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December 12, 2009
A Denton Publication
Contest
Good eats
Sports
NaNoWriMo is another resounding success this year.
The Owl at Twilight restaurant will reopen for business.
Check out all the stats and scores from your favorite teams. Page 10
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Interconnect skis into North Creek By Lindsay Yandon lindsay@denpubs.com NORTH CREEK — Effects of the Interconnect between Gore Mountain and the historic North Creek Ski Bowl will be evident in the coming months, according to local and mountain officials.
With the addition of new trails and a Brant Lake taxi provided by the Business Alliance, the upcoming season will mark the first time skiers can actually ski to the ski bowl, have access to the village and transportation back to Gore. “In order to tie the mountain with the village, the key is transportation, which is now
available to skiers,” said Gore Mountain Marketing Director Emily Stanton. The shuttle will run all season from the mountain to the ski bowl and the village of North Creek. This is pivotal to the success of the Interconnect, according to Johnsburg Supervisor Sterling Goodspeed. “I think the Interconnect will start to cre-
ate jobs and we are definitely going to feel a buzz about it this season,” said Goodspeed. Gore has made considerable improvements to the Cedars trail that opened last year, connecting the base of Gore to the new Burnt Ridge Quad. Other trails open to
See INTERCONNECT, page 2
Motor vehicle registration costs increase
Indian Lake student gets hands on experience, works in hospital
By Thom Randall thom@denpubs.com
By Lindsay Yandon lindsay@denpubs.com INDIAN LAKE — Merrill Pine of Indian Lake Central School (ILCS) was accepted into a year of study with the New Visions program at BOCES. She has been taking health care classes in Glens Falls over the past couple months as well as working clinical rotations with area doctors and in the Glens Falls Hospital. New Visions is a program for 16 local high school seniors who are interested in pursuing a career in the medical field. Pine’s acceptance is an honor and also a commentary on her potential and work ethic. “New Visions is a very competitive program,” said David Snide, superintendent at ILCS. “Once accepted,
Johnsburg children toss candy from a float in Saturday’s winter parade. The event was part of the annual Lights On Festival in North Creek. Photo by Lindsay Yandon
See HOSPITAL, page 5
QUEENSBURY — In several months, Warren County residents seeking to register their vehicles will most likely have to pay a new surcharge. In an effort to close a looming budget gap, Warren County supervisors voted Nov. 30 to affix a surcharge on all motor vehicle registrations for county residents. This new Vehicle Use Fee will cost residents registering passenger vehicles an extra $5 per year, and for those registering commercial vehicles — which includes trucks over minimal weight limits — an extra $10 per year. And since registrations are routinely issued for a two-year period, getting new or renewed vehicle registrations will cost $10 to $20 more per registration transaction. County Clerk Pam Vogel said this week she wasn’t in favor of the new fee, but she
See DMV, page 6
Local fifth grade students collect pennies for peace International program tied to New York Times best seller, Three Cups of Tea By Lindsay Yandon lindsay@denpubs.com MINERVA — Following in the footsteps of Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin and their number one New York Times Bestseller Three Cups of Tea, Minerva Central School (MCS) students are seeking to make a difference in an international community. Fifth grade students at MCS, under the guidance of their teacher Candice Gereau, are collecting spare change to send to remote ares of Pakistan and Afghanistan. They have joined tens of thousands of other students around the world in an effort to improve the educational health of these foreign places.
After Dru seem little, but Piper, the grandwill make a big They saw the poverty and the mother of one of difference.” lack of education and wanted to Gereau’s stuThree Cups of Tea dents, suggested do something that may seem little, follows Mortenthe book, she doson in a failed atbut will make a big difference nated a copy for tempt to climb — Candice Gereau Pakistan’s K2 in each student to read. Gereau saw 1993. Despite his an instant interfailure, he sucest from her students toward Three Cups of cessfully established schools and educationTea. al systems. He replaced violence with eduAll elementary students in Minerva must cation in an effort to bring both peace and complete service projects and this will serve prosperity to Pakistan and Afghanistan. as that project. In an early effort to raise money, Morten“This is something that they care about son wrote letters to 580 celebrities, busiand will be a project that means a lot to nessmen, and other prominent Americans. them,” said Gereau. “They have been on the His only reply was a $100 check from NBC’s edge of their seats while reading the book. Tom Brokaw. Mortenson sold everything he They saw the poverty and the lack of educaowned and still only raised $2,400. tion and wanted to do something that may When a group of elementary school chil-
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dren in River Falls, Wisconsin, donated $623.40 in pennies, Mortenson changed his approach. He founded Pennies for Peace as part of the Central Asia Institute (CAI) to promote and provide community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, who are severely discriminated against. Founded in 1996, CAI has built, to date, nearly 100 schools, serving more than 28,000 students, 14,000 of whom are girls. Pennies don’t buy much in the USA, but in the villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan a penny pays for one pencil, $600 pays for one teacher ’s annual salary and $5,000 supports an existing school for one year. Minerva students are truly invested in helping children, who are just like them and live oceans away. “It is terrible. We have a great education and they don’t have anything,” said Drew
See PENNIES, page 4