ECRWSS PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID DENTON PUBLICATIONS/ NEW MARKET PRESS PO Box 338 Elizabethtown NY 12932 Postal Patron
Saturday,ÊM ayÊ14,Ê2016
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In NEWS | pg. 3
American Pickers
may be visiting a community near you!
www.SunCommunityNews.com
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In OPINION | pg. 6
Cuisine Trail
is a good idea for the region
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In ARTS | pg. 9
Quatroche and Berggren on tap Local poets to perform at Bluseed Studios
Lawmakers debate Frontier Town safety risks As former wild west theme park continues to deteriorate, lawmakers authorize measures to discourage trespassing By Pete DeMola
pete@suncommunitynews.com
ELIZABETHTOWN — Essex County lawmakers are taking steps to cordon off Frontier Town, which lawmakers say presents a public safety hazard. On Monday, the Essex County Board of Supervisors resolved to have the county’s code enforcement officer inspect the property, post signs and barricades and get a cost esti-
Beatific Buzz
mate for asbestos removal for the numerous buildings on the sprawling parcel. Supervisor Ron Moore (R-North Hudson) prodded the board into taking action, calling many of the structures a public safety risk. The lawmaker also cited reports of trespassing. “It’s definitely an accident waiting to happen,” Moore said of the former restaurant. “We can continue to ignore it as we have, or we can do something about it.” Citing the dilapidated nature of one of the on-site motels — including broken windows and “bashed in” doors — Moore said the buildings may have been saved if the county had been more proactive stewards. “What might have been restored is probably not possible
>> See FRONTIER TOWN | pg. 5
Actors, activists honored on John Brown Day Danny Glover, Yusuf Abdul-Wasi Burgess, Alice Green receives first Spirit of John Brown Freedom Award Saturday, May 7
Westport resident Tim McGarry takes all-natural approach to beekeeping
WADHAMS — From a distance, the scene looked chaotic. The man would remove a wooden frame from a box, subject it to a puff of smoke and inspect it before gingerly placing it into another box. He did so again and again. Pete Bees were everywhere. Thousands of DeMola Writer them. Tim McGarry has been beekeeping since 1981, right before a one-two punch shook the industry. First came the tracheal mite in the mid-1980s, then the varroa destructor in the 1990s — parasites, both, that wiped out entire colonies and presented what McGarry said was the most existential threat honeybees had ever faced, especially in the cold weather climates where bees winter. “I’ve experienced severe losses myself,” he said. For the past six years, McGarry has been cultivating colonies naturally, without the use of treatment — namely the use of pesticides to zap the parasites (which eventually developed a resistance). “You’re breeding smart mites but not selecting the best
now,” Moore said. “I would think after this many years, something should be done to protect the assets, whatever they may be.” Essex County owns much of the former theme park. At present, the property is not slated to be included in the next tax auction, which is tentatively scheduled for this fall. Moore confirmed negotiations were underway with the state for possible use of the parcel as a gateway in an emerging trail network, some 40 miles that will cut through five towns in the central Adirondacks. Last month, the state purchased the 20,494-acre Boreas Ponds property from the Nature Conservancy, one of the final
bees,” McGarry said. Honeybees have a strong capacity to regenerate after being knocked out, he said. He’s now working with the strains with depleted numbers, repopulating them, one bee at a time. McGarry spent Saturday morning at his apiary in Wadhams, right before the road forks and opens out into scenic vistas dotted with farms. It’s a good place, he said, protected on one side from the elements by an old dairy barn, with a neighboring field providing plenty of sources for pollen. Beekeeping seems disorderly, but it’s not, McGarry said — The key is simply producing lots of bees.
LAKE PLACID — Actor and activist Danny Glover, Albany civil rights leader Alice Green and youth advocate Brother Yusuf Abdul-Wasi Burgess were honored with the first Spirit of John Brown Freedom Awards at a ceremony Saturday, May 7. The three recipients were recognized for their tireless work to achieve lasting change in the cause of justice-and speakers throughout the day took pains to point out that while John Brown, the famed abolitionist, is an historic figure, the struggle for liberation that he represented is ongoing. Glover, who is working on a film about John Brown, urged people to delve into the nation’s history to understand the legacy of racial and economic injustice we are plagued with even today. Glover said historic events such as the Bacon Rebellion, the Emancipation Proclamation, and Jim Crow laws, were direct precursors not just to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, but the events that happened last year in places such as Ferguson, Mo. “You’ve got to connect these points to find out what’s happening just now,” said Glover. “What is happening and continues to happen.” About 250 people attended the event, which was organized
>> BEES | pg. 5
>> See JOHN BROWN | pg. 14
Beekeeper Tim McGarry works at his apiary in Wadhams on May 7, 2016. Pictured here are honeybees in a comb. Photo by Pete DeMola