers

Athens Municipal Building Second Floor

2-4:00 Bailiwick Petting Zoo

First Reformed Church of Athens 1-2:15 Coxsackie-Athens Community Band’s Annual Holiday Concert 2:30 Athens Cemetery Tour with Jonathan Palmer

D. R. Evarts Library, 80 Second St Noon12:30 12:30 1-4:00 2:15

40 Green St., Hudson NY 12534 • 518-822-1140

Save 10% Off Your Order (only in Hudson store)

Municipal Building Gym 1:30 2:00

EJA Third and Fourth Grade Chimes Choir Michael Farrell School of Irish Dance

National Bank of Coxsackie, 1 N. Washington 1-2:45 Visions of Sugar Plums Contest (winner selected at 2:45pm) 1-3:00 Face Painting with Crystal

Crossroads Brewery, 21 Second St 1-4:00 Brewery Tours Ice Sculpture Demonstration (outside) 1:30 BJ the Clown 4:00

Tin Pan Alley, 7 Second St 2-4:00 Holiday Karaoke

Christmas Story-time Movie Screening of “Miracle on 34th St Pine Cone Ornament Craft Movie Screening of “ELF”

Stewart House, Second & Water St 1-5:00 Spirits Tasting 1-5:00 Live Music 2-4:00 Free Vintage Photo Booth

Athens Firehouse, 39 Third St 1-2:00 1-4:30 1-4:30 1:30-4 2-2:30 2:30 2:45 4:00

1-4:00 Athens Museum Open

Professional Rug Cleaning, Suede & Leather Boot including UGG cleaning, Leather & Suede Garments

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Tampa area for the past eight or nine winters, I have made a few local friends who have lived here for generations.

Native Floridians are pretty interesting, but few people from anywhere are as interesting as my friends Willie and Richard. Both are serious horticulturalists and I am attracted to people who love plants as much as I do.

Willie is 74 years old and a true Florida “cracker,” as he refers to himself. My daughter tells me the term “cracker” is offensive to some because it refers to white people using bull whips on black people. Willie tells me that historically “crackers” were cowboys who used bull whips on their cattle, not on people, and he also tells me there are almost as many black cowboys as white. Most northerners don’t know just how big the cattle industry is in the sunshine state, but it is still huge, perhaps trailing only Texas in cattle ranching. To Willie, anybody from north of Georgia is a “Yankee,” white or black.

Willie has operated a citrus grove, right in middle of the city of Bradenton, since the early 1960s. Sadly, the greening disease has wiped out almost all his citrus trees, while another devastating disease has wiped out his native Florida avocado trees. Nevertheless, he continues to grow

Victorian Stroll

Greenwich

Franklin street

BEYFUSS

Vernon st.

chatham st.

firehouse

BOB

lemons, limes, pumelo, Macadamia nuts, pineapples, mangos, papaya and a host of other interesting fruit that I never tasted before I met him.

A couple of years ago I tasted some Lychee fruit right off one of his trees and they were wonderful! Last summer I tried black sapote fruit he grew, which tastes almost exactly like chocolate pudding.

I love chocolate pudding!

These fruit are closely related to persimmons, which he also grows. Interestingly, my neighbor in Conesville also grows persimmons, 1,500 miles north of here. Willie is waiting on a frost, which the persimmons need to become sweet. My neighbor’s persimmons got that treatment back in October!

Yesterday, I tried perhaps the sweetest fruit I have ever tasted, called “sugar apples,” aka “sweetsop.”

These strange-looking fruit resemble an Osage orange or a small human brain, but the flesh tastes like the sweetest pear imaginable. Willie grows only a few of these, but they are remarkable! I don’t know if any of these fruits are available up north and I doubt that is the case since the soft fruit don’t appear to be shippable. If you happen to get to Florida or some other tropical destination this winter, it would be worthwhile to seek out these fruit at a farmer’s market or a roadside stand.

I may be old, but I am always ready to try something new and interesting if it comes my way! In a future column, I will tell you about Richard. He grows pomegranates, figs and mushrooms!

Athens Annual 2nd

will be worth it. Visit www.akc. org for specific puppy-buying tips and names of breeder referral contacts near you. n Wrap up a box with some basic supplies such as a leash, water and food bowls to put under the tree and symbolize the dog to come. Make a box with bowls, litter box, litter, and toys for the cat or kitten to come. n Attending local dog shows and finding and talking with reputable breeders will help decide what breed is best for you. The AKC publishes several free brochures on being a responsible dog owner. All are available through the AKC Web site at www.akc.org. n Keep in mind that an animal is for life — not just for the holidays! n A fabulous feline will afford you much more flexibility and ease of management than a dog. Once you’ve shared a home with a cat, you’ll never be without one!

ATTENTION CAT

3rd

Think twice before giving your friend or family a dog or cat of any age – puppy, kitten, or otherwise — over the holidays. n While holiday cards are filled with images of irresistible puppies poking their heads out of stockings, the reality of introducing a puppy to your household over the holidays can be quite different. n A puppy, dog, cat, or kitten is not a stuffed toy. It will not take kindly to being ignored once a newer, brighter toy is discovered. n All companion animals need attention, discipline, health care, and a lifetime supply of love and commitment. n Overexcited children may scare a puppy, dog, or cat, or worse, neglect it, especially after it chews up their holiday toys or has an accident on the rug. n Cute puppies soon become full-size dogs. Remember an impulse gift over the holidays can last for 10 years or more. n A dog will need training, food, shelter, medical care and exercise, exercise, exercise, and more training. Day-today management is the most important discussion of all. n If you want to give someone a puppy, don’t have it be a surprise. Dog ownership is a big responsibility. Owners must be prepared for the costs and time involved in owning a dog. n It’s always best to allow the actual owners to pick out their own pets. The person taking care of the new addition for years to come needs to carefully consider adult dog size, disposition, appetite and grooming. n Take your time choosing a dog. Puppies aren’t the only option. If you want a purebred, there are many great rescue organizations through which you can adopt adult purebred dogs, many of whom may already be housetrained or more. Deal with LOCAL shelters or LOCAL rescue organizations that you can trust for any dog adoption. n Consider a gift that will help someone choose the right dog for his or her lifestyle. The AKC publishes The Complete Dog Book and The Complete Dog Book for Kids.

Both make great gifts (and are easier to wrap than a wiggly puppy!) You can also get photos and detailed information about different breeds of dogs by visiting the AKC Web site www.akc.org. n Getting a dog from a responsible breed specialist may take more time than you think, depending on when the next litter is expected, but the wait

GARDENING TIPS

Ballroom Dance Demo Craft & Food Vendors Firemen’s Lunches Sale Free Chocolate Station Strolling Pocket Lady BJ the Clown Michael Farrell School of Irish Dance Victorian Voices Carolers

American Legion 94 Second St 1-4:30 Vendors & Refreshments 1-4:30 Tree Trimming with tags and ribbons with the names of Veterans

Light House Church, 18 N. Franklin St 1-4:00 1-4:30 1-3:00 3-4:30

Refreshments Art & Craft Vendors Musicians Selah & Shalisha Woelfersheim Balloon Twisting with Christine Doolan

FINALE IN THE RIVERFRONT PARK!!

4:00 4:45 5:00

Ice Sculpture Demonstration Caroling & Tree Lighting Boy Scout’s Bonfire & S’mores Sponsored by

24 second street athens, ny 12015 athensculturalcenter.org

CMYK

Religion/Neighbors

www.HudsonValley360.com

Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019 - A7

COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA

Church Briefs COOKIE SALE CATSKILL — The Catskill United Methodist Church, 40 Woodland Ave., Catskill, fourth annual Homemade Cookie Sale and handmade craft fair will be held 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Dec. 14, snow or no snow.

For information, call 518-9432042.

WINTER CRAFT FAIR SOUTH BETHLEHEM — The South Bethlehem United Methodist Church, 67 Willowbrook Ave., South Bethlehem, Winter Craft Fair will be held 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Dec. 14. Breakfast and lunch will be available, plus a bake sale to support Church Women United.

Thrift Shop ‘Boutique’ will be open as well. For information, call Emily Shutter at 518-8130661.

HOLIDAY TUNES

KINGSTON — The Immaculate Conception Church in Kingston presents The Singing Anchors Benita Zahn and Jerry Gretzinger of WNYT Channel 13, performing a cabaret of Holiday Tunes Dec. 15 at The Venue Uptown in the Best Western Plus, 503 Washington Ave., Kingston. Coffee, desserts and cash bar starting at 12:30 p.m. with show to follow.

Tickets are $30. For reservations, call Gerard at 845-5140327.

BLOOD DRIVE CATSKILL — A Red Cross blood drive will be held 8 a.m.2 p.m. Jan. 11 at the Catskill United Methodist Church, 40 Woodland Ave., Catskill. To schedule an appointment, call 1-800-RED CROSS or Ernie Moss at 518-943-5477.

College News GRANTHAM UNIVERSITY COXSACKIE — Keera Sulkey of Coxsackie graduated with an online AA General Studies from Grantham University, a 100 online university in Lenexa, Kansas.

ASSUMPTION COLLEGE WORCESTER, Mass. — The Assumption College Office of Student Activities has announced that Catherine Harvey, of Delmar, is currently serving as president of Cheerleading for the 2019-20 academic year.

The nationally recognized Assumption College Cheerleading team leads the crowd in supporting the football and basketball

games and performs at Bleed Blue, local competitions, as well as the National Collegiate Cheerleading Competition.

The team is open to all students and provides two options; the Competitive Team and the Game Team.

ELMIRA COLLEGE ELMIRA — Erin Marafioti of Coxsackie was one of 28 students inducted into the Elmira College chapter of Phi Eta Sigma, the International Honor Society rewarding first-collegiateyear scholarship, during a ceremony held Family Weekend in Peterson Chapel.

Trying to get a positive attitude towards the snow I like snow. I love those calendar pictures of barns and other rustically rural scenes covered liberally in copious amounts of the fluffy white stuff. Most of the Christmas cards that are arriving feature frozen water in one form or another, fluffy, soft and artistically appealing. I like picture snow.

The snow that falls onto my driveway is a completely different matter. It has no appeal and rarely is on the fluffy side. It weighs a considerable amount and if not removed promptly turns into ice or frozen slush that requires nothing less than high explosives to get rid of.

We just had our first sizable snow of the yet-to-be winter. It did look beautiful; I even stopped the car to admire a local field of weeds that had been transformed into a crystal wonderland.

Unfortunately it also turned my driveway into a crystal wonderland to a depth of 20 or so inches.

In the far distant past, I’d have grabbed my skis, driven through the mess to the plowed road, and headed for the mountains.

God giveth and God would taketh away in due time. This was a simple but effective philosophy. I was single at the time.

WHITTLING AWAY

DICK

BROOKS The philosophy has changed. It now is—God giveth and I will taketh it away so the Queen can go to work.

Shoveling is essentially mindless work, requiring more physical than mental activity, which lets what passes for my mind wander aimlessly.

It gives me time to notice some of the little things of life that I might have otherwise missed. We have a fairly long driveway. I’ve noticed that the closer I get to the end of it, the longer it gets. The last 10 feet take forever to finish.

It might be because the last two feet involve the knee high pile pushed up by the snowplow when it runs down the highway.

I plan to have some of this analyzed to determine its exact composition. It’s not snow, at least not like the

snow on the rest of the driveway. It’s dirty, extremely heavy and appears to be a mixture of snow, ice, gravel, salt and concrete.

My snow blower screams and quits when I even come near it. It usually requires a shovel and a chainsaw to remove it.

In good time, though, I can fight my way through it.

I then head for the house, remove my sweaty sweatshirt, put my soaking wet jacket, gloves and hat on the radiator to dry (what do people who live in newer houses do with soggy stuff when they don’t have big old radiators?).

I then pour a cup of hot coffee and go stand near the window. This is the time when the snowplow reappears and refills the end of the driveway. After years of doing this, I’ve come to expect this and I am rarely disappointed.

I used to take it personally, even accusing the plow driver of waiting just out of sight around the corner until I went into the house.

This type of thinking just isn’t productive. He’s just a guy working hard to clear the roads and isn’t doing it on purpose. It just seems that way.

I shall try to redevelop the

positive attitude towards snow that I had in my youth.

It is pretty in the woods, fields and neighbor’s yards.

It does make things easier for Santa and highlights the nice warm Christmassy feeling that occurs at this time of year.

It’s been fun taking my boon companion and BFF, Telly, for his daily jaunts. He had a really puzzled look on his face when we went out into the new winter wonderland.

He sniffed it tentatively, then dashed into it with great enthusiasm. I can identify the sniff trails he is always following around the yard by species now.

He particularly likes the deer and squirrel tracks. He loves rolling in it, making doggy snow angels all along the path.

It’s fun but I don’t know if it’s enough fun to justify all the work. Global warming has its good points.

Thought for the week — “A committee is a group of the unwilling, picked from the unfit, to do the unnecessary.” — Richard Harkness Until next week, may you and yours be happy and well.

Reach Dick Brooks at Whittle12124@yahoo.com.

Preserve Family Memories

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House of Worship News & Services Trinity United Methodist 1311 Rte. 143, Coeymans Hollow | NY 12046 • 756-2812

Pastor Paul Meador • Sunday Worship 11:00am (all are welcome) • Church School: “Faith Builders Kids Christian Education” Wednesday at 7pm • Wednesday, Bible Study & Prayer - 7-8:30pm (all are welcome) • Food Pantry, Last Saturday of the month, 10-11am and last Monday of the month, 5-6pm, or by appointment • Thrift Shop Open April 12 - Mid Oct., Thursdays 10 - 4 Saturdays 10 - 2 and when Food Pantry is open. (Handicap Accessible) • Youth Group - Grades 6 - 12 2nd and 4th Thursdays @ 6:30pm

Church of Saint Patrick 21 Main Street, Ravena, NY 12143 • (518) 756-3145

Pastor: Fr. Scott VanDerveer Weekly Mass: 9:00 a.m. Wed & Thurs Saturday Vigil 4:30 p.m. Sunday 9:30 a.m.

Food Pantry Hours: Tues & Thurs 10-11 a.m.

Wednesday 6-7:00 p.m.

Thrift Shop Hours: Wed. 6:00-7:00 Thurs, Fri. & Sat. 1:00-3:00 p.m.

All Are Welcome!

Catholic Community of Saint Patrick 24 North Washington Street, Athens 12015 · 945-1656 66 William Street, Catskill 12414 · 943-3150

Janine O’Leary, Parish Life Coordinator Fr. L. Edward Deimeke, Sacramental Minister Saturday* 4:00 p.m. EST / 4:30 p.m. DST *1st / 3rd Athens and 2nd /; 4th Catskill Sunday 8:45 a.m. Catskill / 10:45 a.m. Athens

All Are Welcome!

New Baltimore Reformed Church 518 756 8764 • Rt. 144 and Church St. NBRChurch@aol.com • www.nbrchurch.org

Rev. Rick L. Behan, Pastor Sunday Worship - 9:30 AM Communion First Sunday every month Fellowship before and after worship Thursday - Choir Rehearsal 4:45 PM Tuesday - Bible Study 10:00 AM 2nd Sunday - Helping Hands 10:30 AM Come to the Church in the Hamlet! Working together since 1833

Congregational Christian Church 175 Main Street · PO Box 326 · Ravena, NY 12143 Church: (518) 756-2485 | Rev. James L. Williams: (518) 441-8117

If you don’t • Sunday Morning Praise Time @ 10:00AM • Sunday School @ 10:15AM have a Church • Sunday Morning Worship @ 10:30AM Fellowship & Refreshments following Sunday Worship Service home, we invite •• Weekly Bible Study @ 7:00PM Monday Evenings you to join us. • Communion Sunday is the first Sunday of every Month “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

To list your Church Services please call Patricia McKenna at (518) 828-1616 x2413

CMYK

A8 - Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019

COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA • THE DAILY MAIL

BRIEFS

CAIRO-DURHAM OCTOBER STUDENT OF THE MONTH We want to hear from you.

To send information to be included in Briefs, email to editorial@thedailymail.net; mail to The Daily Mail, Atten: Community News, One Hudson City Centre, Suite 202, Hudson, NY 12534; fax to 518-828-3870. For information, and questions, call 518-828-1616 ext. 2490.

DEC. 15 WEST ATHENS — Breakfast with Santa will be held 8 a.m.-noon Dec. 15 at the West Athens Firehouse 2, Leeds-Athens Road, Athens. Breakfast includes pancakes, French toast, eggs, sausage, home fries and beverage. Freewill offering accepted. There will be a 50/50 drawing to benefit Town of Athens Fire Service Drum Line.

org, or call 518-731-8084.

DEC. 21 WOODSTOCK — Edie’s Fairytale Theatre presents Party At The North Pole at 2 p.m. Dec. 21 in the Mountain View Studio, 20 Mountain View Ave., Woodstock.

A charming story about an elf, a Polar Bear, a toy soldier and a reindeer who meet and learn the importance of sharing as they celebrate this festive time of year.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at Brown Paper tickets.com or day of at Mountain View Studio, Woodstock. Box office opens at 1:30 p.m.

DELMAR — The Albany Figure Skating Club annual

Winter Spectacular Ice Show will be held noon-2:30 p.m. Dec. 21 at the Bethlehem YMCA, 900 Delaware Ave., Delmar.

This event will feature young figure skaters from all over the Capital District in solo and group performances. A bake sale and basket raffle will also be held, with all proceeds supporting the Albany Figure Skating Club’s activities and programs.

Admission is $5, $3 for seniors and students and free for children 5 and younger.

For information about the Winter Ice Show, call Elissa Baker at 518-441-7978 or info@albanyfsc.org; or visit www.albanyfsc.org.

DEC. 18 CATSKILL — Hearthstone Care, 1187 Route 23A, Catskill, will host a holiday open house 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Dec. 18.

Gather and celebrate the upcoming holidays with games, music and more.

For information, call 518678-2030.

DEC. 19

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Charles Sternbach was chosen as the Cairo-Durham High School Student of the Month for October 2019. Sternbach spends a great amount of time with his math teacher, Mrs. Jones, who is pictured here with him. He is currently enrolled in the New Visions STEM program at RPI. In addition to receiving this award, he has been recognized with the Coaches Award for golf this year and was also honored as an RPI Medalist. Sternbach is not selfish with his abilities and he can often be found helping others, tutoring them in both Algebra and Calculus.

COXSACKIE — Heermance Memorial Library, 1 Ely St., Coxsackie, presents Succulent Planting at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 19. Teens and tweens, 10-18, are invited to register for a Succulent Planting program.

Sand Lake Succulents will be coming with everything needed to create a unique living accessory for your room or to give as a gift.

Participants will be provided planting and care instructions. Admission is free.

Registration required through the online calendar or by calling 518-7318084. Parking available in rear of building.

To learn more, visit www.heermancelibrary.

Get rewarded this holiday season!

Use your Bank of Greene County Visa debit card for all your purchases and earn points! ®

Stop by any branch or visit us online at www.tbogc.com to find out how!

Community Banking at its Best

www.tbogc.com • 518.943.2600

CMYK

Sports

SECTION

Rangers roll

COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA

B

Artemi Panarin collected a hat trick as the Rangers beat the Sharks. Sports, B2

& Classifieds

Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019 - B1

Tim Martin, Sports Editor: 1-800-400-4496 / sports@registerstar.com or tmartin@registerstar.com

BOWLING ROUNDUP:

Bowes’ 612 trio leads Hudson Columbia-Greene Media

CATSKILL — Matt Bowes fired a 612 triple with a high single game of 220 to lead Hudson to a 5-0 victory over Taconic Hills in Thursday’s Patroon Conference bowling match.

Freshman Zach Porreca rolled a 210-67 for Hudson. Taylor Shackleton led Taconic Hills with a 144414.

Hudson (3-3) had games of 944, 917 and 826 for a 2,687 total. Taconic Hills had a total pinfall of 2,072 off games of 674, 657 and 741.

“We were able to get some of our new bowlers into match like Jarrett Crast, Thomas Allie and Mollie Keeler,” Hudson coach Steve Markowitz said. “We are getting better every day and I’m excited to see how we finish season.”

Maple Hill 5, Chatham 0 EAST GREENBUSH — Michael Laney rolled a 672 triple to spark Maple hill to a 5-0 victory over Chatham in Thursday’s Patroon Conference bowling match.

Lanes had games of 217, 236 and 219 for the

Wildcats. Kevin Ackerman added a 248-599 and Shawn Miller had a 220552.

Andrew Duso led Chatham with a 632 triple, rolling games of 227, 1818 and 224. Tyler Beaudry chipped in with a 229-554.

Maple Hill had a total pinfall of 3,226 on games of 1,041, 1,084 and 1,101.

Chatham had an 899, 1,027 and 979 for 2,905.

Cairo-Durham 5, Rensselaer 0 CATSKILL — Phil Decker’s 220-624 hilighted Cairo-Durham’s 5-0 Patroon conference bowling victory over Rensselaer on Thursday.

Tim Foust had a 226566 for Rensselaer

GIRLS BOWLING COLONIAL Mohonasen 31, Maple Hill 1 SCHENECTADY — Elizabeth Delorenzo spun a 226-602 to help Mohonasen post a 31-1 victory over Maple Hill in Colonial Council girls bowling action on Thursday.

Hannah Gardner had a 180-489 for Maple Hill.

Kate Ackerman added a 183-484.

MATT FORTUNATO/COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA

Greenville’s Vincent Davis (top) pinned Berlin’s Shane Sprague in the 132-pound weight class during Thursday’s Patroon Conference wrestling match.

WRESTLING ROUNDUP:

Berlin grapplers top Greenville

By Tim Martin Columbia-Greene Media

NOAH K. MURRAY/USA TODAY

New York Yankees left fielder Brett Gardner (11) draws a walk to drive in a run against the Houston Astros during game four of the 2019 ALCS at Yankee Stadium.

The Winter Meetings were a smash hit for the Yankees Kristie Ackert New York Daily News

SAN DIEGO — Heading back to New York from the MLB Winter Meetings, the Yankee front office was satisfied. This winter they have secured closer Aroldis Chapman through the 2022 season, they’ve brought back the heart and soul of their clubhouse and lineup in Brett Gardner and landed the best right-handed pitcher available on the free-agent market in Gerrit Cole.

“We feel good. We came into the offseason in a pretty good spot with the roster and had some good

conversations and progress on a number of things here,” Yankees assistant GM Mike Fishman said after the Rule 5 draft. “So I feel like we’re in a good position heading into the rest of the offseason.”

The Yankees will have to make a few moves before they can officially announce the record-setting nine-year, $324 million deal with Gerrit Cole and the one-year, $12.5 million deal with Gardner. Cole has to go through a physical in New York early this week to finalize the deal and Gardner’s deal also has See YANKEES B6

GREENVILLE — Berlin earned a 46-30 victory over Greenville in Thursday’s Patroon Conference wrestling match.

Eric Heath, Vincent Davis, Aiden Cullen and Cole Flannery all posted victories by pin for the Spartans.

Results: 99 — No Match; 106 —No Match; 113 — Kieran Cullen (Greenville) won by forfeit; 120 — Jacob Harrison (Berlin) won by major decision over Kaden Bensen, 12-4; 126 — Eric Heath (Greenville) pinned Joshua Zlotnick, 1:55; 132 — Vincent Davis (Greenville) pinned Shane Sprague, 3:47; 138 — Aiden Cullen (Greenville) pinned Jared Cook, :30; 145 — Anthony Prather (Berlin) pinned Devin O’Connor, 4:46; 152 — Joshua Wescott (Berlin) pinned Zachary Blakeslee, :22; 160 — Josh Bosso (Berlin) won by forfeit; 170 — Cole Flannery (Greenville) pinned Jason Goodermote,

MATT FORTUNATO/COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA

Greenville freshman Eric Heath (top) grapples with Berlin’s Joshua Zlotnick in the 126-pound weight class during Thursday’s Patroon Conference wrestling match.

:18; 182 —Phillip Oakes (Berlin) pinned Sawyer Peak, :49; 195 — Patrick Root (Berlin) won by forfeit; 220 — Jesse Cameron (Berlin) won by forfeit; 285 — Kevin MacVeigh

(Berlin) pinned Justin Case.

Catskill 66, Rensselaer 18 CATSKILL — Catskill remained unbeaten in Patroon Conference wrestling with a 66-18 victory over Rensselaer

on Thursday.

Chase Allen, Jesse Davies, Collin Wheeler, Daniel Forbes and stephen Forbes all won their match by pin for the Cats (3-0).

Results: 99 — Chase Allen (Catskill) pinned Eh Doh, :21; 106 —No Match; 113 — Hunter Bulich (Catskill) won by forfeit; 120 — Jeremy Hover (Rensselaer) pinned Dan Smith, 2:49; 126 — Damien Schaus (Rensselaer) won by forfeit; 132 — Ryan Slingerland (Rensselaer) won by forfeit; 138 — Diego Dodig (Catskill) won by forfeit; 145 — Jesse Davies (Catskill) pinned Ba Soe, :47; 152 — Collin Wheeler (Catskill) won by forfeit; 160 — Daniel Forbes (Catskill) pinned Nicholas Pershyn, :46; 170 — Justin Uvino (Catskill) won by forfeit; 182 — Stephen Forbes (Catskill) pinned Angel Garcia, 5:45; 195 — Jerome VanAlstyne (Catskill) won by forfeit; 220 — Ricky Edwards See WRESTLING B6

Giants cut Jenkins two days after he directed slur toward fan on Twitter Des Bieler and Matt Bonesteel

the best interests of the franchise and the player. Obviously, what happened this week, and the refusal to acknowledge the inappropriate and offensive language, was the determining factor.”

Jenkins apologized for the slur but didn’t sound contrite Thursday while speaking with reporters, claiming that “retard” was “just something we use in the ‘hood back at home.”

The Washington Post

The New York Giants cut veteran cornerback Janoris Jenkins on Friday morning, two days after he called a Twitter user who challenged him a “retard.”

“This was an organizational decision,” Giants coach Pat Shurmur said in a statement. “From ownership to management to our football operations, we felt it was in

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“Where I’m from, we use all kind of words for slang. If it offends anybody, I’m sorry,” Jenkins added (via ESPN). “It’s a culture that I grew up in where I’m from, you know what I’m saying? We use all kinds of words for all kinds of slang. If you don’t know, it’s a ‘hood thing. Whatever.

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B2 - Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019 Milwaukee Indiana Detroit Chicago Cleveland

Pro football NFL American Football Conference East W L T Pct PF New England 10 3 0 .769 338 Buffalo 9 4 0 .692 274 N.Y. Jets 5 9 0 .357 247 Miami 3 10 0 .231 221 South W L T Pct PF Tennessee 8 5 0 .615 318 Houston 8 5 0 .615 317 Indianapolis 6 7 0 .462 296 Jacksonville 4 9 0 .308 230 North W L T Pct PF Baltimore 12 2 0 .857 472 Pittsburgh 8 5 0 .615 259 Cleveland 6 7 0 .462 273 Cincinnati 1 12 0 .077 198 West W L T Pct PF Kansas City 9 4 0 .692 371 Oakland 6 7 0 .462 258 L.A. Chargers 5 8 0 .385 289 Denver 5 8 0 .385 236 National Football Conference East W L T Pct PF Dallas 6 7 0 .462 334 Philadelphia 6 7 0 .462 297 Washington 3 10 0 .231 188 N.Y. Giants 2 11 0 .154 247 South W L T Pct PF New Orleans 10 3 0 .769 344 Tampa Bay 6 7 0 .462 378 Carolina 5 8 0 .385 300 Atlanta 4 9 0 .308 300 North W L T Pct PF Green Bay 10 3 0 .769 309 Minnesota 9 4 0 .692 339 Chicago 7 6 0 .538 243 Detroit 3 9 1 .269 287 West W L T Pct PF San Francisco 11 2 0 .846 397 Seattle 10 3 0 .769 341 L.A. Rams 8 5 0 .615 311 Arizona 3 9 1 .269 272 Week 14 Thursday, Dec. 5 Chicago 31, Dallas 24 Sunday, Dec. 8 Atlanta 40, Carolina 20 Tampa Bay 38, Indianapolis 35 N.Y. Jets 22, Miami 21 San Francisco 48, New Orleans 46 Minnesota 20, Detroit 7 Denver 38, Houston 24 Green Bay 20, Washington 15 Baltimore 24, Buffalo 17 Cleveland 27, Cincinnati 19 L.A. Chargers 45, Jacksonville 10 Tennessee 42, Oakland 21 Kansas City 23, New England 16 Pittsburgh 23, Arizona 17 L.A. Rams 28, Seattle 12 Monday’s game Philadelphia 23, N.Y. Giants 17, OT Week 15 Thursday’s game Baltimore 42, N.Y. Jets 21 Sunday’s games Seattle at Carolina, 1 p.m.

Philadelphia at Washington, 1 p.m.

Houston at Tennessee, 1 p.m.

Miami at N.Y. Giants, 1 p.m.

Denver at Kansas City, 1 p.m.

Chicago at Green Bay, 1 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Detroit, 1 p.m.

New England at Cincinnati, 1 p.m.

Jacksonville at Oakland, 4:05 p.m.

Cleveland at Arizona, 4:05 p.m.

Minnesota at L.A. Chargers, 4:05 p.m.

Atlanta at San Francisco, 4:25 p.m.

L.A. Rams at Dallas, 4:25 p.m.

Buffalo at Pittsburgh, 8:20 p.m.

Monday’s game Indianapolis at New Orleans, 8:15 p.m.

COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA

PA 168 212 343 399 PA 255 309 295 337 PA 257 242 291 325 PA 281 366 251 261 PA 267 301 310 362 PA 296 381 360 343 PA 270 249 232 335 PA 229 321 262 374

Ravens 42, Jets 21 N.Y. Jets Baltimore

0 7 0 14 — 21 13 8 14 7 — 42 First Quarter BAL—Ingram II 6 yard rush (Tucker kick), 7:49.

BAL—Boykin 5 yard pass from L.Jackson(Kick failed), 2:50.

Second Quarter NYJ—Crowder 4 yard pass from Darnold (Ficken kick), 13:27.

BAL—M.Andrews 1 yard pass from L.Jackson (Ingram II rush), 9:43.

Third Quarter BAL—Mr.Brown 24 yard pass from L.Jackson (Tucker kick), 5:09.

BAL—S.Roberts 33 yard pass from L.Jackson (Tucker kick), 0:58.

Fourth Quarter NYJ—Bello 14 yard blocked punt return(Kick failed), 12:07.

BAL—Ingram II 10 yard pass from L.Jackson (Tucker kick), 9:58.

NYJ—Crowder 18 yard pass from Darnold (Rb. Anderson pass from Darnold), 7:35.

TEAM STATISTICS NYJ BAL First Downs 13 23 Total Net Yards 310 430 Rushes-Yds 24-103 34-218 Passing 207 212 Sacked-Yds Lost 1-11 1-0 Comp-Att-Int 18-32-1 15-24-0 Punts 4-51.0 5-36.2 Punt Returns 3-48 1-8 Kickoff Returns 7-179 1-5 Interceptions Ret. 0-0 1-12 Penalties-Yards 8-94 6-35 Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-0 Time of Possession 28:22 31:38 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING-NYJ, L.Bell 21-87, Darnold 1-11, T.Montgomery 2-5. BAL, L.Jackson 8-86, Ingram II 13-76, G.Edwards 5-35, Ju.Hill 4-15, Griffin III 4-6.

PASSING-NYJ, Darnold 18-32-1-218. BAL, L.Jackson 15-23-0-212, Griffin III 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING-NYJ, Crowder 6-90, Rb.Anderson 4-66, V.Smith 3-40, L.Bell 2-1, Je.Smith 1-12, T.Montgomery 1-5, Da.Brown 1-4. BAL, M.Andrews 4-52, Mr.Brown 4-45, S.Roberts 3-66, H.Hurst 1-19, Snead IV 1-15, Ingram II 1-10, Boykin 1-5.

MISSED FIELD GOALS-NYJ, NA. BAL, NA.

Pro basketball NBA Eastern Conference Atlantic W L Pct GB Philadelphia 19 7 .731 — Boston 17 7 .708 1.0 Toronto 16 8 .667 2.0 Brooklyn 13 11 .542 5.0 New York 5 20 .200 13.5 Central W L Pct GB

22 3 .880 — 16 9 .640 6.0 10 15 .400 12.0 9 17 .346 13.5 6 19 .240 16.0 Southeast W L Pct GB Miami 18 6 .750 — Orlando 11 13 .458 7.0 Charlotte 11 16 .407 8.5 Washington 7 16 .304 10.5 Atlanta 6 19 .240 12.5 Western Conference Northwest W L Pct GB Denver 14 8 .636 — Utah 14 11 .560 1.5 Oklahoma City 11 13 .458 4.0 Minnesota 10 14 .417 5.0 Portland 10 15 .400 5.5 Pacific W L Pct GB L.A. Lakers 22 3 .880 — L.A. Clippers 19 7 .731 3.5 Phoenix 11 13 .458 10.5 Sacramento 11 13 .458 10.5 Golden State 5 21 .192 17.5 Southwest W L Pct GB Dallas 17 7 .708 — Houston 16 8 .667 1.0 San Antonio 9 15 .376 8.0 Memphis 8 16 .333 9.0 New Orleans 6 19 .240 11.5 Thursday’s games Philadelphia 115, Boston 109 Cleveland 117, San Antonio 109, OT Dallas 122, Detroit 111, at Mexico City, Mexico Portland at Denver, 10:30 p.m.

Today’s games Houston at Orlando, 7 p.m.

New Orleans at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.

L.A. Lakers at Miami, 7 p.m.

Indiana at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m.

Charlotte at Chicago, 8 p.m.

Milwaukee at Memphis, 8 p.m.

Golden State at Utah, 9 p.m.

L.A. Clippers at Minnesota, 9:30 p.m.

New York at Sacramento, 10 p.m.

Saturday’s games San Antonio vs Phoenix, at Mexico City, Mexico, 5 p.m.

Brooklyn at Toronto, 7:30 p.m.

L.A. Clippers at Chicago, 8 p.m.

Washington at Memphis, 8 p.m.

Miami at Dallas, 8:30 p.m.

Cleveland at Milwaukee, 8:30 p.m.

Detroit at Houston, 9 p.m.

Oklahoma City at Denver, 9 p.m.

NHL Eastern Conference Atlantic Division GP W L OT SO Pts Boston 33 20 7 2 4 46 Buffalo 33 16 11 5 1 38 Montreal 32 15 11 5 1 36 Tampa Bay 30 16 11 3 0 35 Florida 31 15 11 2 3 35 Toronto 32 15 13 2 2 34 Ottawa 32 13 17 1 1 28 Detroit 33 8 22 2 1 19 Metropolitan Division GP W L OT SO Pts Washington 33 23 5 3 2 51 N.Y. Islanders 30 21 7 2 0 44 Pittsburgh 32 18 10 4 0 40 Carolina 31 19 11 1 0 39 Philadelphia 31 17 9 0 5 39 N.Y. Rangers 30 15 12 2 1 33 Columbus 31 12 14 4 1 29 New Jersey 30 9 16 1 4 23 Western Conference Central Division GP W L OT SO Pts St. Louis 33 19 8 3 3 44 Colorado 31 20 8 3 0 43 Winnipeg 32 19 11 1 1 40 Dallas 32 18 11 1 2 39 Minnesota 32 15 12 4 1 35 Nashville 30 14 11 3 2 33 Chicago 31 12 13 2 4 30 Pacific Division GP W L OT SO Pts Arizona 33 18 11 2 2 40 Edmonton 34 18 12 3 1 40 Calgary 33 17 12 4 0 38 Vegas 34 16 13 5 0 37 Vancouver 31 15 12 3 1 34 San Jose 33 15 16 1 1 32 Anaheim 31 13 14 3 1 30 Los Angeles 32 12 18 2 0 26 Wednesday’s games Washington 3, Boston 2 Montreal 3, Ottawa 2, OT Colorado 3, Philadelphia 1 Thursday’s games Buffalo 4, Nashville 3 Tampa Bay 3, Boston 2 N.Y. Islanders 3, Florida 1 Pittsburgh 1, Columbus 0, OT Detroit 5, Winnipeg 2 St. Louis 4, Vegas 2 Minnesota 6, Edmonton 5 Toronto at Calgary, 9 p.m.

Chicago at Arizona, 9 p.m.

Carolina at Vancouver, 10 p.m.

Los Angeles at Anaheim, 10 p.m.

N.Y. Rangers at San Jose, 10:30 p.m.

Today’s games Vegas at Dallas, 8 p.m.

New Jersey at Colorado, 9 p.m.

Saturday’s games Columbus at Ottawa, 1 p.m.

Buffalo at NY Islanders, 1 p.m.

N.Y. Rangers at Anaheim, 4 p.m.

Carolina at Calgary, 4 p.m.

Dallas at Nashville, 6:30 p.m.

Toronto at Edmonton, 7 p.m.

Philadelphia at Minnesota, 7 p.m.

Detroit at Montreal, 7 p.m.

Washington at Tampa Bay, 7 p.m.

Boston at Florida, 7 p.m.

Los Angeles at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.

New Jersey at Arizona, 8 p.m.

Chicago at St. Louis, 8 p.m.

Vancouver at San Jose, 10 p.m.

Thursday’s Game

GF GA 111 84 105 100 104 105 108 95 107 104 104 104 86 100 72 131 GF GA 120 95 89 70 105 85 103 85 97 88 94 94 76 94 74 111 GF GA 98 90 114 85 94 88 84 76 98 106 101 97 84 98 GF GA 91 80 105 105 91 98 100 98 104 95 89 114 82 92 80 103

76ers 115, Celtics 109 PHILADELPHIA (115) B.Simmons 2-6 3-4 7, Embiid 12-21 12-14 38, T.Harris 10-20 2-3 23, Scott 5-7 0-0 15, Richardson 5-11 2-2 14, Thybulle 2-4 0-0 6, Ennis III 1-4 0-0 2, O’Quinn 1-4 0-0 3, Neto 0-1 0-0 0, Korkmaz 3-4 0-0 7. Totals 41-82 19-23 115.

BOSTON (109) J.Brown 3-9 2-2 8, Hayward 8-16 1-2 19, Walker 8-21 8-10 29, Tatum 5-18 2-2 15, Theis 7-11 1-1 16, Kanter 10-13 0-0 20, Ojeleye 0-2 0-0 0, Wanamaker 1-1 0-0 2, Jv.Green 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 42-91 14-17 109.

Philadelphia 28 28 25 34 —115 Boston 34 25 21 29 —109 3-Point Goals—Philadelphia 14-28 (Scott 5-7, Embiid 2-3, Richardson 2-3, Thybulle 2-4, Korkmaz 1-2, T.Harris 1-3, O’Quinn 1-3, Neto 0-1, Ennis III 0-2), Boston 11-31 (Walker 5-13, Tatum 3-8, Hayward 2-4, Theis 1-2, J.Brown 0-1, Kanter 0-1, Ojeleye 0-2). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds— Philadelphia 56 (Embiid 13), Boston 41 (Kanter 9). Assists—Philadelphia 27 (T.Harris 7), Boston 24 (Walker 8). Total Fouls—Philadelphia 19 (B.Simmons 4), Boston 25 (Kanter 5). A—19,156.

Advertising Deadline: Wednesday, Dec. 18

NHL Roundup: Panarin’s hat trick sparks Rangers Field Level Media

Artemi Panarin collected a hat trick and added an assist as visiting New York claimed a 6-3 victory on Thursday over slumping San Jose — in its first game after firing coach Pete DeBoer and replacing him with Bob Boughner.

Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev made 15 saves for the Rangers, who have won two of three games.

The Rangers trailed 3-2 early in the third period when Mika Zibanejad scored his first of two goals, a power-play marker at 8:49. Zibanejad added his second, and ninth of the season, less than five minutes later.

Sabres 4, Predators 3 Rookie Victor Olofsson scored the go-ahead goal midway into the third period as host Buffalo skated to victory over Nashville.

Buffalo’s Jack Eichel scored a pair of goals in the second period to extend his career-high point streak to 15 games, tying Chicago’s Patrick Kane for the longest in the NHL this season. Eichel has 14 goals and 13 assists during his streak.

Jimmy Vesey also scored, and Linus Ullmark finished with 36 saves for the Sabres, who have won a season-high-tying three in a row overall. Ryan Johansen, Matt Duchene and Colton Sissons tallied for the Predators, who have lost three of their past five games (2-2-1).

Islanders 3, Panthers 1 Thomas Greiss stopped 32 shots as New York defeated host Florida in Sunrise, Fla. Devon Toews and Mathew Barzal scored power-play goals for the Islanders, and Anders Lee added an empty-netter with three seconds left. Jordan Eberle added two assists, his first such game since Oct. 11.

New York went 2-for-4 on its power play. The Panthers went 0-for-3, and their failure with the man advantage midway through the third period helped seal their fate.

Red Wings 5, Jets 2 Robby Fabbri produced two goals and an assist and the Detroit Red Wings snapped a 12-game losing streak by defeating the visiting Winnipeg Jets.

Filip Zadina and Filip Hronek had a goal and two assists apiece for Detroit, which lost 5-1 at Winnipeg on Tuesday. Darren Helm also scored for the Red Wings and Jonathan Bernier made 26 saves.

Kyle Connor scored both goals for the Jets, with assists from Mark Scheifele, and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 29 shots. The Red Wings outshot the Jets 14-5 in the opening period but needed some luck to gain a 2-0 lead.

The Red Wings had last each of their past 10 games in regulation immediately following losses in overtime and in a shootout.

Winnipeg saw its two-game winning streak and four-game point streak (3-0-1) end.

Lightning 3, Bruins 2 Steven Stamkos scored twice, including one of Tampa Bay’s two power-play goals, to spark a 3-2 win over visiting Boston.

Brayden Point also netted a power-play goal, and Nikita Kucherov recorded two assists for the Lightning, who have won three of four. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves for his third straight win and beat the Bruins for the seventh straight time,

Publication Date: Saturday, Dec. 21

CODY GLENN/USA TODAY

New York Rangers left wing Artemi Panarin (10) celebrates with teammates, from left, left wing Chris Kreider (20), defenseman Brady Skjei (76) and center Filip Chytil (72) after scoring his side’s fifth goal against the San Jose Sharks during Thursday’s game at SAP Center in San Jose.

including playoff starts.

Patrice Bergeron and Anders Bjork tallied for the Bruins, who lost their fifth straight (04-1). Brad Marchand assisted on Bergeron’s goal, giving him 30 helpers on the season in 33 games. He is the fastest Bruins player to 30 assists since Marc Savard in 2007-08.

Penguins 1, Blue Jackets 0 (OT) Bryan Rust scored at 3:02 of overtime and goaltender Tristan Jarry stopped all 17 shots he faced as Pittsburgh edged visiting Columbus.

On a power play after Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang drew a slashing penalty against Pierre-Luc Dubois, Rust flipped a backhander past Columbus goaltender Joonas Korpisalo for the game’s only goal.

Jarry picked up his fifth career shutout and third of the season – all coming in his past four starts.

Wild 6, Oilers 5 Eric Staal, Jordan Greenway, Jason Zucker and Luke Kunin each had a goal and an assist as Minnesota extended its home point streak to 11 games with a win over Edmonton in Saint Paul,

Minn.

Marcus Foligno and Ryan Donato also scored goals for Minnesota, which improved to 8-0-3 in its past 11 home games, the second-longest home point streak in team history. The Wild had a 13-game streak (10-0-3) from Dec. 27, 2017 to Feb. 13, 2018.

Minnesota goalie Kaapo Kahkonen finished with 28 saves.

Carson Soucy added two assists for the Wild. Edmonton lost its third straight game (0-2-1) as Mike Smith finished with 20 saves.

Flames 4, Maple Leafs 2 Calgary got two goals from Johnny Gaudreau and one from Michael Frolik in the first three minutes of the third period to defeat visiting Toronto.

Travis Hamonic added a goal and an assist for the Flames, who have won their first seven games for new coach Geoff Ward. Sean Monahan had two assists.

John Tavares and Mitchell Marner each had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs, who had won the first two games of a four-game road trip. They are 6-4-0 under new coach Sheldon Keefe.

Blues 4, Golden Knights 2 Oskar Sundqvist came off the injured list to score one goal and set up another as St. Louis beat visiting Las Vegas.

Sundqvist, who missed the previous six games due to a lower-body injury, set the tempo for the Blues as they snapped a three-game losing streak. St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington stopped 27 of 29 shots – including two on Alex Tuch breakaways.

The Golden Knights, who were 5-1-1 in their previous seven games, got goals from Max Pacioretty and William Carrier along with 25 saves from Marc-Andre Fleury.

Coyotes 5, Blackhawks 2 Clayton Keller scored two goals, including one of three first-period tallies that powered Arizona to a win over Chicago in Glendale, Ariz.

The Coyotes scored twice on their first four shots of the game, peppering Chicago goaltender Robin Lehner with 17 shots in the first 20 minutes. Michael Grabner, Keller and Brad Richardson found the net, with former Blackhawk Vinnie Hinostroza assisting on all three first-period goals.

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Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019 - B3

COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA

NBA roundup: Embiid takes over late as 76ers stop Celtics Field Level Media

Joel Embiid scored a season-high 38 points and added 13 rebounds as the Philadelphia 76ers handed the Boston Celtics their first home loss 115-109 Thursday night.

Tobias Harris added 23 points, eight rebounds and seven assists as Mike Scott scored 15 on five 3-pointers as the 76ers won their fourth straight and for the eighth time in their last nine. Philadelphia narrowed the list of undefeated teams at home to itself and Miami.

Kemba Walker had 29 points, and Enes Kanter (20) and Daniel Theis (16) each enjoyed season-high scoring nights for the Celtics, who dropped their second straight.

Al Horford (knee, hamstring) missed his first game back in Boston since joining the 76ers as a free agent in the offseason. A Celtic for three seasons, he received a standing ovation when shown on the jumbotron.

Mavericks 122, Pistons 111 Luka Doncic recorded the first triple-double at an NBA neutral site in 46 years in DalGREG M. COOPER/USA TODAY las’ victory over Detroit in Mexico City.

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) is fouled by Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter (11) during Doncic dazzled NBA fans south of the bor- Thursday’s game at TD Garden. der with 41 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. His triple-double was the 16th of his ca- he set last month against San Antonio. career-best. Andre Drummond registered a Seth Curry matched his teammate with six 23-point, 15-rebound double-double for Dereer, with his 41 points coming up one shy of his personal record in a triple-double, which 3-pointers en route to 30 points, one off his troit, which was the designated home team in

the contest.

Nuggets 114, Blazers 99 Nikola Jokic had 20 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, Jerami Grant also scored 20 points and host Denver beat Portland, ending the Nuggets’ three-game skid.

Will Barton finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds, Gary Harris also scored 15 and Jamal Murray scored 12 points for Denver.

Hassan Whiteside had a game-high 33 points to go with 11 rebounds and four blocked shots for the Trail Blazers. Carmelo Anthony had 20 points and nine rebounds in his first game against his former team since joining Portland.

Cavaliers 117, Spurs 109 (OT) Kevin Love scored a season-high 30 points, including a 3-pointer to send the game into overtime, and pulled down 17 rebounds as visiting Cleveland outlasted San Antonio.

The Cavaliers snapped an eight-game losing streak on the second night of a homeroad back to back. It was the third straight overtime game for the Spurs.

Collin Sexton added 28 points, with Jordan Clarkson hitting for 25 off the bench for Cleveland. DeMar DeRozan led San Antonio with 21 points while LaMarcus Aldridge scored 18 points and took 10 rebounds.

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HUDSON $169,900 or $285,000 60’ x 108’ Vacant Lot to Build your Hudson Home! Zoned for 1- 2 Family, Townhouse or Row house styled homes, or potential other uses with variance. Corner Lot � 1 Block off Warren Street � Walk to Amtrak - OR- $285,000 also get this 2.5 Story Brick Handyman Special in need of Foundation work to Interior & everything in-between, but worth your investment!

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ATHENS | $279,900

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GHENT | $199,900

Be a part of this Lake Community and love living in your updated home that has been tastefully remodeled with top quality materials and details! Sunken Living room with marble floors and Gas Fireplace � Attractive Kitchen with Granite & dining area � 1st floor Bedroom & Bath � Large Master Bedroom up with w/I Closet and Spa-like Bath � Loft Family room, or 3rd Bedroom! Plenty of fun, Decks, and Community amenities like pools, marina, tennis and more!

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Not here, this elf will be busy restoring this petite Cabin that sits on almost 20 Acres of land for Santa’s Deer to graze and frolic on! Loads of Privacy � Cabin is ready for restoration for Hunters, Weekender, or Full-time living.

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Since the early 00s, this Victorian has been operating as a successful B&B. Nearly 4000sqft w/7BD, 5BA, & an inn quarters/guest suite. Enjoy mountain views from the balcony, soak stress away in the hot tub, and, during the warmer months, cool off in the stream. Windham $359,000

4,478 sqft of living space awaits in this gorgeous ski house. Beautiful timber frame accents w/vaulted tongue-and-groove ceilings. A fireplace w/floor-to-ceiling stonework is the star of the great room, while large windows frame the mountains.

Windham $999,000

Inspired by the natural beauty of the surrounding 14 country acres, this authentic mountain log home radiates rustic charm. Exposed beams and trusses, tongue and groove ceilings, a stone fireplace, and gleaming hardwood flooring.

Ashland $425,000

This 6BD ski house has bright colored rooms for the entire squad. 1st floor has bunk-rooms w/built-ins, ski lockers, & laundry. Up a level - an open living area w/a fireplace, kitchen, dining, & family room. Enjoy the deck w/a seasonal stream nearby.

Windham $599,000

From the vaulted great room w/its towering stone fireplace, to the custom kitchen and two master suites, this log cabin is a luxurious mountain master piece. Located less than 5 min from Windham Mountain, & 2.5 hours from NYC. Windham $1,200,000

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In the heart of the Catskills, this alpine chalet offers the best of all worlds. Perfectly renovated, this 2-family home is presented, fully furnished, right next to Windham Mountain. Grab your skis & call this alpine escape home, or a business opportunity. Windham $275,000

This 18+ acre mountain retreat is the perfect landing spot for all to unwind after a long day in the Catskills. A lush and lavish renovated main house & a guest chalet - all with the pond and vast mountains beyond as your backdrop.

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search homes | community profiles | market news | advice Catskill 518-625-3360 Rhinebeck 845-876-4535

Kingston 845-331-5357 Windham 518-734-4200

New Paltz 845-255-0615 Woodstock 845-679-2255

*According to Hudson Valley Catskill Region MLS. ©2016 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act. Each Office Is Independently Owned And Operated. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker Logo are registered service marks owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

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28 YEARS

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COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA

B4 - Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019

Register-Star • The Daily Mail • Shop & Find

R e a c h o u r r e a d e r s o n l i n e , o n s o c i a l m e d i a , a n d i n p r i n t – RUN IT UNTIL IT SELLS FOR ONLY $25!

ClassiďŹ eds Place your classiďŹ ed ad onllne at: www.hudsonva1ley360.com

Open Monday-Friday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

(518) 828-1616 Please select option 5 Fax 315.661.2520 email: classiďŹ eds@registerstar.com legals@columbiagreenemedia.com

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CITY OF HUDSON, NEW YORK ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the Zoning Board of Appeals of the City of Hudson, New York will hold Public Hearing on December 18, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. in the Common Council Chambers, City Hall, 520 Warren Street, Hudson, New York on an area variance application from David Rossman for west and east side variances and a lot coverage variance at 418 State Street, Tax ID #110.45.2.83.

All interested parties will have an opportunity at this time to be heard in connection with said application.

PLANNING BOARD TOWN OF STUYVESANT STUYVESANT, NEW YORK 12173 NOTICE OF MEETING CANCELLATION The Town of Stuyvesant Planning Board has cancelled its monthly meeting scheduled for Monday, December 16, 2019, (THIRD Monday due to Holiday week).

The next scheduled meeting is set for Monday, January 27, 2020.

Doreen Danforth Secretary to the Planning Board ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS TOWN OF STUYVESANT STUYVESANT, NEW YORK 12173 NOTICE OF MEETING CANCELLATION The Town of Stuyvesant Zoning Board of Appeals has cancelled its monthly meeting scheduled for Wednesday, December 18, 2019.

The next scheduled meeting is set for the fourth Wednesday, January 22, 2020.

Doreen Danforth Secretary to the Zoning Board The Board Of Education of the Hunter-Tannersville Central School District is accepting sealed bids for: Transportation for one student from Haines Falls, NY to Ulster County Boces, Port Ewen, daily, for the remainder of the

2019-20 School Year, Columbia County Home Care Helper Wanted in accordance to bid Private residence, pleasant environment Exp. a plus, but not needed. Will train. 518-828-2163 specifications.

Bid specifications will be available from the 674 Christmas Trees Tannersville High Farm & Garden School District Office (518-589-5400 X 1000). Sealed bids must be submitted to Farm Machinery the Tannersville High 654 & Implements School District Office, attention Amy Sylak, SNOW BLOWER 7ft 3point Transportation Super- hitch, like new, $2000. Calll visor, by Tuesday, De- 518-424-6045 CUT YOUR OWN CHIRSTMAS TREES cember 17, 2019 at Spruce & Fir - $5 / Foot 10:00am at which time they will be publicly very large sheared blue spruce available opened in the SuperinCanaan Conifers tendent's Office. No 13194 Route 22 Canaan, NY faxed bids will be ac.8 mi. south of Route 295 cepted. Final approval will be at 6:30pm on Weekends or by appointment Thursday, December 508-641-6331 19, 2019 at the BOE Meeting. The BOE reserves the right to waive any informalities and to reject any or all bids.

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Joe Manniello’s Week 15 NFL picks Joe Manniello Newsday

From Titans-Texans and Bills-Steelers in the AFC to Bears-Packers and RamsCowboys in the NFC, Week 15 could be a turning point for the respective conference’s playoff races.

There are too many teams to list who are out of it, but that doesn’t mean every one has packed it in. Remember that as you handicap each game and matchup.

Underdogs went 7-7-1 against the spread last week (one game was a pick ‘em), and are 114-88-5 for the season.

My most confident picks ATS this week are the Rams, Raiders, Falcons, Titans, Seahawks and Redskins. There aren’t many stay-away games, but don’t pick meaningless matchups unless you have to.

1 p.m. Games DOLPHINS (3-10) AT GIANTS (2-11) Giants by 3.5; O/U: 46.5 Imagine telling Big Blue fans back in Week 4 that the

then-2-2 Giants and then-0-4 Dolphins would meet in Week 15 with Miami having one more win. Can the Giants snap their skid at nine? Maybe, but I’m not laying over a field goal against a gritty Miami team that is 7-2 ATS in its last nine, has scored 20 or more points in five straight games and nearly won at MetLife Stadium just last week.

The pick: Dolphins TEXANS (8-5) AT TITANS (8-5) Titans by 3; O/U: 51 This should be fun with first place in the AFC South on the line. Houston followed up its best win (dominant SNF performance over the Patriots) with its worst (a blowout defeat at home vs. Denver). I’m tempted to take Houston here off a bad loss but I just can’t fade Ryan Tannehill (6-1 since taking over), Derrick Henry and a Titans team that has won and covered four in a row to put themselves in this spot.

The pick: Titans BRONCOS (5-8) AT CHIEFS (9-4)

Chiefs by 10; O/U: 45 Drew Lock looked like John Elway in Denver’s stunner at Houston. The Broncos won’t win at KC but it should be close as Denver is playing with a purpose. Pride is also a factor after it was embarrassed, 30-6, at home by the Chiefs on TNF in Week 7 ... even after Patrick Mahomes exited early.

You have to expect a natural letdown for KC after being the first team to win at New England in two years.

The pick: Broncos PATRIOTS (10-3) AT BENGALS (1-12) Patriots by 9.5; O/U: 41.5 Things are so bad in New England that the Pats are filming the one-win Bengals? After back-to-back losses, they’re on to Cincinnati at the perfect time. Do your job, guys, and have this covered by halftime.

The pick: Patriots BEARS (7-6) AT PACKERS (10-3) Packers by 4; O/U: 40.5 (Ch. 5) Green Bay is 10-3, which just so happened to be the final score when the Pack won

at Chicago in this season’s opener. Green Bay has had some close finishes at home (see: Lions, Panthers and Vikings wins). The Bears have won three in a row and need to make it four just to have an outside shot at a wild card so expect a close game.

The pick: Bears SEAHAWKS (10-3) AT PANTHERS (5-8) Seahawks by 6.5; O/U: 49 Carolina wasn’t competitive after Ron Rivera was fired, losing by 20 at Atlanta. Seattle is 6-1 on the road (5-2 ATS) and the ‘O’ will regroup after a zero-TD outing.

The pick: Seahawks EAGLES (6-7) AT REDSKINS (3-10) Eagles by 4; O/U: 39 Philly continues to get too much respect, as this line is a point or two too high. Even the most hard-core Eagles fan couldn’t pick some of these backup players out of a (starting) lineup. Washington has won two of three, hung in there at Lambeau Field last week and could embrace the

spoiler role against a rival.

The pick: Redskins BUCS (6-7) AT LIONS (3-91) Bucs by 3.5; O/U: 46 Detroit has lost six in a row and nine of 10 but I’ll take the home ‘dog here. Jameis Winston has a thumb injury, Mike Evans is out and the secondary can be beat.

The pick: Lions 4 p.m. Games LOCK OF THE WEEK RAMS (8-5) AT COWBOYS (6-7) Rams by 1.5; O/U: 49 If the playoffs started this weekend, the Rams would be home watching and the Cowboys would be home hosting as the 4 seed. No Fair League, indeed. While the defending NFC champs are playing their best football — Sean McVay had a masterful game plan in a dominant win over the Seahawks — the Cowboys have lost seven of 10 and are 0-5 vs. winning teams. While this is the NFL and nothing should surprise you, there’s no reason to have any belief in a team

that appears to have no belief in itself. Dallas looks as if it forgot how to tackle, which will be a problem against receivers Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods. Everyone is on the Rams (the line has shifted five points!), so that scares me a bit but not enough to back off a hot team fighting for its playoff life.

The pick: Rams VIKINGS (9-4) AT CHARGERS (5-8) Vikings by 2; O/U: 45.5 Minnesota has all the motivation for playoff positioning. Seems too obvious a call, which is why I’ll take the Bolts, who are finally healthy.

The pick: Chargers BROWNS (6-7) AT CARDINALS (3-9-1) Browns by 3; O/U: 49 This will be close, but I give the edge to the Heisman-winning QB and No. 1 pick out of Oklahoma. (Be more specific, Joe). Oh, right. Baker Mayfield is going to feel like he’s back in the Big 12 vs. this ‘D’.

The pick: Browns

CMYK

Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019 - B5

COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA SPONSORED BY:

2019 Deer Season Photo Gallery

By Larry DiDonato For Columbia-Greene Media

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

Bob Monteleone with a buck taken on the Mountain Top during the bow/crossbow season.

DEC reports the 2019 deer season is right on par with that of last year. Here are a few photos of some local successful hunters.

Happy Hunting and Fishing Until Next Time News and News Kinderhook Sportsmen’s Club 6th Annual Holiday Dinner The Kinderhook Sportsmen’s Club is hosting its 6th Annual Holiday Dinner at their club, tomorrow, Sunday December

15th from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Cost for adults is $15.00 and $10.00 for kids under 12.

Tickets available at 376 Fowler Lake Road in Ghent.

Remember to report poaching violations by calling 1-844-DEC-ECOS. You can share any comments with our sports desk at sports@ registerstar.com *If you have a fishing or hunting report, photo, or event you would like to be considered for publication, you can send it to: huntfishreport@ gmail.com

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

Nice picture of another nice buck taken by Mike Dodig in Ulster County during the bow season.

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

Ryan Arp took this doe at a measured 198 yards in Roundtop. Not bad for a new shooter!

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

Jon Novak with a real good buck taken on public land in Earlton.

Mike Dodig took this big buck dressing out at 180 lbs. during the gun season.

The biggest winner of the Winter Meetings? Scott Boras Tyler Kepner The New York Times News Service

SAN DIEGO — Sometimes, for his annual news conference at baseball’s winter meetings, Scott Boras stands before a Christmas tree in the host hotel’s lobby. This year, he opted for a silver-canvas backdrop emblazoned with dozens of logos for his agency. As reporters fanned out before him Tuesday, in a semicircle 10 people deep, it was hard to miss the symbolism: The sport’s most powerful agent was planting a flag — almost literally — and making these meetings his own.

By Wednesday night, Boras had reached agreements on three contracts — one for each full day of the meetings — worth $814 million. Stephen Strasburg signed a seven-year, $245 million deal with the Washington Nationals on Monday. Gerrit Cole agreed to a nine-year, $324 million contract with the New York Yankees on Tuesday. Then came Anthony Rendon’s sevenyear, $245 million agreement with the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday.

Boras is well-known — some would say notorious — for his patience, often waiting until January or February to find the right market conditions for his clients. This time, wealthy teams were eager to court Strasburg, Cole and Rendon, and wasted no time.

“It’s a supply and demand thing every year, and the supply of these elite guys was small and the demand was high,” Nationals general manager Mike

Rizzo said. “If you wanted to get one of them, I think everyone thought you had to jump in and get moving. I don’t think anybody thought this was going to last into the New Year.”

Neither did Boras, who made the deal with Strasburg first, setting a standard that any suitor would clearly have to beat to get Cole. When the Yankees won the bidding for Cole, Boras turned one of their competitors in that deal, the Angels, and delivered them Rendon.

It was a masterstroke of negotiating, and Boras had forecast the action in a text message Sunday night to Jim Bowden, the former Cincinnati and Washington general manager who now works for MLB Network Radio.

“If you put a movie title on these winter meetings, it’ll be ‘Fast and Furious,’ “ Bowden said Wednesday night, recalling the message. “And what did he do? Fast and furious. Strasburg, Cole, Rendon, his top three free agents, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. He dictated the time, he put the deadline on the clubs and he absolutely held his word and he made them relevant again. He made the winter meetings fun.”

Fun is much better than boring. Last year’s meetings in Las Vegas were like an extravagant party with an empty dance floor and a funeral dirge droning in the background. Almost no compelling moves came down then, fueling ominous speculation from players that owners were conspiring against them

ORLANDO RAMIREZ/USA TODAY

Sports agent Scott Boras speaks to the media during the MLB Winter Meetings at Manchester Grand Hyatt.

to destroy free agency.

There are no such whispers anymore. Last year’s offseason concluded with Manny Machado and Bryce Harper (another Boras client) signing deals worth at least $300 million — Machado with the San Diego Padres, Harper with the Philadelphia Phillies — and by the end of spring training, the Colorado Rockies’ Nolan Arenado and the Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout had signed lucrative contract extensions.

Now, even mid-tier free agents are cashing in. The Toronto Blue Jays, despite little hope of contending, made a two-year, $24 million agreement here with starter Tanner Roark. Several pitchers with ERAs over 4.90 last season reached lucrative one-year deals, including Rick Porcello ($10 million from the New York Mets), Blake Treinen ($10 million from the Los Angeles

Dodgers) and Kevin Gausman ($9 million from the San Francisco Giants).

Josh Lindblom, a former major league starter who has dominated for several seasons in South Korea, arrived here Tuesday night and by Wednesday afternoon had reached a threeyear deal with the Milwaukee Brewers for more than $9 million, with a chance to double it through incentives. The Brewers needed to replenish their roster, which rivals have picked apart on the market.

Milwaukee has lost four free agents to multiyear deals with other teams: catcher Yasmani Grandal (four years, $73 million with the Chicago White Sox); infielder Mike Moustakas (four years, $64 million with the Cincinnati Reds); and pitchers Drew Pomeranz (four years, $34 million with the San Diego Padres) and Jordan Lyles (two years, $16 million with the Texas

Rangers). The deals for Grandal and Moustakas were the richest free-agent contracts their new teams have ever given.

“It’s a more competitive environment; more teams are trying to win,” said Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, a former agent who publicly floated the idea of a spring training boycott two years ago because of the slow-moving market.

Besides Porcello, the 2016 American League Cy Young Award winner with the Boston Red Sox, the Mets reached a deal here with another righthanded starter, Michael Wacha. A former All-Star for the St. Louis Cardinals who ended last season with an elbow injury, Wacha got a $3 million guarantee with a chance to make $7 million more in incentives. His deal — like Porcello’s and many others reached here — is pending a physical.

“There was a lot talked about our lack of starting pitching depth over the last couple of weeks, and I think that story has changed,” Van Wagenen said. “We’re probably the deepest starting pitching rotation in baseball.”

Still, the Mets have spent little compared to their division rivals in Atlanta and Philadelphia. The Braves have signed two free agents to multiyear deals (closer Will Smith and catcher Travis d’Arnaud), while the Phillies lavished a five-year, $118 million contract on former Mets starter Zack Wheeler and gave a one-year, $14 million

REPORTERS, EDITORS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS CREATE REAL NEWS. JOURNALISM YOU CAN TRUST.

deal to former Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius.

The Mets did not enter Boras’ sweepstakes for Cole or Strasburg, and they have no plans to engage with him on left-handers Hyun-Jin Ryu and Dallas Keuchel. Asked Tuesday about the Mets’ ownership, which is in the process of selling a majority stake to billionaire Steve Cohen, Boras gave a typically colorful analogy.

“There are sparrows who have a desire to get something big but can’t carry the weight of it,” said Boras, who was just getting rolling. “There are some owls, who are wise. You certainly have a lot of hawks this year.

Probably the biggest concern is you don’t want to be an ostrich and lay the biggest egg. The Mets right now are birds of a different feather.”

What did he mean? Who knows? But the free agent market has taken flight, and while a few teams are still grounded — Baltimore, Detroit, Kansas City, Miami, Pittsburgh and Seattle — baseball no longer struggles to defend its free-market system.

“You go back Harper, Trout, Machado, Arenado and the activity we have had this year, that’s a really robust market,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “The fact that you have markets go up and down over a short period of time, I don’t think is an indication that somehow we need to throw out something that’s worked for 30 years and make really fundamental changes in the system.”

#SupportRealNews

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COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA

B6 - Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019

Take 5: Can Bills, Allen handle bright lights vs. Steelers?

David DeChant Field Level Media

It’s been 12 years since the Buffalo Bills played on Sunday Night Football, and it’s been 20 since they won 10-plus games.

They’ll snap one drought just by showing up Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and they can snap the latter with a victory – but a win is no guarantee.

In a likely defensive battle, second-year quarterback Josh Allen will be squarely in the spotlight in his first prime-time start.

1. Can Allen handle the heat?

When we wrote about Allen entering Week 4, his ugly rookie season had carried straight into Year 2, with a series of bad decisions and open receivers left untargeted. He then completely imploded versus the Patriots, throwing three interceptions before leaving with a concussion.

Since then, Allen has made significant progress, primarily as a decision-maker. While he’s had some good fortune, his only interception in the last eight games came on a pure overthrow in nasty wind against the Broncos. Bills coaches

have managed to mostly reign in Allen’s wild side, hardly an easy task.

Allen has also improved – albeit more slowly – with his vision and processing, and his accuracy has even come around at times, especially in the Thanksgiving Day win at Dallas.

However, most of that fell apart last week. The Ravens’ defense, while very good, was not as sharp in coverage as Allen’s numbers (17 of 39, 146 yards, one touchdown) would indicate. Facing heavy pressure (six sacks, 12 QB hits), Allen looked overwhelmed mentally at times and had

too many receivers that he either failed to see or failed to hit with accuracy.

Pittsburgh’s defense is another tough test. Even without Stephon Tuitt, the Steelers can pressure with their front four of T.J. Watt, Bud Dupree, Cameron Heyward and Javon Hargrave. More importantly, each can win through blockers (not just around), which is critical to maintain rush lanes when coming after Allen.

On the back end, Minkah Fitzpatrick has given Pittsburgh new dimensions with his versatility, allowing coordinator Keith Butler to help

against opponents’ top weapons in a variety of ways. At cornerback opposite Joe Haden, free agent signee Steven Nelson has had a quietly excellent season.

2. Can the Texans slow the Titans’ roaring offense?

The Tennessee Titans’ offense has become a big-play machine under Ryan Tannehill. Per analytics guru Warren Sharp, the Titans have scored exactly one point per minute of possession with Tannehill, more than 30 percent better than secondranked Baltimore (0.73) over that span.

MATT FORTUNATO/COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA

MATT FORTUNATO/COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA

Greenville’s Justin Case (bottom) vs. Berlin’s Kevin MacVeigh in th 285-pound weight class Thursday’s Patroon Conference wrestling match.

Wrestling From B1

(Catskill) won by forfeit; 285 — Will Rogers (Catskill) won by forfeit.

Maple Hill 72, Taconic Hills 18 CASTLETON — Maple Hill won five matches by pin en route to a 72-18 triumph over Taconic Hills in Thursday’s Patroon Conference wrestling match.

Javier Ayarza, Caleb Svingala, James Colvin, Reese Steele and Nicholas Roy all pinned their opponents as the wildcats improved to 2-0.

Results: 99 — Vincent Colvin (Maple Hill) won by forfeit; 106

Yankees From B1

to be signed. The Yankees will have to make room on their 40-man roster and are looking to shed some salary — most likely lefty J.A. Happ’s $17 million.

And they are not necessarily done putting together their roster for 2020. Wednesday, GM Brian Cashman said that they had several simultaneous conversations going with their remaining available free agents and others.

“We’re always exploring ways to make the make the team better. So we’re constantly having conversations with other teams, with agents

Jenkins From B1

nobody. It’s just something we use in the hood back at home.”

After he was released, he wrote on Twitter that it was the “best news ever.”

The 2-11 Giants are in last place in the NFC East, with more wins than just one other team, the 1-12 Cincinnati Bengals.

Jenkins was sitting out a Giants practice Wednesday with an ankle injury he suffered in Monday night’s loss to the Eagles when he posted a pair of tweets touting his performance in recent weeks.

That led to another Twitter user asking him, “How many of those stats contributed to any wins?” while appending the words “none” and “irrelevant.”

“I only can do my job,

COLONIAL

— Thomas Merhige (Maple Hill) won by forfeit; 113 — Samantha Kirk (Taconic Hills) won by forfeit; 120 — Javier Ayarza (Maple Hill) pinned Colin Brackett, :57; 126 — Anthony Ortiz (Maple Hill) won by forfeit; 132 — Caleb Svingala (Maple Hill) pinned Dylan Mottoshiski, :27; 138 — Devin Spring (Maple Hill) won by forfeit; 145 — James Colvin (Maple Hill) pinned Zachary Wessel, :41; 152 — Ethan Maier (Maple Hill) won by forfeit; 160 — Ryan Schermerhorn (Taconic Hills) pinned Devin Feliz, 1:04; 170 — Reese Steele (Maple Hill) pinned Robert Burns, 2:46; 182 — Brandon Selmer (Maple Hill) won by forfeit; 195 — Logan Phillips (Taconic Hills) won by forfeit; 220 — Nicholas

Roy (Maple Hill) pinned Justin Acklin, :42; 285 — Tyler

and seeing if there’s something else that lines up,” Fishman said. “So it’s always hard to predict if there’s something else but we’re always trying.

You never know when something lines up with another team that might make sense.”

The Yankees never seemed interested in a reunion with backup catcher Austin Romine and reports were Thursday that he was heading to the Tigers on a one-year, $4 million deal. The Yankees said they are comfortable with Kyle Higashioka penciled in as their backup.

“Yeah, we are. He’s spent his time in AAA kind of behind (Gary) Sanchez and Romine and he’s gotten a taste of the big leagues pretty much every year,” Fishman said. “And he’s shown enough offensively and

defensively that we do feel he is ready to have a more permanent big league role.”

Still, the Yankees have talked to representatives of freeagent catcher Martin Maldanado.

Romine is coming off a career year, hitting .281 with eight home runs and 35 RBI in 73 games this season backing up Sanchez.

A defense-first catcher, Higashioka rated at three defensive runs saved in 18 games behind the plate last season.

He hit .214/.211/.464 with 11 RBIs and three home runs.

Considering how much time Sanchez has lost to injuries over the past two seasons — he played 89 games in 2018 and 106 in 2019 — backup catcher is an area where the Yankees could be looking to

retard,” Jenkins, 31, replied.

Nearly six hours later, Jenkins posted another tweet, which said, “My apology for the word I used earlier, really didn’t mean no ‘HARM.” He referred to his nickname, “Jackrabbit,” writing in a hashtag, “#RabbitLoveEverybody.”

Earlier this month, Shurmur said he was “going to have a conversation” with Jenkins about the cornerback’s criticism of the way he was being deployed by the Giants.

Following a 31-13 loss to the Packers in Week 13, in which Green Bay wide receivers Davante Adams and Allen Lazard accounted for three touchdowns against other New York defensive backs, Jenkins complained (via NJ.com): “I’m the only one in the league that don’t travel no more. I don’t understand why. But I was traveling the other years. I don’t understand.

Greenville’s Devin O’Connor (top) battles Anthony Prather in the 145-pound weight class during Thursday’s Patroon Conference wrestling match.

Goettinger (Maple Hill) won by forfeit.

Watervliet 49, Ichabod Crane 30 WATERVLIET — Jair Gomez, Omar Martinez and Zach Ebel all won by pin, but Ichabdo Crane fell to Watervliet, 49-30, in Thursday’s Colonial Council wrestling match.

Results: 99 — Quinn Barton (Ichabod Crane) won by forfeit; 106 — Jair Gomez (Ichabod Crane) pinned Curet Elijah, :33; 113 — Omar Martinez (Ichabod Crane) pinned Brady Lyons, 1:35; 120 — Peterson Peyton (Watervliet) pinned Max Luxramos, 1:40; 126 — John Dunham (Watervliet) pinned Anthony Doria, 3:43; 132 — Peyton White (Watervliet) won by

forfeit; 138 — Patrick Moore (Watervliet) decisioned Jerald Rhoades, 11-5; 145 — Anthony Delmonico (Watervliet) won by forfeit; 152 — Kendryek Flynn (Watervliet) pinned Janoy Harrison, :50; 160 — No Match; 170 — Jamrosz Logan (Watervliet) won by forfeit; 182 — Diogense George (Watervliet) pinned Ryan Putnum, :56; 195 — Nick McNulty (Watervliet) major decision over Thomas Cooper, 10-2; 220 — Zachary Ebel (Ichabod Crane) pinned Justin Outhout; 285 — Conner Pesce (Ichabod Crane) decisioned Brandon Fitzgerald, 6-4.

upgrade.

The Yankees also lost Didi Gregorius this week. The shortstop, who came in to replace legend Derek Jeter, agreed to a one-year deal with the Phillies that will reunite him with former Yankees manager Joe Girardi.

Gregorius missed the first part of the 2019 season after having October 2018 Tommy John surgery, allowing the Yankees to get comfortable with Gleyber Torres playing shortstop. Fishman reiterated Thursday that the Yankees are comfortable with their infield, even without Gregorius.

“We feel good about the infield. Didi did a lot for us over the years. And so it’s a loss. But we have the roster with Gleyber being able to play shortstop too, to be able to cover

any innings, so it’s a good situation,” Fishman said. “Maybe there is not as much depth as we had last year when Didi was part of the team, but the infield is in a good spot.”

Teams will have an extra roster spot in 2020, going to a 26-man roster. That is something the Yankees are exploring now.

“It just gives you a little more versatility on the bench.

You have a little more coverage,” Fishman said. “You can have both an extra outfielder and an extra infielder. There’s different ways and throughout the year it might change at times when we when we add a third catcher, but in general you know it allows just a little more flexibility on how you deploy. You have more platoon options. But what the

ultimate roster is on an opening day is to be determined.”

The Yankees had five minor league players taken in the Rule 5 draft. Right-handed pitcher Rony Garcia was taken by the Tigers in the major-league portion of the draft. Garcia had a 4.44 ERA in Double-A last season. He has to stay on the Tigers’ major league roster the entire 2020 season or be offered back to the Yankees.

The Blue Jays took righthander Hobie Harris in the Triple-A first-round of the draft. The Yankees also lost right-hander Will Carter (White Sox), right-hander Raynel Espinal (Red Sox) and infielder Wendell Rijo (Braves).

the league who’s got a top corner, they travel. Rabbit don’t travel no more. Come on.”

Shurmur responded then by calling Jenkins “a spirited guy” who “wants to have an impact on the game,” but the coach added that “obviously, anything that we do, we should do behind the scenes.”

On Wednesday, Jenkins appeared to be picking up his Twitter feed from where he left off on Dec. 2, when he addressed a fan who tweeted at him that “maybe we should ask Mike Evans if you should travel.” That was a reference to a Week 3 loss to the Buccaneers in which Jenkins was assigned to shadow the Tampa Bay wide receiver, only to get torched by Evans for three touchdowns.

“1 bad game out of 16,” Jenkins tweeted then, and he began Wednesday’s online activity by declaring, apparently of himself, “We still haven’t given

up a TD since week three.”

The 2016 Pro Bowler, now in his fourth season with the Giants after spending his first four with the St. Louis Rams, followed that with some of his statistics from this season, including 14 passes defensed, four interceptions and 50 tackles. “Talk about that,” he asserted, which drew the criticism of his “irrelevant” numbers.

Jenkins has made more than $50 million from the fiveyear, $62 million contract he signed in 2016.

Of the slur he then tweeted at the fan, Jenkins said Thursday: “I regret it. But at the end of the day, it’s my slang. So if you take it how you’re going to take it, it’s on you. I don’t mean to offend nobody.

“My dad always told me, ‘Speak freely and own up to what you say.’ So I always speak freely as a man, and I speak how I want to speak.”

MATT FORTUNATO/COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA

Greenville senior captain Aidan Cullen vs. Berlin’s Jared Cook in the 138-pound weight class during Thursday’s Patroon Conference wrestling match.

ERIC HARTLINE/USA TODAY

Philadelphia Eagles running back Jay Ajayi (28) is tackled by New York Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins (20) and New York Giants defensive back Michael Thomas (31) during Monday night’s game at Lincoln Financial Field.

“I play on the left side of the field all game. I get two passes

a game. Come on, bro. Like, common sense. Everybody in

CMYK

Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019 - B7

COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA

Graduating couple faces going their separate ways Dear Abby, I have been in a relationship for more than five years. My girlfriend and I will soon graduate from college. I have accepted a full-time job offer, and she will be going to grad school.

Almost certainly our relationship will have to be longdistance for a year or two, and DEAR ABBY she has given me an ultimatum.

She says she doesn’t want the stress of a long-distance relationship if it doesn’t lead to anything in the future. I am torn. I like the status quo. I’m not sure if I want to propose and be locked into something without being 100% certain we are meant to be. What should I do?

Hesitant In The Heartland

JEANNE PHILLIPS

I’m so glad you asked! Because you have been in a relationship for more than five years and are still not certain if this young woman is “The One,” do her (and yourself) a favor and stop wasting her time. You both need to see others and gain more experience in the dating world before making a lifetime commitment.

Dear Abby, When my mother passed away three years ago, the financial burden fell on me. I asked my brother (who earns more than double what I do) to help and got no help from him. Since then, I have been paying her storage unit fee.

I asked my brother to pay half because half the stuff in this unit belongs to him and his family. I’ve never received a penny. He took it upon himself to go through the stuff and take what he wanted.

I have spent $900 on this unit. I feel the contents are mine as I have more than paid for

it. I’m willing to go through it together, but I feel he was wrong to have done it without me.

Am I wrong? Am I overreacting? How do I deal with this without causing problems? I am way beyond upset.

Stuck With Stuff In Montana You are not wrong. Your brother should not have shouldered you out of the way to have first dibs on the contents in storage, and he should have been paying half the cost of the unit since her death.

My inclination is to advise you that what is left in the unit is now yours to dispose of as you wish, but before doing that, you would be wise to consult an attorney. You should not be paying a monthly fee that is causing you financial stress.

Dear Abby, My mother-in-law has sent me a friend request on Facebook. It might sound simple, but we are not friends. We don’t hang out. Even though we live in the same city, we see each other only at family events.

I have never been good enough for her “angelic” son, whom I have supported for more than 15 years. Why would she want to be my FB friend now? She isn’t trying to make amends.

She’s just being nosey. This is a lose-lose situation. Must I allow it?

Trapped In Hurricane Country

DR. KEITH ROACH

I am always happy to discuss physiology.

A high sodium diet requires the kidney to excrete the excess sodium. The sodium transporters across the membrane in the kidney require calcium to be excreted as well. A high sodium diet increases calcium loss in the urine by sixfold in laboratory studies. The high amount of resultant calcium in the urine will lead to stone formation in people genetically predisposed to do so.

Even in people who do not form stones, a high sodium diet will cause the body to excrete excess calcium, potentially leading to osteoporosis. Even though blood pressure is the major argument against a high sodium diet, kidney stones and bone health are other reasons not to

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) — You’ve been holding yourself back for reasons that are as yet unclear to you — but today you can break through and move forward again!

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) — Though nothing is guaranteed, all signs point to a major event today that will put you in a new position professionally.

Garfield

Blondie

take in excessive sodium.

I’m a healthy 90-year-old woman. My problem is that my lips burn constantly, and no doctor has been able to tell me why. I use an over-the-counter lip balm about six to seven times daily to help. Do you know what could be causing my lips to burn?

It could be your lip balm. I see an awful lot of people using lip balms, and certain ones contain ingredients that make the lips feel better temporarily but actually cause damage to the sensitive structures in the skin of your lips. Menthol and camphor — they produce the tingling sensation in many balms — can cause an inflammatory reaction. Phenol can worsen symptoms for many people. It’s used in chemical peels, which is not a good sign when it’s in a product designed for lips.

I would stop using the lip balm if it contains any of these ingredients. Switch to a product without them; there are many good choices available. If you live in a sunny climate, I would also recommend you choose a balm containing sunscreen.

If quitting your lip balm doesn’t solve the problem, a dermatologist should do an exam.

Hagar the Horrible

Zits

Readers may email questions to ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu.

Horoscope

By Stella Wilder Born today, you know how to make the most of almost every kind of opportunity, from the obvious to the obscure, from those that present themselves outright to those for which you have to dig. You enjoy experimenting with different methods, and you achieve your desired ends in a variety of different ways; you are not one to be restricted by what you have done in the past, and you are always looking forward to doing things in new and exciting ways. You never shrink from a challenge, but face it headon.

You may at times be considered rather distant or aloof by friends and acquaintances, because like so many Sagittarians, you choose to keep many things about yourself under wraps.

Those closest to you, however, can rest assured that you are your true self with them at all times.

Also born on this date are: Nostradamus, poet and prophet; Patty Duke, actress; Spike Jones, bandleader; Charlie Rich, singer and songwriter; Shirley Jackson, author; Tycho Brahe, pioneer astronomer; James H. Doolittle, aviator and war hero.

To see what is in store for you tomorrow, find your birthday and read the corresponding paragraph. Let your birthday star be your daily guide.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15

Classic Peanuts

You are no more trapped than you wish to be.

Because someone sends a friend request does not mean that you are obligated to accept. My advice is to ignore it. Or, accept her invitation and use Facebook’s timeline settings and the option to not “share” with her.

Sodium intake can increase risk of kidney stones You recently wrote that sodium intake increases kidney stone risk. I thought kidneys filtered out serum calcium, meaning calcium intake causes calcium oxalate stones. As someone who suffered from hyperparathyroidism and kidney stones, it is my understanding that excess serum calcium causes stones.

TO YOUR Nowhere in my research into GOOD HEALTH this disease, nor in discussions with my parathyroid expert surgeon, did I ever hear of salt contributing to stone formation. I would greatly appreciate a clarification as to salt’s role in the formation of calcium stones, as I do love my salt.

Family Circus

Baby Blues AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) — You can demonstrate your native cleverness today in a way that not even you have anticipated. You may be in line for advancement.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) — You can exploit a certain situation to gain the advantage over someone who has been challenging you in one or two questionable ways.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) — Your ability to see all sides of an issue will not do you much good today if you react emotionally to a certain situation.

Be objective!

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) — You’ll be called upon today to do what no one else can — and your success will be the result of instinct and intellect working together.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) — You’ll be going against the current throughout much of the day, but you can still make progress of a kind that is least expected by you.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) — Watch what happens around you today in order to avoid a run-in that you cannot afford to have at this time. Navigation is tricky during the p.m.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) — If it’s comfort you’re after, whether physical or emotional, you’re going to have to work for it. Ultimately, the day ends on a satisfactory note.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) — You’re eager for an outlet for your increasing physical energy — and you’re likely to find it working with a friend who knows what you’re about.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) — Ask for help and you can have it today — and perhaps more than you know what to do with. The time is right for cooperation of all kinds.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) — Others may be drifting into your orbit today, and the reason becomes clear to you very quickly. You can provide what is universally needed.

COPYRIGHT 2019 UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.

Beetle Bailey

Pearls Before Swine

Dennis the Menace

CMYK

COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA

B8 - Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019 Close to Home

SUPER QUIZ

THAT SCRAMBLED WORD GAME

By David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek

BLACE IVDVI TRAGEH LANHIE ©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC All Rights Reserved.

Yesterday’s

Score 1 point for each correct answer on the Freshman Level, 2 points on the Graduate Level and 3 points on the Ph.D. Level.

Get the free JUST JUMBLE app • Follow us on Twitter @PlayJumble

Unscramble these Jumbles, one letter to each square, to form four ordinary words.

Geographic literary titles Level 1

2

3

4

Now arrange the circled letters to form the surprise answer, as suggested by the above cartoon.

Answers (Answers Tuesday Monday) Jumbles: LIMBO OUNCE UNLESS THRASH Answer: The French cheese makers were always happy to take time to — SHOOT THE “BRIES”

Solution to Friday’s puzzle

12/14/19 Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9.

For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit

Heart of the City

sudoku.org.uk © 2019 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency. All rights reserved.

Complete the title with a geographic location. The author’s name is provided. (e.g., “The Merchant of _____” (William Shakespeare). Answer: Venice.)

Freshman level 1. “A Tree Grows in ____” (Betty Smith) 2. “Out of ____” (Karen Blixen) 3. “A Passage to _____” (E.M. Forster) 4. “A _____Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” (Mark Twain) 5. “Is ____ Burning?” (Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre) Graduate level 6. “_____Inn” (Daphne du Maurier) 7. “The Jew of _____” (Christopher Marlowe) 8. “The ____ House” (John le Carre) 9. “Death in _____” (Thomas Mann) 10. “The Boys from ____” (Ira Levin) PH.D. level 11. “Timon of ____” (William Shakespeare) 12. “Letter from _____” (Pearl S. Buck) 13. “The Plot Against ____” (Philip Roth) 14. “From ____, With Love” (Ian Fleming) 15. “The Tailor of _____” (John le Carre)

SUPER QUIZ ANSWERS 1. Brooklyn. 2. Africa. 3. India. 4. Connecticut. 5. Paris. 6. Jamaica. 7. Malta. 8.

Russia. 9. Venice. 10. Brazil. 11. Athens. 12. Peking. 13. America. 14. Russia. 15.

Panama.

24 to 30 points — congratulations, doctor; 18 to 23 points — honors graduate; 13 to 17 points — you’re plenty smart, but no grind; 5 to 12 points — you really should hit the books harder; 1 point to 4 points — enroll in remedial courses immediately; 0 points — who reads the questions to you?

Mutts

Dilbert

Pickles For Better or For Worse

Get Fuzzy

Hi & Lois

Crossword Puzzle ACROSS 1 Unlike a sure thing 5 Aromatic wood 10 Sounds from a kennel 14 Mirth 15 Accumulate 16 Little girl of old cartoons 17 Sups 18 Office seeker 20 Explosive letters 21 __ on; be overly fond of 22 Barbecuer’s utensil 23 Bring together 25 Roly-poly 26 Room recess; nook 28 Steamboat builder Robert 31 Filthy __; illgotten gains 32 Beach souvenir 34 Dyer’s tub 36 Stiffly formal 37 Iron alloy 38 Mr. Arnaz 39 Envy or greed 40 Happiness 41 One’s strong suit 42 Wheeler-__; shrewd operator 44 Constantly 45 Make garments 46 France’s dollar, once 47 Defeats; outdoes 50 Long walk 51 __ over; spill 54 Charge of wrongdoing 57 San José, Costa __ 58 __-eye; sleep 59 Burke of “Designing Women” 60 __ mitts; pot holders 61 “There’s no place like __!”

62 Sworn statements 63 Gives up the single life DOWN 1 “By the Time __ to Phoenix”

Mother Goose & Grimm

Bound & Gagged

Created by Jacqueline E. Mathews

2 Sweet custard dessert 3 Ribbonlike pasta 4 TV’s “__, Dear” 5 Novelist Truman __ 6 Overdo the role 7 Roy Rogers’ love 8 Start of “The Streets of Laredo” 9 Q’s followers 10 Author Louisa May __ 11 Wreak havoc on 12 Pennant 13 Phoenix team 19 Know-__; smarty-pants 21 Headfirst plunge 24 Average; standard 25 “F” on the gas gauge 26 Yodeler’s range 27 Gruesome 28 Charges for service 29 Too wound up 30 Obnoxious 32 Mix in a bowl 33 “__ Just Not That Into You”; 2009 film

12/14/19

Friday’s Puzzle Solved

Non Sequitur

©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC All Rights Reserved.

35 Neckwear 37 Slaughtered 38 Elevator direction 40 Sanctify 41 Criticism; opposition 43 Insightful 44 Stadiums 46 Foam

12/14/19

47 Bad-mouth 48 Reverberate 49 Bathtub ring, e.g.

50 Slope to one side 52 Applied frosting to 53 Cooktop items 55 Senseless bother 56 Pekoe, for one 57 In a __; all lined up

Rubes

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Holiday gifts for pets and pet lovers

By NICOLE FORSYTH The Mercury News

Chances are you have a lot of pet lovers in your life. According to the latest National Pet Owners Survey conducted by the American Pet Products Association, 67% of U.S. households have a pet, which equates to about 85 million families.

With holidays just around the corner, we thought we could make life easier for you by sharing some gift ideas for dog and cat lovers.

DOG LOVERS

“Sesame Street” characters Oscar the Grouch, Ernie, Bert, Big Bird, Julia, Rosita, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Abby Cadabby, Grover and the Count. Mark Mann/Washington Post

After 50 years

‘SESAME STREET’ IS STILL

teaching us how to be nice KIDS’ TV: Educational program is 50,

and counting

By HANK STUEVER Washington Post

L

ike any grown-ups, then or now, they worried about the power that television had over children. The full-volume blare, the raucously random chaos, the cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs — ka-bam! Pow! Sproiiinng!HEY KIDS!!

The origin story of “Sesame Street,” which has become a permanent piece of cultural history and TV lore, begins at a Manhattan dinner party in the “Mad Men” years. Joan Ganz Cooney, a producer in public-affairs programming, listened to her friend Lloyd Morrisett, a vice president at the Carnegie Corp., describe the way his preschoolaged daughter soaked up everything she saw on TV. Television is often the problem, but sometimes it’s the answer, too. That dinner party in 1966 started a lasting conversation: What if there was a show that was just as mesmerizing as Saturday cartoons, but instead of breakfast-cereal commercials, the jingles would sell letters and numbers? Or shapes and similarities? And introduce concepts like in, on and under? Could it help kids learn? Could it, in some measurable way, prepare the nation’s less advantaged children for school?

Cooney and Morrisett looked to Harvard University and other institutions, convening curriculum experts, cognitive psychologists and earlychildhood researchers to compare notes. There were meetings, seminars and serious arguments about methodology and outcomes.

For those on a budget Travel water bottle — This is a great gift for those who are always on the go with their pups.

Prices start around $7.

Cooling collar — These collars use evaporative cooling to keep pups cool in hotter temperatures. Prices begin at $5.

Wine-lover glass — This cheeky 15-ounce stemless glass reads, “It’s not really drinking alone if the dog is home.” It sells for $12.99.

Coffee mug — This is the perfect mug for dog lovers, announcing, “I work hard so my dog can have a better life.” It is priced at $10.99.

Splurge gift ideas Furbo — The Furbo may be the most well-known of the pet monitoring devices. Not only does it dispense treats for cats and dogs, it also has a two-way chat and bark alert. The Furbo averages $199.

Dog Trailer — Bike trailers can be ideal for almost any pet, but especially older pets, puppies, and those with a medical condition or injury. Prices begin at $79.

BarkBox subscription — A monthly subscription includes a surprise box of dog toys, treats and other goodies (custom for your dog’s size). There is a new themed collection each month, and you can choose from a month-to-month, sixor 12-month plan with pricing starting at $25.

CAT LOVERS

“Sesame Street’s” Ernie, left, and Bert celebrate the television show’s 50 year. Mark Mann/ Washington Post

The experts might have turned the project into a steaming plate of lima beans that no child would ever eat. As described in Michael Davis’s 2008 book “Street Gang: The Complete History of ‘Sesame Street,’” some of those meetings grew so tedious that the children’s author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, an invited participant, began

Sonia Manzano, who played Maria on “Sesame Street” for 44 years, speaks to Telly Monster in the show’s early days. Sesame Workshop

doodling pointed cartoons while the academics droned. One drawing was of a child attacking a TV, first with a hatchet, then worse.

It’s an ongoing miracle, “Sesame Street” — in the way you remember it, yes, but also as the global humanitarian operation it has become, 50 years after the show premiered in November 1969.

“The way we do (“Sesame Street”) has changed,” says Sesame Workshop President and CEO Jeffrey Dunn, who took over five years ago and is credited with bringing the Workshop out of a financial slump, partly by striking a first-run deal in 2015 with HBO, which now foots the bill for “Sesame Street” while still making it available (free) to public-TV viewers.

“But we have stayed relentlessly true to the mission of helping kids grow stronger, smarter and kinder,” he says. “I’m a huge believer in the idea that society is the result of kids growing up. We’re playing a very long game here, looking 30 years ahead at any point in time. ... Your kids are going to grow up and be the adults of tomorrow.”

“Sesame Street” can feel deeply personal to just about anyone under the age of 55. It taught us to read and count, but it also taught us about kindness and acceptance. It was jazzy and groovy; it had a loose and wild feeling, even with all that PhD scrutiny on every frame.

Today the show is brighter, faster and somehow zippier, set on a cleaner, spiffier Sesame Street (shot on a set in Astoria, Queens) with a community garden and a recycling bin next to Oscar the Grouch’s trash can. Hooper’s Store serves See ‘SESAME’ C2

Budget-minded gift ideas Wine lover glass — This large 17-ounce etched stemless glass reads, “Need wine right meow.”

It sells for $16.95.

Cat pearl stud earrings — These darling silver stud earrings have cat ears and freshwater cultured pearls, and are available in a variety of finishes.

The earrings cost $15.50.

Cat ring holder — This gift would make a perfect stockingstuffer. The cat’s tail holds multiple rings and is usually made of metal. These start at $8.

Cat coasters — This dishwasher-safe set of silicone coasters features six adorable cats and costs $6.99.

Splurge ideas Cat trees — Scratching posts and trees are a great addition to any home and can give a cat hours of exercise. Prices begin around $39 for larger trees.

Cat Lady Box — For $39.99 a month with free shipping in the United States, you can gift a unique box of cat-themed items such as shirts, jewelry and home decor that includes quirky toys for cats. Choose from a one-, three- or six-month plan.

Litter Robot — This WiFi-enabled, automatic, selfcleaning litter box allows you to never have to scoop again. It’s equipped with an automatic night light, along with a timer and sleep mode. Plus, the app allows you to check the waste drawer level remotely. It is priced at $499.

CMYK

COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA

Test your Griswold knowledge with this ‘Christmas Vacation’ quiz Austin American-Statesman staff

“Hallelujah. Holy (expletive).

Where’s the Tylenol?”

As foul-mouthed holiday rants go, a couple of Chevy Chase’s — as family man Clark Griswold in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” — are up there.

Oh, they’re not as intentionally offensive as Steve Martin’s rental car counter tirade in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” (he drops the f-bomb 18 times, if you’re counting). Nor are they as endearing as Peter Billingsley’s “Only I didn’t say fudge” from “A Christmas Story.” And let’s not even mention Jimmy Stewart’s filthy diatribe in the uncensored version of “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

I kid.

Like Santa’s sleigh, “Christmas Vacation” flies under the radar.

It’s nowhere near as popular as those other holiday mainstays, but that’s OK — with its unvarnished look at the impossibly high expectations and nonstop pressure of the holidays, it works best as a cult classic, anyway. Much like Clark, it’s a perpetual underdog.

If you’re a fan of the film, take this 20-question quiz to see just

‘Sesame’ From C1

birdseed smoothies and has bistro seating.

EMBRACING DIVERSITY Yet the sense of belonging remains. “Sesame Street” was inclusive before anyone really knew what that meant, the first safe space. It is a friend to everyone, which has a lot to do with why it’s the first TV show to receive Kennedy Center Honors.

Some of its original viewers (Generation X, those lifelong beta-testers) grew up to be some of its most passionate advocates and caretakers, filling key positions today as executives, creators, writers, artists and puppeteers at the Sesame Workshop, formerly known as the Children’s Television Workshop.

At the nonprofit corporation’s headquarters across Broadway from Lincoln Center, where more than 500 employees work, every cubicle is festooned with “Sesame” toys of all shapes and sizes — even more as you turn a corner toward the creative wing, where all heck is encouraged to break loose. Everyone here has a story about how the show affected them. When they meet you, they’re eager to hear yours.

“When people talk to us [about ‘Sesame Street’], frequently it is about the literacy.

They’ll say, ‘I learned to read because of it,’” Dunn says.

“But the second thing is that everyone sees themselves as somewhat unique, and what they saw was some friend that spoke to them, that let them know, ‘I’m a good person, I’m okay,’ and that there are people who are different, and that’s OK, too. The idea that everybody is deserving of respect.”

You can sense where this is going.

Look around, America.

Have you forgotten how to get to “Sesame Street?”

“We’ve never been needed more,” Dunn says.

HIRING HENSON Nothing in Cooney’s original 45-page report to the Carnegie Foundation predicts

Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” Warner Bros.

how closely you’ve watched. And if you’ve never seen it, get your “cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snakelicking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, bloodsucking, dog-kissing, brainless,

“Sesame Street’s” luckiest break, when the nascent production hired a wildly imaginative young puppeteer (and 1960 University of Maryland grad) named Jim Henson, who immediately understood the concept and assembled a team of puppeteers, including Frank Oz and Caroll Spinney.

Together they gave personalities to a group of new friends.

In concept, these creatures represented emotional archetypes: a cranky, antisocial monster who lives in a trash can. A furry maniac obsessed with cookies. A thoughtfully empathetic frog.

And more: a scrawny-armed, hapless-yet-optimistic monster; a pair of companionable roommates whose opposite moods adhere to old vaudeville routines; and a sweetly naive canary who stands 8 feet tall and keeps a nest in the alley. (“I’m a very nervous bird — I nearly laid an egg right here on Sesame Street.”) In test runs, they clearly were the star attractions.

This raised even more concerns from the experts: How would children, who can be so literal, reconcile the commingling of puppets with the show’s human world, the backdrop of which would resemble a busy block of working-class apartments and retail shops on a shabby (yet cheerful) New York street?

Would it make sense?

“This is near,” says Grover, our old friend with the red nose and matted blue fur, standing close to the camera.

Then he runs off in the distance and turns back around.

“And this is FAR!” he screams.

To watch just one old “Sesame Street” clip is to fall giddily down a never-ending YouTube spiral of classic sketches, songs and moments. You remember the feeling of being 3 or 4, when you started to realize you’re you, which is no small thing. It’s an addictive form of time-travel for adults, a flicker of joy with a trace of the melancholy. It’s Proust, covered in felt and feathers. It is near, and it is far.

WATCHING AS A GROWNUP On a recent afternoon’s

From left, “Sesame Street” characters Rosita, Elmo and Cookie Monster. Mark Mann/Washington Post

(expletive)less, hopeless, heartless, fat-(expletive), bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, wormheaded sack of monkey (expletive)” self to the big box store bargain bin. Or you could watch it at 8 p.m. Saturday on AMC.

binge, I watched one “Sesame” musical number from 1975 called “The Subway!” several times in a row. It’s funny and impressively clever — edgy, even, when compared with the show’s present-day tone. “You could lose your purse; or you might lose something worse, on the subway,” sang an old-lady Muppet, squeezed into a subway car with a trenchcoated Kermit the Frog, a testy Bert and too many others.

During one of my visits to the headquarters this fall, Sesame Workshop archivist Conrad Lochner indulged me by bringing out some ancient treasures, dating to the first financially savvy decision by the Children’s Television Workshop and Henson to license the Muppet characters for books, toys, clothing, record players, you name it. Through generations — including the Tickle Me Elmo frenzy of Christmas 1996 — the merchandise helped “Sesame Street” thrive.

Lochner, who grew up in Las Vegas, likes the way children could absorb an idea of New York from the show. “There was something about the way they showed the sort of grittiness of Sesame Street in a positive way that said [to children], ‘Hey, you know, there’s more out there in the world than just your street, and not all streets are the same,’” he says. “It’s that sense of worldliness in your own neighborhood.”

As the show’s 50th anniversary neared, the present-day keepers of “Sesame Street” took time to consider its evolution — where it had been, where it might yet go. Sesame Workshop typically steers clear of nostalgia, focusing on the needs of its present viewers who are just discovering it, usually on smartphones and tablets.

FOREVER YOUNG The Muppets themselves are perpetually 3 to 6 years old; some of them may recall that they once met Lena Horne or Johnny Cash and more than 600 other guest stars, but their institutional memory is spotty by design.

Quite happily, however, they remember the words to their entire songbook. At a weekend of anniversary concerts at Jazz at Lincoln Center in late October, the puppeteers who play Grover (Eric Jacobson), Ernie (Peter Linz), Big Bird (Matt Vogel), Elmo (Ryan Dillon), Abby Cadabby (Leslie Carrara-Rudolph) and others performed some of “Sesame’s” most beloved oldies, including “Ladybugs’ Picnic,” “People in Your Neighborhood” and “Put Down the Duckie.”

The concert audiences included children and sentimental adults, who got the somewhat rare chance to see the usually off-camera “Sesame” puppeteers at their labor-intensive best as they

QUIZ 1. What Christmas carol are Clark and Ellen singing at the beginning of the film, as they head to the woods to cut down a tree?

2. Which sports team’s cap does Clark wear at various points throughout the film?

3. What item does Clark forget to bring on the tree-hunting expedition?

4. What does Clark plan to do with his Christmas bonus?

5. What does Clark receive instead of money for a Christmas bonus?

6. What does Aunt Bethany recite when the others ask her to say grace at the dinner table?

7. How many lights does Clark use on the house?

8. What kind of vehicle does Uncle Eddie drive?

9. What classic holiday movie is Clark’s son Rusty watching on television as the arguing in-laws arrive?

10. What does Clark do to amuse himself while he’s stuck in the attic?

11. What does Clark wear on his head when using his chainsaw for the first time?

12. What year was “Christmas Vacation” released?

13. What type of animal is in the Christmas tree?

14. What are the first names of Clark’s neighbors, played by Nicholas Guest and Julia Louis-Dreyfus?

15. What is the name of Cousin Eddie’s dog?

16. Who accidentally traps Clark in the attic?

17. When Clark finds himself on a runaway sled, what store is at when the sled eventually stops?

18. What corrected Eddie’s daughter’s crossed eyes?

19. What song does the family sing together at the end of the movie?

20. What’s the last line of the movie?

ANSWERS 1. “Deck the Halls”; 2. Chicago Bears; 3. A saw; 4. Install a swimming pool; 5. A yearlong subscription to a Jelly of the Month Club; 6. The Pledge of Allegiance; 7. 25,000; 8. RV; 9. “It’s A Wonderful Life”; 10. He watches home movies; 11. A hockey mask; 12. 1989; 13. A squirrel; 14. Todd and Margo; 15. Snots; 16. Ellen’s mother Frances; 17. Wal-Mart; 18. She got kicked by a mule; 19. The Star Spangled Banner; 20. “I did it.”

C2 - Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019

“Sesame Street’s” Oscar the Grouch. Mark Mann/Washington Post

operated the Muppets, which they hold above their heads, while moving on and off the stage on rolling seats.

What’s most striking is the intimacy of this work (person and puppet), which often requires two puppeteers if a character is using both hands.

In ensemble, the Muppets come fully alive because of the tangle of human limbs and bodies and voices below.

Carmen Osbahr, who was recruited by Henson not long before he died in 1990 at age 53, originated and still plays the character of Rosita, a turquoise Spanish-speaking Muppet who plays guitar.

At a point in the concert where the gang performed their 1971 song “Sing” (“Don’t worry that it’s not good enough for anyone else to hear”), Osbahr rolled out toward the audience, her hands and arms busy with Rosita, and saw an older man fighting back tears.

“Of course, Rosita had to stop and say, ‘I hope you’re not crying because of my singing,’” Osbahr says, “and he said no, and he touched his heart. There’s just so much love for it.”

shorts, in which a mother sends her daughter to the store for “a loaf of bread, a container of milk and a stick of butter.”

In 2019, it becomes a catchy, modern R&B groove about self-assurance — a sublime merging of past and present.

“What show would still be around like this if it hadn’t changed in 50 years?” Ferraro says. “If [‘Sesame Street’] hadn’t changed, it wouldn’t appeal to today’s kids. ... Every year we’ve called it our ‘experimental season,’ constantly trying to find ways to keep it fresh.”

“When people die, they don’t come back,” one of “Sesame Street’s” adults, Susan (played by Loretta Long), explained to Big Bird in 1983, as the show mourned the death of its friendly shopkeeper, Mr. Hooper (played by the late actor Will Lee). Filmed in one take, it was a profound but basic lesson in processing grief.

It reaffirmed a belief at the Workshop that “Sesame” can take on all kinds of crises its young viewers might be facing.

It can be addressed on the air or through specially created content that is made easily available to parents and teachers.

CELEBRATING 50

STILL NEEDED

Christine Ferraro, a longtime “Sesame Street” writer who was tasked with conceiving the show’s 50th anniversary special (which aired on HBO and PBS in November), says she was glad to bring back some seldom-seen old-school characters, such as Roosevelt Franklin and Guy Smiley. But she thought better of just relying on a parade of old clips.

Instead they used “Forrest Gump”-style tricks to insert the host of the special, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, into vintage moments, as if he’d been part of it all along — a way of indicating that all of us, no matter our age, always felt as if we belonged there.

In another scene, pop singer Solange re-creates one of the show’s oldest animated

There are studies (there are always studies) that show the learning gap is as dire as it was back when Cooney and company first pitched their concept, especially wherever there is poverty, inequality or other barriers to learning. But there is also proof, says Sherrie Westin, the Workshop’s president of social impact and philanthropy, that “Sesame Street” can help enormously when it gets to the children who need it.

“Sesame” has helped its viewers cope with divorce, the incarceration of a parent and the deployment of family members in the military. Julia, a Muppet with autism, made her 2017 debut on the TV show to wide acclaim and gratitude from parents. The Workshop reaches children affected by

war or hurricanes and other disasters. In Afghanistan, it showed that girls can and should go to school. In South Africa, an HIV-positive Muppet, Kami, helped lessen the stigma of getting tested for the virus.

But there remains, between Muppets and us, something beyond research data; it even transcends the boundaries of performing arts. It’s an ineffable, lasting and mutual love.

Children rush toward the Muppets wherever they appear to hold their hands, ask them questions and listen raptly.

While I interview Osbahr on a recent afternoon, Rosita makes a cheerful and talkative appearance, rising from the table to meet me. Her Henson eyes lock with mine and we immediately become friends.

One can hardly describe it as anything but life itself.

The work can be isolating, says puppet captain Matt Vogel, best known for playing Big Bird. (He took over the role after years of study with Caroll Spinney, who was Big Bird for more than 40 years.) When he’s fully encased in the feathered costume, Vogel stretches his right arm up high inside the head to control the beak and eyes, while his viewpoint is restricted to a video monitor strapped to his chest. Still, when Big Bird meets and interacts with a child, the mechanics give way to a soulful connection.

On a Make-A-Wish trip to visit a child in California, Vogel says he will never forget the way “her eyes lit up” — as well as the faces of her relatives — when Big Bird stooped low and entered the family’s home.

“Who this character was and what this character meant to them — and how valuable this one little moment was that we had with this child.”

Vogel pauses to consider all the people Big Bird has known and all the people who feel like they know, truly know, Big Bird.

“You can’t do that with something like a cartoon,” he says.

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Food & drink

Saucy shrimp bruschetta works as dinner or a starter

HOLIDAY CHEER!

SHEET PAN SUPPER: Quick and

simple recipe for four

By ELLIE KRIEGER Washington Post

With holiday events pulling my family in multiple directions, and friends more likely to pop in spontaneously to raise a glass, my home kitchen needs to be extra nimble this time of year. It’s recipes like this, which provide crowd-pleasing flavor in the most stress-free, flexible way, that keep me sane through it all.

Adapted from my new book, “Whole in One: Complete, Healthy Meals in a Single Pot, Sheet Pan, or Skillet,” this dish was designed as a fun, nutritionally balanced sheet-pan dinner for four, with p l u m p shrimp and cannellini beans in a savory, garlic-laced tomato sauce piled onto toasted bread and showered with fresh basil.

Served on smaller slices of bread, it doubles as a delightful cocktail nibble for a larger group of guests. It can even accommodate drop-ins, because it can be made up to two days ahead and served at room temperature (which also solves the problem of divergent dinner schedules), or pulled together quickly with pantry and freezer staples. (I always have a bag of shrimp and some good crusty bread in my freezer.

Shrimp thaws fast in a colander under cold running water. And if you don’t happen to have fresh basil, you could substitute parsley, arugula or even dried basil.)

Satisfying, healthful, flexible and with just one pan to clean, it’s definitely a score year-round, but especially so during the hectic holiday season.

SHRIMP AND WHITE BEAN BRUSCHETTA Make ahead: The toasts may be made 2 days ahead and stored in an airtight container.

8 medium or 16 small, 1/2-inch-thick slices of crusty wholegrain bread (8 ounces) 3 tablespoons plus 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons tomato paste 1 teaspoon anchovy paste or 1 mashed-up anchovy 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or more as needed 1 pound medium shrimp (26-30 count), cleaned and deveined 1 1/2 cups no-salt-added canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed 4 medium cloves garlic, very thinly sliced 1 (28-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, cut into thin ribbons (chiffonade) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees with the rack in the middle. Place the bread slices on a sheet pan and brush the tops with 1½ tablespoons oil. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until crisp and browned. Transfer the bread to serving plates.

In a medium bowl, combine 1½tablespoons oil, the tomato paste, anchovy paste, salt and red pepper flakes. Add the shrimp, beans and garlic to the bowl and toss to coat. Stir in the tomatoes with their juices. Spread the mixture evenly on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, stirring once midway through, until bubbling and the shrimp is pink.

Spoon the shrimp mixture generously onto the toasts; drizzle each plate with 1 teaspoon oil, and garnish with basil leaves and additional red pepper flakes, if desired. Serve right away.

You could make a Cosmopolitan your signature cocktail. J.B. Forbes/St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Signature cocktails make a party more fun

By DANIEL NEMAN St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Y

ou’re having a party?

Sounds like fun.

But you don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen making drinks for everyone, like Spencer Tracy in “Father of the Bride.”

You can enjoy your party a lot more if you offer a signature cocktail or two.

The trick to successful signature cocktails is to make them early in the day so you can just pour them from a pitcher during the party. That saves time and makes the evening stress-free, especially if you don’t have much to do at the last minute. Just add a splash of soda to the

drink, perhaps, or maybe a maraschino cherry.

I also like to make signature cocktails with relatively few ingredients. The simpler the combinations, the more likely you are to please your guests. For that same reason, it is best to stick to ingredients that are accessible and popular.

Don’t use mixers with too bold a taste because it will put off most of your guests: no ouzo, no elderflower liqueur, even no horseradish vodka, though I truly love it.

Of course, you could keep it easy by making a pitcher of a popular classic. For instance, you could make Manhattans (two parts of bourbon or rye to one part sweet vermouth, with a dash of Angostura

Guests can squeeze the orange slice into a New Old Fashioned. J.B. Forbes/St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Shrimp and white bean bruschetta is a good choice for a busy day. Tom McCorkle/ Washington Post

bitters per glass, served over ice with a maraschino cherry).

Or you could make martinis (traditionally you would use two parts of gin to one part dry vermouth, though the current taste calls for more gin, with an olive). Or Gibsons (same drink, but with a pickled onion instead of an olive).

A mixture of vodka and dry vermouth, incidentally, is properly called a kangaroo, not a vodka martini. You could also make those.

But I like to give my guests something unusual, something a little unexpected, something of my own. And if it is not specifically of my own, then it might come from the local Queen of the Cocktail, Jen Kubiszewski, who happily offered a couple of her favorites.

Kubiszewski’s New Old-Fashioned is not unlike a regular Old-Fashioned, with one difference. Well, two, but one big one.

Regular Old-Fashioneds mix together bourbon or rye with simple syurp (or a sugar cube) and a muddled slice of orange and a cherry. Kubiszewski’s version cleverly substitutes a simple syrup made from brown sugar. The molasses in the brown sugar serves to heighten the caramel notes in the bourbon or rye.

The New Old-Fashioned also uses unmuddled fruit, both for the purity of flavor and also as a way to save time. If your guests want, they can just squeeze in the orange slice themselves.

Kubiszewski calls her other drink, the Rose Margarita, “my signature poolside cocktail.” It is the perfect way to cool down while lounging in the hot sun, and See COCKTAILS C6

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C4 - Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019

Books & authors

6 takeaways from Melania Trump’s unauthorized biography markers for progress … The likelihood that it will ever have the impact of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign or Nancy Reagan’s Just Say No is slim to none.”

By ELISABETH EGAN New York Times

Where the first lady, Melania Trump, is concerned, theories abound.

From morning-show hosts to Twitter pundits to protest poster artists, everyone has an opinion: Melania Trump is a prisoner in her own home.

Melania Trump rules the roost. Melania Trump is complicit, clueless, estranged from her husband, advises her husband, loves Washington, hates Washington, just wants to be left alone. If the current administration is a Rorschach test, the first lady is a splash of ink across the White House.

A member of the White House press corps focused on the first lady and the Trump family, CNN reporter Kate Bennett may be uniquely qualified to weigh in. Now she shares her own theories in an unauthorized biography, “Free, Melania,” which comes out this week.

The book does not include an explanation of the comma in its title, nor any discussion of the Trumps’ 13-year-old son, Barron, except as a factor in his mother’s decisionmaking. (In an author’s note, Bennett writes, “I don’t believe being born to public figures should render a child fair game for public scrutiny.”) But “Free, Melania” does provide insight into the first lady’s life, opinions and relationships (she is well liked by her staffers, with Bennett describing the East Wing as “the White House’s tightest ship”). Here are six of Bennett’s revelations.

THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES WHEN IT COMES TO THE FIRST LADY’S CLOTHING. THIS INCLUDES OUTERWEAR. “Having covered her for as long as I have, each thing she does has meaning to it, even the clothing she wears,” Bennett writes.

First there was the pink pussy-bow blouse Melania Trump wore to an October 2016 debate after the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape where her husband bragged about grabbing women’s genitals. Then there was the white pantsuit at the 2018 State of the Union (Bennett writes, “I have a theory that when the Trumps are unhappy with each other, Melania wears menswear — because Trump notoriously likes to see women in tight, short, ubersexy and feminine dresses”); and the eye-catching millinery — the

MELANIA TRUMP’S HOSPITAL STAY WAS NO JOKE According to a trusted source, Bennett writes, “Melania’s medical issue was indeed not minor — and that an embolization of a growth of some sort, small or large, when attached to the kidney, as hers might have been, made for a dangerous and complicated procedure.”

Bennett adds: “Couple that with the amount of pain she had apparently been in, according to close friends, and how long she had been in pain prior to the surgery, and there was concern that if her recuperation was not careful and extended, her type of condition could possibly result in the loss of her kidney.”

MELANIA TRUMP AND KAREN PENCE ARE NOT CLOSE

colonial-style pith helmet in Nairobi, the white hat in England.

But no single item of clothing has inspired more discussion than the $39 army-green Zara parka Melania Trump wore on a June 2018 trip to the border — the one with the words “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” printed on the back. There have been many takes, but Bennett’s is that it was directed at the president’s daughter, Ivanka. “I believed, and still do, that the jacket was a facetious jab at Ivanka and her near-constant attempts to attach herself for positive administration talking points,” Bennett writes.

ABOUT THAT RELATIONSHIP WITH IVANKA ...

“Cordial, not close,” is how it was described to Bennett by “someone

who has spent ample time with both women.” Bennett takes issue with the way, early on in the administration, Melania Trump was labeled by the media as a “vapid-model trophy wife” while Ivanka got to be a “savvy career mom.”

Bennett writes that Ivanka’s international travel rankles her stepmother: “The trips were, according to a source, too close for comfort for Melania, who thought Ivanka was invading her turf.”

‘BE BEST’ ISN’T REALLY A THING Melania Trump unveiled her childfocused kindness campaign, “Be Best,” over a year ago. Here is Bennett’s assessment of the first lady’s signature initiative: “To this day it has no publicly stated framework, timeline or

At one point Bennett was sitting in the back section of a C-32 military jet that Melania Trump and Karen Pence, Vice President Mike Pence’s wife, were also taking. From that vantage, Bennett remembers “watching someone who looked a lot like Karen Pence, moving from the section ahead of ours, typically where aide and advance teams sit, and head toward the back lavatory.”

Melania Trump did not bring Karen Pence into her spacious cabin, nor did she remove her 4-inch heels when the two landed in Texas; as a result, the first lady towered “almost comically” over the second lady. (Melania Trump usually wears a low heel or flat when walking or being photographed with someone of modest stature.)

THE FIRST LADY HAS A ROOM OF HER OWN AT THE WHITE HOUSE While the president sleeps in the master bedroom on the second level of the White House residence — he requested a lock for his door — Melania Trump stays on the third floor, in the two-room space formerly occupied

by Michelle Obama’s mother, Marian Robinson, Bennett reports.

Melania Trump also has a “glam room,” where she does her hair and makeup, and a private gym with a Pilates machine.

NOTEWORTHY PAPERBACKS Summaries from The New York Times Book Review:

PRESIDENTS OF WAR

BY MICHAEL BESCHLOSS. (B/D/W/Y, $20.) This sweeping look at presidents who led the United States through military conflict opens with a reluctant James Madison during the War of 1812 and closes with Lyndon Johnson facing defeat in Vietnam. Times reviewer Jay Winik called it “a superb and important book.”

SOLITARY: UNBROKEN

BY FOUR DECADES IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. MY STORY OF TRANSFORMATION AND HOPE

By Albert Woodfox.

(Grove, $18.)

A National Book Award finalist, this memoir is the record of 40 years that Woodfox spent in solitary confinement, locked down for 23 hours a day in a 6-by-9-foot cell. Thomas Chatterton Williams, writing in The Times, praised the “ennobling virtue” that “lifts the book above mere advocacy,” placing it “in the realm of stoic philosophy.”

OUR HOMESICK SONGS

By Emma Hooper. (Simon & Schuster, $16.) In Hooper’s second novel, a Canadian family tries to stick it out in their semi-abandoned fishing village after the fish are all gone, and their 11-year-old son becomes determined to learn where the fish went. “The town is filled with magic, and so is Hooper’s writing,” Times reviewer Elena Sheppard wrote.

DEATH IS HARD WORK

By Khaled Khalifa. Translated by Leri Price. (Picador, $17.) Set during Syria’s current war, Khalifa’s fifth novel, a National Book Award finalist, tells the story of three siblings who honor their father’s request to be buried in his hometown. But transporting the body means navigating a war zone and their own conflicts. “Khalifa has, intentionally or not,” laid claim to “the mantle of Faulkner’s successor,” Elliot Ackerman wrote in The Times.

RESIDUE

By Michael McGarrity. (Norton, $15.95.) In McGarrity’s 13th “Kevin Kerney” police procedural, the former New Mexico police chief becomes the prime suspect in the murder of an ex-girlfriend when her bones are discovered 45 years after her disappearance. Times crime columnist Marilyn Stasio has praised the series and McGarrity’s “deeply cunning mind.”

No single item of clothing has inspired more discussion than the $39 army-green Zara parka Melania Trump wore in June 2018. New York Times

ANTHONY POWELL: DANCING TO THE MUSIC OF TIME Tribune News Service

Here are the best-sellers for the week that ended Saturday, Nov. 23, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide, powered by NPD BookScan.

HARDCOVER FICTION 1. Strange Planet. Nathan W. Pyle.

Morrow Gift 2. A Minute to Midnight. David Baldacci.

Grand Central 3. The Guardians. John Grisham.

Doubleday 4. Twisted Twenty-Six. Janet Evanovich.

Putnam 5. Blue Moon. Lee Child. Delacorte 6. Tom Clancy: Code of Honor. Marc

Publisher’s Weekly best-sellers Cameron. Putnam 7. The Dutch House. Ann Patchett. Harper 8. The Water Dancer. Ta-Nehisi Coates.

One World 9. The Night Fire. Michael Connelly. Little, Brown 10. The Institute. Stephen King. Scribner

HARDCOVER NONFICTION 1. A Warning. Anonymous. Twelve 2. Guinness World Records 2020.

Guinness World Records 3. Triggered. Donald Trump Jr. Center Street

4. The Pioneer Woman Cooks: The New Frontier. Ree Drummond. Morrow 5. Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice. Michelle Obama.

Clarkson Potter 6. Me. Elton John. Holt 7. Eberron. Wizards of the Coast 8. Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers.

Brian Kilmeade. Sentinel 9. Finding Chika. Mitch Albom. Harper 10. Talking to Strangers. Malcolm Gladwell. Little, Brown

MASS MARKET 1. The House Next Door. James Patterson.

Grand Central 2. You Don’t Own Me. Clark/Burke. Pocket 3. Tom Clancy: Oath of Office. Marc Cameron. Berkley 4. All Fired Up. Lori Foster. HQN 5. Wyoming Heart. Diana Palmer. HQN 6. Leopard’s Wrath. Christine Feehan.

Berkley 7. Sea of Greed. Cussler/Brown. Putnam 8. Beauchamp Hall. Danielle Steel. Dell 9. Christmas With You. Nora Roberts.

Silhouette 10. Season of Love. Debbie Macomber.

Mira

TRADE PAPERBACK 1. Every Breath. Nicholas Sparks. Grand Central 2. The Great Alone. Kristin Hannah. Griffin 3. The Chef. Patterson/DiLallo. Grand Central 4. The Overstory. Richard Powers. Norton 5. Run Away. Harlan Coben. Grand Central 6. The Woman in the Window. A.J. Finn.

Morrow 7. Before We Were Yours. Lisa Wingate.

Ballantine 8. Little Fires Everywhere. Celeste Ng. Penguin Books 9. The Irishman (movie tie-in). Charles Brandt. Steerforth 10. Redemption. David Baldacci. Grand Central

By Hilary Spurling. (Vintage, $17.)

This biography of the critic, editor and author of the highly regarded 12-volume novel of bohemian and upperclass life in early- and mid20th-century England is also an in-depth look at London’s literary scene. Times reviewer Alan Riding wrote that Spurling’s “sympathetic portrait” of Powell will “introduce him and his chefd’oeuvre to a new audience.”

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Puzzles Last week’s puzzle answers

Answers on C6

Answers on C6

Answers Next Week

Horoscope

Goren bridge WITH BOB JONES ©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

PLAN B North-South vulnerable, South deals NORTH ♠4 ♥ K643 ♦ 965 ♣ A Q J 10 9 WEST EAST ♠ 10 ♠Q9732 ♥ AJ82 ♥ Q 10 7 5 ♦ Q 10 ♦ J72 ♣876432 ♣5 SOUTH ♠AKJ865 ♥9 ♦ AK843 ♣K The bidding: SOUTH 1♠ 3♦ 4♠

WEST NORTH Pass 1NT Pass 3NT All pass

EAST Pass Pass

Opening lead: Seven of ♣ Playing in a match-point game, South had to decide whether to bid four diamonds or four spades at his third turn. He decided to go for the higher scoring contract and bid four spades.

South was happy to see the opening club lead because it gave

him an opportunity to discard his heart loser, or so he thought. He planned to take the spade finesse right after that. He rose with dummy’s ace of clubs, gobbling up his own king, and continued with the queen of clubs to shed his heart.

When East ruffed the second club, South over-ruffed and now had to play trumps from his hand. He cashed the ace and king and got more bad news. It looked like he had two trump losers to go with one heart and at least one diamond. Can you see a ray of hope?

It was a long shot, but it was his only shot. South cashed the ace and king of diamonds, relieved that the suit split 3-2, and led his heart. He was in luck when West produced the ace. Having only hearts and clubs remaining, West had to put dummy on lead. South could run dummy’s clubs and over-ruff East should East ruff in at some point, thereby holding his trump losers to one. Should East never ruff, South would be able to discard all three of his remaining diamonds. The defenders were helpless. Well done!

(Bob Jones welcomes readers’ responses sent in care of this newspaper or to Tribune Content Agency, LLC., 16650 Westgrove Dr., Suite 175, Addison, TX 75001.

E-mail: tcaeditors@tribpub.com)

By Stella Wilder Born today, you know how to make the most of almost every kind of opportunity, from the obvious to the obscure, from those that present themselves outright to those for which you have to dig. You enjoy experimenting with different methods, and you achieve your desired ends in a variety of different ways; you are not one to be restricted by what you have done in the past, and you are always looking forward to doing things in new and exciting ways. You never shrink from a challenge, but face it head-on.

You may at times be considered rather distant or aloof by friends and acquaintances, because like so many Sagittarians, you choose to keep many things about yourself under wraps. Those closest to you, however, can rest assured that you are your true self with them at all times.

Also born on this date are: Nostradamus, poet and prophet; Patty Duke, actress; Spike Jones, bandleader; Charlie Rich, singer and songwriter; Shirley Jackson, author; Tycho Brahe, pioneer astronomer; James H. Doolittle, aviator and war hero.

To see what is in store for you tomorrow, find your birthday and read the corresponding paragraph. Let your birthday star be your daily guide.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15 SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) — You’ve been holding yourself back for reasons that are as yet unclear to you — but today you can break through and move forward again!

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) — Though nothing is guaranteed, all signs point to a major event today that will put you in a new position professionally.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) — You can demonstrate your native cleverness today in a way that not even you have anticipated. You may be in line for advancement.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) — You can exploit a certain situation to gain the advantage over someone who has been challenging you in one or two questionable ways.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) — Your ability to see all sides of an issue will not do you much good today if you react emotionally to a certain situation. Be objective!

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) — You’ll be called upon today to do what no one else can — and your success will be the result of instinct and intellect working together.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) — You’ll be going against the current throughout much of the day, but you can still make progress of a kind that is least expected by you.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) — Watch what happens around you today in order to avoid a run-in that you cannot afford to have at this time. Navigation is tricky during the p.m.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) — If it’s comfort you’re after, whether physical or emotional, you’re going to have to work for it. Ultimately, the day ends on a satisfactory note.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) — You’re eager for an outlet for your increasing physical energy — and you’re likely to find it working with a friend who knows what you’re about.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) — Ask for help and you can have it today — and perhaps more than you know what to do with. The time is right for cooperation of all kinds.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) — Others may be drifting into your orbit today, and the reason becomes clear to you very quickly. You can provide what is universally needed.

COPYRIGHT 2019 UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.

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COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA

C6 - Saturday - Sunday, December 14-15, 2019

Avoid a potluck faux pas with these etiquette tips

By JURA KONCIUS Washington Post

Spaghetti is served with light meatballs. Linda Gassenheimer/Tribune News Service

Spaghetti and meatballs even better 2nd day

By LINDA GASSENHEIMER Tribune News Service

HELPFUL HINTS

Tasty, light meatballs in a rich pasta sauce are an American favorite. The meatballs in this recipe are made with bread soaked in water and squeezed dry. This makes them very light and fluffy.

The meatballs taste even better the second day. If you have time, make extra and serve them for another quick dinner. Complete the meal with a washed ready-to-eat Italian style salad.

n Any type of onion can

SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS 2 slices whole wheat bread ½ pound lean ground sirloin 2 medium garlic cloves, crushed 8 fresh sage leaves, chopped (or 1 teaspoon dried sage) ½ cup frozen chopped onion 2 tablespoons raisins 1 large egg Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon olive oil ¾ cup reduced-sodium pasta sauce ¾ cup water (for sauce) ¼ pound spaghetti Soak the bread in 1 cup water until soft. Combine ground sirloin, garlic, sage, onion, raisins and egg in a bowl or food processor. Remove bread from water and squeeze out excess water. Blend into meat mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Form into balls about

be used instead of frozen chopped onion. n A quick way to chop sage is to snip the leaves with a scissors. n A food processor can be used to combine the ingredients. Try not to over process them. The meat will become too compact. n Use a flat spatula to turn the meatballs. A spoon might break the meatballs.

2½-inches in diameter. It should make 4 meatballs.

Heat olive oil in a small nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the meatballs on all sides, about 5 minutes. Mix the pasta sauce and water together. Lower the heat to medium and add the sauce. Simmer gently 10 minutes, carefully turning the meatballs once.

While meatballs simmer, add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook 9 minutes or according to package instructions. Drain and divide between 2 dinner plates. Serve meatballs and sauce over the spaghetti.

Yield 2 servings.

Per serving: 630 calories (26% from fat), 18.3 g fat (4.8 g saturated, 7.1 g monounsaturated), 167 mg cholesterol, 39.1 g protein, 74.6 g carbohydrates, 6.7 g fiber, 212 mg sodium.

Anyone who has invited a group of people over for a meal understands that doing it by yourself can be a heavy lift.

A potluck party allows friends and family to share the load.

“During the holidays especially, a potluck takes some of the pressure off a host and makes it easier for them to celebrate with the people they want to hang out with,” says Shira Bocar, editor at large, food and entertaining at Martha Stewart Living.

But a potluck faux pas could lead to a frazzled host, angry guests and a trashed kitchen.

Although these gatherings are by nature casual affairs, that doesn’t mean there isn’t an unwritten code of proper behavior in the world of seven-layer salads and zesty meatballs. We asked food and entertaining insiders for their do’s and don’ts. n Do arrive with your dish ready to serve.

Walk in with your chilled shrimp or hot chili ready to put on the table, without having to be heated or chilled.

Hosts are usually busy, and squeezing another item into the oven may be annoying or even impossible. “If I’m a guest at a potluck I try to steer clear of the kitchen area and bring things that are delicious at room temperature,” says Bocar, adding that salads are always welcome on calorieladen tables. “If I’m doing brownies, I always cut them at my house and bring them ready to eat.”

There are plenty of great coolers and thermal bags that can keep your food cold or warm on the way to a potluck.

Seeing the need for a goodlooking potluck carrier, Deb Johns, chief creative officer of Scout Bags, created Hot Date, a casserole tote that keeps a 13-by-9-inch pan warm or chilled for several hours.

And don’t forget to bring a hot pad, a leftovers container and serving utensils for your

The Scout “Hot Date” casserole carrier was designed to safely carry foods, keeping them either hot or cold. The carrier costs $34.50 at www.scoutbags.com/shop-all/hot-date. Scout

dish; your host or hostess may not have eight serving spoons. n Do be considerate of others’ dietary restrictions.

It’s nice to bring an index card with the name of your dish and possibly the recipe, marking clearly whether it is vegan or gluten-free or whatever. Johns says posting a list of ingredients will save you from answering questions about your dish all night. n Don’t leave dirty dishes.

It’s so much nicer to take home a clean platter than one caked with the remnants of chicken parm. But Bocar doesn’t make a big deal about

washing her casserole dish or platter; she usually just quietly takes it away. “Just give it a quick rinse and take it home to finish cleaning it,” she says, so you’re not crowding the kitchen.

Alternately, Johns suggests having multiple guests get together at the end of a potluck to wash dishes as a team. Then everyone goes home with a clean plate and the host isn’t left with a dirty kitchen. “It won’t take long, but everybody wins,” Johns says. Above all, don’t leave your dish there and rely on your host to scrub it and return it to you. That is

Cocktails

12 slices orange

From C3

it’s even pink. Kubiszewski said, “Pink makes everything better.”

The color comes from rosé, an often disdained but delicious summertime wine that is undergoing a resurgence.

The other ingredients are three-quarters of a margarita: tequila, lime juice and simple syrup (made from granulated sugar this time).

The rose makes it lighter than an ordinary margarita, and more festive. It’s just delightful.

The first signature cocktail I ever created was called the Southside Strangler, named for the brutal serial killer who terrorized my neighborhood in Richmond, Va. The drink itself is infinitely more felicitous than its namesake.

The Southside Strangler

really rude. n Do keep it classy.

How often have you seen that enormous Costco black plastic platter of turkey rollups at a potluck? The food may be passable for an office party, but for any other gathering, if you can’t cook something yourself, at least rearrange the sandwiches on a nicer platter on top of some lettuce leaves. If you are going to party with a group of foodies at someone’s home, take a stab at making something at least semi-homemade, and arrange it on a nice serving dish. Ask your host in advance how many people are coming, but bring a little more.

The worst thing is to run out of food, Johns says. n Do communicate your plans in advance.

Hosts should indicate clearly what dishes they are making and what else they need and for how many. “If you’re a guest, contact the host immediately and find out if there is an online sign-up list. Sign up right away,” says Jessica Hylton Leckie, who pens the blog Jessica in the Kitchen from Jamaica and Florida. It’s considerate so the host can plan out the evening. n Don’t pig out.

You may love the creamy mac and cheese, but don’t keep going back and taking more before others have had a chance to dig in. “It’s rude to corner an entire dish for yourself,” Leckie says. “Don’t show up at a party starving; other people want to taste the food, too.” n Do acknowledge your host.

Even if many people are contributing to the gathering, Johns says it’s important to bring the host something special. “Don’t just show up with your food item. They have done a lot of work to make the event happen,” Johns says. She also says its polite to give them the right of first refusal on the leftover pumpkin cheesecake in your pie pan.

A Grable All photos by J.B. Forbes/ St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A Rose Margarita

A Southside Strangler

A New Old Fashioned i

is also a summertime drink — though it’s good all year — because it is made with fresh juice from an orange and a grapefruit. The fruit theme continues to a lesser extent with lemon vodka and a bit of orange liqueur, such as Cointreau. All you need to finish it is a cherry, to make it pretty.

With all that fruit, you can tell your guests that it’s healthy.

If you buy lemon vodka for a Southside Stranger, you may as well go ahead and use it in a Cosmopolitan, too. Cosmos were inescapable in the late 1990s due to their prevalence on the show “Sex and the City,” but that was 20 years ago. I say it’s time to bring them back as

a signature drink, especially because I happen to make the best Cosmos in the world.

I can’t take credit for them, though. The version I make was conjured by the genial genius Derek Watridge, who lives in Annapolis, Md. After considerable trial and error, Watridge came up with the perfect proportion of ingredients — and the right brands to use, too. If you serve it at a party, I promise your guests will be pleased.

The next signature cocktail is one that I made up — except that I just looked it up and it turns out to already exist. The existing version is called a gin sour, but I had never heard of a gin sour until now. It also turns out to be a Tom Collins without any soda water and, unfortunately, I’ve heard of a Tom Collins.

So the cocktail, which I am calling an Unoriginal Idea, is not my own creation at all.

But it is still light and refreshing and utterly charming. How can it not be? It is a simple combination of gin, lemon juice and superfine sugar.

My final signature drink recommendation is named for one of St. Louis’ classiest icons.

I call it the Grable, as in Betty.

It combines two of my favorite liquors, bourbon and Grand Marnier. That’s a little heavy, so I lighten it up with a healthy splash of soda water.

It’s sophistication in a glass.

It’s all you need to take a gathering and turn it into a party.

cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. To serve, pour over ice in an old-fashioned glass, fill with soda water and add a cherry.

UNORIGINAL IDEA

1 bottle rose 1 cup tequila 1 cup lime juice, preferably fresh-squeezed 1 ½ cups simple syrup, see note Note: To make simple syrup, mix 1 ½ cups granulated sugar and 1½ cups water in a small pot and heat to a boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Mix wine, tequila, lime juice and simple syrup in a pitcher, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. To serve, pour into a salt-rimmed margarita glass and garnish with a wedge of lime.

Yield: 16 servings 1 (750 ml) bottle gin 1 cup lemon juice, preferably freshsqueezed 1 cup superfine sugar, see note Note: To make superfine sugar, place granulated sugar in a blender and blend until powdery, about 10 seconds.

Can be stored indefinitely in an airtight container.

Mix together gin, lemon juice and superfine sugar in a pitcher. Refrigerate before serving or serve over ice.

GRABLE Yield: 16 servings

ROSE MARGARITA Yield: 8 servings

NEW OLD-FASHIONED

Note: To make simple syrup, mix equal parts sugar and water in a small pot and heat to a boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved.

For this recipe, brown sugar works best. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Mix together rye or bourbon, simple syrup, water and bitters in a pitcher; stir until well combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

To serve, pour a generous 2 ounces (¼ cup) mixture over ice and garnish with cherry and orange slice.

SOUTHSIDE STRANGLER Yield: 16 servings 1 (750 ml) bottle lemon (or citron) vodka 3 cups orange juice, preferably freshsqueezed 2 cups grapefruit juice, preferably freshsqueezed 1 cup Cointreau or other orange-flavored liqueur 16 maraschino cherries Mix together the vodka, orange juice, grapefruit juice and Cointreau in a pitcher, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. To serve, pour over ice and garnish with a cherry.

COSMOPOLITAN Yield: 16 servings 1 (750 ml) bottle Absolut citron (lemon) vodka 1 ½ cups Cointreau 2 cups cranberry juice 2 cups Rose’s Lime Juice 16 lemon rind twists

Yield: 12 servings 1 (750 ml) bottle bourbon 1 ½ cups Grand Marnier Soda water 16 maraschino cherries Mix together bourbon and Grand Marnier in a pitcher,

1 (750 ml) bottle rye or bourbon 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) simple syrup, see note ½ cup water 12 dashes Angostura bitters 12 maraschino cherries

Combine vodka, Cointreau, cranberry juice and Rose’s Lime Juice in a pitcher. Stir well and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate. To serve, pour over ice and garnish with a twist.