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Saturday,ÊS eptemberÊ12,Ê2015
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In ARTS | pg. 2
He is The Voice
Central NY native to sing in Lk. George
www.SunCommunityNews.com
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In OPINION | pg. 6
Risks outweigh rewards when it comes to train tanker plan
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In SPORTS | pg. 12
Burgers score upset Defeat Rye Neck on gridiron
Lotus Renewables scrapped, CEO ‘rethinking’ local strategy By Ryan Edwards
ryan@suncommunitynews.com
WARRENSBURG — In response to resistance from Thurman and Warrensburg residents, Lotus Group CEO Ash Anand announced last week he and his team have opted to retract their plan to bring a ‘renewable energy plant’ to the town of Thurman. Anand said he was disheartened by the protests to his project, which he said would create around 30 local jobs. He currently employs around 70 people locally, he said. “It almost feels like if I do it, I am fighting someone to do something good,” he said at a press conference on Monday.
Anand said the plant was intended to create an “alternate, affordable energy source” by producing wood pellets from mostly compacted sawdust and other industrial waste. The plant, he said, would alleviate the yearly struggle local residents face in disposing of brush and other biodegradable waste while decreasing the average heating costs by a third. Lotus Renewables, he continued, would have a “no-export policy” for its product. Had the project been seen through to completion, the wood pellets would have been made locally, by local employees, to benefit local residents, he said. After announcing his plan to build the plant in January, Anand and his team reached out to environmental groups and land surveyors in the following months, finally deciding to
purchase a 28-acre plot of land on Mud Street in Thurman after considering properties in Warrensburg and Chestertown. LOCAL CONCERN When surrounding homeowners received a Major Project Notice from the Adirondack Park Agency detailing Anand’s plans for the property — which include a 10,00 square foot metal building, related access roads, a parking lot and wastewater facility — the Lotus Group received a number of complaints from residents of both Thurman and Warrensburg protesting the plant. >> Story Continued | pg. 10
Rum Runners Weekend
New events set in C-town By Thom Randall
thom@suncommunitynews.com
Local citizens portraying gangsters and federal agents pose for a photograph in downtown Chestertown during Rum-Runners’ Weekend 2014. This year’s expanded edition of the award-winning event, set for Sept. 17 through Sept. 19, features new activities, a mini-carnival, and a Casino Night on Thursday. Photo by Brandon Himoff
CHESTERTOWN — Rum-Runners’ Weekend, an annual event in northern Warren County which celebrates the exuberance and frivolity of the Roaring Twenties, is returning next week with new attractions. This year’s third edition is expanded to three days — Thursday Sept. 17 through Saturday Sept. 19 — in order to include a new Casino Night along with its established events that have won the hearts of people from near and far. Rum-Runners Weekend won a first-place Best Community Event award last year from the Adirondack Park
Agency, which recognized its impact on the local economy, its celebration of local history, and how the event had been embraced by people from a wide region. The weekend features a Speak-Easy Night, a staged bootlegger car chase, spirited parties at local restaurants and taverns, a vaudeville show in a local vintage theater, a baseball competition with a historic flair, as well as a Charleston dance contest. The new Casino Night is set for 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday in the former Chestertown fire hall at 20 Church St., now the headquarters of McMillen Construction. People who arrive at the door will be escorted
through the darkness to the gambling action — reflecting the secrecy prevailing during the Prohibition era. A $20 entrance fee buys each participant a pile of mock greenbacks for betting on black jack, roulette, a money wheel and craps games. >> Story Continued | pg. 9