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HOMES EVERY WEEK! Adirondack Journal / News Enterprise
August 24, 2019
suncommunitynews.com
• EDITION •
State appeals trail ruling
WCS votes to hire resource officers School board reverses course
Supervisors angered by courts claiming saplings as ‘timber’
By Thom Randall CORRESPONDENT
WARRENSBURG | Armed officers will soon be on duty in the local elementary and high schools, according to a decision reached last week by the Warrensburg Central School District Board of Education.
By Tim Rowland STAFF WRITER
NORTH HUDSON | New York State will appeal a controversial court decision that counts saplings as “timber” and blocks further construction of a multi-use connector trail serving five east/central Adirondack towns. The state and the towns are counting heavily on the network — 11 trails in all, spanning 27 miles — to bolster the economies of the towns, which have seen a drop-off in their traditional industries. The state recently completed a $25 million campground in North Hudson, right off Interstate 87, that was supposed to be a jumping off point for snowmobilers, equestrians and bicyclists to access four towns further into the interior of the park, including Minerva, Newcomb, Indian Lake and Long Lake. But the environmental group Protect the Adirondacks sued, saying the plan would cut too many trees to be acceptable under the Forever Wild provision of See RULING » pg. 3
The vote reverses decisions by the board in both April and May rejecting the proposed initiative which sparked controversy among parents of local students, school employees and district administrators. The school board voted 5-2 on Aug. 12 to authorize Superintendent of Schools John Goralski to contract with the Warren County Sheriff ’s Office to employ up to two school resource officers at an annual cost of $75,000 — if qualified personnel are available, Goralski said following the vote. Goralski confirmed this week that the district’s 2019-2020 budget has an allocation for the expenditure.
Family time: A woman visiting northern Warren County recently with her family reads a story to her children at the Town of Johnsburg Library in North Creek
See OFFICERS » pg.2
Photo by Thom Randall
Author, environmentalist arrested after rally By Thom Randall
treatment of immigrants being held in detention centers on the nation’s southern border.
CORRESPONDENT
The state’s plan to connect Frontier Town with the Adirondack Park interior was put on hold after a court ruled that connecting trails would destroy too many trees.
The pivot by the board was partially due to the school board’s realignment in May’s election. School board member Elaine Cowin, who voted against the proposal this spring, lost her board seat to Darren Duell, who supported hiring the officers and voted for the
GLENS FALLS | Internationally renowned environmental author and climate-change activist Bill McKibben spent a few hours shackled to a steel bench in Glens Falls Police station’s basement holding cell as the result of a sit-in protest Aug. 8 at the location of U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik’s local office. This act of civil disobedience by McKibben and five other people followed a rally of about 75 people in downtown Glens Falls protesting the
The group told a staff member in Stefanik’s Warren Street office that they wanted to talk with the Congresswoman about immigration policy — and when the staffer said she wasn’t available and the office was closing, police were called, and McKibben and the other five protesters were arrested by a police detective. McKibben, a part-time resident of the Town of Johnsburg, described the experience in a phone interview Aug. 17. See ARREST » pg.2
Photo by Tim Rowland
Bill McKibben is shown here during a speaking engagement in 2014. McKibben was arrested Aug. 8 as a result of a sit-in protest at Rep. Elise Stefanik’s Glens Falls office. Photo by Steve Liptay, Middlebury College
Minerva Volunteer Squad looks at future options STAFF WRITER
MINERVA | Around 60 people gathered at the Minerva Town Hall and Senior Center Aug. 13 to listen to propositions to change the current volunteer EMS and fire squad system that serves the ever-aging population of Minerva and surrounding Adirondack communities. Three proposals were brought before the Minerva Town Board members - and the wider community – to offer new avenues for the 63-year-running volunteer rescue squad that has encountered complaints of dropped calls, as member
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Minerva has seen a 53 percent increase in call volume over the period of years audited between 2014 and 2016. That percentage may have grown as well. The town board encouraged the squad to look into proposals but highly stipulated that
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Chad Haneman, fire officer and fire and EMS board member, expressed that the “squad has been recognized throughout the years” and are “dedicated volunteers” but that, “increasing call volume, increased training demands, and decline of volunteers has caused the squad to struggle with meeting the demand of 24� 7 care with the volunteers we do have.”
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For the last two years, the Minerva volunteer EMS has been in a mutual aid program with the town of Johnsburg EMS; its members are a paid crew with a current billing practice. Volunteerism in rescue and emergency services has been seeing a decline steadily over the years, and Minerva is not the first to face the crisis; it’s one that is facing communities nationwide.
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“We’ve come to a crossroads to continue as an independent fire and EMS squad,” David LaBar, Minerva councilman, said opening the meeting. “Our options are contract for services with Essex County, join forces with another squad, or another proposal.”
week, an audience member said. Many of the volunteer staff in the Minerva squad also hold paid EMS and rescue positions in surrounding towns, such as Johnsburg and Newcomb.
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