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August 29, 2009
Many Talents
Typhoid Mary
It’s NFL Time!
Local physician shows his artistic side at show.
Eithne McGuinness brings her one woman show to Indian Lake.
The News Enterprise football picking contest returns for its 10th year.
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Officials: broadband access crucial to survival of Adirondack communities By Thom Randall thom@denpubs.com HAMILTON COUNTY — Local citizens, business owners and local officials in remote upstate regions should join together in lobbying the state and federal legislators to bankroll rural broadband infrastructure, government officials said this week. At a broadband conference convened Aug. 19 by U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy (DGlens Falls), a panel of government technology officials, politicians and communications technology developers agreed that broadband access is critical to not only the economic vitality of the Adirondacks, but for the very survival of rural communities across upstate New York. Howard Lowe, president of not-for-profit broadband developer CBN Connect, told the audience that his company had submitted an application Aug. 19 for $22 million of federal stimulus money to fund their project providing core broadband infrastructure in a 425-mile loop through Essex, Franklin and Clinton counties, serving 22 communities. This optic-cable circuit would stretch in an arch
The flags that adorn a hallway of Newcomb Central School represent the many home countries of students in their international program, now in its third year. Photo by Lindsay Yandon
After the broadband conference at Adirondack Community College, panel members discuss pending grants that would bring high-speed internet and data services deep into the Adirondacks. (Left to right): Warren County Board of Supervisors Fred Monroe, CBN Connect President Howard Lowe, Congressman Murphy aide Mark Luciano, and Adirondack Park economic development official Stephen Erman. Photo by Thom Randall
NCS lobbies Washington By Lindsay Yandon
across northern New York from the St. Regis Mohawk reservation eastward through Malone and Routes Point, then south to Plattsburgh and Ticonderoga. This circuit is expected to be extended through rural Warren and Hamilton counties in a forthcoming second phase of the proposed buildout, according to a contract the counties signed just weeks ago with CBN Connect. This initial circuit includes a spur serving Lake
Placid, Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake. Lowe estimated that if the $22 million stimulus grant is approved, this initial broadband circuit could be operating as soon as spring 2011, and the Warren County extension six months or more later. Served first would be the public entities, including libraries educational institutions, hospitals and clinics, and public safety authorities.
Various broadband carriers, Lowe said, would use this infrastructure — most all of it high-capacity 144strand fiber-optic cable strung along utility poles — to carry their customers, both commercial and residential. The participating commercial carriers — cable companies and telecoms — would build out the “last mile” to the homes and businesses they’d service, he said.
lindsay@denpubs.com NEWCOMB — The international student program at Newcomb Central School has received generous media coverage since its formation in 2007. Superintendent Skip Hults along with the board of education hope to take this program one step further in the near future. Recently, Hults and board of education President Steve Freiman met with Anna Fodor and Heather Loneck, educational aids to Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, to discuss necessary changes to education law. Their plight is to create an amendment that will change the federal law prohibiting international students on a F1 visa to remain in public schools in the United States for more than
See NCS, page 5
Newcomb supervisor objects to destruction of historic structures on state-owned land By Jonathan Alexander denpubs@denpubs.com
Duncan Lindsay, age 10, of Niskayuna, New York, shows off a 20-inch largemouth bass he caught and released while fishing in Schroon Lake. Lindsay was visiting his aunt and uncle in Minerva last week when he caught the monster. He bought his worms from Murdie's. Photo courtesy of Thomas Lindsay
RAY BROOK — While the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation is defending itself against arguments from environmentalists who claim the agency is not being aggressive enough in removing structures from state wilderness, local officials are decrying that such destruction of 100-year old buildings lacks respect for Adirondack culture and history. Under a mandate of the State Land Master Plan, the DEC has for years been removing or destroying fire towers, leantos and ATV trails. The practice has gained prominence as the state continues to acquire additional land for the Forest Preserve. But for local officials, the practice of burning down 100year old structures is nothing short of ethnocide – robbing the local population of their heritage simply to conform to a vague notion of “wilderness character.” Newcomb Supervisor George Canon would like to see the historic structures preserved. He serves on the board of directors of Adirondack Architectural Heritage, an advocacy group seeking to have Adirondack buildings recognized in the same manner as structures elsewhere. ”It’s extremely important not to lose our culture here,” Canon said Tuesday. “To lose that is to lose our way of life.”
In a letter published in a recent edition of Adirondack Explorer, DEC Regional Directors Betsy Lowe and Judy Drabicki defended DEC against attacks from those who argue the agency has not pursued the removal of non-conforming structures with enough vigor. The letter observes that DEC has aggressively undertaken the removal of 10 fire towers on recently acquired state Forest Preserve. Sixteen fire towers have also been removed from state lands of other classifications. DEC has also closed 130 miles of Jeep and ATV trails. An additional 97 miles of snowmobile trails have also been closed on recently acquired state land as well as 560 tent platforms and three lean-to clusters. “DEC is engaged in Park-wide planning with a number of other state agencies to improve compliance with the SLMP,” the letter states. “We would emphatically argue that DEC is with the plan and working hard to meet the best interests of the public.” But Canon argues that the systematic destruction of structures built by the ancestors of Adirondack residents — especially fire towers and swinging bridges – is a primary problem with the State Land Master Plan. Canon suggested that before any private group or entity transfers land to the state, they should include a restriction that the structures must not be destroyed.
See STATE, page 3