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Saturday,Ê November 19, 2016
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www.SunCommunityNews.com
In SPORTS | pg. 15
Seton soars
Strong end to cross country season
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In NEWS | pg. 2
Spending plans passed for 2017
Schuyler Falls, Dannemora approve budgets
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In NEWS | pg. 3
Updating our playgrounds
Several municipalities make improvements
City infrastructure repair on tap for 2017
Lawmakers seek $3 million federal grant to address road issues Elizabeth Izzo
elizabeth@suncommunitynews.com
PLATTSBURGH — City lawmakers continued to hammer out plans for infrastructure improvement in the Lake Country Village area of the New Base last Thursday. Kevin Farrigan, city engineer, appeared before the council to present a pathway toward repair that included a $3 million federal grant with a matching component. The possible $3 million — $6 million, after the city matches the grant — would be used for the first three years of a fiveyear plan to repair water lines and roads in the area.
LocalÊ tree
The new plan would prioritize water main repair based on break history, said Farrigan, with road repairs being carried out according to a report that rates problem areas on a threetier scale. Engineers would likely hone in on areas with deteriorating asbestos-cement pipes, which the city inherited when the air force turned over the base, according to Farrigan. The overall cost of the project is based on conservative numbers, according to Farrigan, who said that there are many factors that could contribute to repair costs rising or falling, citing current survey maps as an issue. “Since the Air Force turned [the New Base] over, our survey maps have always been questionable,” said Farrigan. “There are a lot of unknowns,” he said. “We really have to
Morrisonville hep C testing clinic going mobile
Covel’s Tree Farm sends 40-footer off to Philadelphia for Christmas tree lighting
>> See Christmas Tree | pg. 11
Photo by Elizabeth Izzo
>> See City Infrastructure | pg. 18
goingÊ toÊ Philly
PERU — A tree from a local farm is on its way to be a Christmas attraction in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Last week, Covel’s Tree Farm in Peru cut down and shipped off a Colorado blue spruce to the City of Brotherly Love, Teah where it will adorn the Blue Cross RiverDowling Rink. Writer “It’s an unique thing to have one of our trees being sent all the way to Philadelphia,” said Owner Don Covel. “It’s unreal.” The 40-foot blue spruce was planted in 1968. “We don’t normally produce that big of a tree,” he said. “It was a challenge to maintain that caliber of height.” Normally, the farm grows trees up to 26-feet tall. Officials from the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation, the agency that brokered the sale, Covel said, picked out that specific tree because of its green hue. The Peru tree is going to be featured during one of the city’s biggest events – Blue Cross RiverRink Winterfest – on Dec. 2 with the fourth annual tree lighting ceremony. “I wish I could go see it all lit up and decorated,” he said. “But we need to get
Maine Road will be the first to receive repair in 2017.
American Legion Post 1619 planning on testing Vietnam-era veterans from Franklin County down to NYC By Teah Dowling
teah@suncommunitynews.com
Last week, Covel’s Tree Farm in Peru cut down and shipped off this 40foot Colorado blue spruce to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where it will be utilized as a Christmas attraction. Photo by Teah Dowling
MORRISONVILLE — Following a series of successful clinics facilitated this year to test Vietnam veterans for hepatitis C, the innovative local program now plans to expand past its Clinton County footprint. Earlier this month, 201 vets from the Vietnam War era were tested for hepatitis C at the American Legion Post 1619 in Morrisonville. That clinic joined the first-ever free clinic earlier this year that tested 401 veterans. Based on that success, the post now wants to expand the program to other municipalities across the state. “The fact that we’re going to other places is quite certain,” said Post 1619 Medical Officer Danny Kaifetz. “We would be happy to go wherever people need us.” As part of the post’s statewide awareness campaign, which started earlier this year, the goal is to get all Vietnam-era veterans tested for the blood-borne virus, the spread of which Kaifetz believes was expedited by the use of jet guns designed >> See Hep C Testing | pg. 13