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Finally, absentee ballots settle the races of close local elections.
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November 21, 2009
Keeseville grocery store shuts down By Matt Bosley matt@denpubs.com KEESEVILLE — Yet another local grocery store has gone out of business. Bourgeois’ IGA in Keeseville closed its doors last week. Bruce Bourgeois and his family have operated the store for over two and a half years. “I think it’s just the economy,” said Bourgeois. “We look back on our sales a little over a year ago, and we were doing very well.” The store’s sales have steadily declined over the past year, however, and so has the amount of merchandise on its shelves. “In the grocery business it’s all about turnaround,” Bourgeois explained. “When you have less sales, you have less money to buy new items.” The result, he said, was a downward spiral that made it more and more difficult for the store to recover. Just before closing, the store was selling upwards of $30,000 less per month than the year before. Bourgeois sub-leased the store, which actually belongs to an out-of-state owner. He said the lease was very high. At its peak, the store employed 55 people both full- and part-time. Just before closing, about 15 people were employed there. “We were very good at customer service,” Bourgeois said. “People usually talked about how it was a friendly store.” Still, Bourgeois stressed that it hasn’t been lack of community support that’s forced him to close down the store. “The community has supported us immensely,” he said. “People have just been fantastic.” “It has nothing to do with customer loyalty and everything to do with the economy,” said Bourgeois, convinced that many of his customers turned to larger, more distant stores to save on their grocery bill. “I can’t blame the people for doing that.” Bourgeois said it was not all that surprising to people when they heard of the store closing, but many of its former customers were still saddened by the news. “We delivered groceries to people who couldn’t get out and do their own shopping,” Bourgeois said, “and they’re going to miss us a lot.” “Everyone knew he was struggling,” said village of Keeseville Mayor Meeghan Rock, who said the store’s closing will have a great effect on the community. “The good news is, the person that owned the lease of the building expressed great interest in opening a store there, possibly in January” she said, noting it’s the same company that operates the Tops Market in Port Henry. “So hopefully, we’ll only have to go a couple of months without one.” As for Bourgeois, the future remains unclear. Though many community members have urged him to open up another business in town, he said he’s considering all his options. “We’ll do something else,” he said.
Sprague clinches win in Essex County DA race Absentee ballots put victory out of reach for Garcia By Matt Bosley matt@denpubs.com ELIZABETHTOWN — The count of absentee ballots has upheld Kristy Sprague’s victory in the race for Essex County District Attorney. Sprague finished with a 125-vote lead over incumbent Julie Garcia after Essex County Board of Elections officials completed their count of more than 850 absentee ballots Nov. 16. With more than 12,000 votes counted on election night, Sprague, who ran on the Republican and Independent lines, held just a 75-vote lead over Garcia, who ran as a Democrat. Tabulation of absentee ballots began Nov. 12 under the close scrutiny of County Attorney Daniel Manning and lawyers representing both Garcia and Sprague. Both candidates picked up hundreds more votes, but as Sprague’s lead slowly grew, Garcia ultimately admitted defeat. “Kristy has won the race, and I congratulate her and wish her success,” said Garcia. “I wish her well in her new position.” Sprague said she was very pleased with the results and how the absentee votes followed the typical trend of mirroring results on election day. Both candidates expressed satisfaction with the counting process. “It went pretty smoothly,” said Sprague, “I thought once the
Kristy Sprague
Julie Garcia
attorneys were involved, things would be pretty contentious, but everyone was very congenial. I think it was a good process.” “It was an extremely close race, and I’m satisfied with the results,” said Garcia. Sprague will take office Jan. 1. Until then, she’s hoping to put the elections behind her and prepare for the next four years as District Attorney.
See SPRAGUE, page 2
Westport school looks to add generator School board vacancy needs to be filled By Matt Bosley matt@denpubs.com WESTPORT — Voters in the Westport Central School district will have two major issues on a special ballot Dec. 22. The board of education will be looking to fill a vacant seat due to the resignation of one of its members. The more controversial topic, however, may be a $500,000 capital project the board has decided to put in front of voters. The primary goal of the project is to install a 200 kW outdoor generator at the school that would power the entire building in the event of a power outage. “A number of people in the community indicated the school should be able to be equipped as an emergency shelter,” said Westport Superintendent John Gallagher. “The schools are the center of the community, so if they can be equipped as
Plans are in the works to add a 200 kW generator at Westport Central School, one part of a $500,000 capital project that will be on a public ballot Dec. 22. The school will also be looking to fill a sudden vacancy on the school board.
See GENERATOR, page 12
Photo by Matt Bosley
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