December 23, 2015

F R E E D e c e m b er 2 3 , 2 0 1 5 / V o l u m e X X X V I I , N u m b e r 1 7 / O u r 4 3 r d Y e a r / O n l i n e @ I T H A C A . C O M

Wind Farm Blowback

Enfield residents have concerns PAGE 3

Teachers

vs. district issue of pay rate unresolved PAGE 10

Facing

the past

local artist in Smithsonian exhibition PAGE 15

Out

Kids On Ice

New options in youth hockey

By M ich

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on the town New Year’s Eve celebrations for you PAGE 17

Ultimate Show

Keeler will be last Titus exhibition PAGE 19

10% OFF Sparkling Wines

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December 26th Through December 31st

607-257-2626 www.triphammerwines.com Triphammer Marketplace 2255 N. Triphammer Rd.

Holiday Favorites Chocolate, Coffee, Peppermints, Cookies, Candy Canes, Gummies and So Much More!

607-257-2626 www.ithacacoffee.com

At Triphammer Marketplace & Gateway Commons 2

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Ne City of Ithaca

City HR Agrees To “Ban the Box”

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he City of Ithaca has joined several employers in New York State and many major cities and counties throughout the country to “Ban the Box” in relation to employment applications.

The Ban the Box Initiative began in 2004 and focuses on encouraging employers to remove the potential for bias and choose their best candidates on the basis of job skills and qualifications. The box in question refers to one that applicants must check when they are asked, “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?” Participating communities have agreed to remove the question on employment applications.

While the City of Ithaca’s current hiring process is designed to provide a fair chance for applicants with felony and or misdemeanor convictions to obtain employment, the city government has decided that removing the question on applications will encourage more people to seek employment, especially those who have not had succeeded in getting a job or who are reluctant to apply for a job because of the question inquiring about criminal convictions. The city made its decision because, in order to be a truly thriving community, it believes it is important for all of its residents to have a fair opportunity for employment.

“All residents should have the opportunity to compete for a job with the City of Ithaca. Discouraging good people from applying hurts our organization and prevents previously incarcerated people from doing the work needed to get their lives on track. This is just one more step towards ensuring that our economy works for everyone,” said Mayor Svante L. Myrick.

The city will conduct background and reference checks for all finalists in the hiring process. There are some city positions that have employment restrictions and prior convictions which could preclude applicants from being hired, such as police officers, youth services positions, and public officers.

“As we can see from the number of unfilled positions in the county,” said Schelley Michell-Nunn, Director of Human Resources, “this community cannot afford to pass up talented, capable people in search of a second chance. At the very least, banning the box may eliminate unconscious bias or the perception of it. We are excited to model through this initiative, what the city believes and practices.” •

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VOL.X X XVIII / NO. 17 / December 23, 2015 Serving 47,125 readers week ly

100 of whom are from Tompkins County.

Proponents of the wind farm, including professors, county residents, BOWF investors, and green energy supporters, argued for its renewable energy benefits during a time when sustainable energy is a pressing global issue. They touted the community benefits of a locally owned wind farm in which residents could share the profits. Wells mentioned that n Thursday, Dec. 17, the town Cornell University would be purchasing the board of Enfield held a notably energy generated, which would be available well-attended meeting regarding to the entire community that our energy Black Oak Wind Farm LLC’s plans to grid (from Montour construct seven Falls to Ithaca) energy-producing serves. wind turbines Opponents of on Black Oak the wind farm cited Road in the town. safety risks as a The community main concern. One discussion was said setbacks—the open to the public, distance from a overseen by the wind turbine to town board, and both property mediated by Jeff boundaries and Shepardson from the residences—“are Community Dispute necessary to protect Resolution Center. citizens from many Marguerite Wells, dangers, including the sole employee collapsing towers, of Black Oak Wind flying debris from Farm (BOWF), blade failures that was in attendance present a potential to represent the hazard to the company. A number public a significant of consultants distance away from hired by the town each turbine, and and BOWF were potential fires due to present, including an sparks from towers attorney specializing Moderator Jeff Shepardson and Black Oak Road resident that catch on fire.” in wind issues, a Maria Ortiz discuss the wind farm. (Photo Laura Komor) Many spoke General Electric of the town’s representative who lower setback answered questions pertaining to the requirements compared to the Tompkins specific model of turbine the project would County Planning Department’s be using, and a specialist in sound level recommendations from November 2008, research. the turbine’s manufacturer (General Wells, also vice president of the BOWF Electric) recommendations, and those board of managers, bought out the project of New York State Energy Research & in January 2012 from developer John Development Authority (NYSERDA).

Rancich who initiated it in 2006 under the Jude Lemke, an attorney and resident on name Enfield Energy. BOWF is a publicly Connecticut Hill Road, said that “most shared company advised by a volunteer board and owned by 125 local investors, continued on page 7

R enewable Energy

Enfield Wind Farm on The Defensive

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▶ Save a life next summer, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is recruiting lifeguards for its Adirondack and Catskills regions beaches.

DEC is holding free lifeguard exams beginning January 9. Those individuals looking for summer employment who enjoy the outdoors are encouraged to learn more about DEC’s summer recreation opportunities.

Seasonal lifeguard positions are available at DEC campgrounds throughout the beautiful Adirondack and Catskill parks this summer.

The current hourly rate for state DEC lifeguards

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is approximately $13.27 and some facilities do offer free housing. DEC employment opportunities in summer recreation also offer the opportunity to join the state system with potential retirement investment options.

Tests will be given to individuals 16 and older interested in lifeguard jobs at DEC facilities this summer and will be offered through June 12, 2016. Candidates who pass the examination will be considered for employment.

Go to dec.ny.gov for more information, including exam locations and dates.

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On the Ice ....................................... 8

Fewer kids play hockey, but with more options

A Reconstructive Life ............ 15

Paleoartist brings us face to face with our past

NE W S & OPINION

Newsline . ......................... 3-7, 10, 12-14 Sports ................................................... 12

ART S & E NTE RTAINME NT

Film . ...................................................... 16 Events . ................................................. 17 Books .................................................... 18 Art . ....................................................... 19 Art . ....................................................... 20 TimesTable ..................................... 21-25 HeadsUp . ............................................. 25 Classifieds..................................... 26-27 Back Page . ........................................... 28 Cover Photo: Rye Bennett Cover Design: Marshall Hopkins

ON THE W E B Visit our website at www.ithaca.com for more news, arts, sports and photos. Call us at 607-277-7000 B i l l C h a i s s o n , M a n a g i n g E d i t o r , x 224

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Ed ito r @Flcn .o rg J a i m e C o n e , W e b E d i t o r , x 217

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A r t s @I t h a c a T i me s . c o m Steve L aw r ence, Sports Columnist,

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Tompkins County

PHOTOGRAPHER

Kruppa Still Head of Mental Health

By Josh Brok aw

What is your favorite thing to share over the holidays?

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fter much discussion at its Dec. 15 meeting, the Tompkins County legislature voted in favor of keeping Public Health Director Frank Kruppa as the interim commissioner of mental health. The county will form a task force to examine the operations and future direction of both departments, and the legislature will vote to re-authorize the combined department head model by no later than Dec. 31, 2019.

Kruppa was appointed mental health commissioner by County Administrator Joe Mareane about 18 months ago after a search for a new commissioner did not yield any qualified candidates.

After receiving positive feedback about Kruppa’s performance from mental health department employees, the legislature considered four different resolutions, three of which would appoint Frank Kruppa interim commissioner for at least the next three years.

Legislator Will Burbank (D-Ithaca) of the Health and Human Services Committee advanced a competing resolution, which would have had the county immediately conduct another search for a new commissioner. Legislator Carol Chock (D-Ithaca) said that even though she supported the committee’s position in the past, she now believes there is a better compromise to be had.

“I’ll vote against this here even though I supported it in committee,” she said. The resolution failed in a 4 to 10 vote with Legislators Burbank, Leslyn McBeanClairborne (D-Ithaca), Dooley Kiefer (D-Cayuga Heights) and Daniel Klein (D-Caroline) voting in favor.

Chock advanced a member-filed resolution the board ultimately approved with a few small changes. It authorizes the extension of Kruppa’s interim dual management of both departments though the end of 2018. In early 2019 there will be an evaluation of the management structure to determine if it should continue as is or if changes should be made. The effort will include consideration of the pros and cons of a partial or full merger of the administrative structure and will take into account any lessons that could be learned from other counties that have merged their health and mental health functions.

The resolution also includes the hiring of a deputy commissioner of mental health and an administrative assistant.

By the end of 2019, majority approval of the legislature would be required to reauthorize the combined department head model. The resolution passed in a vote of 11 to 3, with McBean-Clairborne, Kiefer, and Klein voting against it.

“ Ringing this bell, and seeing someone you’d least expect give something.”

—Gary Turton

“Book recommendations.”

—Gina Nutt

“Definitely meals.”

—Nell Bond and Greg Preston

“Spending time with family.”

—Peg Personius

“Baked goods.” ­—Tara Balch

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Jan Lynch of the Tompkins Community Mental Health Services board expresses her displeasure with the way that Frank Kruppa was made interim director of the county mental health department. (Photo: Jaime Cone)

Jan Lynch, chair of the Tompkins Community Mental Health Services Board, spoke during the public session at the beginning of the meeting. She said that at the most recent meeting of the

“All the board members agreed, though this obviously wasn’t a motion, that the process that we went through could not have been worse.”

—Jan Lynch on the process that led to making Frank Kruppa interim director of the Tompkins County Department of Mental Health

board, which is tasked with advising the legislature on mental health issues, there was a unanimous vote by the members present in support of immediately creating a task force to “identify indicators of the effect of a merger and to explore opportunities and develop a long-range plan related to the provision of health and mental health services.”

Seven board members voted in favor of merging the two departments and appointing Kruppa for a four-year period.

Four voted against it, and or various reasons four members did not vote, she said, adding that several members voted in favor “because it seemed the only way to move forward and out of this cycle of negativity that was happening because of the differences of opinion about it.”

Lynch said members of the board are not happy with the way the issue was handled. “All the board members agreed, though this obviously wasn’t a motion, that the process that we went through could not have been worse,” she said, adding that “there is a very disappointed group that feels very disrespected in terms of how it was handled.”

Kruppa said he hoped the parties involved have come together to create a compromise that will allow the two departments to be even more successful moving forward. “I think it’s been a good process with a lot of discussion from a lot of different stakeholders who are passionate about the work that goes on within the mental health department,” Kruppa told the Ithaca Times after the resolution passed. “I’m hopeful this will position us to take a more holistic approach to health in the community and that bringing the strengths of both departments together will enable us to better meet the community’s needs.” • – Jaime Cone southreporter@flcn.org

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Ups&Downs

Higher Education

TC3 Will Begin Tech Training Major in Fall

▶ Saving white deer, Seneca White Deer, Inc. announced today a fundraising drive to purchase a portion of the Seneca Army Depot and transform it into the Seneca White Deer Park. A $200,000 matching challenge donation kicks off Seneca White Deer Inc.’s campaign to establish an ecotourism/conservation operation on at least several thousand acres at the former Seneca Army Depot in Seneca County. This challenge will end on January 31, 2016. For more information on how you can help to achieve this dream go to www. senecawhitedeer.org or call 585-394-1287.

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he Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3) board of trustees recently approved a new degree program that it hopes will address community employment needs. TC3 put together the Applied Science and Technology degree program earlier this year and is now waiting for SUNY and the New York State Education department to give the final approvals.

The plan is for the new degree to be available to students starting in the fall 2016 semester. TC3 Dean Carl Penziul has led the school’s creation of the new degree program.

“We always knew,” Penziul said, “there was a need for [training for] the entrylevel positions and you know there’s a need for the very sophisticated tech people—the engineering and science tracks. And there was never really a middle ground students could look to, to develop skills that would complement existing tech programs but also get them ready for mid-level positions.”

“As luck would have it,” he continued, “two years ago, SUNY granted TC3 a ‘high needs’ grant as part of its approach to developing a myriad of programs, and it just turns out that this particular initiative was the focus of that year’s requests.

So with the help of all of our staff and advisory board, we designed this program, which really didn’t involve the creation of any additional course work. It’s more of a repacking of courses we already have.”

When asked if the program was designed and created with the thought of being an extension for students in Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga Board of

Tompkins County

Committee Puts off Min Wage Decision

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he Tompkins County Council of Governments took a vote on supporting the Workers’ Center local living wage proposal on Thursday.

With five votes to give support, two against, and four abstentions, several representatives said they simply don’t have enough information yet to urge the county legislature to vote for a countywide living wage.

In November, TCCOG decided to table the resolution, which mirrors one approved by the city earlier this month.

County legislature chair Mike Lane noted

If you care to respond to something in this column, or publish your own grievances or plaudits, e-mail editor@ithacatimes.com, with a subject head “Ups & Downs.”

In fall 2016 TC3 will begin offering a degree program in technology training. (Photo: Rye Bennett)

Cooperative Educational Services (TSTBOCES), Penziul said “yes and no.”

TST-BOCES mission states its goal is “to propose, and to provide high quality services for children and for all the customers served which are economical and efficient in their operation, and which will complement the educational programs provided by the local school districts and other agencies in our region.”

“It could be [an extension of BOCES],” Penziul said. “It’s not necessarily a direct extension. It aligns—not necessarily with BOCES—but with the T-Tech initiative, the pathways for tech for high schools and early college [that] involve a STEM-based approach. When we first came up with this program, we noticed it aligned very nicely with the students in high school that have the initial skill set and then can complement with the college-level courses as well.”

At TC3—and most community colleges for that matter—it is no secret that enrollment has been on the decline in recent years. The school introduced that the county legislature had since November passed a resolution to support Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to hit a $15 per hour minimum wage by 2021.

Lane reiterated his personal position on Thursday, saying that “the counties surrounding us would be thrilled they’re going to get all of this economic development” if the county were to raise its wage before its neighbors do.

“All of a sudden we’re going to be having a higher minimum wage than any place else,” Lane said in November. “At a little larger business, maybe the supervisor is already making $15 an hour, so alright, people on the line are now making $15 - what does the employer do about the supervisor? All of those costs are going to go up, not just at the bottom.”

“This area is an expensive place to live and it’s causing us problems right now,” Town of Caroline representative Irene Weiser said Thursday. “It makes little sense to have one sort of blanket minimum wage

its farm-to-table degree this year— highlighted by its downtown Ithaca Coltivare restaurant—to address the need for restaurant employment in Tompkins County, with the hopes that it would bring in a new demographic of students.

Penziul said the new Applied Science and Technology degree also is inspired by local employment demands.

“It could be looked at like as [a response to declining enrollment],” he said, “but—like I said—we didn’t create any new courses so it’s not something that will attract new students from the get-go; it’s something we can put new courses to enroll in down the line. But it does meet a demand that local advisors have indicated [exists]. Is there a huge group of students that fall in this category of [not going to a four-year technology program, but that would go to a two-year program]? We hope so. We think this will be quite an attractive option. There’s no panacea for trying to increase enrollment

Heard&Seen ▶ Free parking downtown, Got last-minute shopping to do? You’re in luck, because parking will be FREE all day Thursday, December 24 all throughout downtown -- on street and in all three parking garages (Green, Cayuga, and Seneca). As usual, parking will also be free on December 25 and over the weekend. Happy holidays from Downtown Ithaca! ▶ Top Stories on the Ithaca Times website for the week of Dec. 16-22 include: 1) Fire Destroys Spencer Home 2) Bill Murray’s Christmas Special Never Really Lights Up 3) Making Friends Without WordsCandor Students Join the 611 Class 4) David Bromberg Hits Up the Dock 5) Big Mean Sound Machine Don’t Practice - They’re Just That Good

continued on page 14

For these stories and more, visit our website at www.ithaca.com.

across whole state.”

Ric Dietrich, of Danby, said he felt he hadn’t yet learned enough about the Workers’ Center proposal to make an informed vote, which his fellow abstainers agreed with. Pete Meyers of the Workers’ Center told Dietrich that his organization plans on making presentations to the outlying towns, asking for resolutions of their support like they have the city and town of Ithaca.

For more on the living wage - and the rather confusing difference between a countywide living wage and the state proposals for a higher minimum wage - check “Building a Groundswell for a Higher Minimum Wage” from the Dec. 9 Ithaca Times.

question OF THE WEEK

Do you have any objections to utility-scale wind farms?

Please respond at ithaca.com.

L ast Week ’s Q uestion: Do you celebrate New Year’s Eve by going out ?

17 percent of respondents answered “yes” and 83 percent answered “no”

– Josh Brokaw reporter@ithacatimes.com Jaime Cone contributed reporting to this story.

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Guestopinion

Don’t Support the Hoarders W here do hoarded animals come from?

A month ago, on Nov. 11, animal control officers from the SPCA of Tompkins County—with assistance from the Tompkins County sheriff ’s department and with veterinary support from our partners at the Shelter Medicine Program at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine—removed 28 living and three deceased animals from the home of a couple living in Newfield. Unfortunately, this was not the first time the SPCA had been called to intervene with the same family. In 2010, 98 animals were seized from the same couple while they were residing in Brooktondale.

This past Tuesday, that couple was arraigned in Newfield town court, pled not guilty, and a court date has been set for Jan. 12. As you can see by this timeline, legal proceedings concerning hoarding cases can go on for many weeks, months, and in rare cases, there have been animals in legal limbo at the SPCA shelter for over a year. The costs related to caring for animals in cases like these add up in a way that most people do not realize. Hoarded animals typically need a good deal of medical help because it is difficult for the hoarders to properly take care of dozens of animals. The hoarded animals come in to our shelter with parasites, have not been spayed or neutered, need myriad vaccinations, and so much more. Usually only animal hospitals are equipped and staffed to provide this kind of care for so many

animals at once.

Animal hoarding is a compulsion to acquire and retain of a large number of pets, usually originating (as with most compulsions) in an attempt to decrease stress and anxiety. While cases of animal hording are relatively rare in Tompkins County, they do happen periodically: 104 animals removed from a hoarder’s home in January 2010, 72 animals removed in June 2011, and 17 animals in November 2012.

How do hoarders acquire their animals?

We find that a common assumption made by concerned members of the public is that animal hoarders allow their un-spayed or un-neutered animals to breed, and thus increase the household headcount to large numbers of puppies, kittens, etc.

This however, is usually only part of the problem with a “hoarding household.” Hoarders also frequently acquire animals by answering advertisements by individuals seeking homes for their pets. Hoarders answer on-line postings and classified advertising on craigslist or Facebook, in newspapers, on community bulletin boards, or by word-of-mouth.

We urge members of the public who, for whatever reason, cannot keep their pets, to consider the SPCA of Tompkins County, the first no-kill, open-admission animal shelter in the United States as their first choice for surrendering their pet for adoption. Although the urge may continued on page 7

surroundedbyreality

The New Normal

By C h a r l ey G i t h l e r

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ow that we’re winding up the warmest December since the Eocene Epoch, I think it’s safe to assume that the weather in Ithaca will never go back to the way it used to be. In the Old Days, people used to put up their carriages and break out the sleighs by Christmas. This year, I’ve put my snow tires on craigslist and recycled my ice scraper. Still, this is all new, and I worry there could be changes afoot even more ominous than mild weather. I’ve noticed things. They’ve had these winter conditions down in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and the Carolinas forever. Is it possible we’re becoming more … Southern?

Never discount the possibility that I’m losing my sanity, but explain this to me. Last weekend, the cashier at Wegmans asked me, “did y’all find everything you were looking for?” Who says that in Ithaca? And wait, it gets weirder. When I left a tip at the State Diner on Sunday, the waitress said, “Bless your heart.” Coincidence? Perhaps. But what if warm winters and southern culture go hand in hand?

I suppose I should have noticed the signs earlier. Our local planners may have been more far-sighted than we thought, encouraging the construction of new national chain hotels and stores with carpetbagging outside contractors. Ithaca City Schools pay their teachers barely enough to cover the cost of a decent pair of bib overalls and a weekly jar of moonshine. I don’t know if anyone else saw it, but there’s a new ‘kudzu abatement’ line in the 2016 Ithaca city budget. Wouldn’t it make sense to at least entertain the possibility that big changes are happening?

I used to want to see my family during the holidays. Lately, though, I’ve developed a hankerin’ to see my kinfolk. It’s got me worried. Plumb worried.

I don’t know where it’s all leading, but I can tell you my prediction: the worst part will be adjusting to the food.

For years, we had been moving in the direction of healthier, local food. Recently, though, I’ve learned that Cayuga Medical Center is constructing a special burn unit in anticipation of folks figuring out the nuances of deep fat frying at home.

Black-eyed peas and corn pone don’t sound too bad, and I guess we can make do with catfish. I’m not exactly sure what a Hush Puppy is, but apparently we’ll all be expected to partake. And I was shocked to find out that grits, an excellent substance for patching cracked masonry, are also edible!

You think I’m over-reacting? Ask yourself these questions. Do you care more about college football than you used to? Have you used the word “whatnot” in conversation? How about the word “crawdad”? Does the word “glass” sound like “glay-us” when you say it? Have you been re-thinking your position on the Second Amendment? I tell you, it’s happening.

Right here in Ithaca.

Some things are going to hurt. We’re going to have to be nicer to strangers.

Southern hospitality is kind of real. We might have to take Donald Trump seriously.

There will be a demand for possum-based dishes in local restaurants. And whatnot.

I know. It’s good news for local cardiologists. And one hopes that our taxes will go down to southern levels. But I’m not sure I’m ready. The Civil War’s been over for 150 years, but it seems likely that we’re going to have to get all fired up about it again. Also, apparently, Ithaca High School’s changing its fight song to “Dueling Banjos.”

Might be a coincidence, I don’t know. Be ready for this: we’ll all need a collection of baseball caps, including a clean one for formal occasions. Life is change, people, but this is a big shift.

You decide if I’m imagining things, I guess. I’m just telling it like I see it. OK, I’m fixin’ to plant some calla lilies in the yard and I have to go. Happy New Year, y’all. •

YourOPINIONS

Some Good News

I’m sure you get many negative and strongly worded letters on a day-to-day basis, so I hope that this one will be a nice refresher.

Around the time of Thanksgiving, I was downtown on the Ithaca Commons, warming up inside Center Ithaca. It was a cold, windy and rainy day, in which I was feeling very miserable. I was not looking forward to the uncomfortable walk across the Commons to the bookstore, and having left my jacket at home by mistake, I had deemed it a bad day.

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As I walked out into the rain, I passed a group of college students huddled under a yellow umbrella. They were all squished up against each other to fit underneath it, and from my poor eyesight in the rain, I couldn’t tell if they were happy or not. As I continued to walk, I noticed I was going the same way as the students; I thought nothing of them, I only concentrated on getting out of the rain.

We crossed that intersection in front of Starbucks, and I saw a man sitting outside in the rain, with barely a coat to keep him continued on page 7

Guestopinion contin u ed from page 7

be great to want to “screen” personally the person who desires to adopt your pet, you may not be able to visit the adopter’s home or perform an adequate background check that will screen out a hoarder.

The SPCA of Tompkins County carefully screens potential adopters and will visit a potential adopter’s home, in some cases, before allowing an animal adoption to proceed. Hoarders rarely go undetected in such a screen. We strive, through our screening, to find a safe and loving home for every animal surrendered to the shelter.

Our local community clearly deplores the cruelty and suffering caused by animal hoarding situations. We at the SPCA of Tompkins County are gratified by the response from concerned citizens who have adopted animals from the SPCA that were rescued under hoarding circumstances, who have volunteered their time to work with these animals to love and socialize them, and who have donated to the SPCA Angel Fund on their behalf. The SPCA is not a municipal or government-run shelter. We rely on the generosity of our local community to support our mission, our investigative work, and ultimately the animals that come to us in need.

– Anne Schneiderman, Vice President/ Secretary Elect – Pamela Bleiwas, President SPCA of Tompkins County Board of Directors Youropinions contin u ed from page 7

warm or dry. His cardboard sign was soaked all the way through. I watched with amazement as the group of students immediately gave the man their umbrella, wished him a “good day” and to “stay safe” and continued on their way up the hill.

Even in the rain, the man’s face lit up and he smiled bigger than I have ever seen someone in his predicament smile before.

My face seemed to mirror his.

My day had been completely cheered up, and I couldn’t help but skip on the rest of my way to the bookstore. It’s amazing how such a little act of kindness can brighten up someone’s day. I’m sure it meant a lot to the man; as it meant a lot to me just to witness. I think about the yellow umbrella in the rain a lot now, especially when it sometimes seems that bad news is the only news.

– Alana Craib, Ithaca

Pro Uber

This is going to be short but, I have feelings for this issue and it’s only brief but Ithaca residents, please take this into consideration. The conflict over Uber in Ithaca is escalating. Should Ithaca ban Uber from coming into town? It’s an

easy choice for me. Ithaca is a city with a rapidly growing population, which means the city is growing farther and farther from downtown. With a popular growing taxi service it would be easier than ever to get across town. Uber has great reviews from popular online youtubers saying that in big cities like London, with Uber it’s easier than ever to get from North London to South London. Uber would be a great addition to the Ithaca community.

-Alex Ratel, Ithaca

Backyard Chickens, Not Factory Chickens

In my life, I have seen my fair share of horrific poultry factory farming videos, and have come to the conclusion that this process needs to come to an end. This is because factory farming of chickens is not only damaging to the chickens themselves, but it also has a negative effect on us humans and our environment.

Fortunately, an easy solution to this scrambled dilemma is to raise our own egg laying chickens. The current proposal to allow backyard chicken coops in the city of Ithaca has been a major topic of discussion this year. In the past, voters have denied these proposals. Currently, they are reconsidering. The idea is to allow 20 households to keep up to 4 chickens cooped in their backyards as a small-scale trial. This trial will be closely watched with specific rules and regulations, for a two-year time period. I strongly encourage Common Council to pass this proposal.

Happy, healthy chickens lead to happy, healthy eggs, which lead to happy, healthy people.

– Ivy Sheiman, Town of Ithaca blackoak contin u ed from page 3

recommendations for setbacks are 1,500 feet and up from residences. The town board originally adopted setbacks in accordance with county recommendations, but then a change in the town board occurred, and this whole new town board repealed the old law and put in a new one with lower standards for setbacks.”

Wells said that properties in Enfield are vast and expansive, and most of the property is a “totally uninhabited area.”

She went on to say, “If you were trying to put a wind turbine anywhere in upstate New York, there’s no place that’s 1,500 feet from property lines. In Europe there aren’t setbacks that far, and in a lot of places in the United States. It’s just not that dangerous.

People are just not dying every day from these things.”

Challengers also introduced sound level concerns, again citing the county’s recommendations of a maximum of 50-55 decibels, whereas the local wind law allows a maximum of 60 unweighted decibels.

Jim Dennis, Tompkins County legislator for part of Enfield, said in an interview that the county’s 2008 recommendations were “simply suggestions, and since the project passed

The discussion about the Black Oak Wind Farm included Enfield residents and renewable energy supporters from around the county. (Photo Laura Komor)

a thorough State Environmental Quality from their property line is under the Review (SEQR) process exactly the way town’s legal minimum setback. The Tesoris they were supposed to,” the wind farm does are apprehensive about the potential not present any safety or health hazards. He construction, in part because they have said that a town is not obligated to pass a plans to give their current house to their development project exactly as the county children and build another house on their planning department recommends it. property, where they hope to retire. With BOWF has been contacting Enfield a wind turbine close to their property residents who live in the area surrounding line, building an additional house would the proposed turbine construction sites pose problems because they won’t be able through a “Good Neighbor Agreement” to find a safe distance from the turbine (GNA), another hot button at to build within the property the meeting. Wells explained they own. The couple said the GNA was a courteous they appreciated the meeting effort by BOWF to reach out because of the questions that to the Enfield community, were brought up, especially for and stated that residents those in the community who misconstrued its purpose. weren’t aware of these issues.

Some residents complained Many concerns centered it was a “binding contract,” on proposed changes to the and believed it imposed a “gag project. Residents said since order,” (Wells said no such gag the Final Environmental order was part of the GNA).

Impact Statement, approved in The GNA offers $500 per year November 2014, was pertaining to each of these households to a project that proposed that BOWF has offered the seven 1.7 megawatt wind agreement to, and the BOWF turbines each at a height of Marguerite Wells website says it is “is totally 475 feet from the ground to voluntary on our part and on the tip of the blade, another yours.” impact study is required now Another issue of contention was real that the turbines have increased both in estate value and tax revenue. The owners height (now 483 feet tall) and power (2.3 of the properties to which the turbines MW each), and the substation has also would be close said that their property changed location. Wells said that changes value would decrease significantly, and they were required for two reasons: first, new would not be able to sell their property for turbine models became available by the the amount they bought it for. Others said manufacturer and second, a day before the that since the property taxes from those company’s final financial statements were areas in Enfield with turbines would go due to close, the landowner on whose land down, other areas in the town would go the substation was to be placed decided up. Wells said that Black Oak Wind Farm he wanted neither the planned substation is in a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) (which would serve all seven turbines) nor program whereby they will pay $133,000 the planned turbine, on his property. per year, to be shared among the town, the The Town of Enfield board plans to school district, and the county. have at least one more community meeting Melynda and Rob Tesori Jr., who live to discuss the construction of Black Oak at 570 Black Oak Road, spoke a number of Wind Farm. times at the meeting, expressing concerns that the distance of one proposed turbine – Laura Komor T

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Kids On Ice

Fewer kids play hockey, but there are more options now

Photo: Rye Bennett

By Michael Nocella

B

y its very nature, Ithaca has always made sense as a hockey haven. It spends the better part of the calendar year covered in ice, and is home to Cornell University hockey, a national power house.

So it is not suprising that the greater Ithaca area offers a fairly robust youth hockey menu for both boys and girls.

In 1957 the Ithaca Youth Hockey Association (IYHA) was created.

In 1972 the Tompkins Girls’ Hockey Association (TGHA) followed in IYHA’s footsteps.

In 2015 the Finger Lakes Regional Hockey Association (FLRHA) was launched in an effort to provide a different business model and approach to youth hockey compared to the longstanding methods of IYHA. However, even with all of those options, it’s still fair to say Ithaca youth hockey’s glory days are in the rearview mirror. Now, that’s not just Ithaca, or even hockey. Participation numbers in most of youth sports in 2015 are down compared to numbers in the 1980s or 1990s. It is simply a different world—most notably, a world with the Internet.

Whether it be money, laziness, or financial reasons, the demand for hockey in 2015 simply isn’t what it was 20 or 30 years ago.

IYHA board member and coach Tyler Wagenet said multiple factors weigh into the hockey enrollment equation.

“Our association has been around a long, long time,” he said. “The numbers in the early part of the association were huge because, I think, economically, people

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were in [a much better place]. When I was coming up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, the economy was doing much better than it is now. And hockey is an expensive sport. So when people look at sports in general and the way that they evolve, a lot of people like to take a look at the numbers and say, ‘Well the numbers aren’t what they were.’

Well, I think that just has to do with the amount of opportunities available, and the different directions people want to go.

“Are our numbers down from 20 years ago?” he asked. “Yeah. But numbers in general for kids playing hockey are down everywhere. That’s a national trend. But can those numbers come back? Maybe. It’s an economical issue. What we do—and it’s becoming a trend—is offer free initiation.

You still have to buy the equipment obviously, but you get on the ice for free.

But it’s great for the kids, because then they fall in love with the sport.”

FLRHA Safe Sport Coordinator and Squirt travel Head Coach Jay Sciarabba said that it’s a different world: “Kids can be lazy. There are so many different things for them to do. If your kids do play hockey, you have to introduce them to it at a young age, in the right way.”

The “right way” to introduce and develop hockey players in Ithaca was the main motivator for a group of formerly IYHA members to launch FLRHA in the first place. Members from both associations stressed that there “was no bad blood,” but they do not work alongside one another, or in collaboration. Time will tell if this dynamic of having two different local youth hockey association numbers will help the sport grow, keep numbers where they are, or have a negative impact. e c e m b e r

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Oldest Ice Around When it comes to playing hockey at a young age in the Ithaca area, the IYHA is still the leader in terms of history, resources, and reputation. Over five decades of youth hockey experience will earn that.

The program opened in February 1957, with ice time donated by Cornell (for the first five years, then purchased at a reduced rate). About 40 boys joined, and the group focused exclusively on practice and scrimmage, with about an hour each ice time for two teams. Their ages ranged from 6 to 14 years old, and by fall 1957, membership had climbed to about 100.

For that continuation of the initial season, boys were divided into groups by ages: 12 to14 years old in Group A; 10 to 11 years old in Group B; and 9 years old and under in Group C. The numbers have fluctuated through the years. Sciarabba, who came up through the IYHA, said there were days of “900 kids” in enrollment. However current IYHA president Phil Infante believes the association’s current enrollment to be relatively in line with the last 20 years or so.

“I’ve gone back through the registration logs in the last 20 years,” he said, “and I would say enrollment in our association has averaged between 250 and 350 kids. It’s been pretty constant. We’re at over 200 right now. In Ithaca overall, I think that number is well over 300.”

IYHA offers a free initiation program for players between the ages of 4 and 6 years old, a Mites team (under 8 years old), Squirts (under 10 years old), a

Snowbelt program, a travel program and an 18-and-under split season, and a recently launched all-girls Mite team (which Wagenet coaches). The association uses ice at Cass Park Rink and Cornell’s Lynah Rink.

One of the staples of IYHA is its Snowbelt program.

“Everyone gets ice time,” Infante explained. “It’s a developmental program where kids get to learn the game. There’s no power lines or select lines. It’s all equal.”

No matter the program, or the age, IYHA prides itself on teaching the game of hockey in a way that is fun, patient and nurturing. Wagenet said teaching a complicated sport to youngsters is a challenge, but also a huge advantage to begin at a young age, rather then as a teenager or adult.

“Four seems to be about the right age to begin,” he said, “because they can function, pay attention to what’s going on around them, but they don’t have the preconceived notion of ‘when I fall, it’s going to hurt.’ So you teach them the balance, and everything you need for the ability to ice skate. Pick up skating at the age of 25, and that’s much harder. You know it’s going to hurt when you fall. But kids don’t have that, so you get to develop that knowledge on your own terms.”

Added Infante: “Ithaca is a great place to learn and love hockey. It’s a little bit of everything. I think it’s the weather, Cornell’s hockey history—it’s just a great, fun way to get through the winter season.

It goes by much quicker when you’re involved with hockey.”

New Kids on the Block When the FLRHA (housed in The Rink in Lansing) launched earlier this year, it was with a mission to cultivate a hockey culture that pays homage to the Ithaca hockey glory days. Sciarabba—who has more than 30 years of experience, including coming up through Ithaca youth hockey, high school and going on to play college—is one of the leaders of that vision.

“We started the Finger Lakes Regional Hockey Association this year,” he said, “with a Squirt travel team, a Bantam travel team, a Pee Wee travel team, a Mite house team, and we also offer free initiation for the younger kids. It’s a different business model. We start in September, and go all the way through until March. Our ratio of practice to games is three to one—we believe that’s vital for development.”

While IYHA believes strongly in its Snowbelt program, FLRHA is happy to offer a house program in which the youth can come and play hockey, no questions asked, and no travel needed.

“That was one of the things we saw was missing,” Sciarabba said. “Not just in Ithaca, but everywhere you go—that kids are just not being developed correctly. And that’s not making the teams in the area any better. We want to get back to Ithaca hockey—strong, competitive hockey.

There was no place in Ithaca for a kid to just go play pick-up hockey, like in the old days. It was you go from Mites, to Squirts to travel or Snowbelt. Snowbelt use to be more localized, but now they travel farther and farther. It’s pretty much travel. So what you see is numbers declining because kids don’t have the time or resources to go travel an hour or more to go play hockey.

They’ll go play a cheaper sport like soccer.”

Sciarabba said the main reason he departed from IYHA and began another association was the decline in numbers he witnessed and the quality of hockey Ithaca was breeding.

“We want to bring the passion of hockey in Ithaca back,” he said. “We use to have 900 kids in the Ithaca program. That’s what we’re hoping to build in the next four or five years. Are we there yet? No, we’re a new association. Are we competitive? Yes. “A lot of people fought for us not to have our own association,” he admitted, “but we knew it was going to be right for a certain type of kid. People go to Wegmans, or they go to Tops. You can go play with Finger Lakes Regional Hockey Association or Ithaca Youth Hockey Association. It’s just options. We just believe in a different development model—one isn’t better than the other.”

At the end of the day, Sciarabba wants to put hockey in Ithaca where he believes it should belong: at the top.

“It goes back to high school and state champions,” said. “It goes back to the 1970 undefeated Cornell men’s hockey team. And still today, Cornell is tenth in the nation. Lynah Rink is probably one of best places to play and watch hockey in the country. Ithaca is centralized. We have

quality programs here that make Ithaca a great place to learn and play hockey. It’s not a huge football area. Baseball is getting stronger. Soccer is saturated. Lacrosse is good. But hockey is something that’s always been strong here. We’re trying to bring that back. We’re trying to get back to where other places are scared to come play Ithaca. When I played in the eighties, that’s the way it was.”

remained the same.

“There have been a ton of changes,” she said, “but mostly it’s about the attitude of parents and kids that girls can play hockey and play it well.”

TGHA offers an initiation program, an 8-and-under team, a 10-and-under team, a 12-and-under team, a 14-andunder team, the 19-and-under Wildcats team, a “Cub Club”, and the Furies and

C u b C l u b pa i r i n g w i t h 8 U (a b ov e) a n d l e a r n i n g t o m ov e t h e p u c k ( P h o t o s : We n dy R o b b i n s a n d R y e B e n n e t t)

A Girls’ Game, Too One of the things that make Ithaca a truly special place when it comes to the game of hockey is the Tompkins Girls’ Hockey Association. TGHA is the oldest girls’ youth hockey association in New York State, and one of the oldest in the entire country. Its 43-year history includes a lot of changes, but according to TGHA Communications Coordinator and TGHA 8-and-under Head Coach Christine “CJ” DelVecchio, the core of the association has

Sirens adult teams.

“Youth hockey in Ithaca,” DelVecchio said, “ is strong with many opportunities for kids to play at all levels. TGHA, in particular, offers something unique in the area: the ability for girls to practice and play hockey as part of an organization that is solely focused on girls’ hockey across all age groups. Youth hockey across the country is seeing declining numbers, but Ithaca and our surrounding area has a long history of supporting hockey at the youth, adult and college levels.”

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When asked if teaching young girls the sport of hockey was different than teaching boys, DelVecchio said yes and no.

“Initially when girls start playing hockey,” she said, “they need time to get used to the equipment that is required for playing. Perhaps the most challenging aspect of teaching girls hockey is teaching them to be more aggressive. Our coaching staff recognizes that competitive nature of becoming an athlete develops differently in each child. Having women as key parts of our coaching staff combined with former professional and college hockey players that are members of the coaching staff, girls thrive in the exciting team environment that hockey provides.

Ultimately, we are teaching these young women to be great team players, work well with others, multi-task, and handle rejection and being gracious winners.

These are life skills they will use as community leaders.”

Returning to the Glory Days While Ithaca hockey might never get back to the way things were 30 years ago, the youth hockey scene in the Greater Ithaca Area is far from crippled. In fact, youngsters today—boy or girl—have more options than ever before to decide how they want to begin their hockey journey; the challenge is simply convincing parents and young ones that they should begin a hockey journey in the first place.

Former IYHA president Ron Mielbrecht said there are several factors at play when looking at the state of the youth hockey landscape.

“I always hear from non-hockey families,” he said, “how difficult hockey must be from a financial and time commitment point of view. While I don’t disagree, the fact is that it is equally expensive and just as large of a time commitment to play soccer, lacrosse, to swim, among other sports. The registration fees are all high, and you have to travel no matter what sport you are playing. I think the cost of renting the indoor field in Lansing is the same price as renting the ice. The businesses catering to the winter sports certainly take advantage of their position. I don’t think hockey is all that different from any other sport, except of course for the helmets, feeling of gliding on ice, the speed and the thrill of scoring a goal. But that is just a lifelong player talking.”

Infante also noted that when it comes to time commitment and travel, it’s not all bad.

“There’s a commitment element to it,” he said. “Practices are twice a week. We play one or two games on the weekend.

Most games are played between 9 a.m. and the early afternoon. Then there’s the travel.

But the feedback we get from parents is they enjoy the trips. They get time in the car with their kids, then they get to go out and get a burger in Syracuse or Cortland, or wherever it is, right after the game. It’s all part of the experience.” • e c e m b e r

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Ithaca City Schools

District and Teachers Talk Past One Another

I

thaca City School District teachers will enter the holidays without a contract, as mediation continues between the administration and faculty.

Ithaca Teachers Association (ITA) president Adam Piasecki was in the office of chief human capital officer Robert Van Keuren’s on the afternoon of Monday, Dec. 21. Other than watching the district office doors for activity, neither the

administration nor the teachers have had much new to tell in the last month, since the ITA rallied on Route 13 outside Wegman’s to state their demands for better pay.

At that rally, Ryan Harrington, a ICSD first grade teacher who’s also an ITA officer, said that some of the district’s expenses in recent years have been questioned by faculty and staff, including Chromebooks for high school students; interactive whiteboards; and a new addition to the high school.

“A lot of us are taxpayers in the district, so we’re certainly not saying we want to raise taxes. This is already an expensive place to live,” Harrington said.

Several emailed requests to teachers to expand upon this critique of district

● ● ● ●

policies situation turned up one teacher willing to speak her mind on record, Ithaca High School social studies teacher Ludi Augustine.

Augustine said she wasn’t sure if concerns about technology were a “red herring,” and that the administration tends to “justify purchases” of new technology by saying the budget impact is minimal, since things tend to be leased through BOCES. “The money in the technology line is not money that goes to salaries,” ICSD board president Rob Ainslie said. “It’s apples and oranges. We lease equipment through BOCES, and we get aid on that— we don’t get aid on salaries.”

“If we spent nothing on technology, that would still have little to do with

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Protest on Nov. 23 (Photo: Rye Bennett)

what we could pay the teachers,” Ainslie continued. “I will point out to folks we spend less on tech now than when Judy Pastel was superintendent, and by no means were we pushing technology. We had computers that didn’t work, [and] a web presence that was unusable in the classroom.”

Augustine said she feels there’s “a sense on the side of the administration that there are always teachers in Ithaca begging for a position.” In initial contract talks, teachers were offered a 1.5 percent increase in salary, Augustine said, “but at the same time they want us to pay 7 percent more toward our health insurance.”

One number that the ITA has often repeated is that the district is 559th out of 667 districts statewide in median compensation, citing Empire State Center for Public Policy numbers. Eighty-nine percent of small city teachers make more, print-outs posted in the high school since October say, citing a number of area districts where teachers make more, including Groton, Trumansburg, Watkins Glen, and Union Springs, schools that Ithaca have “historically outperformed in terms of state testing and graduation rates.”

Ainslie says that a lower median compensation is to be expected, since the district has offered retirement packages four times since 2006, which 112 teachers have taken.

“The median average salary is going to be less than others that did not do what we had to do to try and keep the doors open and everybody paid,” Ainslie said. Because of the $23 million in state aid the district has lost in the last five years through the Gap Elimination Act, the district was spending savings “and it’s gotten to the point we can’t do it anymore,” Ainslie said. continued on page 14

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sports

He’s Safe at Third Base

For everyone on your list...

DOWNTOWN ITHACA

Gift Cards

Sports Columnist gets a nice Christmas Gift

By Ste ve L aw re nc e

O

ver the years, I have been asked, repeatedly to 1991, when my mom was “How many people read your diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, and column? A hundred? A thousand? after her CAT scan we were told she had Ten thousand?” I jokingly replied, “Well … a few weeks to live. Five weeks later, she as long as I get paid, I don’t care!” was gone. She was only 58, and having Well, readers and friends, this week lived longer than my mother does feel very I am not joking. I want everyone to read strange. I perceive every day as a gift. this story. I do care.

When I went to see my girlfriend, I have, for many years, drawn a Debbie, at her salon to tell her the news, parallel between aging and a game she immediately cleared her schedule for of baseball. I have said, “The average the next 3 days and said, “Whatever this is, American lives 80 years, so when we turn we’ll get through it together.” As promised, 20, we have hit a single. Forty is a double, she was there until the dust cleared. What 60 is a triple and 80 is a home run. Of a gift she is. course, many live past 80, stay in the game For two sleepless night I tossed and for another at-bat, and I will never forget turned and thought about every meal of Mr. Sterling McAdam, a friend and bigprocessed food I have ever eaten, every time Cornell softball fan who died recently negative thought I have ever had, and at age 102. I once told him I had no other friends that had hit a home run and a single.

Before last week, I thought I was cruising into third base with a stand-up triple. I turn 60 on Feb. 1, and I had some free time so I scheduled my colonoscopy a few weeks early. In my groggy post-procedure haze, I heard my doctor say that I had a pre-cancerous polyp that she could not remove, and it Metaphorically reaching the age of 60. (Provided) had to come out in January. I was fine with that.

Five days later, I received a call from most of all I thought about my beloved the good doctor and she said, “I don’t daughters and the grandchildren I might like to deliver this news over the phone, someday see. but the biopsy revealed that the polyp On Thursday, we sat in the office for I referenced has a focus of cancer, and the surgical consult, and the surgeon said, we have scheduled you for blood work “Your scan is clear, the lesion we saw is tomorrow and a full-body CAT scan the easy to access, and we will remove it in day after.”

January. I really do not want you to lose Suddenly, my stand-up triple had any sleep over this.” The dust had cleared, become a full-speed, hard slide into third, and barring any last-minute instant-replay and a cloud of dust had been stirred up reviews, the umpire had signaled “Safe.” that I knew would not clear for at least I got up, dusted myself off and looked 48 hours. The call came on Tuesday, and toward home plate. not until Thursday would the dust settle You know where I am going with this to the point where I could see the umpire … had I waited a year to get tested … I signaling whether I was out or safe. don’t even want to think about that. Please, Rationally, I knew that as a nonfriends, get your screenings on time. smoking, non-obese vegetarian, I was at Please, eat well, take care of yourselves, low risk for full-blown colon cancer. I also and dump the chemical-laden sodas and knew that a biopsy signaling any cancer other crap down the drain. We all have would lead to immediate testing in this plenty of time to be dead, so let’s stay in litigious world, and I knew my doctor the game as long as we can. You are all a cares about me and wanted to get some gift to me. I mean that. answers as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading. • Not so rationally, I flashed back

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Hanging up the Cleats

from multiple municipalities in order to qualify for affordable premiums—is the only such group in the state, and Barber speaks of it enthusiastically, noting that it’s saved taxpayers more than $2 million since its creation. His enthusiasm is appropriate; he’s been working part-time as the consortium’s executive director, a post he’ll continue to hold after his term as supervisor officially expires at the end of fter 22 years, Caroline Town this year.

Supervisor Don Barber is at last In addition to helping found TCCOG, retiring from town government.

Barber said that he’s proud of the role Over the past two decades that he’s he’s played in instituting town planning. been in office, the Town of Caroline has While he was in office, Caroline adopted changed—and Barber has been the one to subdivision laws and then, about a decade usher in some of those changes, but he’s later, the board approved the inauguration also changed himself. of site plan review. Both decisions, Barber “When I ran, I was a registered said, were very controversial—even Republican,” he said. He’d always been a though neither GOP member and, at actually involved the time, the entire zoning. town board was, too.

Barber has also He said, “In order made Caroline a to have an elected forward-thinking position in Caroline, it town when it comes was pretty easy to see to energy use. “We that you needed to be were the second a Republican to win.” municipality in New After deciding York State to buy that his business 100 percent of our experience—he’d power from renewable founded a sources,” he said. construction Aside from making company—could be sure the town’s energy an asset to the town, is as green as possible, Barber decided to Barber has helped run for office. When make town residents’ he approached the energy use as green as Republican Party possible. about running, A year before the he didn’t get the Solarize Tompkins endorsement, so initiative began Don Barber he went to the helping residents (Photo provided) Democrats. countywide switch to “I asked if they’d solar, a smaller solar run a Republican, and push happened in they said they’d run anybody, so I ran.” He won a seat—though Caroline, Danby, and Dryden. The goal was to get 30 households signed up to go he wasn’t the top vote-getter—and switched parties right afterward. By today’s solar, but instead 100 signed up.

With Barber’s enthusiasm and his standards, he said, he wouldn’t really fall laundry list of accomplishments, one in line with the Republican Party anyway. might wonder why he’s leaving.

When Barber joined the town board, “The reason why I decided to step he was the only Democrat on a Republican down, ” he said, “is that I’m a grandfather, board; now, the entire board is filled with and I have a grandson who spends two Democrats. Barber said that although days a week here. He’s ten months old, he’s seen a shift toward more registered and I can see over the next two years him Democrats in Caroline in the past two walking around and running on the farm decades, he’s also seen an uptick in the and me being at meetings, and it just number of undecided voters. “I think a lot doesn’t add up.” of that has to do with what’s going on at Caroline will miss him, though—a the federal level,” he said. fact that town residents made apparent On a local level, Barber has been at Barber’s last board meeting earlier this instrumental in a number of changes over month. the past twenty years. One of his favorite “As the meeting wore on, people accomplishments, he said, “has nothing started coming in around 8:30,” he said. to do with the town.” Barber was the “I thought that was odd, and then more founding chair of the Tompkins County came in and then there were probably 15 Council of Governments, a council of people there—and I had no idea there local mayors and supervisors that meets were another 40 people outside. Then, monthly to collaborate and discuss when the meeting ended they all came in common problems. with applause.

“TCCOG is still in effect today, “It was a special time, for sure.” and has done some pretty amazing things—including creating the health – Keri Blakinger care consortium.” The Tompkins County consortium—which pooled employees

Caroline Supervisor Retires from Gov’t

A

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teacherprotest contin u ed from page 10

Augustine understands this. She said that teachers are “oftentimes told, the reason we are ranked so low in a list like that is we have so many new teachers. My question to that is, why do we have so many new teachers? Thirty people left the district to take jobs in surrounding areas that pay more.”

Augustine says she had one colleague from her department leave for the Union Springs district, where that teacher is now making $14,000 more per year.

“The turnover is astonishing at IHS,” Augustine said. “It has a huge impact on departments and the quality of education.”

As an ICSD taxpayer as well, TC3tech contin u ed from page 5

in any discipline, but there is a national demand for these kinds of mid-level tech jobs. These kinds of steps give people the chance to look at those career paths in a totally new perspective.”

As Penziul said, for the moment, the Applied Science and Technology degree program will not have any courses the school currently does not offer. But, he noted, that would change as the degree evolves.

“You have your typical general education courses,” he explained, “your math, your English, but the electives can come from lab science; they can come from mathematics; they can come from computer-related courses. The students will have anywhere from 15 to 21 additional elective courses that could come from the sciences, math, computer

Augustine wonders where the higher taxes go if teachers are paid less than in surrounding districts.

Ainslie’s response is that many of those more rural districts are funded mostly, up to 90 percent, by the state.

ICSD takes in between 25 to 30 percent of its budget in state aid, and the rest is from local sources.

“It makes it tough to put a big jump in a contract and so we negotiate very carefully,” Ainslie said. “We don’t want to have to go to the community every year to over-ride the tax levy limit.” • Josh Brokaw reporter@ithacatimes.com

sciences, constructive tech, physics or biology. A lot of it is up to them. They have to look at the platform and decide: ‘These are the skills I would like to have.’

“Right as this program is approved,” Penziul added, “the advisory board met and suggested very strongly that the inclusion of a capstone or project-based learning course would fit very well in the design of the program. Students could find an internship or a project from a local business or industry and develop a project that culminates the experience into some kind of practical application. Some of the companies involved in that conversation Byrne Dairy, Borg Warner, and Albany International, among others. These local companies identified a need for students to develop these kinds of project based experiences.”

– Michael Nocella sports@flcn.org

ARecontructive Paleoartist Gurche brings us face to face with our past

by Bill Chaisson

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rumansburg resident John two children and they decided that they would In summer 2014 National Geographic called Gurche, the artist-in-residence like them to grow up in a small town. Gurche Gurche and asked him to go to South Africa. at the Paleontological Research said that small towns were at least an hour’s The previous year a large trove of hominin Institution, has made a career of commute from the Denver museum, so they (non-ape human ancestor) remains had been keeping one foot in the sciences looked for a new home, eventually narrowing found in the Dinaledi cave system outside of and one in the arts. His formal education is in it down to Middlebury, Vermont, and Ithaca.

Johannesburg. Lee Berger, a professor at the biology, geology, and anthropology, but he had While exploring the Ithaca area they chanced University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, always worked at his art “on the side.” In 1978, upon Trumansburg and liked it right away. was taking an unorthodox approach to while still a graduate student, he visited the “It was raining the entire time we were here, examination of the new fossils: he was allowing Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. which should have counted against it,” Gurche many investigators—specialists in various parts to show them his work. Thirty-six years later said, “but we stopped two people at random— of hominin anatomy—to have an immediate several examples of his work for the museum are prominent parts of the Hall of Human Origins at the National Museum of Natural History and reproductions of his sculptures are on a national tour in a traveling exhibition called “Exploring Human Origins.”

Gurche grew up in a small town in Kansas and went to the state university at Lawrence to do both his undergraduate degree in geology with a concentration in paleontology and his master’s degree in anthropology. His master’s thesis examined the evolution of the brain in early primates. He was considering moving to Columbia University to do his Ph.D. on brain development in hominids when fate intervened.

“I had started teaching for my advisor while he was on sabbatical in 1979,” Gurche recalled, “and I got a call from the Smithsonian; they were asking me to bid on a project. That was it for me. I decided to move to D.C. to make it work.”

He did get work with the Smithsonian, but it didn’t pay well and he “starved for a few years” in Washington. His first project was Paleoartist John Gurche of Trumansburg inserts hair into the reconstructed head of Homo naledi, a human ancester recently to paint the diorama that served as a discovered in South Africa. (Photo: Patti Stoiko) backdrop for the fossil of an organism that lived in freshwater streams during the Devonian Period (419 to 359 million years they were on their front lawns—and they were look at them. ago; the age of most Finger Lakes bedrock). both funny and interesting.” In 2006 the family “He allowed me to study late into the night,” In the 1970s and ‘80s John Ostrom of Yale moved east. Their daughter is now studying said Gurche. “I had to assemble the pieces of University and his student Robert Bakker began anthropology at Skidmore and their son intends a face. Usually someone else does that.” The a “dinosaur renaissance” by proposing that to return to his father’s alma mater to study remains of perhaps 15 individuals (over 1,500 they were active, warm-blooded animals with paleontology. pieces) were found in the cave, a relatively advanced social structure. Interest in dinosaurs • • • large number for a hominin site. The National surged and Gurche caught the wave, producing As an artist with scientific training working Geographic staff “wanted to see a face” to illustrations of the newly active ancient creatures among scientists, Gurche is in a rarefied illustrate the article. The artist spend long hours for clients outside the Smithsonian. His cover position. He produces works of art based on in a vault at the University of Witwatersrand. for Bakker’s 1986 bestseller Dinosaur Heresies the primary evidence of archaeology and “I found an anterior nasal spine,” Gurche got a lot of attention. When Bakker was asked to paleontology: fossil remains. This means that said. “It is above the maxilla [upper jaw] and serve as a consultant for Steven Spielberg’s first he must go to the sites where they have been connects to the cartilage of the nose. It’s the Jurassic Park film (1993), Gurche was called in discovered, particularly in his work for National sign that there is a projecting nose.” None of the too.

Geographic Magazine, which often brings the other investigators had located this piece of the In 1992 he moved to Colorado to become breaking news in the sciences to the general an artist-in-residence at the Denver Museum public immediately after scientists have reported continued on page 21 of Nature and Science. He and his wife had it to each other in professional journals.

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film

Neverending Star Wars J.J. Abrams jolts the Franchise Awake

By Br yan VanC ampe n Star Wars: The Force Awakens, co-written and directed by J.J. Abrams, playing at Regal Stadium 14; Jedi Junior High, directed by Heidi Burkey & Tim Larson, on VOD.

Star Wars. These characters are as awed by the universe as we all were back in the day, and Abrams spends most of his energy and will connecting us back to what it was about Star Wars that we loved and dreamed about. So there’s no boring council meetings, no Jar Jar and none of our favorite characters rendered as kids.

I don’t want to get into the story except to say that like all good stories, it’s one that you don’t mind hearing again.

If you’ve seen the trailers and been on the web in the last year, you know who’s been cast in the movie returning for the first time since Return of the Jedi, but it’s the way Abrams brings them back that is so delightful. There are dozens of neat touches layered throughout: I appreciate the practical look of the effects, and a shot of spaceships flying with a documentary style snap zoom with the camera to give the shot more life and immediacy. It also contains Harrison Ford’s most engaging performance since The Fugitive.

It may not be best of the year caliber,

I

’m borrowing the opening line of Janet Maslin’s review of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan to describe my feelings about Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

“Now that’s more like it.”

I don’t want to waste my space here grousing about how much I hated George Lucas’s last round of Star Wars prequels.

Just know that I’m an old school Star Wars fan, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens feels like the old-school movies that I love.

What J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, and Michael Arndt have done is create engaging new characters in a desert scavenger named Rey (Daisy Ridley), a droid dubbed BB-8, a storm trooper (John Boyega) who quits his job, and others, and then sends them off into what amounts to a loose remake of the first

Chewbacca and Han Solo in “The Force Awakens” (Photo provided)

but the new Star Wars is a lot of fun to watch.

• • • There are tons of Star Wars documentaries out there, but check out Heidi Burkey and Tim Larson’s Jedi Junior High as a companion to the seventh SW film; it’s as good and compelling in its way as Jeffrey Blitz’s Spellbound. Burkey and Larson follow the epic struggles of a California junior school musical production of The Empire Strikes Back, from auditions to opening night.

I’ve been a theater rat all my life, and I’m sure you could make a real nail-biter documentary about the mounting of any school show. I remember running to the Kulp Auditorium corkboard to see if my name was on the cast list. I don’t think you’re ever as nervous as you are about your first high school show. After that, it gets easier.

NEW YEAR’S EVE DINNER

I also remember my own versions of the kinds of roadblocks, challenges and impediments to getting the show going: illness, injury, cluelessness, and enormous changes at the last minute.

Burkey and Larson break up the narrative of the production with chapters on the young performers, and I am starting to believe Doug Kenney and P.J. O’Rourke’s contention that schools have been populated with a set number of “types” since the beginning of American life. The kid playing Luke is the school heartthrob, and another kid is the one who spends all of his spare time doing magic.

The cast ranges from talented to hopeless, but at that age, it’s not really about talent. For some of these students, their time on the boards will be one of many activities that they will try their hands at, and a certain percentage will love it and do it for the rest of their lives. •

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Later, bring in the new year with a midnight champagne toast, free flatbread station and live band: NeoProject. Tickets $20 at the door. Discounted overnight rates available at Hotel Ithaca (just across the street).

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events

Party Like It’s 2015

Where the fun will be on New Year’s Eve

By Br yan VanC ampe n

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hose who don’t feel like staying dance here, but mostly it will just be a home and watching the ball drop on party with 125 of your new best friends. television have several local options Over at Lot 10 (106 S. Cayuga St., 607to ring in 2016.

272-7224), recent Ithaca Times cover How about the R&B, soul and funk subjects Big Mean Sound Machine with of the Jeff Love Band from 10 p.m. to special guests to be announced (upstairs) midnight at Agava (381 Pine Tree Rd, and DJ Ha Meen (downstairs) starting at 607-319-4366) for dinner and dance all 10 p.m. and playing until 1a.m. night! Tickets are available now at Agava: Taking lyrics from a popular holiday $10 – advance sale; $10 – night of if you song, Cortland Repertory Theatre is purchase dinner; and $15 – night of at asking “What are you doing New Year’s the door. All tickets include a champagne Eve?” Why not come to the theatre’s first toast at midnight. There is also a New community-wide New Year’s Eve dance Year’s Eve Special Prix Fixe Menu Package: called Dancin’ Thru the Decades? The $50—Prix Fixe Dinner & Ticket: $40—Just downtown theatre at 24 Port Watson Prix Fixe Dinner. For tickets or questions: St. will turn into a huge dance floor and reservations@agavarestaurant.com or 607- starting at 8 p.m., hit dance songs from 319-4366 (Advanced tickets available for the 1950s through today will be played, purchase at Agava). with a different decade every hour. The Dan Smalls presents a New Year’s Eve Spectacular with Driftwood at 9 p.m. at The Haunt (702 Willow Ave, 607-275-3447). From the Binghamton, New York music scene comes Driftwood, a band with a rock n’ roll soul and a folk-art mind. Carving out a name for themselves with electrifying live performances, they bring one of the most unique, raw sounds to the Americana/roots music scene.

Incorporating upright bass, Ithaca New Year’s tradition: the IC towers. (Photo provided) banjo, acoustic guitar and violin, the ghost of traditional American folk music lives in their palette. Price: $20 advance/$25 day ‘50s and ‘60s will play from 8 to 9 p.m., of show. with the ‘70s from 9 to 10 p.m., and the It’s going to be a Blues Bustin’ New Year’s ‘80s from 10 to 11 p.m. Then from 11 Eve @ The Dock (415 Taughannock Blvd, p.m. to12:30 a.m., a “Mega-Mix” of all the 607-319-4214) at 9 p.m. The Tuesday decades through today will be available Bluesday Band will be celebrating to boogie on down. Sponsored by Bailey immensely with new material and crazy Place Insurance, this event will lead up to antics! Come celebrate with for only $5 – the ball-drop and fireworks display that champagne will be served. It’s never a dull will happen in downtown Cortland at moment with this crew. midnight. Admission to the dance is $10 Out in Trumansburg at the Rongovian in advance, $15 at the door. Refreshments Embassy (1 W. Main St.) the Destination and a beer/wine cash bar will be available. will be bringing in the New Year with Tickets are available now by calling 607their patented combination of rhythm 756-2627, online at cortlandrep.org or and blues, blues, soul, funk, plus a Latin stopping by CRT Downtown at 24 Port influence courtesy of percussionist Jorge Watson Street.

Cuevas. A stalwart of the Ithaca dance The contradance community doesn’t scene, the band is so versatile that they really let an opportunity to dance go by. occasional appear at bar mitzvahs as the The venue for New Year’s Eve will be Klezmer Kings. The music starts at 9 p.m. the Slow Lane near the junction of Leib and the show is $15 at the door. Tickets and Comfort roads in Danby. The event are also available through EventBrite. is free, but guests are invited to bring a Call the Rongo at 607-387-3140 for more dish to pass. The potluck begins at 6 p.m. information.

Waltzing gets underway at 7:15 p.m. and Just down West Main Street from the the contradancing gets going at 8 p.m.

Rongo you will find Pete Panek and the and continues until 1 a.m. There will be a Blue Cats setting the house on fire at the number of different callers and musicians.

Silver Line Tap Room (19 W. Main St., For more information check out tedcrane.

607-209-4116). There is a little room to com or call 607-273-8678. •

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Treat Yourself!

books

If You Can’t Stand the Heat

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Graphic artist talks about the comics business

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t’s a major pain in the butt lugging twelve over-flowing comic book boxes up five flights of stairs, back down those stairs, three thousand miles west, three thousands miles east, four hundred miles north, then two thousands miles south. It’s heavy. Not just because of the actual physical weight, but more specifically, because of the weight of artistic conviction existing in those comics. I can’t get rid of them, no way in hell. Comic books have played a huge role in my life: aesthetically, philosophically, and ideologically. To produce an individual comic is a fantastic coalition of talent, logic, brawn, and vision.

Ming Doyle, a remarkable comic illustrator and writer, who received her BFA from Cornell University, knows this extensive web of interaction very well. She’s worked on titles such as Fantastic Four, Vampirella, Spider Woman, and Constantine, with heavyweights like Marvel, DC, and Vertigo. Her work has a dense gravity to it. It’s so dimensionally visual that to escape into the world she’s creating is like walking in air; simple, effortless, fluid, and dynamic. Her newest project The Kitchen, produced with frequent collaborators Ollie Masters and Jordie Bellaire, is a tale of three gangster’s wives in 1970s Hell’s Kitchen who take over for their hubbies while they’re imprisoned. It’s a great story, and Ming’s illustrations have a legendary feel to them—in that Steve Dillon-Frank Millerkind of way. The continuance (flow) of the drawings and the text is powerfully effective. Doyle’s a great talent and a prolific artist. She recently talked to me about The Kitchen and other comic book world realities.

Ithaca Times: Is there a regular pattern you follow when working on a comic book with other writers and artists? I assume it probably varies with contracts, but is there a certain formula that you have pretty well down and are confident applying when approached with a project?

Ming Doyle: There’s an ecosystem of creators behind each book, but the workflow is generally the same; writer drafts script, editor reviews and approves

before passing script along to the artist; artist thumbnails or pencils script and submits it to writer and editor for approval; artist inks script (or inker inks, if the artist does not ink their own work, though this is increasingly rare) and uploads inks to the colorist; colorist sends inks out to a flatter or flats the inks themselves, then colors and uploads files to writer, editor, and artist for approval; editor finally sends the inked and colored pages to the production team/ letterer. My part, as the penciller and inker, often takes the longest. But it’s just one step on the road to a finished monthly issue. It’s the editor really who has to make sure everything proceeds on time.

IT: Was The Kitchen done with pen and ink, or was it worked on with computers? Or both? It seems pretty painterly to me, so I would guess pen and ink, but I’m not sure I can tell completely anymore with modern comics?

Doyle: The Kitchen was actually created completely digitally, using Manga Studio and Photoshop. I often choose to draw comics digitally because the creation process is much faster when you don’t have to contend with ink spills and Witeout. But traditional media is my first love, so I do try to incorporate that look, no matter the medium.

IT: Any advice for comic illustrators out there on how to get something published? Or how to get noticed initially?

How did you get your first project? Is it difficult to crack the comic book industry?

I image it is.

Doyle: Just start doing what you want to work on. If you want to make comics, don’t try to talk to editors or write to companies, make your comic. Make it, and put it online. If people like what they see, they’ll react and come to you. The comics community is really very small, and every job I’ve ever gotten, including my very first ones, were based on an image some editor saw online or a mini comic I put on my blog or word of mouth. Show that you can already do what you want to do, and you’ll be doing it in no time. • To read the whole interview go to ithaca.com

art

Painting the Light

Brian Keeler presents the Last Titus Gallery Show

By War re n Gre e nwo od

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have written before of the work of the Ithaca-based painter Brian Keeler.

I think of Keeler as a Renaissance master, working here in the 21st century.

And, he has a marvelous new show at the Titus Gallery on the Commons.

And this will be the last show of the Titus Gallery, as it is going to close in early 2016. Which makes me sad. To me, it just won’t seem like Ithaca without the Titus Gallery (which has been at its present location on the Commons for almost two decades).

But, to get back to that show—it is a truly extraordinary one. It’s a rich show, but here are a few of the standouts: Sunset at Salmon Creek – Cayuga Lake (oil on canvas): As the name implies, this is a painting of Cayuga Lake at sunset.

Salmon Creek empties in the lake at Myers Point. It is a magical painting, with the last of the light streaming through the trees, shimmering across the water, and seeming to glow right off the canvas into the gallery.

It reminds me of a conversation I had with Keeler last December at his home

studio, where he told me that his real subject was light itself … and all the other stuff was just there to manipulate the light.

Keeler also does allegorical paintings— where he often paints traditional, classical themes, but re-imagines them in North American settings.

A terrific example of this is Icarus and Daedalus – The Night Before (oil on linen). We see Icarus and Daedalus as contemporary 21st century guys, wearing white suits like Tom Wolf or Mark Twain, and flying with their newly invented wings out an ornate 19th century house, the kind you see here in the Greater Ithaca area.

It is a night scene, starlit, and the house is softly lit from within. East coast pine trees surround the home, and there is an implication of a suburban neighborhood. There is even an American flag on the front porch identifying the

locale as the USA. Two Still Lifes Over the Arno Valley, Poppi (oil on canvas) seems near allegorical.

This is a view out opened French doors, overlooking two still lifes, sitting on saucer-like tables on a patio, with Italian farmland and hills and a gorgeous, windswept, cloud-filled summer sky beyond.

Technically a realistic work, it none-theless has the gentle surrealist quality of a Magritte.

Keuka September Moon Rise (oil on panel) is a miraculous painting … of a distant full moon shining through

Winter Light, Glenwood by Brian Keeler

noctilucent clouds over Keuka Lake (the forked Finger Lake). The moonlight is bright enough to illuminate the quilted patterns of farmlands and forests on the distant hills on the far side of the lake … as well as the foreground fence and road and foliage on the side of the lake closest to the viewer.

I particularly like the lights twinkling on the far side of the lake and the way the

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Brian Keeler’s exhibition The Spirit of Lake Light will be on display at the Titus Gallery, 222 The Commons, Ithaca, N.Y. until Dec. 31. Call: 607-277-2649. Visit: titusgallery.com

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light reflects on the water.

Somehow Keeler captures that magical feel of a full moon summer night, when silver moonlight illuminates the world almost as bright as day …

And … Autumn Light Enfield Gorge (oil on linen) is a showstopper. This is a painting of the Gorge Trail at Treman State Park. We see one of those Lord of the Rings stone bridges, and those walkways running along the gorge through the forest that were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression.

This painting is more expressionistic … with red, green and gold fall foliage, beams of golden light streaming through the forest, and the bridge, gorge, and Aztec zapper stone railings lit with dramatic gold lighting.

I have barely scratched the surface here. There is a lot more to see.

The show will end on Dec. 31, but that gives you a week to drop by the Titus Gallery on the Commons, Faithful Reader, to take in this last, wonderful show. •

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Figures by Hand

many approaches to drawing the human form

on all sets of Champagne Flutes

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orking from the human figure by a vertical line down the middle. The has long been central to the figure on the left stands holding an education and practice of artists outstretched leg, while the other stands in the European tradition. And while it on her hands. Although crude as realistic might seem quaint in the aftermath of depictions, the interplay of postures is not abstract and conceptual art, it remains an without interest. important discipline—even for artists who Aside from a group of rough, mostly specialize in other things. orange watercolor studies, Ivers is also This past September, six local and showing a larger oil-on-panel painting regional artists took the opportunity to notable for it’s high degree of finish. (I work outdoors at the suspect it was done from Cornell Plantations’ sketches or photographs Newman Overlook. Their and not on-site.) We see model was the acrobatic Ernst from behind; she is hand balancer Gretchen holding herself upright, Ernst, herself a former her hands on separate Ithacan. supports. Her upper body Their work is is straight and rigid, but currently on display in her legs twist around “Figure in Landscape,” each other. Behind her an informal exhibit at is a stone wall, and in the Cellar d’Or on the the distance some hazy Commons. The show greenery and a rather features drawings and lovely sky. paintings on paper by The piece is rendered Gabriel Carraher, Carol beautifully but is marred Goodling, Robert Grant, by the anatomy of her Bob Ivers, Robin Parkins, back, which is not quite and Michael Sampson. convincing.

The work is untitled Two larger graphite and the mostly small drawings by Parkins get a pieces have been hung wall of their own. (They irregularly. have been hung evenly in Figure by Bob Ivers Carraher and a row, unlike everything Sampson exhibited else.) The sheet on the together at the Cellar left features two studies: d’Or this past fall as part of “Surface”—a one sketchier with mostly outline, the three-person show, which also included other filled in with shading. The sheet on photographer Rachel Philipson. Sampson the right is more interesting as an overall has shown here by himself. composition. It features a dense array of Carraher’s watercolors emphasize a outlined figures along with some tiny, distinction between the drawing he uses coiling arrows—further suggestive of the to define Ernst’s body and the looser color dynamic movement implied in the poses. she uses to fill in her skin—and in one Sampson is well known locally for piece the background. The lines range his sometimes heavily impastoed abstract from sketchier thinned down black to expressionist paintings. In recent years, more assured contours in solid black. most of these have been based obliquely In his most striking piece, we see on his drawings from the figure. Although Ernst in profile, hand standing. Crisp the paintings capture something of the black outlines hold watery browns and form and movements of the human body, pinks against the clean white background. they are quite strictly abstract.

The graceful curves of her posture and her His two paintings on paper here androgynous body recall Art Nouveau. forego the dense build up of material that Two pastel drawings by Goodling characterizes much of his work on canvas. stand out with their anatomical In a smaller black-and-white piece and a sophistication as well as their dramatic larger one accented in areas of bright color, tonal range. Ernst sits with her legs splayed thick ropes of black and white intertwine in both poses. In the former she bends in a fluidly abstract calligraphy. over to touch her toes. The latter is more Goodling and Sampson’s work casual: one leg bent up, an arm resting on excepted, the art in “Figure” has an knee with hand on chin. Drawn mostly in unfinished, hesitant, or awkward quality. black on colored paper—peach and blueStill, group shows of work from the model gray respectively—they evocatively capture are rare in Ithaca and this one provides a the model’s muscularity and athleticism. neat primer on the variety of approaches Grant is showing a graphite drawing that artists may take to the task. • with two separate model studies divided

‘Gurche’ contin u ed from page 15

face; Gurche had made a contribution to the project.

He spent 10 days in South Africa that summer and then returned last winter.

The article appeared in the October 2015 National Geographic and featured a reconstruction of what Berger had named Homo naledi and placed at the very base of the Homo lineage. The caption beneath the photo notes that Gurche spent 700 hours making the sculpture.

“There was no sign of australopithecine diet adaptations,” Gurche said of the other genus in the hominin family tree. The jaws and teeth of australopithecines were more developed for grinding than those of Homo. “It had a small brain for a member of Homo.

There are six partial skulls and there was very little variation among them. All the australopithecines had strong sexual dimorphism.”

Gurche has generally had good relations with the scientists that he has worked with. In 1995 he found himself in western Kenya near Lake Turkana. He interrupted other projects to go there and once at the site he found himself helping the archaeologist unearth fossils. The artist had to make sure to set aside enough time to stand back and draw the process.

“I have a little different focus from the scientists,” he said. He had worked with Berger before in 2010 when the South African anthropologist found two nearly complete skeletons that he would name Australopithecus sebida. “Access to actual remains has been very restricted. Lee wants to change that, but I hear a lot of criticism at meetings.” Gurche said that very anthropologists ever got to study actual fossil remains or even casts of them, so closely guarded is the evidence. Somewhat ironically, then, the paleoartist has been closer to the remains of our ancestors than most people who study them for a living.

“There was a spirit of openness in the team [at Witwatersrand],” he said. “They were very open with me. Since I returned I have received a massive amount of email and phone calls with them, mostly about deciding the statures of these [hominins].”

In September, before the publication of the National Geographic article on H. naledi, Gurche hosted an event at the Museum of the Earth to describe his reconstruction of the face of our newly discovered ancestor. In October he traveled to Colorado to appear at a similar event organized by his old employer, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

• • • Gurche produces art that is used primarily for research and for education.

This means that, unlike many of his artist peers, he must have a lot of patience with scientists, bureaucrats, and attorneys. He began talking to Smithsonian staff about the bronze and silicone sculptures that are now in the Hall of Human Origins in 1982 and started work on them in 1984.

“Then the project stalled. It was about what gets space with what funding,” he said. “If you can’t show sufficient funding, then you can’t go forward.” The project was

not relaunched until 2006. “I kept working on a trickle of projects, and then we had a series of meeting in 2006 and 2007.”

During the hiatus caused by funding issues at the Smithsonian, Gurche had done reconstructions of human ancestors for National Geographic, but that had required him to only bring them to the “clay stage.” He then finished them in bronze for the Smithsonian exhibition hall.

As far as lawyers were concerned, this was a conundrum; who actually owned the artwork?

Gurche moved from Denver to Trumansburg in 2006 and made three of the bronzes for the Hall of Human Origins in what he calls “the terrarium.” During his initial year at the Museum of the Earth, the paleoartist worked in full view of the

public in a glassed-in studio in the main lobby just to the right of the front entrance of the museum. He made the remaining three in his Trumansburg studio. In addition to the six bronzes, the permanent exhibition in Washington includes eight reconstructed heads cast in silicone.

Several of these have been duplicated as part of the traveling Smithsonian that is tour public libraries around the country right now.

According to the Smithsonian website, “The discomfort felt by many people about evolution, particularly at the nexus of scientific and religious perspectives, has resulted in a lack of opportunities for the public to participate in conversations that encourage discussion of both the science of paleoanthropology

and personal understandings of human origins.” Each hosting library will assemble a diverse group of community members to encourage public conservations. The Smithsonian is offering to give a tour of the exhibition to any clergy members interested. It will be in the Tompkins County Public Library beginning Nov. 25, 2016.

• • • The 64-year-old Gurche plans to continue producing art and has no plans to retire. “I don’t really get retirement,” he said. “People say, ‘I want to retire so I can do my own stuff.’ Well, I need don’t need to, because I am doing my own stuff.” •

Bakery Home Decor Clothing Sporting Goods Wine, Beer & Liquors Barber Gift Baskets Toys Fitness Equipment Tap Rooms Hardware Pack, Wrap & Ship Kitchen & Bath Design...and more

(607) 273-6851

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a better life falls for an older, married woman. | 118 mins R |

Music

Rock, Hard Rock, Rock.

12/27 Sunday

bars/clubs/cafés

Acoustic Open Mic Night | 9:00 PM-1:00 AM | The Nines, 311 College Ave, Ithaca | Hosted by Technicolor Trailer Park.

International Folk Dancing | 7:30 PM-9:30 PM | Kendal At Ithaca, 2230 N Triphammer Rd, Ithaca | Teaching and request dancing. No partners needed.

Jesse Collins Trio | 6:00 PM-10:00 PM | Maxie’s Supper Club & Oyster Bar, 635 W State St, Ithaca | Jazz, Funk, Rock, Progressive, Hard Bop. The Hilltoppers | 4:00 PM-6:00 PM | Americana Vineyards, 4367 E Covert Rd, Interlaken | Bluegrass, Covers of Classic Rock Legends.

12/23 Wednesday Reggae Night | 9:00 PM-1:00 AM | The Dock, 415 Taughannock Blvd, Ithaca | I-Town Allstars are the House Band featuring members of: Mosaic Foundation, Big Mean Sound Machine, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, John Brown’s Body and More!

Jam Session | 7:00 PM-10:00 PM | Canaan Institute, 223 Canaan Rd, Brooktondale | The focus is instrumental contra dance tunes. www. cinst.org.

Djug Django | 6:00 PM-9:00 PM | Lot 10 Lounge, 106 S Cayuga St, Ithaca | Live hot club jazz. i3º | 5:00 PM-7:00 PM | Argos Inn, 408 E State St, Ithaca | Live Jazz: A Jazz Trio Featuring Nicholas Walker, Greg Evans, and Nick Weiser Bobby Henrie & Dee Specter: Home On The Grange | 4:00 PM | Rongovian Embassy, 1 W. Main St., Trumansburg | Folk, SInger Songwriters

12/28 Monday Blue Mondays | 9:00 PM | The Nines, 311 College Ave, Ithaca | with Pete Panek and the Blue Cats.

Open Mic Night | 8:30 PM | Agava, 381 Pine Tree Rd, Ithaca | Signups start at 7:30pm.

12/29 Tuesday Jerome Attardo | 12:00 PM | Moosewood Restaurant, 215 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca | Classical Paino.

I-Town Community Jazz Jam | 8:30 PM-11:00 PM | The Dock, 415 Taughannock Blvd, Ithaca | Hosted by Professor Greg Evans Irish Session | 8:00 PM-11:00 PM | Rulloff’s, 411 College Ave, Ithaca | Hosted by Traonach Professor Tuesday’s Jazz Quartet | 8:00 PM-10:00 PM | Madeline’s Restaurant, 215 E State St, Ithaca | Jazz.

Intergenerational Traditional Irish Session | 6:30 PM-9:00 PM | Sacred

12/26 Saturday Big Upstate | 9:00 PM | Rongovian Embassy, 1 W Main St, Trumansburg | Ukulele Fueled Dance Reggae.

Festivus Party with Scott Beer Adams | 9:00 PM | Two Goats Brewing, 5027 State Rte 414, Burdett | One of Hector’s Finest!

Voodoo Highway, Black Hat | 8:00 PM | Ransom Steele Tavern, 552 Main St., Apalachin | Blues, Funk, Soul, Rock, Southern Rock, Delta Blues.

Perfect Accident | 6:00 PM | The Dock, 415 Taughannock Blvd, Ithaca | Classic

Root Kava Lounge & Tea Bar, 139 W State St, Ithaca | Calling all fiddlers, whistlers, pipers, mandos, bodhran’s, and flute players. All Ages & Stages.

Tuesday Bluesday w. Dan Paolangeli & Friends | 6:00 PM-8:00 PM | The Dock, 415 Taughannock Blvd, Ithaca | Dan Paolangeli and Friends are joined by different musicians every Tuesday.

Mike Stark & Zaun Mausberg: Viva Rongovia | 6:00 PM | Rongovian Embassy, 1 W. Main St., Trumansburg | Jazz.

Greg Schatz | 6:00 PM-10:00 PM | Maxie’s Supper Club & Oyster Bar, 635 W State St, Ithaca | Jazz, R&B, New Orleans R&B. concerts

12/23 Wednesday Ampevene, Chris Eves | 8:00 PM | Funk ‘n Waffles, 727 S Crouse Ave Ste 8, Syracuse | Experimental, Progressive Rock, Art Rock.

12/24 Thursday Annual Holiday Sing at the Coddington Guest House | 1:00 PM-5:00 PM | Coddington Guest House, 130 Coddington Road, Ithaca | All are welcome, singers and non-singers alike, children and adults. At 1pm we gather in the Coddington’s music parlour to sing through a set of holiday favorites, teach some harmony parts, assign solos for those interested, and enjoy refreshments. At 3pm we car pool approximately 2 blocks away to perform a holiday concert for the residents of Oak Hill Manor. Those who wish to remain to sing carols in the hallways for those residents who are bedridden and unable to enjoy the

1/29 GET THE LED OUT 2/06 HYNOTIST: MICHAEL C. ANTHONY 2/20 THE MOTH MAINSTAGE 2/28 JOAN BAEZ 3/5 GAELIC STORM 3/6 JUNGLE JACK HANNA 3/26 STEVEN WRIGHT 4/23 MAGICIAN: JEFF MCBRIDE Hypnotist:

MANY MORE SHOWS NOT LISTED HERE! STAY UP-TO-DATE AT DANSMALLSPRESENTS.COM

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previous concert. For more information, call 607-275-0021.

12/26 Saturday The Hippie Ball: Pearly Baker’s Best and Solar Garlic | 8:00 PM | Funk ‘n Waffles, 727 S Crouse Ave Ste 8, Syracuse | Grateful Dead Tribute Band, Phish Tribute Band.

Terrorbyte, Dome, Townhouse Warrior | 7:00 PM | Lost Horizon, 5863 Thompson Rd., DeWitt | Darkwave, EDM, Industrial, Metal, Alternative, Punk

Steve Jobs | Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution, to paint a portrait of the man at its epicenter. The story unfolds backstage at three iconic product launches, ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac. | 122 mins R | The Danish Girl | The remarkable love story inspired by the lives of artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Lili and Gerda’s marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili’s groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer. | 172 mins R | Janis: Little Girl Blue | Musician Cat Power narrates this documentary on Janis Joplin’s evolution into a star from

Regal Ithaca

Wednesday 12/23 to Tuesday 12/29 | Contact Regal Ithaca for Showtimes The Big Short | Four outsiders in the world of high-finance who predicted the credit and housing bubble collapse of the mid-2000s decide to take on the big banks for their lack of foresight and greed. | 130 mins R | Concussion | In Pittsburgh, accomplished pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu uncovers the truth about brain damage in football players who suffer repeated concussions in the course of normal play. | 123 mins PG-13 | Dady’s Home | A mild-mannered radio executive strives to become the

12/29 Tuesday Mid-WInter Concert: Renaissance Music for Lute & Viola da Gamba | 7:00 PM, Tuesday, 12/29, St. Mary’s Church, Cortland, NY | Music will be performed by Friggwerk, featuring Prof.

Alex Rakov, Alex Korolov, Kate Cushing, and Tom Klenck.

Film cinemapolis

Friday, 12/25 to Thursday, 12/31.

Contact Cinemapolis for Showtimes 2015 Christmas Party Day Benefit Brunch | At noon, on Christmas Day (Friday, December 25th), join other Cinemapolitans for a special Thai brunch and movie to benefit the theater’s Annual Fund. Your $50 ticket, which must be purchased by December 21, will include admission to one of the five movies at the theatre as well as a delicious assortment of food from Tamarind: Tickets are available online and at the box office, which opens 30 minutes before the first screening of the day.

Carol | Set in 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of

Michael Fassbender stars as Steve Jobs in the new film “Steve Jobs”. It’s showing at Cinemapolis all week. (Photo Provided)

letters that Joplin wrote over the years to her friends, family, and collaborators. | 103 min NR | Heart of a Dog | An impressionistic and musical meditation on a pets death with prelude by the artist Laurie Anderson, who enjoyed a very deep relationship with her dog, with following soundtrack.. | 75 min NR |

12/31 NYE SPECTACULAR WITH DRIFTWOOD 1/22 WILD CHILD 1/30 JOHN BROWNS BODY 2/5 CABINET 2/12 MARTIN COURTNEY (OF REAL ESTATE) 2/18 TURKUAZ & PIMPS OF JOYTIME 2/21 KURT VILE AND THE VIOLATORS 2/24 BOOMBOX BITS AND PIECES TOUR 3/12 DRIVE BY TRUCKERS THE HAUNT

best stepdad to his wife’s two children, but complications ensue when their freewheeling and freeloading real father arrives, forcing him to compete for the affection of the kids. | 96 mins PG-13 | Joy | Joy is the story of a family across four generations and the woman who rises to become founder and matriarch of a powerful family business dynasty. |

1/9 GILL LANDRY (OF OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW) 1/14 JOSHUA DAVIS (WITH CHRIS MERKLEY) 1/23 THE BLIND SPOTS 1/27 MIGHTY DIAMONDS 2/13 FREAKWATER 2/26 DAVID RAMIREZ 2/27 GLEN PHILLIPS (TOAD THE WET SPROCKET) THE DOCK

3/11 RICKIE LEE JONES HANGAR THEATRE

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124 mins PG-13 | Point Break (2015) | A young FBI agent infiltrates an extraordinary team of extreme sports athletes he suspects of masterminding a string of unprecedented, sophisticated corporate heists.

“Point Break” is inspired by the classic 1991 hit. | 113 mins | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | A continuation of the saga created by George Lucas and set thirty years after Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). | 135 mins PG-13 | Sisters | Two sisters decide to throw one last house party before their parents sell their family home. | 118 mins R | Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Trip | Through a series of misunderstandings, Alvin, Simon and Theodore come to believe that Dave is going to propose to his new girlfriend in Miami...and dump them. They have three days to get to him and stop the proposal, saving themselves not only from losing Dave but possibly from gaining a terrible stepbrother. | 86 mins PG |

Stage Groundhog Comedy Presents Stand-Up Open-Mic | 9:00 PM, 12/23 Wednesday | Lot 10 Lounge, 106 S Cayuga St, Ithaca | Held upstairs.

Peter Pan | Syracuse Stage/Drama Complex, 820 E Genesee St, Syracuse | Directed by Paul Barnes with flying effects by ZFX, Inc., Peter Pan is a co-production between Syracuse Stage and the Syracuse University Department of Drama. Anthony Salatino is the choreographer and Brian Cimmet the music director. Peter Pan performs through January 3.

Tickets and information are available at www.syracusestage.org, by phone at 315-443-3275, and in person at the Syracuse Stage Box Office

Notices Ithaca Barnes & Noble Holiday Book Drive | 10:00 AM-, 12/23 Wednesday | Barnes & Noble, 614 S Meadow St, Ithaca | Book donations will benefit families enrolled in Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), a federal nutrition education program.

Through Family Reading Partnership’s Give the Gift of Family Reading program, families are offered new books to give as gifts to their children this holiday season. Give the Gift of Family Reading began in November and continues through January. Barnes & Noble will be collecting books until December 31. For more information, please contact Family Reading Partnership at 277-8602 or melissa@ familyreading.org.

Open Jam with Featured Songwriters | Wednesday, 12/23 | 7:30 PM-10:30 PM | Varna Community Center, 943 Dryden Rd (Rt. 366), Dryden | Join hosts David Graybeard and Mitch Wiedemann. We are looking for local songwriters, poets and authors to showcase their work. Each week we will spotlight an artist for an hour, from about 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM, to perform (mostly) original compositions Christmas Nativity Display and Donations for Meals On Wheels | 9:00 AM, 12/23 Wednesday | Now You’re Cooking, 116 The Commons, Ithaca | Over 150 different nativity scenes from around the world on display until New Years. Accepting donations for Meals on Wheels of Tompkins County. Come out for some Holiday Festivities and make a donation to people in need.

Mentors Needed for 4-H Youth Development Program | 12:00 AM-11:59 PM, 12/23 Wednesday | CCE Education Center, 615 Willow Ave, Ithaca | Mentors commit to 3 hours per week for this school year, with the option to continue next year. The Mentor and Student meet twice a week at Boynton Middle School from 3:25 PM until 4:35 PM.The Mentor-Student Program is an opportunity to make a positive impact in a young person’s life.

An adult Mentor meeting regularly, one-on-one with a middle school

student and read, do homework, play board games, and more. Behind-thescenes help with programming very much needed. For more info, call (607) 277-1236 or email student.mentor@ yahoo.com.

Sunday Square Dancing | 7:00 PM, 12/27 Sunday | Temple Beth-El, 402 N Tioga St, Ithaca | Square Dancing is a low-impact aerobic activity that stimulates both mind and body. Easy and fun for people of any age. Sunday Squares is free and open to all. We dance to a wide variety of popular music, and learn dance steps used all over the world. Come alone or with a partner. No special dancing skills required.

The Ultimate Purpose: Free Speech Open Forum Discussion | 7:00 PM, 12/29 Tuesday | The Mate Factor Cafe, 143 The Commons, Ithaca | Please join us for tea, cookies, and a lively open discussion on the deep issues concerning humanity and our future.

Every Tuesday Night at 7 O’Clock.

Learning Art Classes for Adults | Community School Of Music And Arts, 330 E State St, Ithaca | Adult classes and private instruction in dance, music, visual arts, language arts, and performance downtown at the Community School of

Ithaca Sociable Singles Dinner | 6:00 PM, 12/23 Wednesday | Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar, 2300 N Triphammer Rd, Ithaca | RSVP 607-279-2297 Lldalve24@yahoo.com Christmas Day Buffet at the Holiday Inn Elmira Riverview | 8:00 AM, 12/25 Friday | Holiday Inn, 760 E Water St, Elmira | Gather your family and friends, and join our family on Christmas Day for the annual Christmas Feast. No need to worry about planning dinner – we’ll take care of everything for you. Just come, sit back and enjoy each other’s company as you choose from a variety of Christmas favorites on our spectacular buffet. To go orders are available. Call 607-734-0402 Finger Lakes Adventure Gaming Annual Yule Event | 9:00 AM, 12/27 Sunday | 4-H Acres, 418 Lower Creek Rd, Ithaca | Come to Brennan, a tiny village on the border of the Aetrian Empire, where monsters roam the wilderness and strange creatures venture out from the ruins of a fallen kingdom. Heroes from all walks of life are needed to resettle this territory and help rebuild the glory of the Empire! www.flaglarp.com Ithaca Sociable Singles Dinner | 6:00 PM, 12/29 Tuesday | Bandwagon Brew Pub, 114 N Cayuga St, Ithaca | RSVP loisannethomas@hotmail.com

Meetings Public Art Commission | 4:00 PM-6:00 PM, 12/23 Wednesday | Ithaca City Hall, 108 E Green St, Ithaca | The PAC is charged with overseeing a public art program to enrich the visual and aesthetic environment of public, private, and semi-public spaces within the city of Ithaca.

City of Ithaca Community Police Board | 3:30 PM-, 12/23 Wednesday | Common Council Chambers - Ithaca City Hall, 108 E Green St, Ithaca | Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency | 8:30 AM-10:00 AM, 12/24 Thursday | Common Council Chambers - Ithaca City Hall, 108 E Green St, Ithaca | The

Online Calendar See it at ithaca.com.

Sunrise Yoga Workshops,

Two Goats Brewing, Saturday, December 26, 9:00 p.m.

Sunrise Yoga, Saturday, December 26, 1:00 p.m.

Scott Beer Adams has a name that possibly implies he likes beer, or really likes beer, or maybe that’s really his middle name. Adams has concentrated on music inspired by his home state of New York, paying particular homage to the Adirondacks and the Finger Lakes Region, which are both actually known quite well for their micro brews. From blues, to folk, rock and celtic stylings, Adams moves around his influences like a brewmaster varies his hops.

Let your body and mind be melded into a deep stillness in this two hour restorative yoga session. You will be led through some basic movement and beginner breath-work, and will learn how to use props to fully support your body into positive relaxation. Lots of hands-on assisting, soothing music and inspirational philosophy will enable you to fully relax and begin to grow. No yoga experience is necessary for this class, and it’s a most excellent way to diverge from the oft-times insane holiday season.

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Scott Beer Adams,

Special Events

Music and Arts. For more information, call (607) 272-1474 or email info@ csma-ithaca.org. www.csma-ithaca. org.

Writing Through The Rough Spots | Various Locations | Winter Writing Through The Rough Spots classes begin soon. Writing can help create clarity about challenging situations. Those interested should check the website for dates and times of classes at www.

WritingRoomWorkshops.com Jeanne Calabretta, N.D, A.A.S., CNHP, Nature’s Sunshine Manager | 3:00 PM-4:00 PM, 12/24 Thursday | The Jenkins Center, Suite 110, 301 South Geneva St., Ithaca | Topics include, The Gut::Brain Connection, Flower Essences and the emotional areas of the brain, Herbs that do not counteract medications, Lifestyle changes (at your own pace), and much more! Open to the Public. Reserve a place by calling (607) 277-7337 www.mhaedu.org Holiday Mini Movie Camp | 9:00 PM-5:00 PM, 12/28 Monday | Acting Our NewYork, 171 E. State St. #119, Center Ithaca, Ithaca | Be a part of our FIRST EVER Holiday Movie Camp! Spend the days off of school making a short film! Final product will be on YouTube to share with friends and family! Let the Movie Making Magic begin! Runs 12/28/2015-12/30/2016. Sign up online at www.actingoutnewyork.com Spanish for Children Winter Camp | 8:30 AM-12:30 PM, 12/28 Monday | Alba Sancho House, West Hill, Ithaca | Do you have children between 18 months old and 9 years old who would like to learn or practice more Spanish?

CUSLAR Spanish instructor Alba Sancho is offering several classes and camps this Winter and Spring. Mini immersion in Spanish with songs, crafts, baking, indoor and outdoor games and more.

More info at albasanchopinto@gmail. com ASLCI: American Sign Language Learning Group | 5:00 PM-7:00 PM, 12/29 Tuesday | Barnes & Noble, 614 S Meadow St, Ithaca | ASLCI is a casual group for Ithacans of all signing abilities. We welcome everyone, Deaf or hearing, to learn more about Deaf culture and practice ASL. Our group meets every Tuesday at Barnes & Noble (614 S. Meadow St.) from 5-7pm, in the study area behind Starbucks.

You may arrive and leave whenever you wish. For more information and resources for beginning signers, please visit our website: aslchatithaca. wordpress.com

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IURA secures and manages resources to improve the social, physical, and economic characteristics of the City of Ithaca by expanding access to quality affordable housing, strengthening neighborhoods and the local economy, and supporting other community development activities.

City of Ithaca Board of Public Works | 4:45 PM-, 12/28 Monday | Common Council Chambers - Ithaca City Hall, 108 E Green St, Ithaca | Town of Ithaca Planning Board | 7:00 PM-, 12/29 Tuesday | Town Of Ithaca, 215 N Tioga St, Ithaca |

Kids Tales for Tots Storytime | 11:00 AM, 12/26 Saturday | Barnes & Noble, 614 S Meadow St, Ithaca | Every Saturday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Lego Build | 10:00 AM-2:00 PM, 12/26 Saturday | Ulysses Philomathic Library, 74 E Main St, Trumansburg | Make an awesome structure every Saturday at the library.

Tot Spot | 9:30 AM-11:30 AM, 12/26 Saturday | City Of Ithaca Youth Bureau, 1 James L Gibbs Dr, Ithaca | A stay and play program for children 5 months to 5 years old and their parent/caregiver every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Go to IYBrec.com for more information or call 273-8364.

Creating Science - One Coral, Red Coral, Blue Coral | 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Saturday, 12/26 | Museum of the Earth, Ithaca | Using recycled soda bottles and craft materials visitors will learn about the tiny animals that have built the largest structures on Earth. It turns out a coral animal has a very simple body anatomy and easily created.

Designing Coral Characters | 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM | Monday, 12/28 | Designing Coral Characters: Learn about illustration, drawing realistic verses cartoon animals, how to draw a cartoon character as you create your own creatures of the reef.

Read to Leo | 3:15 PM, 12/28 Monday | Ulysses Philomathic Library, 74 E Main St, Trumansburg | Young readers can join Leo the friendly dog and his person Betsy at 3:15 every Monday afternoon in the children’s area of the library.

Folding Fish Fun | | 9:30 AM-11:30 AM, Monday, 12/28 | Museum of the Earth, Ithaca | We will visit the Museum coral tanks and learn about the fish that make up the reef. What are their important parts that help them live

The Jesse Collins Trio will be at Maxie’s Supper Club on Sunday, Dec. 27. Looking to unwind after the family goes home after Christmas. This is your gig. (Photo Provided)

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in the reef? Then learn Origami by creating fish of your own. We will have several fish designs to make for all levels.

Story Telling by Making a Comic | 11:00 AM-2:00 PM. 12/29, Tonday | Story Telling by Making a Comic - By using the character(s) you made from the previous day or you just made up, put all the things you’ve learned about corals together to tell a story. Learn about the different styles of comics.

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Scientific vs. fictional or both; create your own Coral Comic.

Cost: Included in Admission

Health & Wellness Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA) | 7:00 PM-8:30 PM, 12/23 Wednesday | NY | Meets multiple places and days. For more information,

call 607-351-9504 or visit www. foodaddicts.org.

Sacred Chanting with Damodar Das and friends | 7:00 PM-9:00 PM, 12/23 Wednesday | Ithaca Yoga Center, 215 N Cayuga St, Ithaca | Free every week. An easy, fun, uplifting spiritual practice open to all faiths. No prior experience necessary. More at www.

DamodarDas.com.

Adult Children of Alcoholics | 7:00 PM-8:00 PM, 12/23 Wednesday |

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Regal Ithaca, All through December

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Writing Practice as Self-Inquiry | 10:00 AM-11:30 AM, 12/26 Saturday | 108 S Albany St, 108 S Albany St, Ithaca | Leslie Ihde is forming an ongoing group to run alternate Saturdays.

Members will learn to write poetry and short prose inspired by their own perceptions. The goal of the group will be to encourage self-discovery first, and good writing second. Friendly group discussions will be facilitated.

No experience necessary. Beginning and experienced writers are welcome.

For more information see http:// www.spiritualself-inquiry.com or call 607-754-1303.

Yin-Rest Yoga – A Quiet Practice for Women | 4:00 PM-5:30 PM, 12/27 Sunday | South Hill Yoga Space, 132 Northview Rd, Ithaca | Led by Nishkala Jenney, E-RYT. Email nishkalajenney@ gmail.com or call 607-319-4138 for more information and reserve your place as space is limited.

Dance Church Ithaca | 12:00 PM-1:30 PM, 12/27 Sunday | Ithaca Yoga Center, 215 N Cayuga St, Ithaca | Free movement for all ages with live and DJ’ed music. Free.

Free Meditation Class at Yoga Farm | 11:15 AM-12:00 PM, 12/27 Sunday | Yoga Farm, 404 Conlon Rd, Lansing | A free community meditation class for the public.

Overeaters Anonymous | 7:00 PM-8:00 PM, 12/28 Monday | Just Be Cause Center, 1013 W State St, Ithaca | Overeaters Anonymous is a worldwide 12-Step program for people wanting to recover from overeating, starving and/or purging. Visit www.oa.org for more information or call 607-379-3835.

Classical Yang Style Tai Chi | 7:30 PM-8:30 PM, 12/29 Tuesday | Sunrise Yoga Center, 119 South Cayuga Street, Ithaca | Advanced students and beginners work in the same class; Beginners are helped by the instructor until they are able to follow along with the rest of the class. This class has a relaxed atmosphere; breathing exercises and some occasional meditation are included.

Nicotine Anonymous | 6:30 PM-7:30 PM, 12/29 Tuesday | Ithaca Community Recovery, 518 W Seneca St, 2nd fl, Ithaca | A fellowship of men and women helping each other to live free of nicotine. There are no dues or fees.

The only requirement for membership is the desire to be free of nicotine.

Support Group for People Grieving the Loss of a Loved One by Suicide | 5:30 PM-, 12/29 Tuesday | 124 E Court St, 124 E Court St, Ithaca | Please

Big Upstate,

Rongovian Embassy, Saturday, December 26, 9:00 p.m.

Having seen this film the night it premiered, and having been a huge fan of Star Wars since I saw Return of the Jedi in the theatre at 4 years old, ( yeah I still remember it ), I can definitely attest that this film is super awesome. It’s epic in scale, strange in layers, lonely at times, sad, moving, dynamic, and really squeezes some inspired performances all around. The new cast is really remarkable and lays the groundwork for future stories. The original cast returns as well, and it’s mindblowing to think so many years have past. h e

Community Recovery Center, 518 W Seneca St, Ithaca | 12-Step Meeting.

Enter through front entrance. Meeting on second floor. For more info, contact 229-4592.

Mid-week Meditation House | 6:00 PM-7:00 PM, 12/23 Wednesday | Willard Straight Hall 5th fl lounge, , Ithaca | The Consciousness Club, Cornell would like to invite everyone in the Cornell community (and beyond!) to experience a deep guided meditation in our weekly meetings every Wednesday on the 5th Floor Lounge. All are welcome.

Zumba Gold Classes | 5:30 PM-6:30 PM, 12/23 Wednesday | Lifelong, 119 W Court St, Ithaca | With instructor Nicole Bostwick. Starting June 3, 2015-December 31, 2015. Every Wednesday 12:00 1:00pm Support Group for Invisible Disabilities | 1:00 PM-3:00 PM, 12/23 Wednesday | Finger Lakes Independence Center, 215 Fifth St, Ithaca | Facilitated by Liz Constable and Finger Lakes Independence Center Peer Counselor Amy Scott, and supported by Finger Lakes Independence Center Peer Counselor Emily Papperman. Call Amy or Emily at 607-272-2433.

Alcoholics Anonymous | 12:00 AM-11:59 PM, 12/23 Wednesday | Multiple Locations, , | This group meets several times per week at various locations. For more information, call 273-1541 or visit aacny.org/meetings/ PDF/IthacaMeetings.pdf Walk-in Clinic | 4:00 PM-8:00 PM, 12/24 Thursday | Ithaca Health Alliance, 521 W Seneca St, Ithaca | Need to see a doctor, but don’t have health insurance? Can’t afford holistic care? 100% Free Services, Donations Appreciated. Do not need to be a Tompkins County resident. First come, first served (no appointments).

Sunrise Yoga Workshops: Restorative Yoga: Relax into Stillness | 2:00 PM-4:00 PM, 12/26 Saturday | Sunrise Yoga, 119 S Cayuga St, Ithaca | Let your body and mind be guided into stillness in this two hour restorative yoga session. You will be led through some minimal movement and basic breathwork and will learn how to use props to fully support the body into relaxation. Lots of hands-on assisting, soothing music and inspirational words will enable you to fully unwind and let go. Take some time out for yourself to relax and restore as the new year approaches! No yoga experience necessary. Visit www.sunriseyoga.com for more information.

2015

Ithaca’s a pretty Reggae heavy town. There seems to be a real love for the music here, and many bands, Reggae Nights, and super killer dub records at Angry Mom proves this. There’s a market for it. Big Upstate’s another young Reggae band finding its footing in the mix. With a style bending more towards Sublime than Augustus Pablo, theses guys are pretty tight.

Super nice solos, dub breaks, and the head shaking Reggae groove you know you like. Reggae is always the best in the dead of the winter, and htis is a great chance to get out and get your dub on!

call Sheila McCue, LMSW, with any questions: 607-272-1505.

Anonymous HIV Testing | 9:00 AM-11:30 AM, 12/29 Tuesday | Tompkins County Health Department, 55 Brown Road, Ithaca | Walk-in clinics are available every Tuesday from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Appointments are available on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:30 to 3:30 pm. Please call us to schedule an appointment or to ask for further information (607) 274-6604

Art ongoing Alternatives Federal Credit Union | 125 N. Fulton Street, Ithaca | Selima Guirey. Selma is a graduate of Slade Fine Art School in London. Oil Paintings and Etchings. Runs through December.

Buffalo Street Books | 215 N Cayuga Street, Ithaca | Wynn Yarrow Landsapes.

Wynn Yarrow will feature new landscape works created specifically for this magical show. Runs through December.

CAP ArtSpace | Center Ithaca, The Commons, Ithaca | Sharp Knives, Erin Deueuville. This exhibition of oil paintings combines work from the past five years. Collectively, these portraits and kitchen scenes tell stories about generosity, vulnerability, and sharing a meal. | www.artspartner.org Community School of Music and Arts | 330 E.State / MLK Street, Ithaca, NY 14850 | Annual Open Show. Works by 70 regional artists in painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, ceramics, fiber art, and mixed media assemblage will be on view from December through January at the Community School of Music and Arts’ much anticipated Annual Open Show.

Curated this year by Terry Plater, a painter based in Ithaca, this exciting exhibition showcases a wide array of artistic talent and interests. Visit more than once to appreciate everything this show has to offer!| www.csma-ithaca. org Corners Gallery | 409 E. Upland Road (within the Community Corners Shopping Center), Ithaca | This Is How It Starts: Elise Nicol and Melissa Zarem / Exhibition of new works on paper.

Runs through December 23. | www. cornersgallery.com Crow’s Nest Café | 115 The Commons, Ithaca | Sarah Thomson – As a 30

HeadsUp Chills and Skills

by Josh Brokaw

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he intrepid and ice-resistant explorer of life’s experience may have some interest in taking Ithaca’s first Chill Challenge on New Year’s Day 2016.

The Chill Challenge is a firstyear fundraiser for Ithaca Community Recovery, the organization that keeps up a building at 518 W. Seneca St. and which hosts a multitude of recovery programs.

Like the “Polar Bear Plunges” that have become ubiquitous over recent years in colder climes, the Chill Challenge asks participants to jump in the lake on what’s usually a freezing cold day of the year … though Cayuga Lake has been holding steady at about 44 degrees Fahrenheit in the last week.

The twist for this challenge? Through fundraising savvy and/or good karma accumulated with other folks, someone up for the Chill Challenge may “dodge” taking a dip in the lake.

“Participants commit to doing whatever their friends, loved ones, coworkers, frenemies, siblings, and assorted other donors decide,” organizer Judy Epstein writes on ithacachillchallenge. com.

As of the first morning of the New Year, some people will get to take a dip, if more dollars have been donated for them to hit the lake, and others will find their friends perhaps not so cruel.

“I’m hoping to be able to “dodge”

year Tompkins County resident I have learned that one need not travel far to observe incredible wildlife, landscapes and events. I have been playing with cameras since I got my first Brownie as a kid. A camera became almost another appendage for me and a way to document events and places visually that I might otherwise forget.

Photography provides an opportunity to get intimate with a subject and I am always surprised by what I learn. I consider this time a real luxury. | (646) 306-0972 State of the Art Gallery |120 West State Street, Ithaca | “Lyric Visions: Artists Respond to Poetry” will open State of the Art’s 2016 year of exhibitions. Gallery members have created art work in response to the poetry of sixteen regional poets invited by Tish Pearlman, poet laureate

it on January 1, but in all seriousness it’s for a great cause and if I must, then I’ll go in the frigid water with a smile on my face,” Ithaca police Chief John Barber, one of the participants, said. “I’m told the cold water is invigorating. I may just have to see for myself.”

Over 30 people had put their names forth as of press time for the Challenge, with some, like Epstein, having quite obviously told their donors they wanted no part of the lake, given totals largely favoring ‘dodge’ over ‘dip.’

Others had friends encouraging them to let go and immerse themselves in the lake.

“I think you should go naked for the most elemental experience, powerful environmental and exciting fashion statement,” wrote “friends” of former ICR

Ithaca Police Chief John Barber: to dunk in the lake or not to dunk in the lake? You decide. (File photo)

chair ‘T-Mann.’

An all-volunteer board makes up Ithaca Community Recovery, which purchased its building in 2000 and receives no government funding.

Dippers and dodgers will gather at the Ithaca Yacht Club, at 1090 Glenwood Road just off Route 89 (Taughannock Blvd.), with the dippers to go into the lake at 1 p.m. on New Year’s Day. There are prizes for the three biggest fundraisers, including $100 gift certificates from August Moon Spa and 15

of Tompkins Country in 2013 . The exhibition extends two months with half of the artists showing in January and the other half during February. Call: 277-1626 or Visit: www.soag.org For information: 607-277-1626 or gallery@ soag.org Cellar d’Or | 136 E. State/MLK Street, on the Commons, Ithaca |Figure in Landscape. This past September six artist drew, and painted from the model outside at The Newman Overlook on the Cornell Plantations.

Model Gretchen Ernst, is an acrobatic hand balancer who’s dynamic poses serve as the focus for “Figure in Landscape.” Featuring works by Gabe Carraher, Carol Goodlin, Robert Grant, Bob Ivers, Robin Parkins, and Michael Sampson. | www.thecellardor.com Décorum Too | Dewitt Mall | France for Art’s Sake 2015. A special aesthetic

Steps and a 10-pack of movie tickets from Cinemapolis.

Registration for participants ends on Friday, Dec. 25. Visit ithacachillchallenge. com or call 607-216-8754 to take the Chill Challenge.

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The primary purpose of the Holiday Skill Clinic is to provide young baseball players the opportunity to learn and improve advanced baseball skill techniques from knowledgeable coaches who have many years of experience at the college and professional levels. This will be

treat awaits those who visit the store and gallery in December: artists who took part in this summer’s painting excursion to France will display work: oils, pastels, drawings, and photos, done in and around Paris. Come enjoy the work and learn about plans for the 2016 trip! | 319-0944 or visit www. decorum-too.com EYE | 126 E. State/MLK St., 2nd, Ithaca | The Lustrous World of Giselle Potter.

Artist Giselle Potter is like no other.

Her colors are plucked from nature: her imagery, insanely appealing. She can take an everyday and make it extraordinary. A frequent contributor to The New York Times and The New Yorker, Potter has illustrated over 25 books for kids of all ages and has shown at the Society of Illustrators in NYC and the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst. | www. eyegallery.com

Sacred Root and Kava Lounge | 139 West State/MLK St. Geneva Street entrance | Becoming Shaman, walking the medicine wheel Take a visual journey at Sacred Root Kava Lounge & Tea Bar as Photographer Judi Galgoczy shares an intimate view in “Becoming Shaman, walking the medicine wheel”.

Judi, a local artist and shamanic practitioner offers her specific vantage point in the building of her Mesa, creating medicine khuyas working with the energy of the four directions.

Call 272-KAVA or visit http://www. sacredrootkava.com Tompkins County Public Library | East Green Street, Ithaca | Streetscapes, a new exhibit that brings street art inside the Library. Curated by Jay Potter, Streetscapes will feature a collection of work that draws on creativity and inspiration from our urban

surroundings. | www.tcpl.org Titus Gallery Art & Antiques | 222 E State St, Ithaca | THE SPIRIT OF LAKE LIGHT. Recent paintings of the Finger Lakes by Brian Keeler, as well as landscapes of New England and Italy.

This award winning artist’s paintings will be on display until December 31st.

This is our last guest artist show as the Titus Gallery will close when we retire in Spring 2016.. | www.titusgallery. com

Got Submissions?

Send your events items – band gigs, benefits, meet-ups, whatever – to arts@ithacatimes.com.

The Hilltoppers,

4-H Acres, Sunday, December 27, 9:00 a.m.

Americana Vineyards, Sunday, Dec 27, 4:00 p.m.

Nestled in the small green hills and cooled in the water of the Finger Lakes Region, Ithaca’s old-time and bluegrass blazers The Hilltoppers, come together and play the music of the simple region. Playing in the soft skies of Americana Vineyards, and in the holiday season no less, is a great chance to catch this band in their element. Come on out, have some wine, unwind, and be transported to a time where horses lead our travels and banjo picking ruled the day!

Come to Brennan, a tiny village on the border of the Aetrian Empire, where monsters roam the wilderness and strange creatures venture out from the ruins of a fallen kingdom.

Heroes from all walks of life are needed to resettle this territory and help rebuild the glory of the Empire! Join the people of Brennan on this Sunday as we celebrate the Day of Imperial Unification and the coming of the New Year with feasting, adventure, and companionship.

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Finger Lakes Adventure Gaming,

accomplished through the use of drill sequences and specialized instructions.

Our goal is to assist young players who love the game of baseball become as successful and proficient as possible in order to fully enjoy the competitive challenge this great game offers.

Open to players 10 – 17 years old.

Registration is on Dec. 27, at the Athletics and Events Center on the Ithaca College campus. The director is coach George Valensente. For more information contact him at 607-274-3749 or gvalensente@ithaca.edu.

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Town & Country

Classifieds

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10 Newspapers

277-7000 Phone: Mon.-Fri. 9am-5pm Fax: 277-1012 (24 Hrs Daily)

Special Rates:

Internet: www.ithacatimes.com Mail: Ithaca Times Classified Dept

PO Box 27 Ithaca NY 14850 In Person: Mon.-Fri. 9am-5pm

109 North Cayuga Street

MERCHANDISE UNDER $100

MERCHANDISE $100 - $500

Fax and Mail orders only

15 words / runs 2 insertions

Donate your car to Wheels For Wishes, benefiting Make-A-Wish. We offer free towing and your donation is 100% tax deductible. Call:315-400-0797 Today!

(NYSCAN)

140/Cars

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Nationwide Free Pick Up! Call Now: 1-888-420-3808 www.cash4car.com (AAN CAN)

Non-Commercial: $14.50 first 12 words (minimum), 20 cents each additional word. Rate applied to non-business ads and prepaid ads.

Business Ads: $16.50 for first 12 words (minimum), 30 cents each additional word. If you charge for a service or goods you are a business. Inquire about contract rates. $24.00 Auto Guaranteed Ad - Ad runs 3 weeks or until sold. 12 words $24.00, each additional word 60¢. You must notify us to continue running ad. Non-commercial advertisers only 25% Discount - Run your non-commercial ad for 4 consecutive weeks, you only pay for 3 (Adoption, Merchandise or Housemates) Employment / Real Estate / Adoption: $38.00 first 15 words (minimum), 30 cents each additional word. Ads run weeks.

Box Numbers: Times Box Numbers are $2.50 per week of publication. Write “Times Box______” at end of your ad. Readers address box replies to Times Box______, c/o Ithaca Times, P.O. Box 27, Ithaca, NY 14851.

Headlines: 9-point headlines (use up to 16 characters) $2.00 per line. If bold type, centered or unusually spaced type, borders in ad, or logos in ads are requested, the ad will be charged at the display classified advertising rate. Call 277-7000 for rate information.

Free Ads: Lost and Found and free items run at no charge for up to 3 weeks. Merchandise for Sale, private party only. Price must be under $50 and stated in ad Website/Email Links: On Line Links to a Web Site or Email Address $5.00 per insertion.

Blank Lines: (no words) $2.00/Line - insertion.

Border: 1 pt. rule around ad $5.00 - insertion.

| 67,389 Readers

FREE

automotive

Ithaca Times Town & Country Classified Ad Rates

APPLE

Mac Pro (2008) Processor 2x2.8 GHz Quad Core Intel Xeon, Memory 14 GS Dor DDR 2 RAM. Graphic Card NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512 Mb HARD DRIVE 500 GB, OS-X Yosemite, v1010.5. $600 or best offer Jon Reis 277-1966 CASH for Coins! Buying Gold & Silver.

Also Stamps, Paper Money, Comics, Entire Collections, Estates. Travel to your home. Call Marc in NY: 1-800-959-3419 (NYSCAN)

buy sell Up to $35/Box! Sealed & Unexpired. payment Made SAME DAY. Highest Prices Paid! Call Jenni Today! 800-4133479, www.CashForYourTestStrips.com, (NYSCAN) SAWMILLS from only $4397.00 - MAKE & SAVE MONEY with your own bandmillcut lumber any dimension. In stock ready to ship. FREE Info /DVD: www.

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Hillside Children’s Center (Stillwater RTF) is recruiting for various RN and LPN positions for our Greene, NY location!

The Nurse works in a residential treatment facility in collaboration with a dynamic clinical team, providing exceptional health care services to promote physical and emotional wellness for our residential youth.

RN Requirements: Associate’s Degree from an accredited Registered Nursing program and NYS RN license required. Bachelor’s degree and adolescent psych and/or pediatric experience preferred.

LPN Requirements: High School or equivalent diploma, LPN license from an accredited program and a minimum of 1 year of experience. Adolescent psych and/or pediatric experience preferred.

Applicants must have a valid NYS driver’s license and must meet agency driving and insurance standards.

Hillside Family of Agencies offers flexible schedules, excellent salary and benefits packages including medical, 403(b) with employer matching contributions, generous PTO, 9 holidays, and more!

Please send all resumes and our Employment Application Part A to jobs@hillside.com.

Please use the following reference numbers: 7731 – RN or LPN – Full Time - 3rd Shift – 11:30 pm – 8 am, Sun-Thurs.

7444 – RN – Part Time – 16 hours (2 Openings) 3223 – RN Per Diem

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employment

LEGAL NOTICE

FOR APPLICATION OF CABLE FRANCHISE PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that Haefele TV, Inc. has filed an application for a Cable Television Franchise in the Village of Candor,Tioga County, New York. The application and all comments filed relative thereto are available for public inspection at the Village of Candor Clerk’s office during normal business hours/. Interested parties may file comments regarding the application with the Public Service Commission within two days of the date of publication of the Notice. Comments should be addressed to Hon. Kathleen H. Burgess, Secretary, New York State Public Service Commission, 3 Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY12223. (TCC 10:13,20)27L 12/23, 12/30

Looking for Chidren

A son named Travis age 28, originally from Cortland and a Daughter whom I have never met and is from the area.

Please contact with any info (call or text) Earland Perfetti (Butch) 607-339-6842 or on Facebook

SERVICE DIRECTORY

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employment 410/Business Opportunity

CASH FOR DIABETIC TEST STRIPS

hi-def LED flat screen TV . Excellent condition, beautiful picture. Sony is one of the best hi-def TVs. You’ll love the bright, crystal clear picture. This TV sells for about $800 new at Best Buy. $390 takes it. Email dogsrunfree@twcny. rr.com

Nurse RN and LPN Greene, NY

GARAGE SALES

AIRLINE CAREERS

400/Employment Nurse, RN and LPN

in Greene, NY Hillside Children’s Center (Stillwater RTF) is recruiting for various RN and LPN positions for our Greene, NY location! The Nurse works in a residential treatment facility in collaboration with a dynamic clinical team, providing exceptional health care services to promote physical and emotional wellness for our residential youth. RN Requirements: Associate’s Degree from an accredited Registered Nursing program and NYS RN License required. Bachelor’s degree and adolescent psych and/or pediatric experience preferred. LPN Requirements: High School or equivalent diploma, LPN license from an accredited program and a minimum of 1 year experience. Adolescent psych and/or pediatric experience preferred. Applicants must have a valid NYS driver’s license and must meet agency driving and insurance standards. Hillside Family of Agencies offers flexible schedules, excellent salary and benefits packages including medical, 403 (b) with employer matching contributions, generous PTO, 9 holidays, and more! Please send all resumes and our Employment Application Part A to jobs@ hillside.com. Please use the following reference numbers: 7731 - RN or LPN - Full Time - 3rd Shift - 11:30 pm - 8 am, Sun-Thurs.; 7444 - RN - Part Time - 16 hours (2 Openings); 3223 - RN Per Diem

Registered Nurse

$1,500.00 Sign-On Bonus, Romulus, NY Hillside Children’s Center is currently seeking a skilled Registed Nurse for our weekend position at our Varick Campus in Romulus, NY. Two 12-hour shifts, Friday and Saturday, 8 am - 9 pm.

Based on scheduled hours, this position includes: Great benefits package (Medical, Dental, Life, Retirement 403b with match, Paid Time Off and Holidays) and Competitive salary with $1,500.00 signon bonus ($500 paid in first month and balance paid after successful completion of 4 months). Per Diem positions also available (note - Sign-On Bonus does not apply to Per Diem positions). Associate’s Degree from an accredited Registered Nursing program and NYS RN license required. Bachelor’s degree and adolescent psych and/or pediatric experience preferred. Resumes can be sent to rvas@hillside.com reference number 7372.

Start Here-Get trained as FAA Certified Aviation Technician. Financial aid for qualified students. Job placement assistance. Call AIM for free information 866-296-7093. (NYSCAN)

430/General AIRLINE CAREERS begin here - Get started by training as FAA certified Aviation Technician. Financial aid for qualified students. Job placement assistance. Call Aviation Institute of Maintenance 800725-1563 (AAN CAN)

Art Book Approval-Plan Coordinator

Leading distributor of exhibition catalogues and other art books seeks applicants for key position. Approval-Plan Coordinator has primary responsibility for providing collection-development assistance to some 150 academic libraries through the selection of appropriate artrelated publications. Candidates should have a broad knowledge of art and art history, excellent written and verbal communication skills, solid clerical and computer skills (particularly Excel and Word), and ability to interact effectively with clients and co-workers in busy work environment. Bachelor’s degree in art history or related field preferred. Previous experience in the book trade or library field a plus. For more information, see posting at www.worldwide-artbooks.com/ wwb_staff_list.html. Please send resume and cover letter by January 15th to Mr. Kelly Fiske, Worldwide Books, 1001 West Seneca Street, Ithaca, NY 14850 or by e-mail to coordinator@worldwideartbooks.com

Housekeeper

Looking for an honest, hardworking housekeeper to take care of general cleaning. $720 per week. Call Kaneshia @: 607-272-3293 or email kaneshia. sargent@gmail.com

Napolis Pizzeria

is now hiring for cooks, pizza makers and wait staff. Flexible hours, nights and weekends required. Call (607)272-3232 PAID IN ADVANCE! Make $1000 A Week Mailing Brochures From Home.

Helping home workers since 2001!

Genuine Opportunity. No Experience Required. Start Immediately! www.

MailingHelp.com (AAN CAN)

employment

employment

employment Southern Cayuga School District seeks a School Safety Officer, must meet Civil Service qualifications, send letter of interest, copy of license/certification, letters of reference, total compensation package including benefits not to exceed $30,000 per year. Deadline, December 31,2015.

Loretta Van Horn, Business Administrator, Southern Cayuga Central School, 2384 Route 34B, Aurora NY 13026, (315)364-8711; SCCS EOE

PIANOS

• Rebuilt • Reconditioned • Bought• Sold • Moved • Tuned • Rented

FOUND antiques • vintage • unusual objects

Complete rebuilding services.

No job too big or too small.

Call us.

One-of-a-Kind

Ithaca Piano Rebuilders (607) 272-6547 950 Danby Rd., Suite 26

South Hill Business Campus, Ithaca, NY

Holiday Gifts

The City of Ithaca

is accepting applications for the following exams: Firefighter Exam No. 62-975: Currently, there is one vacancy in the Fire Department. Minimum Quals & Special req: Visit the City of Ithaca website for further info. Salary:n $39,153.

Exam Date: March 19, 2016. Application Deadline: February 4, 2016. Residence: Applicants must be Tompkins County.

Executive Assistant Exam No. 61-996 Currently there is one vacancy in GIAC. Minimum Quals: Visit the City of Ithaca website for further info. Salary: $42,115.

Exam Dat: March 5, 2016. Application Deadline: January 21, 2016. Residency: Applicants must be Tompkins County.

City of Ithaca HR Dept., 108 E. Green St., Ithaca, NY 14850. (607)274-6539, www.cityofithaca.org. The City of Ithaca is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversifying its workforce.

The City of Ithaca

is accepting applications until January 6, 2016 for the following position: Database Gift Certificates Available Specialist: Currently, there is one Open every day 10-6, except Tues. vacancy in the Planning Department.

Minimum Quals: Visit the City of Ithaca 227 Cherry St. 607-319-5078 website for further info. Salary: $39,153. foundinithaca.com Exam: Given at a later date. Residency: Applicants must be residents of Tompkins County or one of its six contiguous A FULL LINE OF VINYL counties. City of Ithaca HR Dept., 108 E. REPLACEMENT WINDOWS Green St., Ithaca, NY 14850. (607)274Call for Free Estimate6539 & www.cityofithaca.org

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WINDOWS VINYL Professional Installation A FULL LINE OF Custom made & manufactured The City of Ithaca AREPLACEMENT FULL LINE OF VINYL WINDOWS by… is seeking a Chief of Staff. Please REPLACEMENT WINDOWS Call for Free Estimate & visit www.cityofithaca.org for further Call for Free Estimate & information Professional Installation 3/54( Professional Installation Custom made & manufactured Custom made & manufactured 3%.%#! by… by…

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6).9,

6).9,

Romulus, NY 315-585-6050 or Toll Free at 866-585-6050

www.SouthSenecaWindows.com Romulus, NY Romulus, NY 315-585-6050 or 315-585-6050 Toll Free at 866-585-6050 or Toll Free at

DONATE YOUR CAR

Wheels For Wishes

866-585-6050

Benefiting

Make-A-Wish® Central New York

x % Ta 100 tible c u Ded

*Free Vehicle/Boat Pickup ANYWHERE *We Accept All Vehicles Running or Not *Fully Tax Deductible

WheelsForWishes.org

Call: (315) 400-0797

* Wheels For Wishes is a DBA of Car Donation Foundation.

Your Homeownership Partner

services

825/Financial

Cleaner

Honest, intelligent & hardworking house cleaner available. Excellent local references. $20/hour. Call 280-5439 or email gardenhelp74@gmail.com Dish TV Starting at $19.99/month (for 12 mos.) SAVE! Regular Price $34.99 Ask About FREE SAME DAY Installation!

CALL Now! 888-992-1957 (AAN CAN) ELIMINATE CELLULITE and Inches in weeks! All natural. Odor free. Works for men or woman. Free month supply on select packages. Order now! 844-2447149 (M-F 9am-8pm central) (AAN CAN)

Ithaca’s only

hometown electrical distributor Your one Stop Shop

Since 1984 802 W. Seneca St. Ithaca 607-272-1711 fax: 607-272-3102 www.fingerlakeselectric.com

Four Seasons Landscaping Inc. 607.272.1504 Lawn maintenance, spring + fall clean up + gutter cleaning, patios, retaining walls, + walkways, landscape design + installation. Drainage.

Snow Removal. Dumpster rentals. Find us on Facebook!

FREE Home Energy Audit

Renewable Energy Assessment serving Ithaca since 1984. HalcoEnergy.com 800-533-3367

Trip Pack n Ship

Packing & Shipping around the World.

Save $5 with Community Cash Coupon.

Trip Pack n Ship in the Triphammer Market Place 607-379-6210

PREGNANT? THINKING OF ADOPTION? Talk with caring agency specializing in matching Birthmothers with Families Nationwide. LIVING EXPENSES PAID. Call 24/7 Abby’s One True Gift Adoptions. 866-413-6293. (AAN CAN)

Registered Nurse $1,500.00 Sign-On Bonus Romulus, NY Two 12-hour shifts, Friday and Saturday 8am-9pm!

610/Apartments You’re Sure to Find

the place that’s right for you with Conifer.

Linderman Creek 269-1000, Cayuga View 269-1000, The Meadows 2571861, Poets Landing 288-4165

Come experience the rewards of Adolescent Behavioral Health Nursing at Hillside Family of Agencies.

We are currently seeking a skilled Registered Nurse for our weekend position at our Varick Campus in Romulus, NY. Two 12-hour shifts, Friday and Saturday, 8 am-9 pm.

Based on scheduled hours, this position includes:

The State of New York Mortgage Agency offers:

www.sonyma.org

School Safety Officer

There’s no time like your time Hypnotherapy with Peter Fortunato, (607) 2736637; www.peterfortunato.wordpress. com

520/Adoptions Wanted

ALL AREAS - ROOMMATES.COM. Lonely? Bored? Broke? Find the perfect roommate to complement your personality and lifestyle at Roommates .com!

(AAN CAN)

1-800-382-HOME(4663)

850/Mind Body & Spirit

Are you in BIG trouble with the IRS? Stop wage & bank levies, liens & audits, unfiled tax returns, payroll issues, & resolve tax debt FAST. Call 844-7531317 (AAN CAN)

720/Rooms Wanted

• Competitive, fixed-rate mortgages for first-time homebuyers • Downpayment assistance available up to $15,000 • Special program for veterans, active-duty military, National Guard and reservists • Funds available for renovation

services

services

• Great benefits package (Medical, Dental, Life, Retirement 403b with match, Paid Time Off, and Holidays).

• Competitive salary with $1,500.00 sign-on bonus ($500 paid in first month and balance paid after successful completion of 4 months).

805/Business Services Certified Consultant

in Clinical Hypnosis Dr. M. Djafari, MC, FAAP, 1420 Hanshaw Rd., Ithaca, NY. Neurobiofeedback/Hypnosis. For Migraine Headaches and Irritibal Bowel Syndrome. (Pregnant women welcome) By appointment only: 607-753-3051

Per Diem positions also available (note – Sign-On Bonus does not apply to Per Diem positions).

Associate’s Degree from an accredited Registered Nursing program and NYS RN license required.

Bachelor’s degree and adolescent psych and/or pediatric experience preferred.

Resumes can be sent to rvas@hillside.com reference number 7372.

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Men’s and Women’s Alterations for over 20 years Fur & Leather repair, zipper repair.

Same Day Service Available

John’s Tailor Shop John Serferlis - Tailor 102 The Commons

4 Seasons Landscaping Inc.

CULTIVATE YOUR INTENTION

273-3192

A New Year’s Donation Yoga Class Friday, Jan. 1 * 12-2pm * All Levels

607-272-1504

Sugg. $15 to help The Advocacy Center

lawn maintenance

MIGHTY YOGA

spring + fall clean up + gutter cleaning

Visit www.mightyyoga.com, 272-0682

patios, retaining walls, + walkways landscape design + installation

Full line of Vinyl Replacement Windows

drainage

Free Estimates

snow removal

Packing & Shipping Around the World Save 10% with Greenback Coupon

Trip Pack n Ship In the Triphammer Market Place

Signorama of Ithaca Your Full Service Sign Center

607-379-6210

From Business Cards, to Window Lettering

Peaceful Spirit TAI CHI classes

Women’s Business Enterprise

at

FREE Quotes

Grace Internet Radios

Sunrise Yoga

607-273-1502

Macintosh Consulting

Graco Headphones

Classical Yang style long form

http://www.allaboutmacs.com

Sony 4K Ultra-HD TVs

Tuesdays 7:30-8:30 pm

Start your Weekend Thursday

Music Hall Turntables

Anthony Fazio, LAc.,C.A,

Sign up for the

South Seneca Vinyl

dumpster rentals

315-585-6050, 866-585-6050

Find us on Facebook!

Great Deals on the

AAM ALL ABOUT MACS

Latest and Greatest Electronics!

(607) 280-4729

Klipsch Home Theatre Speakers ABC Clean Community Cash Deals

Yamaha Surround Sound Receivers

Huge Discounts each month!

Monitor Home Audio Speakers and more!

Please go to www.abcclean.com to

Stellar Stereo

download your monthly coupon!

7102 Elmira Road 272-2644

Buy, Sell & Consign Previously-enjoyed

Independence Cleaners Corp

FURNITURE & DECOR MIMI’S ATTIC

RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL Janitorial Service * Floor/Carpet

A NYS Certified

www.peacefulspiritacupuncture.com

Ithaca Weekend Planner Sent to your email in box every Thursday

607-272-0114

Sign up at Ithaca.com

Real Life Ceremonies Honor a Life like no other with ceremonies like no other.

Steve@reallifeceremonies.com

The Yoga School Ashtanga * Vinyasa *Semester Pass $300 *YA registered school * 200 hr TT

430 W. State St. (607)882-9038 Open Every

High Dusting * Windows/Awnings

Day!

24/7 CLEANING Services

SAAB

607-227-3025 or 607-220-8739

*Cooking & Tea Classes *Gentle Vinyasa

Pellegrino’s Service & Sales

*Over 15 years experience

No need to leave town to resolve

www.yogaschoolithaca.com

* BUYING RECORDS *

Love dogs?

LPs 45s 78s ROCK JAZZ BLUES PUNK REGGAE ETC

Check out Cayuga Dog Rescue!

Angry Mom Records

Adopt! Foster! Volunteer! Donate for vet care!

(Autumn Leaves Basement)

www.cayugadogrescue.org

319-4953 angrymomrecords@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/CayugaDogRescue

*Yoga Philosophy * Ayurveda

CHECK ENGINE lights 40 Yrs Experience

We Buy, Sell, & Trade

Keys, Tires, Full Service

Black Cat Antiques

607-272-8259

607-898-2048

Fair-Trade Handmade last-minute gifts!

701 W. Buffalo St. DeWitt Mall 28

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273-9392 273-8210

www.greenstar.coop