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December 5, 2009
A Denton Publication
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New York State plans to replace bridge.
The Coupon Queen answers some reader’s mail.
Another aggressive buck, but this one didn’t get close.
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APA reassigns Van Cott Demong selected for fourth Olympics Enforcement director removed after e-mailing insults
By Chris Morris denpubs@denpubs.com
By Matt Bosley matt@denpubs.com RAY BROOK — The Adirondack Park Agency has removed its enforcement program director from his position after he sent e-mails to Sandy Lewis calling him a “sociopath.” Paul Van Cott, who since 2004 has headed the APA’s enforcement division, has been reassigned as part of the agency’s general counsel office. According to APA spokesman Keith McKeever, Van Cott’s reassignment is part of an “ongoing, aggressive transition in the agency’s legal division.” Four of the APA’s six senior attorneys are currently eligible for retirement, he said. “Paul is the most senior attorney on staff not eligible for retirement,” McKeever explained. The change in position will give Van Cott a broader range of duties, McKeever said, focusing on Agency rules and regulations and other legal issues besides enforcement. He would not comment on whether Van Cott’s salary would change. However, the move raises speculation as it comes just two weeks after Van Cott e-mailed Lewis, an Essex farmer who won a lengthy court battle with the agency in July and is now suing the agency for more than $200,000 in legal fees. Lewis has regularly sent mass e-mails for several months to area reporters, lawyers, and officials from state and local agencies sharing his disdain for officials at the APA, including Van Cott, who he referred to as “simply not competent” in a Nov. 10 e-mail. Using his APA e-mail account, Van Cott responded. “Mr. Lewis, you are a sociopath,” wrote Van Cott. “Please shut up. Go out and get a shovel and work like a real person on your farm. Enjoy life and be a real farmer. You are very fortunate. Realize that and get a life.” In his reply, Lewis sent copies to State and County officials, including a State Police Sergeant and three members of the State Assembly. “The sociopath is the APA,” wrote Lewis in response. “You and your close-linked 501(c)3 coterie have perfected the art of raping the indigenous to the point of distraction and tears, serious illness and community-wide depression over 6.5 million acres for 37 years.” Van Cott then wrote a second e-mail that went to the same recipients. “Go farm. Dig a hole, milk a cow. Enjoy the 1,000 acres of farmland on Lake Champlain that you have,” he wrote, going on to defend the APA’s Nov. 9 settlement with LeRoy Douglas, the Silver Lake resort owner who recently had his APA enforcement case dropped. “You won your case,” Van Cott told Lewis. “We respect the law. Go farm.” When asked about whether the e-mails had a role in the decision to reassign Van Cott, McKeever offered no affirmation, but did note that the agency took action. “The agency did not condone Paul’s responses,” said McKeever, “and we’ve recused him from his responsibilities in the Lewis and Douglas matters.” Van Cott has been employed by the APA since 2000. Prior to that, he was a lawyer for the state Attorney General’s Office. “He did a heck of a job,” said McKeever, noting that the enforcement division has dealt with over 2000 cases during Van Cott’s tenure, including a high-profile federal case where the judge praised the agency’s handling of the issue. “I think that’s indicative of Paul’s work and the efforts of agency enforcement.” Another senior attorney at the agency, Sarah Reynolds, who has worked in the enforcement division since 2004, will take Van Cott’s place as acting enforcement program director. “We anticipate hiring another attorney in the short-term,” McKeever said.
LAKE PLACID — It’s been more than a decade since Vermontville-native Bill Demong flew half-way around the world to compete in his first Winter Olympics. Demong was just 17 years old when he was tapped to represent the U.S. Nordic Combined team in Nagano, Japan. Now, at 29, he’s qualified for the fourth time and is ready to make history as the first U.S. athlete from his sport to take home an Olympic medal. Demong rounded out his 2008-09 season with a gold medal at the World Championships in the Czech Republic, and joins four-time Olympian Todd Lodwick on the U.S. Olympic Nordic Combined team. Eleven athletes from the U.S. will battle it out for the two remaining spots on the team at the FIS Continental Cup being held Dec. 19 and 20 in Lake Placid. Demong said the Americans are going into Vancouver with one of their strongest teams to date. “Quite honestly, I’m really excited to see who’s going to fill out our team because we’ve got a lot of strong competitors and some young guys pushing to make the team. It’s going to be exciting.” Nordic sports like ski jumping, biathlon and cross-country skiing have never enjoyed the same popularity in the U.S. as they have throughout Europe and Russia.
Vermontville native Bill Demong hopes to lead a strong U.S. Nordic combined team to the podium at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Photo courtesy of NYSEF
But the rise of the nordic combined team coupled with strong performances from biathletes Tim Burke and Lowell Bailey – also native upstate New Yorkers – has re-
sulted in increased attention on nordic sports. Last winter, Demong appeared in a
See DEMONG, page 5
Adirondack Singers ring in the holidays By Matt Bosley matt@denpubs.com SARANAC LAKE — The holiday season moves into full swing as one regional vocal ensemble heralds the spirit of Christmas. The Adirondack Singers, a local community choir, will be performing their annual Holiday Concert Sunday December 6th, 2 p.m. at St. Bernard’s Church in Saranac Lake. The 25-person ensemble hails from throughout the TriLakes region and beyond as singers come from Saranac Lake, Lake Placid, Paul Smiths, Cadyville, and Lake Clear to participate. Karen Butters, who has been directing the group for the past 11 seasons, and has traveled to Saranac Lake from her home in Blue Mountain Lake each week since mid-September to help the singers prepare for their performance. “This year's program draws from American holiday music, traditional, sacred and secular, including some new arrangements of traditional Christmas songs,” said Butters. The program also includes a major work, “The Glory of His Majesty,” by composer Jackson Berkey,the featured key-
The Adirondack Singers, a local community choir, will be performing their annual Holiday Concert Sunday Dec. 6, 2 p.m. at St. Bernard’s Church in Saranac Lake. Photo by Pat Hendrick
board artist with the wellknown group Mannheim Steamroller. “It is the one I am most excited about performing because of its depth of musical style and its message,” said Butters. “The work features our accompanist, Carol Lombard, as well as solos by Mary Fay Hendrick, Valerie Abra-
ham-Rogers and Saranac Lake student Jessica Kemp.” As a non-profit organization, the Adirondack Singers rely on member dues, concert proceeds, and grants to operate. The concert is made possible, in part, with a Developing Community Arts grant with public funds from the New
York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program administered locally by the Arts Council of the Northern Adirondacks. The suggested donation for the concert is $5 for adults or $3 for students and senior citizens. For more information, call 523-4213 or 891-5008.