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June 5, 2010
A Denton Publication
1861-1865
Celebrate
Sports
Famous artist, Winslow Homer, sent images from the front lines of men in battle.
Community comes out for a festive Memorial Day parade in Johnsburg.
All the scores and stats from this week’s sectional play.
Page 4
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DEC, local officials forge agreement for maintenance
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Margaret Smith wins Great Adirondack Poetry Contest
Moose River Plains Road open to motor vehicles INDIAN LAKE — Thanks to a creative state-local partnership, the Moose River Plains Road, which provides access to one of the largest blocks of remote lands in the Adirondack Park will be open to motor vehicles this summer, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) commissioner Pete Grannis announced today. "The Moose River Plains Road will be open for 2010, thanks to the willingness of local communities to help and the quick reaction of DEC crews to make it happen," Grannis said. "Together, we've forged a solution that will benefit the anglers, birders, hunters, hikers, mountain bikers and others who make the Plains a popular destination – as well as the businesses in Indian Lake and Inlet that depend on tourists." DEC worked with local officials from Inlet, Indian Lake and Hamilton County, as well as state legislators, to cover maintenance duties and costs for the season. The Moose River Plains includes more than 40 miles of dirt roads, approximately 170 primitive campsites and 50,000 acres of wild forest in the central and southwestern sections of the park. DEC had previously announced that this road would not be opened in 2010 because the state's historic fiscal crisis had limited agency maintenance funds. Instead, local communities will assist by providing gasoline, trucks, materials and law-enforcement personnel to help cover operational needs. State and local crews began clearing the road last week and opened in on Friday - in time for the Memorial Day weekend. However, roads south of the "Big T" junction (Otter Brook and Indian Lake roads) will remain closed.
By Lindsay Yandon lindsay@denpubs.com LONG LAKE — A sophomore at Long Lake Central School, Margaret (Meg) Smith is wasting no time in getting her name in print. She was recently awarded accolades in the Great Adirondack Poetry Contest with her poem entitled “Llamas.” The piece was printed in the contest’s publication, Words From the Woods. Smith wrote the poem in response to an assignment from Long Lake English teacher Mike Farrell that involved writing a poem about family last year. She chose to write about her grandfather, who was a mining engineer in Peru and more specifically, his mother. “She was a strong lady - living in Peru with no friends,” said Smith of her great grandmother. “I never met her, but I would have liked to.” Aside from having her poem published, Smith received a scholarship to the Champlain College Young Writers Conference at Champlain College in Burlington, which she
See MOOSE RIVER, page 3
attended last week. The conference is designed for dedicated young writers and offers an opportunity for them to meet others who share their passion for telling the stories of their lives and to study the craft with some of New England's most celebrated authors and teachers. Smith is the daughter of Hallie Bond and Mason Smith and is no stranger to writing - it is in her blood. Mason is a published novelist and has published works centered around his experiences living in the Adirondacks. Outside the classroom, Smith turns to writing as a hobby as well. “Poetry is a creative outlet for me and I do it not just because it is assigned in school,” she said. Farrell encouraged Smith to submit some of her work to the conMargaret Smith with Words From the test and admitted he would have Woods, the book that her poem “Llamas” been surprised if she had not won. was published in. “She is probably the best writer
Photo by Lindsay Yandon
See POETRY, page 3
Educators ‘Get Out and Play’ in Newcomb By Mike Corey denpubs@denpubs.com NEWCOMB - They gathered small sticks for a campfire, chased soccer-like balls around the gym with their toes, made “food” items out of birch bark and pine needles, and tossed rubber chickens and fake fish at each other. These weren’t kids, they were actually adult educators, behaving like kids, and they were in the middle of learning new games and ways of having fun in order to bring new ideas back to the kids they work with. The event was the “Get Out and Play!” conference, held at Newcomb Central School. It was hosted by the SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry’s (ESF) Northern Forest Institute along with Children in Nature New York. The Newcomb Central School Class of 2013 provided lunch for all participants. Nearly 30 people from all over the state attended the event, which was comprised of a series of hands-on workshops. It was loaded with activities introduced by presenters, who are experts in the field of encouraging children to return to the world of free play and creative self-expression. “Our society is teaching young people to avoid direct experience in nature. Well-meaning public school systems, media, and parents are effectively scaring children straight out of the woods and fields,” according to Richard Louv, the author of the 2005 book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.
Edward and Martha von Czoernig (left) present a Peter Hornbeck canoe to John Zuk with his wife Tonya and their son Andrei. The canoe was raffled by the North Creek Rotary Club as a fundraiser to raise money for local charities. The Zuk family purchased their ticket in Dec. during a ski trip to Gore Mountain. They hail from New York City and have been visiting the North Creek area for four years. Photo by Lindsay Yandon
WARRENSBURG
Educators from across New York State met in Newcomb to experience new forms of outdoor play and to learn how to encourage today’s youth to take advantage of them. Photo courtesy of Adirondack Ecological Center
The conference was designed to help educators discover (or rediscover) ways of re-introducing children to the joys of interacting with nature and playing in unstructured, self-created, and self-regulated activities. Current research supports the very positive effects of more exposure to nature and
See PLAY, page 5
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