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Inside » Stories of the year, part two
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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2012
Essex County passes budget
PROCLAMATION
ELIZABETHTOWN
LAKE PLACID
By Keith Lobdell keith@denpubs.com
Decoration winners PAGE 2
SARANAC LAKE
Artist Robert Shetterly speaks to students and teachers at the Emancipation Proclamation Celebration on Nov. 30 at North Country Community College in Saranac Lake. Shetterly stands next to a portrait of Harriet Tubman. Shetterly's portraits of famous abolitionists were displayed throughout the celebration weekend. Photo by Katherine Clark
Abolitionists celebrated at event
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By Katherine Clark
POLITICS
keith@denpubs.com SARANAC LAKE — For the past 150 years, America has been through a major social change to try to create a climate where all races are equal regardless of color. The signing of the emancipation proclamation was the first step in putting the freedom of slaves on paper. Jan. 1 will mark the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. The John Brown Lives! organization put together a two-day event on Nov. 30
Sayward preps for exit PAGE 8
and Dec. 1 for students, educators and general public across the North Country, “North Country Supports 21st Century Emancipation Proclamation,” at North Country Community College in Saranac Lake, Lake Placid Heaven Hill Farm and a showing of “Glory” at the Palace Theater. Martha Swan, Founder and Director of John Brown Lives said the weekend’s seminars inspired very rich dialogue between the guests. “It was really stimulating and full of useful informa-
tion,” Swan said. “It really brought the history out of the deep south and brought it to people in the North Country. It was a chance for people to see who else is out there working with interest to these questions of human equality today.” When Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in the throes of the Civil War, he undoubtedly believed that it would sound the death knell for slavery. However, there are approximately 15,000 documented cases of modern day slavery and human
trafficking in the United States today and 27 million people enslaved worldwide. Kenneth B. Morris, Jr., the great-great-great grandson of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, spoke to visitors about how he continues to carry on the legacy of human equality and end modern day slavery through his organization, the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation. Through his foundation, Morris has inspired students across the country to produce a New Proclamation of CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
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Prepare for parade
ELIZABETHTOWN — While the bodies were close, the tentative 2013 Essex County budget was passed easily under weighted voting, adopting a spending plan that represented a 1.13 percent increase to the tax levy. The budget was passed, 2,077-718, during a special county board meeting Dec. 10, with the average tax rate expected to increase 5 cents up to $2.40 per $1,000 of assessed property value. The budget calls for $95,000, 115 in spending with $71,689,099 in revenues and $6,850,000 in fund balance, leaving a tax levy of $16,461,016. County Manager Dan Palmer said the tax levy was a decrease from 2.68 percent to 1.13 percent when chargebacks from the towns were added into the budget. “This is the flat amount that is applied to everyone, and then you look into the charge-backs and other factors,” Palmer said. “If there were no charge-backs, we started with 2.68 percent. Once the town puts it as a charge-back against the county warrant, then it no longer goes to the towns. That is how we went from 2.68 percent to 1.13 percent.” Moriah Supervisor Tom Scozzafava said the chargebacks would affect local municipality taxes based on the amount each had in chargebacks. “You just shifted it from one to the other,” Scozzafava said. The nine voting for the budget were Charles Har-