Tupper Lake volunteers impress visiting nordic skiers at first Adirondack Tour de Ski here

by Dan McClelland

Tupper Lake’s first Adirondack Tour de Ski was a resounding success- and well received by the 200 or more people who came to the Tupper Lake Golf Course’s James C. Frenette network of trails to enjoy it.

That it came off so well is solid testimony to the hard work of the trail maintenance crew, who overcame what could have been a wash-out for the Sunday, January 14 event with heavy rain the day before.

Although the second big storm of the season forecast for January 12 and 13 didn’t really materialize it brought heavy rain that Saturday for several hours in the morning.

High winds overnight that Friday blew a lot of the snow off the race course and Saturday morning’s steady rain melted what was left.

Fortunately the rain turned to snow Saturday afternoon when about two inches or so of the fresh stuff fell in less than an hour.

The maintenance crew, directed by John Gillis, spent much of the day before the race shoveling snow back onto the trails. Volunteer Herbie Kentile gathered snow from the driving range part of the course with a Skidsteer and loaded it onto our sleds so we could spread it on the trails, according to Mr. Gillis.

When the squalls of snow fell briefly Saturday afternoon, the volunteers packed it down with four wheelers and let it sit all night for the trails to dry out, he explained.

John’s trail groomers, who include Eric “Shakey” Lanthier, John Quinn, Scott Chartier, and Owen Littlefield were delighted to see three or four more inches on the ground when they awoke Sunday morning, and they were out early packing it and restoring the miles of the trail network.

Winds continued to blow Sunday morning but the new snow was packed into place by then. The mercury rose all morning to about 24 degrees F. for the 11a.m. start.

There were a number of volunteers helping out in various ways including Adam Hurteau, Paul O’Leary, Tim Littlefield and others.

All the parking lots at the golf course were filled with vehicles by 10a.m..

Of the 200 or so people- many of them families who came for the event, there were about 53 or so racers- in various ages from toddlers to teens to adults. Some of the more mature nordic ski racers were in their sixties and early seventies.

The course lengths varied by the age of the competitor- from the “lollipop” oval in front of the club house for the youngest to three laps around the entire mile plus long trail that rings the perimeter of the golf course as well as the Hull’s Brook trail.

“I was absolutely pleased with how everything went,” Organizer John Gillis commented last week. Mr. Gillis brought the new family-style competition to Tupper after joining area ski race organizers early last summer to formulate plans for the new six-venue winter racing series here and in Lake Placid and Saranac Lake.

The series began at Mt. Van Hoevenberg in December, with its snow-making ability and moved next to Saranac Lake, which was cancelled due to lack of snow cover. Tupper’s race was the third in the series scheduled but the second one staged.

The skiers came from all over- Keene, Jay, Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and according to the town councilman, there was even a group from Old Forge.

Mr. Gillis said that because so many people in the region have been at the local course for the popular Brewski each February, they were familiar with it. Many visitors too, he said, “jumped right in to help!”

“We had a lot of help and that was the greatest part of the event. He said the way the series has been organized, various organizers of the six individual races in the three tri-lakes communities help each out immensely at each event.

A crew of Wild Center-based Americorp volunteers were also very helpful to Mr. Gillis and his team this year. They were organized by the town’s recreation assistant, Christielee Geiger, who worked alongside Laura LaBarge, as part of the town recreation department’s contribution to the event.

Mr. Gillis said he hopes there will be a second Adirondack Tour de Ski and a second Tupper event in it. “We’ll just have to see how the whole thing shakes out in the weeks to come!”

He said one major sponsorship for the series came forward this year to help underwrite many of the expenses this first year “and we have to keep getting more sponsorships going forward.”

“-And Franklin County Tourism gave us a big shot in the arm with a grant of $15,000!”

The county tourism agency, through its robust grant-giving arm, also provided about $8,000 in funding for the town’s new tracked trail groomer- about a quarter of its cost.

The man who the course is named after, John’s Uncle Jim, wasn’t able to make the event, and that was unfortunate John thought, noting “he always loved that community of ski people.” Jim Frenette coached many young nordic skiers here over the years in the town’s and school’s Torgle Tokle and Bill Koch ski programs and was also the primary builder of the trail network on and around the golf course, maintaining it almost by himself for decades, before he coaxed his nephew into the program.

Mr. Gillis said there were many smiles on many faces that Sunday. “Cross country skiing events as a rule are relaxing, happy times,” where participants are typically not as outwardly competitive as you might find at a hockey, football or basketball game, he explained.

It was a day of sunshine for a time and milder temperatures when the 200 or so who came for Tupper’s first “Tour de Ski appeared to be happy to be outdoors after a couple of weeks of nasty winter weather.

“Weatherwise, we got absolutely lucky because when our crew went to bed that Saturday night we were figuring things were going to be very rough. But I woke up early Sunday and looked out at my shop’s steps, which is my snow gauge, and I saw a very welcome three or four inches of snow!”

By race time that Sunday, the race courses on the trail were in top shape.

Groomer Eric Lanthier said the snow both that Saturday afternoon and then overnight really helped the crew.

“We were out grooming at 6a.m. After that I took a few tours up to the upper trails and they were excellent and fast!”

First phase of $20.46 million building project design shown to local educators

by Dan McClelland

Representatives from the school district’s architectural firm presented schematic drawings of the improvements in the district’s now voter-approved 20.46 million building project to the board of education at its January 8th monthly meeting.

Representing CSArch that evening were Dan Woodside, president of the firm and Kyle Smith. With them was Tupper Lake’s Chris Brunette, who is with Eric Robert’s Schoolhouse Construction, which will oversee the construction.

Also with the architectural firm was Carol Pratt, a building designer, who had been touring the school buildings that day.

“Our team has been busy since this community passed the vote last fall, working through our various design phases” Mr. Woodside began.

“As we talked pre-referendum, 90% of the design still comes after the vote.

“So we are currently in the first phase of our three-phase design work.” He said that evening’s presentation of the schematic designs was the first.

“Following that will be design development, where we will continue to refine the designs and then we’ll get into the construction document phase, as we get ready to submit the entire package and scope to the State Education Department for building permit review and approval.

That step precedes the start of construction, he noted.

“Along the way we’ll be working with Chris and his team at Schoolhouse Construction, which will be involved in estimating and gearing up for how the project will unfold, in terms of the phasing of it,” Mr. Woodside told the elected officials that evening.

He turned the presentation over to Kyle Smith, who said what his firm was tasked with in this first phase of the design, had a deadline of December 21. That work was highlighted in the presentation that evening.

Full details of that work were distributed in a lengthy report shared with the school officials that evening. Electronic copies are available to the public through the district office, he noted.

Mr. Smith said the schematic design report- the first 30% of his firm’s work for the district- featured “a lot of information gathering, verifying the project’s scope, and having programming meetings.

He took the board through a handful of slides of the various components of the project, with color photos and graphics and bullet points of the work planned.

The scope of work at the middle/high school building involves new exterior steps and railings, both at the two main entrances on Chaney Ave. and one entrance in the rear of the building. Also in the plans for that building are new roofs for the Baker Wing and locker room, replacing both large sections of the building roofs entirely.

All exterior doors will be replaced, adding “card-reader” access devices. Many of the windows in the building will be upgraded as well, he explained.

All the bathrooms in the Baker Wing will be renovating and made handicapped compliant, according to Mr. Smith. Design work for that portion of the project has already been finished, he noted.

Other pieces of the middle/high school improvement work will be the repair of interior stair landings, stair treads and risers, replacement of air handling units in both the auditorium and gym, the replacement of all pneumatic controls with DDC controls in the new systems to be installed, the replacement of all the 1954 vintage copper piping in the entire building, the complete replacement of the building’s electrical panels and switchboard systems and the replacement of the building’s generator and exhaust system.

His slide showed a mock-up of what is planned in the Baker Wing bathrooms, the exterior windows and doors to be installed and the switchboard apparatus.

“We work closely with Schoolhouse Construction in identifying” what he called “long-lead items.” Those hard-to-get items are part of a list the company is compiling to submit an advance request report to state education so they can be delivered in time for the construction period, Mr. Smith explained.

“What we don’t want to do is wait and submit all the plans as one package and then end up waiting a year and a half for some” of the pieces of equipment to arrive.

Some of those pieces of equipment include some of the transformers and such that the village electric department will have to install around the high school to accommodate the new service panels going into the building. At recent village board meetings Electric Superintendent Mike Dominie has alerted officials of major supply chain delays and that some of his equipment like transformers have a delivery waiting time of more than a year right now.

Mr. Smith said in the back of the middle/high school building in the parking lots where the buses park, it will perform “full replacement right down to sub base” because of water issues undermining that area over the years. Underground storm water piping installed there is now part of the new plan, with connections to other storm water piping on the site, he told the board.

“There’ll be heavy paving in that bus parking area, but the front driveway loop will be an asphalt melt-down” of the binder course, and then resurfacing.

Both sections will meet DOT standards for bus traffic and parking, he assured the elected leaders.

Also on site he said some of the sidewalks will be moved or replaced to address draining issues and deterioration.

In the bus garage, an oil-water separator device will be installed. A large diesel fuel underground tank near the bus garage will also be removed. Also planned is a new building exhaust system with gas detection.

The middle/high school work is priced at $7.1 million and the bus garage work at $288,757.

Secure vestibules are planned at the entrances to both schools here.

“In order to provide a secure vestibule at the entrance of the middle/high school, one of the exits had to be removed. In order to provide a new entrance there for students and faculty we provided one out front”- and that changed since the last time you saw these plans, he told the board.

“What we came back with is that we can remove about 15% of the addition, allowing the doors to come out on the side underneath your existing roof canopy. It also allows for the egress window on the classroom above the entrance to remain- at that’s required by code!”

“This solved a number of issues including lowering the cost and permitted the egress window at top to stay!”

To accomplish that, the slides show, involved the creation of a new stairway addition which will attach to the roof canopy over the gym entrance.

The secure entrance area would be moved to the south end of the building, adjacent to the gym, versus the other end of the building where the entrance currently is.

He said currently visitors to the high school go to the main door, they are buzzed in by someone in the main office, and they enter the school and hopefully go to the main office where they would be greeted.

“Obviously there’s no control of those visitors,” however, under the current arrangement.

“The goal here is to provide a brand new secure vestibule where there would be an intercom, a card reader and ADA push button. Visitors will go into that secure vestibule where all doors are locked. They would ten meet and be greeted by school staff at the transaction window. Ninety percent of the people who go in there would pass their ID into the tray, they would have a conversation such as my son or daughter left their lunch or their violin and then they would leave the building. The other ten percent of the people with business in the building would be permitted in and go first to the main office.”

He said this type of new arrangement is what is being done in all schools in this state.

Mr. Smith said his team has met with Principal Amanda Zullo twice in past months to get her views on what is being proposed at the middle/senior high school.

The new layout for the office portion of the MH building includes two guidance offices, the principal’s office, vice principal’s office, a new school resource officer office, a mail room, a break room and a conference room, plus bathrooms- one for students, another for faculty.

He said the rooms lay-out is not yet final, so input is welcome at this point. Storage needs in each office remains under study, he added. “As a team, we need to do some more work on storage areas there.”

At the L.P. Quinn Elementary School there are two front roof canopies that are rusting, so new soffits will be installed. Some masonry will be repointed above the existing gym wall, he stated. “There’s some leaking there, and we plan to investigate that more to find out where the water is getting in, before any repointing.”

The entire flat roof on the school building will be replaced, as will a boiler exhaust “which is breeching.

Other work planned there include the replacement of all exterior windows and doors, and the replacement of interior door hardware, the creation of a secure vestibule in the entrance area and renovation of the main office, a dedicated ventilation system in the existing nurse’s office, replacement of unit ventilators in the second and third grade classes, replacement of the main copper piping and domestic copper pipes in the building and the replacement of the oil tank.

He said a roofing contractor was recently hired by Schoolhouse Construction to determine the moisture content of the roof, and it found that 90% of the roof under the membrane is dry. A second test in the spring is planned and depending on what is found, it would give the district the option of only replacing the membrane, and not the underlying sheathing, which would be less expensive and would give the district some flexibility in the event some other part of the project ran into extra unforeseen costs, according to Mr. Smith. The work at L.P. Quinn, including many improvements to the Rotary Track and Field complex is expected to cost $8.1 million.

The work at the athletic field includes the full replacement of the asphalt track and possibly the addition of a pole vault area and a steeple chase site, including a water hurdle, based on forthcoming research by Schoolhouse Construction, he said.

“One of the reasons to include areas for those other events,” said Mr. Woodside, would be to accommodate some type of regional track and field event, should you want to host something like that in the future. It was noted that steeple chase events are featured at most regional or section track and field events.

The metal bleachers will be relocated to the opposite side of the field. A brand new bleacher system and new press box would be built where the old ones were on the north side of the complex.

In the expanded secure vestibule section planned at the elementary school the entrance of the library would be moved out of the secure area.

Work planned at the Tupper Lake Civic Center with a price tag of just over $500,000 involves upgrading the artificial ice-making system with a new dehumidification unit, modifying the duct work to accommodate all improvements, provide 120-ton water cooled condensing unit and controls, replacing the existing steel brine tank with a new polypropylene one, and if the budget allows, to replace the evaporator/chiller unit that is at the end of its expected life and the brine material itself.

Exhibit-building begins at renovated Tupper Lake History Museum

by Dan McClelland

With many of the interior renovations completed at the Tupper Lake History Museum, the volunteer board members are now turning their attention to exhibit-arranging and exhibit-building.

This week the directors have started to move artifacts in storage in their Amish-built shed outside and elsewhere around town into the renovated building.

The plan is to position artifacts where they will eventually be exhibited and then incorporate them into the exhibits built around them. It’s part of the museum board’s current organizational scheme.

Two of the three interior rooms have been completely renovated since early fall.

The primary builder has been Board Member Jimmy “Cookie” Lanthier, who has devoted hundreds of hours of his carpentry talents to the major chore.

He’s been a one-man building crew since last summer.

Just before he took a trip overseas to Scandinavia to visit friends he finished up the great room in what was likely service bays in the former gas station.

The room features a beautiful tongue and groove pine ceiling, that Mr. Lanthier stained a honey shade.

The ceiling features two large fans and several dozen tiny inset lights- some of which will be pointed directly on the coming exhibits.

Before he single-handedly constructed the ceiling, he thoroughly insulated the entire attic area. Mr. Lanthier also stripped the walls of the large room, firred them out and insulated them before affixing new sheetrock, after most of the building was completely rewired.

After finishing the sheetrock, Mr. Lanthier installed a half wall of wainscoting around the room’s perimeter, topping it with cherry rail. The room is very impressive and ten feet high, providing plenty of wall space to hang photos and other museum artifacts.

The museum board recently retained Brandon Moeller to install a new vinyl laminate flooring in the room. The flooring material was provided below wholesale cost by Tupper Lake Supply Co.

Before the flooring could be laid, there was a recessed section of the concrete floor that had to be filled, and that project, done by hand-mixing cement, was tackled by museum volunteer, Bob “Popcorn” Duhaime, last fall. A remarkable chore for a nonagenarian!

Last summer Mr. Lanthier devoted considerable attention to the redecorating of the middle room in the building, which will be the main entrance area where guests will enter through a newly repaired front glass door. The center room is dressed in various types of wood- to reflect this community’s lumbering heritage.

The only area of the building still to receive a face-lift is the former beauty salon on the western end. Mr. Lanthier has repaired the main bow window there- and work in that now cordoned off section of the building will be tackled over the winter, as exhibits rise in the other two rooms.

Related improvement chores like painting and replacing ceiling tiles have been tackled in the building over the by a number of museum volunteers including Mary Richer, Bob Duhaime, Joe Kimpflen, Diane Connor, Jeannette Keniston, Tom and Marlene Hyde and the Hyde Fuel crew and others.

The museum board is looking to have the new community showpiece open briefly for the Total Eclipse weekend on April 6, 7 and 8 to familiarize what is expected to be a full house of celestial fans coming for the event with the community’s heritage.

The museum will then close for several more months to get it ready for an opening early this summer, and a grand opening celebration event then.

The Tupper Lake History Museum continues to accept donations to fund the work of the directors as they ready their new place. Gifts may be sent to P.O. Box 824. All contributions are tax-deductible as the museum organization won IRS 501-3c tax exempt status last year.

Rec department leaders present many good reasons to support new teen center

by Dan McClelland

Laura LaBarge and Christilee Geiger of the town’s new recreation department have devoted considerable time and attention this past month or so to developing what appears to be a solid plan for the creation of a new Tupper Lake teen center.

They briefed the town board on it at Thursday’s monthly board meeting.

The doors to the old basement quarters of the Aaron Maddox Hall which was the local food pantry had been closed only for a couple of weeks when Mrs. Geiger requested use of the space in the town-owned building to fashion a place for teens there.

“So we all know about the rash of recent vandalism at the municipal park, Mrs. LaBarge began their presentation Thursday evening, using the town’s large video screen.

The two women believe that teenagers without meaningful activities to do and comfortable places to do them often fall into mischief for entertainment.

She said after she won town board approval to hire Christilee this fall as the town events coordinator, both of them were approached by local residents about their plans for teenagers here.

“You have great programs for young children, but what are you doing for teens?” they asked both of us, Mrs. LaBarge told the board.

“After a panic attack because teens are terrifying,” she joked, she said they decided to meet the problem head on.

She said they created a “community input survey” that they posted online and distributed across the school district. It was also placed on the town’s Facebook page.

“We encouraged teenagers, their parents, their care-givers, neighbors, grand parents, everyone involved with teens to please complete the survey.”

A new name “Tupper Teens,” was suggested by Library Manager Courtney Carey, who has started co-hosting events and particularly children’s events with the town recreation department this past year.

“We did some research on what it will take to create a teen center- to make sure all our ducks were in a row.”

She said they have created a “Tupper Teens” board of directors. There have been discussions between the town pair and the new board members about the responses to the community survey and from that work has come a new mission statement, which reads as follows:

“The Town of Tupper Lake Recreation Department and the Tupper Teens board have a mission to improve the quality of life for Tupper teenagers and offer constructive opportunities for maturity and growth in a safe and supportive environment and encouraging teens to becoming active, productive members of their schools, families and the community.”

Mrs. Geiger listed the board members, who she said many of whom wanted to be in attendance that evening, but could not because of conflicts.

One of them, Mayor Mary Fontana, was in attendance, however.

The other board members consist of Courtney Carey, one of the founders, who Christilee described as “a visionary who is new to our community, who is objective in her approach to things with strong ties to the community through the local library.”

The Tupper Teens program in its infancy is currently operating out of the library’s community room, Mrs. Geiger told the board.

Another board member she said is Chelsea Schaffer, “a holistic mom of a teen and local business owner.” She said as a former “troubled teen,” she brings much insight to exact problems teens routinely face.

Matt Arsenault, also the parent of a teenager, is another board member. He considers himself “authoritative but approachable” and who is involved in both church and community. She said Matt believes he is well versed in current teen topics of diversity and inclusion

Bethany Cassell is also a new board member, “a mom of many teens,” who is experienced in numerous local outreach programs centered on helping teens, and direct’s Tupper Lake’s Family Matters program. “She is experienced at writing grants with insight into low-income demographics,” according to the town employee.

As a board member too is Mary Fontana, former town board members and mayor who she said “is dedicated to developing a strong town recreation department and through that creating good programs for people of all ages here.”

Laura LaBarge said the survey also showed the following pros and cons of starting a teen center.

Among the pros would be the availability of adult supervisors to help keep teens out of trouble at the park and elsewhere around town. The new teen center would be “a safe space” where teens can gather, she said. A new center could be a place where supervisors could bring in speakers from various local and regional programs. It could be a place to eventually foster a mentoring program that would be aimed “at building relationships and creating those important community connection.”

She said they are finding “many troubled teens don’t feel connected to their community.”

Balanced against the pros pointed up in the survey were some cons or things, Mrs. LaBarge said, might be negative about starting a teen center.

One con was the fear that when troubled teens assemble in one place, they may end up just creating more trouble. Others who responded to the survey worried about the appearance of teens hanging out on the street, looking “somewhat sketchy.”

“People wanted to make sure any selected location was accessible to everyone in town,” Mrs. LaBarge stated.

“-And lack of funding is always a concern with any new program starting up!”

“Discouragement from the community,” is another con which could adversely affect any teen program.

The inability for organizers “to tackle the tough issues facing teens,” was another potential negative element listed by those who took the survey. “Most of those who cited that concern wanted to make sure we were prepared to tackle those kinds of issues!” Laura noted.

Christilee addressed the issue of sustaining a new teen center. “It will take more than concern for this program to become successful. Every one loves the idea of a teen center. But most of these programs don’t last past the first year. It’s actually a very scary number...about 61% fail in the first year.”

“Lack of dedication from adults is the number one reason for failure. Adults in our community need to do better for our youth! Consistency is key to success. Dedicated volunteers, board members and a set schedule is essential! We also need to be prepared for the tough stuff, to maintain proper training for all staff members and volunteers. We owe this to the next generation.”

It all comes down to this, she stressed: “We need bodies, we need time, we need money!”

“Laura and I have ideas, but we are only two bodies...so we need more bodies. We also need time and we need money!”

Laura explained the program right now is an after-school program run out of the basement community room at the Goff-Nelson Memorial Library. It runs twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30p.m. to 5:30p.m. She said as of now it is run by community volunteers, some of whom are from the Americorp program.

The women also listed the goals of the program, which include the involvement of teen advisors on the board, teaching life skills like cooking, doing laundry, filling out popular forms and budgeting. They would eventually like to offer teens instruction in arts, photography, dance and painting, as well as some outdoor activities like roller blading and car care.

Another important goal would be building relationships with first responders and local government agencies and organizations.

Securing exercise equipment for the new center is another goal they listed in their presentation.

“We really want a teen perspective of what they want” in the offerings before them and what’s at the new teen center, according to Mrs. LaBarge.

They showed photos of some of the teens doing various activities in the library the two afternoons a week.

Some of the teens have made solid connections with several of the volunteers who are helping there each week, it was noted.

Christilee said the owners of Lakeview Lanes have also offered very low priced bowling deals for kids to have fun there, rather than hanging out on the local streets.

Mrs. LaBarge said in recent weeks since the food pantry moved, local electric inspector and contractor, Mike Corneau, has been working to improve the electric system in the basement quarters, as well as adding smoke detectors and lighted exit signs.

“Mike is working his magic there, and donating his hours of labor” to get the center open and operating, she said.

She said while struggling right now getting volunteers, their one year plan is to have what she called “a consistency of faces” working with the teens at the center.

“We’d like to extend program hours. Initially Monday to Friday after school. Down the road we’d like to see it open seven days a week!”

She said five or ten years down the road they hope the town could afford a paid staff for the teen center. Another long-term goal would be to incorporate the teen center as a federal IRS 501-c3 organization to qualify for tax-deductible donations and grants to pay for permanent staff.

Since the proposed quarters in the Aaron Maddox Hall is not handicapped accessible, a building that is would be another long-term goal.

They presented to the board a lay-out of the new quarters that evening. There would be areas for activities and others designed “quiet space” to read, play games or do puzzles.

Incoming Board Member Crystal Boucher encouraged the pair to reach out to school district officials to help guide the development of the new place here and to become board members.

Mrs. LaBarge said they haven’t asked for board member participation because many of the district’s faculty and staff are already wearing many hats.

“Right now some of them are advising us, providing information to us when we ask questions.

Mrs. LaBarge noted too that as mentors and counselors are needed they were hoping the district personnel could help filling those roles.

Mrs. Boucher said she would like to eventually see the process by which the teen advisors are selected, in order to get candidates from a broad cross-section of the student body, rather than just select from the smaller pool of student leaders.

Christilee Geiger admitted while she isn’t the mother of teenagers yet, she is aware of some of the local issues teens face, “and I want to make it better for them!”

Councilman Rick Donah applauded their vision and enthusiasm for the new program and the work they have put into it in recent months.

“I’ve attended a number of the youth activities events in the past years, and when you see the kids and the smiles on their faces, you see how important the work is engaging these kids and giving them many options!”

“Offering alternatives for our children is great and it’s one more connection local governments have with teens in the community that we really need to form!”

As a Park Street business owner he said he knows that when kids don’t have worthwhile and meaningful things for them to do, it’s easy for them to hang out on the street, which can lead to trouble.

He said there was a teen center in town when he was a teenager, “that was a good outlet” for healthy fun and activities in many ways.

He told the ladies they were on the right track and when it comes to sustainability of the new facility, it will be up to the kids to determine that.

Help from local adults is also part of a successful sustainability formula, it was noted.

“The kids got to like it and enjoy it, and hopefully it catches on,” he told them.

Councilwoman Tracy Luton said one key to a center’s success is finding dedicated volunteers to staff a new teen center, a task made more difficult given the disrespect some teenagers hold for adults who are in charge of them.

“I find it hard that Laura and Christilee will fail,” given their dedication to the project and their enthusiasm, Supervisor Rickey Dattola confidently told his board at their close of their presentation.

Retiring Town Clerk Laurie Fuller honored at her last meeting

Recreation Department Chief Laura LaBarge presents Laurie with a plaque that will hang on the town hall lobby wall, commemorating her many years of excellent service to the town and its residents. (McClelland photos)

Retiring Town Clerk Laurie Fuller and her successor, Mary Kay Kucipeck Strack, on the last evening they will sit together, chronicling the actions of a town board.

Retiring Town Clerk Laurie Fuller was honored by the Tupper Lake Town Board and her colleagues both at the town hall and around the region at her last town board meeting Thursday.

Before the meeting a town clerk from the Town of Franklin appeared briefly. Lauren LaFave, who is a member of the board of directors of the New York State Town Clerks’ Association, extended to Laurie the thanks of her organization to Mrs. Fuller for her many years of service to it over the years. Tupper Lake’s town clerk served on the association’s board of directors for six years. With the commendation came some attractive wind chimes.

Mrs. Fuller also received a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of Jameson whiskey from the members of the town highway department, all appreciative of her efforts helping them over the years.

Laurie has been attending town board meetings taking accurate minutes of the deliberations and resolutions at each since she was elected town clerk in the fall of 2002, following the resignation of Beth Bierwirth, whose family left town that year. Laurie had served as Beth’s deputy clerk for about two years before her election. Beth, a former town councilwoman, succeeded the town’s long serving clerk, Aluva Marconi about two years earlier.

During Mrs. Fuller’s time as town clerk, she has also served as the town court clerk, a position she will continue to hold in the new year.

The retiring town clerk said this week she loved her job, and very much enjoyed working with the public and with her fellow employees and past and present board members.

“Our office staff was always excellent-” making for a great place to work, she noted.

Laura LaBarge of the town recreation department presented the outgoing town clerk with a wooden plaque with her photo on it which will hang in the town hall with plaques of her predecessors. The message was “Thank You, Laurie J. Fuller for your hard work and dedication, that will never be matched. You have set the standard for all! Years of service: 2000 to 2023.”

Laurie was also presented with a glass award for her own keeping, carrying the same message of the one that will hang in the town hall lobby, next to one of Aluva Marconi.

At the close of Thursday’s meeting the outgoing town clerk thanked everyone she has worked with over the years. “I’ve worked with some wonderful people.”

She named Town Attorney Kirk Gagnier, in particular, who she said helped her through some of the legal dealings of her job.

“It wasn’t a job to me. I loved coming to work every day. I’m sure I am going to miss it...thank you all.”

Town Councilwoman Tracy Luton, whose last meeting after eight years was also that night, called Laurie “amazing” at her job.

She said during Laurie’s grave illness several year ago she was deeply missed at the town hall and officials there were so happy upon her return to work. “Happy retirement to you!”

Others around the board table offered that same wish too, and applause for her erupted at the close of the monthly meeting.

Former councilwoman and the new mayor, Mary Fontana, whose last meeting at the town board table was last month, attended Thursday’s session to recognize and thank Laurie for all her contributions to the town.

Bowling is district’s new varsity school sport here

by Dan McClelland

Bowling is Tupper Lake High’s new varsity sport.

The Tupper Lake Board of Education has approved the introduction of bowling as an official school sport, following a well-reasoned presentation by Athletic Director Dan Brown at the November board meeting.

In the weeks after the meeting Mr. Brown canvassed the student body at the middle/high school and found at least 20 students who want to bowl for the new school teams. So bowling is a go and competition will start in coming days!

The new varsity bowlers held their first practice at Lakeview Lanes Thursday after school.

Mr. Brown told the Free Press that the amazing thing about the new athletic venture is that the majority of the students signed up to participate so far have never played a school sport before.

“I’ve come to talk to you this evening about the potential of a Tupper Lake (High School) bowling team,” he told the board of education last month.

He said in recent years there has been just a single bowling team in Section 10 where the Tupper Lake teams will compete. Then two and three more teams were formed and this year there are four school bowling teams in all.

“Now that more and more teams are coming on board with bowling teams,” Section 10 officials are trying to organize the league and which schools will be taking part. The start of the new bowling season is just week’s away, he noted.

“There may be other schools that come into the mix in coming weeks,” he told the elected school leaders.

“This year we would make it an even six teams”- if we were the field a team.

“Typically we come into a new sports season with anywhere between 140 and 155 student athletes. That’s not where we end the season, but on paper that’s where we generally start.”

He said typically too the winter sports season (with hockey, basketball and track) generates the lowest participant numbers of any sport season.

“In the winter sports season we have a lot of students who are active in the skating club- the figure skating program at the civic center.

“It takes a little away from our girls basketball program, where we’ve seen some decline in recent years.

“But there’s also a very healthy mix of kids in the figure skating program.

“However still having 30 to 50 students not participating in a high school sport is not something we desire.

“We know that athletics increase our civic awareness and athletics increases our positive personality traits. It increases our student health and all round it makes are students better humans and prepares them for lifelong practices of sportsmanship, commitment and engaging with other people.

“Bowling is an athletic opportunity that most people can do. Hockey in the winter, for example, if you don’t know how to skate, you can’t start playing hockey and make your way onto a high school team. And with basketball you only have five kids on the court at any one time, with a goal of having a team of about 12 players for practices and games. Whereas bowling is an opportunity for a student of any athletic ability, as long as they want to participate and build upon a skill they maybe have only done a few times in their life before that.

Organizationally, he said, it’s a ten-match season: five home games and five away. He said sectionals end February 6 and the matches leading up to that end rotate among the bowling alleys in the section.

Following the sectional matches, there’s a state tournament in Syracuse “that would give our team a one in six chance of going to the states.”

“-And what an opportunity for our students that would be,” he said of the two-day tournament that typically draws hundreds and hundreds of young bowlers from across the state who would compete.”

“It’s quite an event that organizers put on for them!”

He said high school bowling teams typically practice three times a week. From a physical standpoint, he noted, it’s not the type of sport you would want to practice five or six times a week.

“It gets repetitive...the ball gets heavy after a time and wears on the body.”

“As a new program, the expectation being the three days a week of practice” would continue through the development of a somewhat seasoned team by year three.

He reasoned that practicing more days each week could become cumbersome for some students to do, and increases the likelihood they may eventually lose interest.

“Practicing five and six days a week is a huge commitment for student athletes,” he added.

“It’s also a great way for our district to work with the community” through Jen Larsen at the local bowling alley.

Ms. Larsen bowled competitively in both high school and in college, which she attended on a bowling scholarship. She was a professional bowler for several years. Jen has been promoting the idea of the district introducing high school bowling for a number of years, according to a recent interview we did of her and her partner Mike in recent weeks.

“Mr. Bartlett and I have been talking with Jen about it over the last couple of years.”

“We were just waiting to see where the other schools in the district were going with it!”

“Right now we’re sort of at an explosion point, as we wait to see which of the new schools to introduce it will be.

He said in the Section 10 discussions on bowling- and even though the start of the season is only a few weeks away- some of the schools are saying to the others, “we’re in, if you’re in, but we all need to get in” if it’s going to work.

“Last week we had a unified bowling event” at Lakeview Lanes “that was well received by Section 10. He said six schools were represented, with over 40 students bowling, including some with special needs.

“That’s also something we’re looking to grow in Section 10.

He said the teams were bussed in. They arrived about 10a.m., bowled, had lunch together...all sorts of students bowling together, and it was a great event to happen here.

Mr. Brown said Section 10 is currently the only section in the state “that does not have a unified, organized” sports league that brings together students of all abilities.

“Bowling could help to build that and for not only bowling for Section 10 but unified sports in Section 10 bringing students with special needs and general education students together to be in a competitive environment.”

The athletic director said that although the sport of bowling wasn’t budgeted this year, his department had planned this year to offer a JV girls basketball team that didn’t materialize.

“So instead of creating a new team” and budgeting for it, “we just replacing a team.”

“Our bowling alley is eager to work with our kids and our school- and this is something Jen is very enthusiastic about and very willing to help!”

He said while they haven’t formally polled students about bowling in recent years, in various informal conversations, he has been told by many students it might be a sport they would be very willing to try.

Mr. Brown said Tupper Lake historically was home to many youth leagues which have disappeared in recent years.

“Jen is very interested in trying to bring some of those leagues back, which would provide something of a feeder program to any new high school varsity program.”

Asked by the board the ages of the team members, Mr. Brown said varsity teams can include students in grades nine to 12. “There are sports, however, that can allow for seventh and eighth grade expansions and bowling would be one of those sports, much like golf.”

The inter-school competition involves a bowling match, which consists of three games, he told the board members, in answer to another question.

Student bowlers can compete individually or as a team, he noted.

He also said that sometimes an individual section will create something of an all-star team to compete at regional or state levels.

Mr. Brown said there is no limit on the number of student bowlers on a school team, given the various available configurations of matches.

The only restriction, he guessed, would be the number of lanes a particular bowling alley offered.

The school here would likely have both boys and girls teams, versus a mixed team.

Superintendent of Schools Russ Bartlett spoke in favor of introducing bowling to the local sports regimen. He said of all the school officials in larger schools and smaller schools around the region that he and Mr. Brown had spoken to over the years and “nobody who implemented a bowling team at their school has found that impacts the numbers in the other school sports. It’s not a sport that typically draws from other athlete pools!”

Mr. Brown predicted that about 15 students this year would join a school bowling team if it was offered. Through his recruitment efforts in recent week, he has surpassed that estimate.

“Chateaugay introduced bowling last year and at some of their practices, there were 30 students!”

By their comments most of the board members liked the idea and several had procedural questions.

Mr. Brown noted that both male and female bowling teams would travel on a single bus and that the district would pay only for the bowling fees and shoe rentals, if necessary, for just the Tupper bowlers.

He said he and Jen Larsen have talked about how her bowling alley could help with ball or shoe rentals to minimize the cost of equipment to the school district.

New mayor, new village board

Mary Fontana was officially sworn into her new position as village mayor by Village Clerk Mary Casagrain at the start of the village’s annual organizational meeting Monday. The first appointment the new mayor made was to appoint Trustee Eric Shaheen as her deputy mayor. Deputy Mayor Shaheen succeeds Trustee Leon LeBlanc, who was always former Mayor Paul Maroun’s choice for his deputy. The deputy mayor presides over village meetings and matters, in the absence of the mayor. Surrounding the new mayor and the village clerk were Trustees Jason McClain, Eric Shaheen, David Maroun and Leon LeBlanc. This fall Trustees LeBlanc and Maroun were returned to another two-year term on the board in an uncontested election.

Tupper mayors, local officials welcome Sen. Chuck Schumer to Wild Center

The mayors of Tupper Lake- incoming Mayor Mary Fontana and outgoing Mayor Paul Maroun- presented Senator Schumer with a birthday cake during his visit here last week. Wild Center leader Hillary Dechene had the knife for the cutting.

by Dan McClelland”

Mayor Paul Maroun, his successor Mary Fontana and other community officials were on hand last week to welcome U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to the Wild Center.

Sen. Schumer, New York’s senior senator, makes it a point to visit every county in the state once a year, and over the Thanksgiving holiday he made a number of stops in this region, including in Lake Placid, here and others, the mayor explained this week of the informal visit.

“He loves the Wild Center...he and his family really do,” noted the mayor, who also serves on the board of directors of the natural history museum. The U.S. senator has made several visits to the facility in past years.

“He praised the work of the board chair, Karen Thomas, and her board for its direction” of this major tourism venue.

“I introduced Sen. Schumer to the group and told the guests there were three things I wanted to say about him.

“First, it’s always an honor to have a United States senator here, but Sen. Schumer is one of the three most powerful people in the nation as U.S. Senate leader.

“When he was younger, he and I and his kids would go to the Tail of the Pup and get all greasy. We’d go to Donnelly’s too because he loves ice cream.

“The second thing I said was that the Wild Center is always on the cutting edge of science and exploration. With Jen Kretser and the work of the people behind the Youth Climate Summits, we are the first official group to wish Senator Schumer a happy birthday.”

His birthday was on Thanksgiving Day.

“I told the story that when you enter the state assembly when you go in the main door, one of two guards opens the door for you.”

He said the time was when he worked in 1974 for Assemblyman Glenn Harris, Mr. Schumer had just been elected to that body of state government. “He was a freshman assemblyman that year.”

“That day there were no guards at the door and I was walking in to see Glenn about something. So this guy behind me opens the door, and we walk down the aisle together, chatting a bit about where we were each from.

“So I said to Glenn: who is that guy. He just opened the door for me. He was a nice young man.

“Glen told me he was the new guy from Brooklyn and his name was Chucky Schumer.”

“So I tell the story...it’s not about politics or religion. You can tell the quality of a person by their actions. It’s not about what’s written about them in the media or what they may have done one way or another.

“From the day on I always thought of Chuck Schumer as a friend and we became friends after that and we’ve been friends for more than 50 years.”

Mr. Schumer, who started as an assemblyman, was elected to Congress and finally was elected as a U.S. senator, after he defeated Republican incumbent Al D’Amato.

“The last thing I said in the introduction is that Senator Schumer is of the Jewish religion and from the New York City area. I said the mayor of Tupper Lake is Lebanese. If the two of us can be friends for 50 years, there’s hope for peace in the Middle East!”

“He thought that was a great comment and told me he was going to use that line in the future!” the mayor concluded.

Mayor bids adieu with thanks to many here

by Dan McClelland

“You folks are lucky tonight,” Mayor Paul Maroun told the dozen or so local government students attending Wednesday’s village board meeting. “Because this is my last meeting,” he explained to them.

He offered something of a brief swan song that evening.

“First of all I want to wish my successor, Mary (Fontana) the best of luck in your new term. It will be an experience for you. It’s a little different from town government. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it, as I have, and move Tupper Lake ahead,” the mayor began.

“I also want to thank my deputy mayor,” he said, nodding to Leon LeBlanc. He said the trustee has been his deputy during his entire term as mayor going back 13 years.

“Leon took care of things when I was ill, when I was away, and when I was in the hospital, when he called me every day.”

“I appreciate it, Leon. You did a great job!”

“My pleasure, Mr. Mayor!” Trustee LeBlanc told him.

“I also want to thank this board. I know sometimes we’ve argued on things but we’ve all worked to do what we thought was best for Tupper Lake and the entire community. We’ve had some different ideas on things over the years, just like you students do,” again pointing to the students in the room. “We don’t always agree on everything but we always try to do our best to help both the village and the town.

He also thanked the members of the previous boards that he had directed for their hard work and dedication to the jobs before them.

“I also want to thank our office staff who take the day to day complaints, the calls, yells and screams” about the bills they receive and for what the village has done or not done for them. “We have some great people on our staff in our office here.”

He thanked Electrical Superintendent Mike Dominie and his crew. They do a great job for us, year in and year out...in bad weather, wet weather, stormy weather. They dealing with high voltage...theirs is a dangerous job.”

He said he was proud that the entire electric crew is now fully trained and certified as linemen. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had that situation in place in the village!”

“In our water and sewer department, we’ve had some issues. We’re all working hard on them and hopefully they will all be corrected in a year or so,” he said of the brown well water and the toxic water from Little Simond Pond.

The mayor said that in addition to those troubling issues for that department, Superintendent Mark Robillard and his crew work very hard every day to tackle many other routine infrastructure problems like broken mains, sewers backing up. “We try to do the best we can, but we can’t break the law either like going on private property to work.”

The water and sewer crews do a great job as do Supervisor Bob DeGrace and his DPW crew- sometimes working “extra hard” to combat things like the ongoing vandalism in the park, as well as keeping up maintenance of our village streets and sidewalks.

“We all know we don’t have a big enough staff to do all the things we know we should do- but our crews all try to do the best they can with the monies available to them.”

“Our police department has done an extraordinary job in recent years….Chief, thank you. We don’t have a full-time police department and we’re still hopeful we may soon be able to pick up a few more officers to go full-time again.” With the one-shift and fewer officers they are all working harder, and with the way the state justice system is now and the bail reform, law enforcement is a much more difficult task today.

As for our volunteer fire department, “these guys and gals are available night and day, 24 hours a day, when asked. They don’t get paid anything...it’s all volunteer service.” He told Chief Royce Cole he and his team have done an excellent job keeping people safe and saving buildings during his time as mayor. As a long-time member of the department, he promised the chief he’ll participate more now that he’s leaving public office, in department service and functions. “I’m going to have time to go to more fires now,” he said, joking: “so don’t throw me out yet!”

“Our firefighters do a great job for us!”

He said while the village doesn’t formally operate the Tupper Lake Emergency and Rescue Squad, “they are an integral part of our community, and so important to residents here.

“You don’t have a good community, if you don’t have emergency services!”

He told the senior students in the room he hoped some of them would find time in their adult lives to give back to their communities through volunteer services to public agencies and organizations.

The mayor said to the students who manage to stay in Tupper Lake he hoped they will volunteer their spare time to help these many important agencies here.

“We’ve had many grants won by the village during my time here- and perhaps as many as any mayor in recent years. So I’d like to thank Melissa McManus, our community development director.” He said she has landed many grants for the village for infrastructure and recreational improvements this past decade or so, “and she does a great job!”

“Melissa knows how to write a grant, she knows how to employ it and she knows how to talk to people in Albany, in Washington and even in Malone who award them to get us more money and work for our betterment.”

“Last but not least, I couldn’t have done my job, and I don’t think anyone around this board table could have either, without the help of Mary Casagrain.” He said Tupper Lake has never had a village manager, but the village clerk manages the day to day intertwinings of the village, plus Mary, as treasurer, works on all the numbers of all the departments. “She works with me at meetings every day. Takes calls from me in the evenings and at night...we both stay up late. So Mary thank you for everything you have done for me and the village over the years!”

“Serving as a village official isn’t easy. People are demanding...some things we can provide for them and some things we legally can’t! I’ve tried to bend the rules as much as I can without a police office arresting me, but there are some things you just can’t do. -And people don’t always understand that!”

He told his board members how his and theirs have not been easy jobs, “but I think we’ve all tried to do our best we can for the community!”

The outgoing mayor promised a major announcement for later this week that he said he thinks the community will be very interested to hear.

“I want to thank all of you and the community for giving me the opportunity to serve Tupper Lake!”

Veterans Day speaker Jim Kucipeck delivers moving, heart-felt message about facts of Vietnam War

by Dan McClelland

Mark Moeller, one of the community’s most active veterans and the MC at Saturday’s Veterans Days ceremony at the veterans park had the honor of introducing the guest speaker- Tupper native and community leader, James Kucipeck.

“Jim’s a baby boomer, born in 1946 to Peter and Gladys Kucipeck. He attended Tupper Lake High School, graduating in 1965, where upon he entered the U.S. Air Force. Jim served two tours overseas, one in Kusson, Korea and then in Fom Rong and Fu Pat in South Vietnam in 1967-68.

“Jim went on to attend college though the G.I. bill, first at North Country Community College, and then SUNY Albany where he completed his bachelor’s degree. He continued at SUNY Albany to win his master’s degree in education. Jim taught business and technology courses at Tupper Lake High School for 31 years, retiring in 2004. He served two terms as town councilman from 1980 to 1987. He was also a member of the Tupper Lake Library Board and served terms as its president. Jim served for a time on the town’s board of assessment review and on the board of directors of the Adirondack Regional Federal Credit Union.

“Jim’s been married for 54 years to Betsy Rule and they have three daughters.

“So to sum it up Jim is a native born Tupper Laker and is a Vietnam veteran. He’s an educator who taught our children throughout his career. He’s a community leader. He was my wife’s favorite teacher and just all-round good guy.”

Mr. Kucipeck began by thanking the crowd for coming out on a cold morning.

He also thanked the American Legion post, sponsor of this year’s event for his invitation to speak, the VFW post for its organizational help and Pastor Wilburn for his words.

The day’s speaker also thanked the leaders of the village and town- both past and present. He wished the Marine Corp “a happy birthday.”

He made a little fun of the ragged Vietnam cap he wore that morning “because we were an irreverent lot!”

“Right, Leon?” he said, addressing retired Marine and village leader, Leon LeBlanc, who was standing along the State Theater wall that morning with about 12 other local veterans. Deputy Mayor LeBlanc also served in Vietnam.

Mr. Kucipeck began:

“After reading “The Good War,” by Studs Terkel about the experiences of people during World War II, I thought of the experiences of my generation during the Vietnam War.

He said he hoped his comments that day would reflect the before, during and aftermath of that war.

“This is not only my story, but a collection of stories of my buddies, friends and co-workers who served in Vietnam.

“The book, The Good War, is based on the premise that World War II united people around the world against Germany and Japan. Certainly no war is good. Congress declared war on December 11, 1941 and our mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles met the call and we know the result: victory in the spring of 1945.

“Congress, by contrast, never declared war in Vietnam. I’ve heard it said that Vietnam was not a real war. I beg to differ!

“There were 58,220 men and women who came home in coffins. There were 150,000 wounded and 1,600 missing in action. -And all the rest of us left mentally and emotionally scarred!

“The Vietnam War was so controversial that we were disrespected after we came home. What I’m about to tell you are not war stories, but who we were before, during and coming home. It’s a frank discussion we all need to have about what Vietnam did to us!”

He continued with what he called a few facts about the war.

“The first U.S. involvement in Vietnam and southeast Asia was in the 1950s, when the average Vietnam vet was only ten years old. The first U.S. troops were Marines who landed in DeNang on March 8, 1965. Most of us were still in high school!

“There were two million, seven hundred thousand men and women who served in Vietnam. Only 850,000 are still alive today. The average age of them is 77.

“We are dying at a rate of 390 each day!

“The first American was killed in Vietnam in 1961. I was a sophomore in high school. The last American was killed in Vietnam on April 29, 1975- the last of the 58,220 American who were killed in that war.

“The oldest man killed was 62 years of age. The youngest man killed was only 15. Five more were killed who were only 16 years old. They lied about their age to join.

“I want you to think about that and look at the band members here who are all about 15 or 16 years old,” he told the crowd that day.

“The average age of those who were killed was 23. I turned 21 there.

“In 1967 and 1968 when I was there, there were 549,000 men and women serving there- the largest number of any time during the war.

“Seventy-six percent of those who were there were from lower-middle class or working class families. Sixty-six percent of those were volunteers. Seventy percent of all those killed in the war were volunteers. There were 59 women killed in Vietnam...not many people know that.

“Nine hundred and 97 who served were killed on their first day in Vietnam. There were 1,448 were killed on their last day they were to serve there. The last combat troops left Vietnam on March 29, 1973.

Saigon fell on April 30th, 1975, approximately 10 years after the first troops landed.

“I know that statistics are boring, but you must know the facts to understand that it was a real war.

“I arrived in Vietnam June of 1967, coming directly from a 13-month tour in Korea and landed at Tan Sanh Nhut Air Base in Saigon. It was 90 plus degrees F. and 80% plus humidity. That was typical of all of Vietnam from the Mekong Delta in the south to the Demilitarized Zone in the north. I spent the first night listening to incoming rockets and mortars and watching our aircraft rain down fire on the Viet Cong.

“ The next morning, we moved out around the country to places with mysterious sounding names like Long Binh, Cu Chi, Phu Cat, Phan Rang, Kontum, the Central Highlands, Can Tho, Ca Mau, and to the countless and nameless fire bases around the country. The Marines typically went up country to Danang, Phu Bai, Chu Lai, Hue’ and Quang Tri. I caught a flight down to Phan Rang, my duty station for the next 12 months.

“In my next comments, I am only going to use the first name of my buddies, school chums and co-workers and where they were located. I am sure that I will miss some but that was not intended as there are 184 names on the memorial (behind me). Most of these guys I grew up with, lived here, and/or worked with.

“Mike, Leon, Wayne, Craig, Johnny, Terry, Rudi, and Pierre were with the Marines up around the DMZ, Phu Bai, Chu Lai and Khe Sanh.

“George was down in the Mekong Delta.

“Art and Eddy were up country flying choppers.

“Phil was at Long Binh.

“We lost Steve Valliere in 1966, up country with the Marines south of the DMZ.

“Danny was shot down while flying in a chopper. Mike was with the Wolfhounds around Cu Chi. Bobby and Jeff were with the 101st Airborne around Phu Bai.

“Barry got hit while on patrol around Cu Chi. Craig and Pierre were wounded while on patrol with the Marines up North around the DMZ. Glen was with the Navy was out in the Gulf of Tonkin with the 7th Fleet. Neil and Charlie were with me in Phan Rang and Phu Cat.

“One of my buddies, and I won’t even mention his first name, was on missions outside of the borders of Vietnam- in Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam.

“I was located at 2 separate places, Phan Rang and Phu Cat.

“Wayne Soucy, a high school friend, and I were in the same place for a period of time at Phan Rang. Incidentally, Wayne was in Vietnam twice.

“I think by now that you realize that the entire country of Vietnam was at war, a guerrilla war, and it was all around us!

“But who are these Vietnam vets, really?

“We are ‘boomers- Baby Boomers’, born between 1946 and 1960, the children of WW II vets who won the “Good War!”

“We came of age during the 60’s. It was a heady and exciting time to grow up. Tupper Lake was a thriving and bustling community. We were all about part-time jobs, playing sports, going to the beach, it was babes, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, muscle cars, going to the movies, hanging out at the “A” (the Altamont Dairy Bar), hanging out on the school wall, dances, and the best damn music ever!

“All of that changed for us in August of 1964 with the Gulf of Tonkin incident, a clash between the North Vietnamese and the U S Navy- the discussion of which I will leave to the historians to debate.

“Under President Johnson, Marines landed combat troops at Danang on March 8th, 1965. Most of my generation was still in high school. I graduated in June of 1965.

“After high school, some of us were drafted into military service, some of us enlisted in the military, some got medical deferments to avoid the draft, some got married to avoid the draft, some protested and burned their draft cards, some went to Canada, and others by the “luck of the draw” never did anything and stayed home.

“One close friend, who on the day he graduated from high school, left for the Marine Corp. One year later, to the day, he was in Vietnam. You might say it was his senior class trip….sad!

“I know at this point you would like to know what it was like during our time in Vietnam. Everyone had a different experience. I said early on that there would be no blood and guts war stories. Combat vets have their own stories and probably will not share them with you. Support personnel like me will share a story or two.

“Vietnam is a small country that was totally at war from the DMZ to the Mekong Delta and included Laos and Cambodia in which a secret war took place unbeknownst to the American public. Of course, we bombed North Vietnam from Thailand, and Guam and from the Gulf of Tonkin by the 7th Fleet. We bombed the Ho Chi Minh Trail which ran from North Vietnam, into Laos, Cambodia and finally into South Vietnam. We bombed the Sihanouk Trail out of Cambodia. Battles took place in the Central Highlands, along the borders with Laos and Cambodia, down in the MeKong Delta, in the jungles, in cities and small villages across the country. There are thousands of heart-breaking stories that are shared between vets and not shared with you. Countless books have been written about the Vietnam War, for and against, and about that war.

“I must tell you that I was a non-combatant. I worked with explosives, rockets, and napalm. It took 10 to 15 personnel to support every single pilot and combat soldier in Vietnam. As far as my part in the war, I was stationed at Phan Rang and Phu Cat. I supported Air Force missions that flew ground support for our combat troops, interdiction missions along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. We bombed Vietnam and surrounding countries 24/7. I was a ‘buck sergeant’, crew chief, in charge of five GI’s and 10 Vietnamese Nationals. We assembled explosives, 500-pound bombs, napalm, rockets, and everything else that exploded. We worked 12 or more hours a day and longer if necessary, and during TET, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, around the clock, to support our missions. We assembled and flew hundreds of tons of munitions a day and we were only one of 10 air bases in South Vietnam.

“I have tried to convey this to you and help you understand what it was like to be there, but that was only my experience and everyone who was there has their own story to tell.

After a year in Vietnam, we were finally going home. The 1st Shirt (1st Sergeant) or “Top” called you in and told you to ‘stand down, turn in your gear, pack your bag, you are going home!’ At that point you had to catch a ride via a truck, chopper, or plane to Danang, or to Saigon or to Cam Ranh Bay for the “Freedom Bird” and home.

“One day in Vietnam and the next moment on a flight back to the ‘World’. No time to decompress! Our spirits were so high that we did not need jet engines to lift off. Once airborne the pilot announced that we had cleared Vietnamese airspace. You cannot believe the range of emotions expressed after twelve long months, hooting, hollering, tears, and dead silence by some about going home and buddies left behind and those who would never make it home alive. Some of us landed at Travis AFB near San Francisco or McChord AFB near Seattle. We did not expect a parade, nor did we get one!

“What we got instead was unexpected, met by protesters carrying signs and heckled with the word: ‘baby killer. We were spit upon, had urine thrown on us, as well feces! Some of us were even told not to wear our uniforms while traveling home to protect us from being harassed.

“For me it was quite different. It was June 4, 1968, and no one paid any attention to us as Robert Kennedy had just been murdered and all eyes were glued to the TVs in the airports. I flew from Seattle, to Chicago, to New York City, finally to Albany and to catch a bus to Saranac Lake. The trip home was in stark contrast to the landscape of Vietnam. We traveled up Rte. 9, hitting every little small town along that rural route. I was mesmerized at our beautiful Adirondack landscape.

“I was in a world of my own as I was overseas for 25 months in Korea and Vietnam, hoping nothing had changed at home.

“Reality soon set in as the bus driver let me off in Saranac Lake at the main intersection. I grabbed my bag and stepped off the bus to 50-degree temperatures after leaving Cam Ranh Bay at one hundred degrees F. the day before.

“What followed is still vividly clear to me to this very day. I was standing on the bridge in Saranac Lake, hitch hiking home when a driver stopped, and I opened the door. He asked me where I was coming from and I, of course, replied: Vietnam. At that point he asked me ‘how many babies did you kill’ and uttered an expletive at me and drove off. I was dumfounded and thought: ‘Welcome home Jim!’

“Another car approached and I was reluctant to open its door, but it was getting late, and I was freezing. The driver did see what just occurred seconds earlier and I recounted my story. He was an off-duty state police officer, he told me to get in and took me right to the door of my home.

“My parents greeted me, but it was not what I expected. I am not sure what I expected, though, to be honest. I felt as if they thought I had gone out of town for the day. I had been gone for 25 months. Home was not the same anymore and never would be. No one, family and friends included, wanted to talk about Vietnam and what it was like. There was little or no emotional support from my community!

“Only returning Vietnam vets home at the same time congregated at the local bars would talk about Vietnam and all that happened to us. People felt uncomfortable around us as we spoke of Vietnam and the war. They did not understand, they weren’t there!

“Our Vietnam experiences, for some, brought on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Some of it can be expressed as anger, anxiety, depression, rage, crying, night terrors, survivors’ guilt, startle response, panic, irritability, just to name a few. If you want to know more of the manifestations of PTSD, research it!

“Vietnam vets have a saying: ‘you can leave Vietnam, but Vietnam never leaves you!’ We have ‘triggers’ that evoke emotions and memories, sights, and sounds that take us back to a time and place in Vietnam. Triggers like the sound of a ‘chopper’, helicopter to you, loud explosions heard during Fourth of July celebrations, 60’s music. Incidentally, the iconic anthem of the Vietnam War is the song ‘We gotta’ get outa’ this place’ by the Animals. It takes me back to Vietnam in a heartbeat. A label in my clothing, ‘Made in Vietnam’, does too...how ironic!

“As 70 year olds, all we are left with are memories, and whether we admit it or not, PTSD, and the effects of Agent Orange. Vietnam was a traumatic experience in our lives and left an indelible mark on our psyche. I have PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I did not know that I had it until a friend of ours pointed it out. Once diagnosed, I spent 18 months in therapy, twice per month, with a VA therapist. I am better now; I know how to manage it! My ‘shrink’ told me that I had to talk about it, and this is part of the reason that I am doing this presentation. I must thank my wife of 54 years, Betsy, and my daughters Ann, Julie and Mary Kay for putting up with Vietnam. I love you!

“PTSD is not the only thing that Vietnam gave us. It exposed us to Agent Orange! The military called it Operation Ranch Hand! It is a defoliant sprayed by planes, choppers, trucks and by hand to deny the enemy of their hiding places. We were all exposed to it, some more than others. We wallowed in it, it was in the air, it was in the mud and dirt, it was in the dust, it was where we slept, and in our food. Eleven million gallons were sprayed over twenty million acres. Approximately 2.7 million Vietnam vets were exposed it and genetically to our children. The irony of it is the government knew early on that AO was potent and dangerous.

“There is a lengthy list of medical issues associated with Agent Orange: heart issues;

cancers (we lost Wayne Soucy a number of years ago to cancer from AO), Diabetes,Peripheral neuropathy, birth defects, hypertension, Parkinson’s disease, thyroid issues and many medical terms I cannot even pronounce.

Plus some medical issues they are just discovering.

“For me, my medical condition from AO is Peripheral Neuropathy. it is in my lower legs and feet.

“I have spoken to you about Vietnam from my own perspective and that of my brother Vietnam vets. I hope that you understand a little bit more about us and what we went through, about coming home and how we were treated and what Vietnam did to us. These are my own experiences and recollections and experiences of my brother vets who were willing to share some of their own stories with me.

“In closing I want to share with you the lyrics of a song recorded by Charlie Daniels, ‘Still in Saigon,’ that sums up the Vietnam experience for some veterans. I have taken a few liberties with the lyrics of this song, and I read it as a poem.

“Got on a plane in 'Frisco 
And got off in Vietnam 
I walked into a different world 
The past forever gone

I could have gone to Canada 
or I could have stayed in school 
But I was brought up differently. 
I couldn't break the rules

 13 months and fifteen days. 
The last ones were the worst. 
One minute I'd kneel down and pray 
And the next I'd stand and curse

.

“No place to run to 
where I did not feel that war. 
When I got home I stayed alone; 
and checked behind each door

; Cuz I'm still in Vietnam 
I am still in Vietnam 
in my mind!

The ground at home was covered in snow; 
and I was covered in sweat! 
My younger brother calls me a killer 
and my daddy calls me a vet! 

Everybody says I'm someone else; 
And I'm sick and there's no cure! 
Damned if I know who I am. 
There was only one place I was sure; 

When I was still in Vietnam
. I am still in Vietnam 
in my mind

! Every summer when it rains 
I smell the jungle, I hear the planes. 
I can't tell no one, I feel ashamed; 
Afraid someday I'll go insane

! That's been fifty long years ago 
And time has gone on by; 
Now and then I catch myself, 
Eyes searching through the sky. 

All the sounds of long ago 
Will be forever in my head, 
Mingled with the wounded cries. 
And the silence of the dead
...'Cuz I'm still in Vietnam, I am still in Vietnam 
In my mind

, I am still in Vietnam 
Yes, I'm still in Vietnam, 
in my mind

“Rest in peace, Craig!

“To all of my Vietnam brothers and sisters, something that you never heard when you came home: ‘WELCOME HOME!’

“Thank you for listening!”

Tupper Lake’s Red & Black Players present fall one-act plays about actors and superheros on Wed. and Thurs., Nov. 8 & 9

“Drama Rehab” (from left): Ghost Switzer, Hannah Barber, Ayden Rabideau, John Fallon, Nevaeh Toohey, Cody Auclair, Raegan Fritts, Shae Arsenault, Haylee Callaghan, Ash Barber, Luka Lisinac, Ava Facteau, Cali Skiff, and Niko LaVigne. Missing from photo are cast members Eric LaBlanc, Gabe Collins, and Blake Wagner and crew members Alison Richer and Hannah Callaghan.

“Nemesis” cast & crew (in no order): Cast members include Aubrey Nadeau, Oliver Roberts, Bryce Richer, Gabby Frenette, Noah Switzer, Aubrey Beaulieu, Aubrey Bissonette, Eliza Bujold, Kaileigh Dukette, Lucy Frenette, Lucas Gardner, Raegan Hudak, Victoria Hudak, Martin Hughes, Yana Kucipak, Lacey Pickering, Lance Schaffer, Lawrence Sears, Madison Strack, Lily Wilber, Chloe Wilson, and Mariah Young. Crew members include Jack Dukette, Isabelle Sauvageau, Sophia Callaghan, Bella Charron, and Aubrey Chesbrough.

The Red and Black Players of the Tupper Lake Middle/High School again will present their fall one-act plays, with Drama Rehab: Revenge of the Type-cast Actors performed by the high schoolers and Will You Be My Nemesis? performed by the middle-school players. Performances are Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 8 and 9, in the TLMHS auditorium, starting at 7 p.m. Admission at the door is $7 for adults, $5 for students and seniors, with 5 and under free.

The TLMHS auditorium is located at 25 Chaney Avenue in Tupper Lake.

Drama Rehab: Revenge of the Type-cast Actors by D. Tupper McKnight (no relation to Tupper Lake, as far as we know!) is a mysterious comedy with a distinctly unique twist. Teen Ingenue checks into Drama Rehab because she's sick of being typecast as the doe-eyed ingenue. Drama Rehab is the place where actors go to shed their stock character images and learn how to land the roles they've always wanted to play. The only problem is that no one ever leaves the facility, because no one seems to make any progress. Will the actors learn to break out of their stereotypical molds, or will they resort to murder first?

Drama Rehab: Revenge of the Type-cast Actors features a group of 20 high schoolers. Cast members are Raegan Fritts as Theatre Guru, Shae Arsenault as Teen Ingenue, Cody Auclair as Super Hero, Hannah Barber as Bimbo in Distress, Ayden Rabideau as Soldier #2, Nevaeh Toohey as Stage Mom, John Fallon as Reality Actress, Ghost Switzer as Laugh Track Guy, Haylee Callaghan as Wise Old Person, Niko LaVigne as Melodramatic Villain, Luka Lisinac as British Bobby, Ash Barber as Herr Direcktor, Ava Facteau and Cali Skiff as Aaron and Erin, the backup dancers, Eric LaBlanc as Lab Technician Dude, Gabe Collins as Stage Manager, and Blake Wagner as Director.

Crew members for Drama Rehab: Revenge of the Type-cast Actors are Alison Richer and Hannah Callaghan. The play is directed by George Cordes.

It’s hard to find your perfect match, someone you really connect with; someone who will dedicate their life to destroying you at all costs. Yes, sometimes it feels like you’ll never meet your nemesis … Will You Be My Nemesis? is a one-act comedy by Kathryn Funkhouser that the middle school members of the Red & Black Players are preparing this fall.

Under the direction of Director Elizabeth Cordes and Assistant Director Danielle LaMere, each member of the cast of Will You Be My Nemesis? is developing their hero or villain personas, battling to be chosen as the nemesis of Captain Battle or Dr. Nightmare. There is plenty of work for the crew members, too, creating many props and costumes to go along with these characters.

Middle-school cast members of Will You Be My Nemesis? are Aubrey Nadeau (Captain Battle), Oliver Roberts (Dr. Nightmare), Bryce Richer (Waiter), Gabby Frenette (Skirmish), Noah Switzer (Underling #42), Aubrey Beaulieu (Comet 1), Aubrey Bissonette (Fan), Eliza Bujold (Turbo), Kaileigh Dukette (the Possum), Lucy Frenette (the Pundertaker), Lucas Gardner (Logan the Thief), Raegan Hudak (Ultra), Victoria Hudak (Comet 2), Martin Hughes (Fallout), Yana Kucipak (Teal Redgrave), Lacey Pickering (Blue Steel), Lance Schaffer (Drill Sergeant), Lawrence Sears (Kit Calloway), Madison Strack (Firecat), Lily Wilber (RJ Boatsworth), Chloe Wilson (Comet 3), and Mariah Young (Xanderon).

Crew members of Will You Be My Nemesis? include Jack Dukette, Isabelle Sauvageau, Sophia Callaghan, Bella Charron, Aubrey Chesbrough, Rylee Bean, Jackson Rice, and Hannah Tyo.

Lighting for both plays will be provided by David Naone.

Drama Rehab: Revenge of the Type-cast Actors is presented through a special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc. Will You Be My Nemesis? is presented through a special arrangement with Stage Partners. Will You Be My Nemesis? will be presented first, with a short intermission between these one-acts.

Cheers after job well done

These are most of the selfless local folks Friday who donated their strong backs (which may have been sore the next day) to the relocation of appliances and food stuffs from the old food pantry in the basement of the Aaron Maddox Hall to new quarters in the former Holy Ghost Academy building.

When they gathered at the finish in the parking lot of the town-owned building, there were many cheers after a job well done and satisfaction that the pantry was now in a much better place. Watch for editorial and more photos in next week’s issue. Photo provided by Laurie Pickering.

ROOST reps detail how data analysis benefits its marketing of Tupper Lake

by Dan McClelland

In somewhat of a repeat performance of when ROOST leaders made a presentation to the village board last month, they were at last week’s town board meeting.

Accompanying Michelle Clement, regional marketing director, and Katie Lalonde, marketing director for Tupper Lake and Hamilton County this time was not ROOST Chairman Jim McKenna but the Lake Placid-based promotional agency’s chief operating officer, Mary Jane Lawrence.

Based on the amount of coverage the Free Press had given in that day’s issue to their earlier presentation to the village, the trio offered an abbreviated program of all their work to promote this community.

“We were here in the spring to give you an overview of our program and today we wanted to follow up on some questions you had then and what we do for research” to build our programs, Mrs. Clement began that evening.

“We are going to go over some of the data we use and Katie will go deeper into the support we give Tupper Lake.”

She said the data they gather and analyze is designed to drive many of the decisions they make on the best ways to “execute the marketing for Tupper Lake.”

Mrs. Clement said one of their new tools for data analysis is a program called Zartico that they began using this year. “It allows us to track mobile devices,”- not individual ones but a look at total devices used here on visits by tourists.

“It gives us a snapshot of where the devices are moving- but in full disclaimer, we are not tracking any one person,” she told the town leaders. It is designed to give a sampling of tourist movement here and across the region.

Katie Lalonde showed a Zartico slide that showed this year 15.9% of Tupper visitors were from the Albany, Troy and Schenectady areas and their average view of the local web site to the time of visit was 38 days in advance. Fifteen percent of our visitors came from the Big Apple and their view of the web site averaged 33 days until their visit. Visitors from Rochester represented 8.4% of the visitors to Tupper this year and their average view of the site came 49 days before their arrival here. Syracuse visitors represented 11.8% of the tourist trade here this year and their average “view to visit” was 41 days.

Within each of those Designated Market Areas (DMAs), it can be accounted for how much each area spends in Tupper Lake, Michelle noted. “For example the Albany area accounts for 31% of the total visitor spend here- cash or credit cards. “That spending also skews much younger people than visitors from New York City.”

Many of the Albany visitors are young families, and so ROOST marketing directed to bring those folks here includes more family-oriented activities and those things will be promoted about 38 days ahead of any planned visitation.

She said too that their information about New York City that they use to coax those people to visit here includes a slightly older visitor with a higher income demographic.

“So we’ll do more of a higher end packaging- using some of our same attractions, but just alter how we package them!”

The Syracuse DMA is much like Albany area with a slightly smaller family income where visitors may be “more price savy” and looking for less expensive things to do on their visits here, according to the marketing pro. “They may be looking, for example, at a close to home destination where they can get a big bang for their buck!”

“So we’ll package our market a bit different” for them to address those goals.

Michelle said her agency also mines “credit card swiping” and other tourist expenditure data, which are very important to their task of “fine tuning their marketing for Tupper Lake.”

Another tool they use is what is called “web site analytics” which tracks who uses the Tupper Lake web site, how long they are on it, and what things, in particular, potential visitors are looking at, she explained.

ROOST, she said, does an annual leisure travel study” which gives it a look at the people responding to their e-mail blasts and their marketing campaign. It gives the staff members feedback to determine the “return on investment” from specific campaigns.

They showed another slide which showed a graphically-strong image of where people come from around the northeast to visit the Wild Center each year. The analysis showed the other places those visitors go when they are here and around their region during a typical visit. Those places included the Olympic jumping complex, Whiteface Mt., the Alpine Mall and Mirror Lake in Lake Placid, Fish Creek Campground, the Tupper Lake Municipal Park and Ausable Chasm.

“These are the kinds of things we look at to create those regional itineraries and road trips for people,” she explained.

“We also do a lot of surveying in gathering our research,” she continued.

She said between 2015 and 2019 ROOST did economic impact surveys each year for the Tupper Tinman, based on surveys sent to each participant after each year’s event. The work was resumed this year.

The survey this year showed that the tax collected from the 2023 event was up 53%. “Their total spend was up and more people were staying in Tupper Lake, compared with other locations. “-And that’s nice to see!”

“The average daily spend by the triathletes and the families was also up this year,” she said, noting that increased costs of goods and services has also increased this year with inflation.

“We get very specific feedback to provide you on the race. It includes improvements on the race by Laura (LaBarge) and her volunteers, and a lot of information that is bound to be helpful to the town.”

Michelle was asked if she felt that the blossoming number of short-term rentals in Tupper Lake has led to those growing Tinman numbers. She said the on-line booking reservations with those rentals are done somewhere else, and so those numbers aren’t found on the Zartico program which just tracks information generated locally.

“All this data tells us who to target, when to target them and the type of advertising content we want to direct at them,” she said of great value of this new data-tracking system.

Mary Lou Lawrence also explained they track closely the performance of the ads they place. “Our media buyer and our data analyst collaborate to look at how our ads are performing. If we see that something is not performing well and producing what we want them to produce, they make adjustments and they track it so there are as many eyes as possible who click through the activities of our campaigns.”

“We also track closely how many people go to our site, how long they are staying on it, and how they are moving through it,” Michelle added. She said ROOST launched a brand new web site for Tupper Lake last winter and it is constantly improving and adding new modules to it.

Katie Lalonde said ROOST recently took “a deep dive” into marketing with the publicity launched recently for the town’s Oktupperfest, working closely with Laura LaBarge and Christielee Geiger on the promotion of the October 14 event.

She said there was a lot “of push via social media” for the event.

Katie said with the new site at Flanders’ Park a ROOST photographer would be assigned to capture new footage for future promotional campaigns of the event.

“So next year’s ads will show the Brewfest, the hay rides, and all the fun there this year.”

Katie said ROOST has helped market the very successful Brewski in recent Februaries- growing attendance numbers into the thousands.

It will also be helping Town Councilman John Gillis promote a new cross-country race series this coming winter- six races at six venues. Details to come.

ROOST, she said, will again be helping the Sportsmen’s Club with digital registrations for the big Northern Challenge this coming February- as it has done every year in recent years.

It also does a number of e-mail blasts to past and present anglers of the big ice-fishing event.

She said ROOST also handles a similar e-mail registration program to promote the Tupper Tinman each year, with promotional updates during the 12 months before each year’s triathlon.

Katie also represents ROOST on the rail/trail preparedness committee created by Melissa McManus this past summer and on Seth McGowan’s Totality in Tupper eclipse preparation team.

Plenty of fun at town recreation department’s first Oktupperfest

There was something for everyone at Saturday’s Oktupperfest, hosted for decades here by the chamber of commerce but this year by the Town Recreation Department at Flanders Park. It was the first time the event has been staged there (see editorial this week).

Mother Nature cooperated in a big way, holding off the rain our area saw most days last week, and producing a fine autumn day with the mercury hovering in the mid-fifties by mid-afternoon.

For adults there was delicious craft beer prepared by a half dozen prominent breweries in our area- including the hometown favorite: Raquette River.

There was also live music by two bands, Backwoods Brass of Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake’s Third Shift, a recently reformed group here.

For kids the Oktupperfest held all sorts of fun, as these photos by Ben McClelland, Christielee Geiger and Lacy Dukett show. There were games, balloon animals, face-painting, sweet treats of all kinds, pumpkin painting and hay rides, courtesy of Vermont’s Lucky Clover Sleigh Rides, which recently purchased a hay wagon.

Vandalism now at epic proportions at municipal park, intentional damage spills over to historic trail

by Dan McClelland

The costly scourge of vandalism that has attacked the village municipal park with a vengeance since the start of summer continued unabated this past week and has spread over to the Tupper Lake Heritage Walking Trail, where several informative signs of Tupper’s history have been destroyed.

It has village leaders ready to pull out their hair, they are so frustrated.

The vandals had a field day late Tuesday or in the early morning hours Wednesday breaking in and damaging the door of the Riverpigs announcers’ booth, gifted to the village years ago by the Tupper Lake Woodsmen’s Association. They apparently used a knife to destroy the lock area. Once inside the two-story building they removed cases of soft drinks, the sale of which the baseball team used as a fundraiser. They went upstairs and removed four large boxes filled with 1000 souvenir t-shirts the team also sells. Estimated value of the shirts is approximately $5,000.

Fortunately they didn’t touch the expensive public address system.

The vandals drank many of the sodas and left the cans strewn all over the entrance area of the park and around the dug outs. The main floor area of the announcer’s building was strewn with debris. Several pieces of furniture- chairs and tables and benches- were smashed.

“It’s absolutely insane,” Police Chief Eric Proulx said Wednesday morning surveying the damage.

He said seldom does a morning pass that Department of Public Works Chief Bob DeGrace doesn’t find evidence of vandalism in the local park, he said.

He said vandalism “has become an every day thing this summer. Every morning Bob (DeGrace) calls me and says: ‘you won’t believe what happened again!’”

Vandals strike almost daily, he said it seems.

The money it’s costing the village employees to make the repairs, material costs and the amount of time his officers are spending to find these culprits is approaching “ridiculous.”

A week or so ago vandals broke through one of the washrooms in the restroom building in the outer ball field and stole thousands of dollars of DPW maintenance machinery and equipment. Fortunately the local police department apprehended the felons the next day and retrieved most of the stolen goods.

The village now has about 10 cameras at various points around the park and some of the culprits have been identified.

If he or one of his officers don’t recognize the kid, then he takes their photo to the school where they are identified.

“My plan is for the village to start issuing orders of ‘no trespassing’ around the park. “If the parents don’t stop their kids from coming here and damaging the place, I am going to arrest them for endangering the welfare of a child….I don’t know what else to do!”

For next summer, he said he has had some volunteers contact him recently who are willing to patrol the park with radios to alert the police when they spot vandals damaging the park.

The chief said, however, he has some concerns about that. “I see how the kids talk to adults who approach them” and he worries an altercation could occur after the village’s shift ends at 7p.m. He said the state police rarely attend to incidents in the village park.

“I have a group of 20 kids right now” that I’m waiting to meet with the mayor so we can serve their parents.”

He said all summer the teenagers have been hanging out on Demars Blvd. near the park. It makes it “look like a circus” is going on between 7p.m. and 10p.m. every night.

“We started this summer by putting magnetic door locks on the bathrooms so they could be put on a time schedule, so we don’t have to pay someone to lock those doors every night.”

He said the doors with those locks were designed to repel a force of 600 pounds. “But the kids were popping those doors open” like they were closet doors.

The chief said with the arrival of October they figured that when the village park worker, Arty Sparks, left for the day at 3p.m. he could lock and dead bolt the doors.

“Now every day the kids go over to those doors, put their feet up against the wall and try to pull off the dead bolts! It’s insane!”

Last week as the vandalism moved to the new historic walking trail that connects the uptown and downtown areas, at least three of the expensive and decorative signs were destroyed. The heritage trail is a valuable tourism amenity that outlines the people and populations who founded this town. The project was underwritten by the Aseel Family Fund as a gift to the community. In several cases the sturdy metal-supported signs were pushed over. Holes were created in several. In at least one case, the message board was ripped entirely from the standards that supported it.

Trustee David “Haji” Maroun, the chairman of the “Keepers of the Diamond” which is the big support group here for the Riverpigs, stopped at the park about 7p.m. Tuesday and the gate to the ball field was open. He said he checked the area out and saw no vandalism, so he locked the gate.

He drove by about 11p.m. and saw a bunch of kids hanging around but there didn’t seems to be any foul play. None were around the announcer’s booth, he noted.

Chief Proulx said he ran the footage of a camera at the diamond and up to 11p.m. that night nothing was going on. “So the vandalism had to have happened in the middle of the night!”

Anyone with information about these culprits is asked to call the village police department.

Family Matters, local library collecting warm winter apparel for children, teens here

by Dan McClelland

The Family Matters Resource Center and the Tupper Lake Public Library have teamed up this fall to keep kids warmer this winter.

The two agencies have embarked on what they are calling a “Winter Coat Drive,” but it includes more than just coats.

They are looking to the community to donate what they are calling “gently used and like new winter items,” which include coats, hats, gloves, ski pants, mittens and every type of outdoor apparel.

Donated items are being collected at Family Matters’ headquarters in the former Holy Ghost Academy building at 40 Marion Ave. and at the local library on Lake Street. At the former HGA there is box in the entrance area to accept clothing or monetary donations.

Clothing sizes they are seeking are infant to size 14/16.

Many parents have good clothing their kids have grown out of and which are in very good shape, noted Bethany Cassell who directs Family Matters.

“We’re focussing mostly on children but are accepting teenager-sized winter clothing as well.” Some teenagers may fit into adult clothing so we’ll take some of that as well, she noted.

Family Matters is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the needs of parents and their children. It is funded by the United Way and the Office of Children and Families, plus others.

It is sponsored by the Child Care Coordinating Council and the main office is in Plattsburgh. There are also offices here and in Malone.

Family Matters offers play groups open to any parent or caregiver and the children under their care. “The kids get to play, socialize and we do a variety of activities,” according to Mrs. Cassell, who herself is a mother of eight. Some of Bethany and Michael’s kids are adults now and their baby is six.

She noted she took her own kids to play groups when they were younger- so the activities she directs at Family Matters are a natural continuation of that.

She said the idea of a clothing drive came from some of the parents in their program who have developed an informal clothing lending program.

“Someone may have clothing in good shape they don’t need or that their children have outgrown and someone else may need it. It’s a wonderful resource for local families. It’s better for the environment as the clothes aren’t discarded. It helps parents clothe their children without having to purchase new clothes for them.

She said seeing all these parents coming together to help each other out, they thought they could take the clothing drive to the entire community so that all kids here have warm clothes for this winter.

Monetary donations are also most welcome, notes Courtney Carey, the library director who has expanded the library offerings to offer a number of new services during her time here. Checks or cash can be dropped off at the library or at the Family Matters office. Checks should be made out to the Tupper Lake Public Library.

Donations of cash or checks should be made before October 16 so that there’s time to order new clothing. Distribution of the warm pieces of apparel will be at the former HGA building gymnasium on November 1, 2 and 3. “People can just stop in and take what they need for their children,” Mrs. Cassell explained.

Clothing donations will be collected through October 31, Ms. Carey noted.

“We’re primarily looking for clean, like new or gently used winter outdoor clothing of all types,” according to the library director. “No rips or tears and zippers should be in working order!”

As to how many articles of winter clothing they need, Mrs. Cassell said: “We’re just hoping there’s enough so that every parent who shows up in the former gym on those three days in early November will find out what they need for their children.

“We’re hoping for a lot of clothing donations

For more information on the winter drive Mrs. Cassell can be contacted at bcassell@cccnc.org or the organization’s office at (51) 359-8167.

Plenty of fun amid lots of barking at recent “ADK Bark in the Park”

by Dan McClelland

September 17th’s “ADK Bark in the Park” drew hundreds of happy pet owners eager to show off their pets to what appeared to be a very successful fundraiser for the good work of the Tri-lakes Humane Society. Thousands of dollars were raised for that work that day.

The event at the western end of the municipal park was both fun and entertaining for everyone- even for folks without pets.

In all there were 60 dogs brought by their owners. Of the canine guests, 22 were micro-chipped by volunteers for identification and 50 were vaccinated by Franklin County health officials on site that day.

Many of the volunteers that day, other than society faithful, were staff members of Adirondack Regional Federal Credit Union, one of the main sponsors of the annual event.

A number of the society’s volunteers were handling registration and admission and the distribution of a free beverage ticket and another for a free ice cream treat. In the photo at top were volunteers Kim Charland, a board member who took charge of this year’s advertising and who did a yeoman's job with the assignment, Lea Bedore, society president, Aimee Lynch, a board member and her husband, Matt.

Brock Gonyea entertained the crowd in his usual able fashion with his easy-listening country and western tunes. Brock was standing in for “Night School,” who couldn’t perform due to another commitment by Drummer Ryan Gillis.

Kate Harriman and Jack Skiff were handing complimentary soft drinks and other treats.

During our visit about 1p.m. Mike Bujold and Basil Farhat were tending the refreshment booth where the on-tap products of Raquette River Brewing were poured and red and white wines donated by local purveyors.

Second from top left, Stacey Callaghan and Carol Houle of the Adirondack Regional Federal Credit Union s were encouraging kids that day to stay inside the lines and produce the best coloring contest pieces they could. The best artists that day enjoyed some donated merchandise prizes- many of which were pet-related.

There was a dog obedience trainer on site, working with some of the dog owners.

The Arsenault clan- Matt, Amy and their daughter Genevieve brought their tiny pooch- named “Bear,” not for his size but for his determination.

Bear is a Cavalier King Charles breed.

Organizers of the fundraiser says they are already looking forward to next year’s event in the municipal park.

In addition to primary sponsors, Adirondack Regional Federal Creditit Union, One Group, Long Run Wealth Advisors and Martin and Dukett Accounting, were a number of contributors to the event. They included Able Abe Diversified Services, Adirondack Cheddar, ADK Food Oasis, Boulevard Wine & Spirits, Critters, the Tupper Lake Rescue Squad, Fairytale Dreams Photography, LaVigne’s IGA, Porkbusters BBQ, Raquette River Brewing, Sam’s Club, Shaheen’s IGA, Spruce and Hemlock, Stacked Graphics, Tupper Lake Supply, Tails of Long Lake, Tractor Supply, Village Mercantile and UPS.

Ladyjack volleyball team off to a great start

by Dick Sterling

The 2023 Tupper Lake Ladyjack volleyball team has gotten off to a great start. The team, in its first few games of the season have nearly matched last year’s win total.

Head Coach Courtney Bennett says that the girl’s familiarity with each other, and hard work have helped to make them a much better team. “We’ve really worked on pushing, working hard and playing together. These girls play in the summer, a lot of them play club ball and attend various volleyball camps. They’ve put in the work, and it really does make a difference,” said Coach Bennett, who has headed the varsity program for three years, but who has been in the Tupper Lake volleyball system for nine years after coaching at both the modified and junior varsity level.

Coach Bennett and her assistant coach, April McClain, have been with the varsity players for years. “The girls are more and more aware of the players around them as well as the coaches, what we expect and how to keep improving. We’re well on our way to matching last year’s win total,” said Coach Bennett.

Last year the Ladyjacks finished the season with an overall record of 4-14. This season they won their first three matches, beating Brushton-Moira 3-0 on Sep. 7; downing Northern Adirondack 3-1 on Sept. 9 and then beating Lake Placid 3-1 on Sep. 11.

Tupper then dropped two league matches, losing to a tough Chateaugay team 3-1 on Sep. 12, and losing a 3-1 decision to Malone on Sep. 14. Against Malone The Ladyjacks won the opening game 25-19. They scored the first five points of the game with senior Rebecca Becker serving, Tupper built a big lead and then fought off a Lady Husky comeback attempt. Malone won the final three games 25-15, 25-18 and 25-15.

Tupper Lake will compete in Class C this year along with Canton and Brushton-Moira. Class D schools are Clifton-Fine, Chateaugay and Madrid-Waddington; Class B schools are Gouverneur, Potsdam, Ogdensburg and Salmon River and Malone, Massena and Indian River will compete in Class A. Indian River will join the Northern Athletic Conference for the first year after competing in the Frontier League, which offers volleyball in the winter, for the first time this year.

The Ladyjacks first six includes four seniors in Rebecca Becker, Liza Crouse, Laci Duhaime and co-captain Rachel Sorensen and juniors Emma Brown and co-captain Kendall Kenniston. “We rely a lot on our starters,” said Coach Bennett. “They are mentally prepared, know what to expect from each other and are very prepared to play together. We get a lot of girls into every match, but heavily rely on our first six,” said the Tupper Lake coach.

Other girls on the 2023 roster include seniors Shae Arsenault, Emma Daniels, Jordis Joanette and Aubrey Sparks; juniors Mary Becker, Addison Brown, Josalynn Hart and Nevaeh Toohey and freshman Lacey Tarbox.

Coach Bennett is pleased with her team’s play at the start of the season. “We started off the season 3-0, and had two hard fought losses to end the week. We beat Brushton-Moira, NAC, and Lake Placid. Our girls served strong and made it difficult for other teams to serve receive. They had great intensity, perseverance and grit. Their teamwork and ability to work to overcome deficits is what made them so successful. Setter Rebecca Becker, hustled and made some great scrappy plays to give us some momentum. Rachel Sorensen, outside hitter, made some great defensive plays and had strong coverage for us all over the court. Our middle hitters, Liza Crouse and Emma Daniels, had some big blocks over the course of the five games that gave us some defensive confidence. Our other hitters, Kendall Kenniston and Laci Duhaime, have made really great decisions at the net, and defensively.”

She has also been pleased with the players subbing for the first six, “Our bench has been a big piece of our success this first chunk of the season. They bring energy and a spark off the bench when we need them. Seniors Shae Arsenault and Aubrey Sparks have stepped in when their names have been called both defensively and at the net. Junior Josalynn Hart stepped up big for us in a new role, served us out of some holes, and gave us a defensive spark when we needed it. Addie Brown has gotten a few kills out of the middle to help us push through, and Nevaeh Toohey made some great plays as well. Freshman Lacey Tarbox, served us out of a big hole this season and has continued to improve and make her presence known on the court offensively,” said Coach Bennett.

“We had some tough losses to two very good Chateaugay and Malone teams. But we are going to use them as learning experiences and make adjustments and continue to grow as a group. They've responded individually and as a group and are ready to see some more successes in the upcoming weeks. We are so proud of this group and their hard work and dedication. They've continued to work, adjust and meet our expectations and we're looking forward to the remainder of the season,” concluded Coach Bennett.

The Ladyjacks are home today (Wednesday) against Salmon River and travel to Clifton-Fine on Friday.

Tupper’s newest tourism venue rising on The Boulevard

by Dan McClelland

It’s the talk of the town these days. The construction of Julie and Jed Dukett’s new Timberjaxx Pass miniature golf and ice cream business is all the buzz here.

From the long empty site of the Hyde gas station and convenience store has been shaped by sand, concrete and dozens and dozens of large boulders the foundation of Tupper’s newest tourist attraction.

The most striking feature so far is an eight boulder high water fall, where water will cascade down on new concrete ponds.

The local couple and their company Dukett LLC were awarded one of the grants in the village’s $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative earlier this year. They are building an 18-hole miniature golf course and ice cream store on one of the most highly traveled corridors in town. The state funding was for about two-fifths of the half a million dollar anticipated cost of the project.

They say location is key to business success, and there’s is prime.

At the center of the operation working daily alongside Jed and guiding the project is miniature golf course builder Bob Horwath, who has fashioned courses all over America, in Belize, England, Mexico, Canada and in South Korea.

Bob, whose business is now based in the Binghamton, N.Y. area, said he worked for the largest miniature golf course company in the world for over 25 years before starting his own business.

“Building amazing golf courses at amazing prices,” is Bob’s motto.

A number of concrete lined ponds, which will punctuate and be part of some of the new fairways, have been built in recent weeks.

A pump house to be built on site will drive the water through the pond system intertwined in the fairways.

Many of the details of the course are kind of getting worked out as the construction progresses under Bob’s guidance, Jed admitted last week.

Like most miniature golf courses, the paths that the balls will follow will weave through an assortment of tiny buildings and landscape features.

Mr. Horwath has been building tiny golf courses for 40 years, and no two are the same.

“He just finished a course in Indiana, before coming here earlier this summer,” according to Mr. Dukett.

Poles have been erected around several of the new fairways for various structural purposes. Many will carry ropes, giving the place something of a nautical look, and keep people from falling in the shallow ponds.

Errant balls that run off into the water will be able to be easily retrieved by the golfers as all balls float. A scooping device will easily lift them out of the water.

The dozens of boulders have come from a number of local excavating contractors, including Kentile Excavating and Lemieux Contracting. “They both have stockpiles of them and were just waiting for a guy like me to show up,” Jed joked.

Jed said he found Bob on the internet and they have been communicating about his and Julie’s plan for over six years.

“I love working with the smaller guys like Jed,” Mr. Horwath said a week or so ago.

He said he likes to come up with a finished showpiece that reflects both his vision and the owners’.

Working with the pair also has been Jed’s uncle from Saranac Lake, Raymond “Gus” Dukett.

Bob, whose a hands-on builder, estimated it takes him about six months to build a new venue- from start to finish.

“I set the forms and Jed and I pour concrete together,” he said of the contractor-owner method of building that he most prefers.

A number of Jed’s friends have helped with various stages of construction so far. Jed and Julie rented two small tractors- a small Kubota and a Skidsteer from Sturdy Supply to move the sand and boulders and other heavy materials around the site at 86 Demars Blvd.

“Chip Lemieux has helped us out. Tim Larkin helped us out, Wally Kennedy has helped, Josh Gravlin and his Tri-lakes Masonry- and others helped us.” He noted much of the fill came from Mitchell’s Stone Products. All materials were purchased locally from Fortune’s Hardware, Tupper Lake Supply and Aubuchon Hardware, etc. he told the Free Press.

“The location here couldn’t be better,” said the very knowledgeable golf course builder, Bob.

Bob and Jed planned to continue building the new course through the fall. Over the winter Jed will return to the renovations he and Julie have planned in the brick building that was once a convenience store.

The only major piece of the golfing landscape that will be done in the spring is laying the artificial turf carpet that will cover the tees, greens and fairways.

“Because the carpet is so expensive, the Duketts figured that because play won’t begin this fall, there’s no point of exposing that astro turf material to the elements this winter.

Bob Horwath figures blanketing everything in the carpet will involve about 900 square yards of material.

He also noted that boulders will be accepted right up to opening day. “I can never have enough boulders,” he said with a knowing grin.

The parking lot which lines the creek on the western edge of the parcel will be eventually lined with boulders, for example.

Mr. Horwath said that judging by the experience of other communities where he has built miniature golf course the Timberjaxx Pass will give tourists more reasons to stay here longer and more things to do in the evenings after the beaches close. “You are going to see a lot of people- and particularly families- hanging out here, playing golf and eating their food.”

Jed said they plan to operate the new recreational place from May to October in coming years, and then he and his wife can figure out what they could do there in the winter.

Fifteen take Saturday’s Triad Challenge

by Dan McClelland

Fifteen hikers- some very young, and some not so young and including two teams- challenged themselves Saturday morning to the Triad Challenge- scaling in consecutive fashion Coney Mt., Goodman Mountain and Mt. Arab.

Organizers from the Tupper Lake Rotary Club and ROOST were at the staging area at Coney Mountain at 8a.m. to prepare for the 9a.m. climbers that morning for the sixth annual event and to register them.

Sue Fitzpatrick, local ROOST volunteer who often staffs the organization’s office on Park Street, brought with her the bags given to each climber that contained among other souvenirs of Tupper Lake, engraved glasses fashioned by Andrew McClelland of Stacked Graphics, showing two hiking boots, which is part of the logo for the triad event. In the photo at left Sue shows off the glass.

She said that the man who traditionally has directed the event, Ted Merrihew, designed a revised logo that will be carried on a new windshield sticker that all participants will receive. Ted’ new sticker is shown below, which also lists the Rotary Club, the principle sponsor of the event.

Noelle Casagrain, who completed the tri-mountain climb last year when she was pregnant for Desmond Vaughn Zande, brought the eight week old lad with her this year, riding in her back pack baby carrier.

Noelle reported Desmond Vaughn slept most the time on her three climbs. Grandmother Betsy Zande accompanied them.

Liz Weir, who was the fastest woman at the 2021 Triad and who still hold the winning time, was back early to get set for her third try up the three Tupper Lake mountains. Liz is an active runner. Accompanying her was her husband, Ron Hanson. The couple live in Argyle, N.Y. They are shown at top right.

Liz this year again posted the best time among the female entrants.

The best time climbing the three mountains among the men was completed by Steve Festin, who with his wife Christine, are from the Schenectady area, but who have a seasonal residence on Charland Road.

Steve and Christine have done a number of Triad Challenges in recent weeks, according to Sue Fitzpatrick.

Ted Merrihew, who called himself the chief timer this year, poses with another local volunteer, Lance Durfee, at the staging site.

This was Lance’s third year as a volunteer.

Volunteer Emily Kriwox also brought her young baby to help her watch for approaching climbers at the top of Coney that day. Liam John Ward didn’t seem all that interested in the commotion and conversation at the staging area that morning.

Emily’s mother, Lidia, a hard-working businessman and dedicated Rotarian, was heading to the staging area to begin the registration process about 8:10a.m. that morning.

Soon after along came the first family- twins Dala and Nova Townsend, and their brother Obee. The kids were with their mother Becky and father, Mike. The Townsends own property here but hail from Newburgh, N.Y.

Brian Burns, co-owner of Northwood Cabins, was also came out that morning to volunteer again this year. Brian took the photo below left of the winners- Steve Festin and Liz Weir.

The 2022 event was called off at the last minute, due to a small turnout and heavy rain throughout the day.