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Saturday,ÊNo vemberÊ28,Ê2015
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www.SunCommunityNews.com
In SCHOOLS | pg. 13
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All State Concerts
In OPINION | pg. 6
Race to the White House
Talents of local students on display
It’s time for Pataki to bow out gracefully
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In ARTS | pg. 11
‘Dolly’s Word’ on Demo Day
Event planned at Whiteface Mountain Dec. 5
Mighty Matthew continues to fight with might Local family stays strong as son continues battle against mito and CIPO By Teah Dowling
teah@suncommunitynews.com
PLATTSBURGH — A two-day trip to Boston for testing turned into a 30-day trip of procedures and unexpected complications for Mighty Matthew. Matthew Cech, Plattsburgh’s 11-year-old local superhero, went
to Boston for testing to find out if Matthew could consume more by mouth than he does now: lollipops, popsicles and a few other items — hoping he could maybe consume baby foods and other soft foods such as squash. The testing didn’t go as good as the Cech family hoped, which led into a series of problems — one of
Missile mystery
up. “Hopefully, he will be back to the biggest being having emergency where he was very soon.” surgery to remove his colon and appendix. MATTHEW’S BEGINNING After eight sedated procedures and a few unexpected complicaMatthew was diagnosed with mitions, Matthew returned home last tochondrial disease complex I and Thursday. “He’s OK,” said Terry Cech, Mat- III CIPO (chronic intestinal pseudo thew’s father. “He’s still recovering obstruction) at 3 and half years old and he’s building his strength back >> Story Continued | pg. 17
Popular local eatery expands Orders now come with a side of nostalgia at Bub’s Pizza & Deli
As a plan to pump toxic waste from a decommissioned Cold War site surfaces, residents are calling for answers LEWIS — This stretch of the Adirondack Park is a quiet place. It’s a pocket of wilderness in northern Essex County that serves as a respite of silent meditation among the pines; a place of home and community where generaPete tions have raised their families, worked in DeMola Editor the nearby mines and mills and practiced football in the frosty shade of the nearby mountains. It’s because of this remote location that, perhaps unsurprisingly, the federal government designated it as a nuclear missile launch site during the Cold War. The eight-acre site on Hale Hill Road, once a bulwark against nuclear armageddon, has long been praised in national media profiles as a whimsical example of atomic age chic. But those who live in its shadow are now gravely concerned about the lack of transparency surrounding a plan by its new owners to pump the water that has gathered at the bottom of the silo, treat it and discharge it into the land that provides their drinking water.
By Pete DeMola
pete@suncommunitynews.com
Plans to pump sludge from a former nuclear launch site in Lewis have raised questions from residents who are concerned about the possible effect on their drinking water. Photo by Pete DeMola
The subsequent sludge, which contains lead and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), would then be shipped off-site for disposal. Residents became aware of the project only after a county worker, through a workplace conversation, learned of a state pollutant discharge elimination system permit that was filed in September. “We’d be left completely in the dark if it wasn’t by accident finding out about this process,” said Dan Canavan, a local resident. But work had already started on the site, located about 30 miles south of Plattsburgh. >> Story Continued | pg. 12
ELIZABETHTOWN — At first glance, it may be easy to mistake the center of Elizabethtown as the complex of brick buildings that constitutes much of downtown’s west side. While the government center may be the engine room, the beating heart of the county seat is the small restaurant hugging the river on Water Street. Bub’s Pizza & Deli is a place where all stripes sit cheek by jowl during the lunch rush — Office workers, county bureaucrats, dump truck drivers, stay-at-home moms, all of them, tucking into pizza, subs, calzones, wings doused in “rhino sauce” — comfort food. “We’re like the melting pot,” said Mike McCarroll, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Marsha. Fifteen years after opening in the former Blue Seal building, the pair have expanded their dining area. It’s an addition that doubles available seating, which means no patron will be left behind during rushes. “It’s nice not to turn people away,” said Marsha. With the expansion also comes a history lesson, the town’s modern timeline displayed along the walls in a series of black >> Story Continued | pg. 9