“Party on Park” back on for Saturday of Memorial Day weekend

by Dan McClelland

Plans are moving ahead for the merchants in the uptown business district to be able to celebrate the arrival of the summer tourist season with their “Party on Park” on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.

Last week’s village board meeting saw the arrival of a path forward for the retail event.

At the March village board meeting Mayor Paul Maroun invited representatives of the chamber of commerce and the uptown retail community to explain the importance of closing two blocks of Park Street and two blocks of Cliff Ave. for the mall-like event first celebrated here in 2019.

Free Press Publisher Dan McClelland, who is currently interim chamber of commerce president, opened the discussion Wednesday.

He said for years from his perch on the second floor of the Free Press he has watched the Memorial Day traffic pour through the uptown business district on its way to destinations around the North Country, but seldom stopping here.

Mr. McClelland said Tupper Lake’s summer tourist season doesn’t really kick into high gear until mid- to late-June, once school gets out.

“So I’ve been talking in recent weeks with some of our new Park Street retailers- Garrett Kopp, Josh Mclean and my daughter-in-law Faith McClelland” about reviving their Memorial Day Saturday ‘Party on Park’ to stop some of those tourists flowing through here in town for a time.

“They would like to re-enact what in 2019 was a very successful event where the two blocks of the uptown business district on Park Street was closed to vehicular traffic. They were able to draw a number of exhibitors and vendors to join them on the street from around the area and they were able to make some money that Saturday, after a very long winter.

“That year, for the first time perhaps ever, Tupper Lake really benefitted from the Memorial Day traffic!”

He told the village leaders “that it is high time our community begins to think out of the box a bit to garner more tourist trade- and do things we haven’t done before to boost our local economy!”

Mr. McClelland said they were also fortunate that evening to have Joe Sciortino in attendance that evening to explain what can and cannot be done with a section of state highway- as the two block section of the business district is. Mr. Sciortino is a new Tupper Lake resident. He is the state Department of Transportation’s new Franklin County resident engineer, who succeed Rob Haynes last year.

Garrett Kopp, the founder of Birch Boys, was the first local retailer to speak Wednesday.

“Obviously my business has changed over the years. The relevance of this to me is not quite as strong for me now, as it was the year (2019) when I helped get this event started,” he began.

Mr. Kopp’s Birch Boys online retail and wholesale company and its many chaga and other products is now headquartered in the former Tupper Brewery building on Cliff Ave.

He said Josh Mclean, who manages the Adirondack Store in the former Ginsberg building “has really taken over the reins of its planning and pushing it forward!”

“My point in being here is to explain to you guys what the event means to us financially to do this event,” he told the village board members.

“If you were to take your average day of retail sales in the month of May, compared with what we did in 2019 during ‘Party on Park,’ the retail sales in the Adirondack Store was six times higher.”

He said his Birch Boys company, when it was located in the Adirondack Store, saw its sales jump by 300% over a normal day.

Mr. Kopp said he spoke with Russ Cronin, who was in 2019 the co-owner with David Tomberlin of Well Dressed Food when the two blocks were closed. They saw three times their average daily sales during “Party on Park.”

“It was a really, really awesome event for all of us!”

Josh Mclean said going forward they would like to see that happen again every Memorial Day weekend “and want to know tonight how to best work with the village to make that happen.”

“We’re willing to do whatever it takes to make it easy for the village to let us do this every year- and to see that it is always done the right way!”

“Having the street closed that day draws many to that area to check out our event!”

Mr. Mclean said when the state highway is open to vehicular traffic that Saturday- as it is every other day of the year- “people just drive right through out town.”

He said the pedestrian mall-style setting of their event catches the eyes of families passing through the uptown business district that day, and coaxes them to stop and shop.

The young businessman said the first year they staged the event it was an unbridled success. In 2022 when they weren’t permitted to have the two blocks of Park Street closed, it was celebrated instead on the two blocks of the village-owned Cliff Ave., “but it wasn’t as successful.”

Cliff Ave. likely won’t be closed for the event this year, if the retailers can win permission from the village board and the state DOT to close the two blocks of Park Street.

He said the Cliff Ave. site didn’t produce the impact that the event saw when Park Street was closed in 2019.

“The whole point of the event” is showcasing the owners of the various renovated businesses on the Park Street business strip and their investments and upgrades there.

“We want to showcase those businesses and not hinder them in any way,” Josh said of the event’s primary mission.

The two men brought with them a list of about 15 business owners or operators in favor of returning the event to a closed two-block stretch of Park Street.

Mr. Mclean said he was aware of only one business owner against it and that business wasn’t even located on Park Street. The objection involved using Cliff Ave. for the event- as the retailers did last year.

He said that in 2019 even some of the non-retail businesses in the two blocks put out tables that Saturday with brochures or other products to promote their businesses.

Rachel King, owner of Earth Girl Designs, said last year’s event generated three and one half times the sales of a normal Saturday. “It certainly helped us kick off our summer with money for inventory and materials. It generated a significant amount of money for us. It was a great event for us!”

Her partner, Artisan Brandon Cooke of The Crystal Forest Gems remembered he received a number of custom orders that day from visitors passing though the area. “It got people in our shop where they learned there was a silversmith there to help them.”

He said that relative rush of customers that day, seeking his specially crafted items, was both surprising and welcome.

“I typically don’t see more than one person a day come in and ask me to make them something. I saw several new people that day...it was a very good day for me!”

Garrett Kopp said there are a number of people in Tupper Lake who have craft-type businesses and who aren’t situated on Park Street that joined them those two events. “-And they did very well.”

“I can tell you I started my business going to any pop-up sales event around the region which would have me- whether it was a festival at Gore Mt. or a farmers’ market in Potsdam. Some were great while some were a waste of my time, but I needed to try them all out.”

He said the itinerant vendors who attend both “Parties on Park” all did well in sales.

Mr. Kopp said it helps generate money for them that they can re-invest in their small businesses.

Some of those people, Mr. Mclean noted, hope some day to have their own “brick and mortar” stores.

Mr. Kopp said a number of businesses in other parts of the town like Raquette River Brewing take advantage of the Park Street event to sell and promote their wares.

“We want the event to be inclusive of all our local businesses,” Mr. Mclean said was their hope.

Tupper Arts President Susan Delehanty said she remembered working at their site during the event in 2019. “We were slammed with a lot of visitors.” She said many were visitors “and they were incredulous with what they saw on Park Street that day.”

“Many told me they’d always driven by” on the Memorial Day weekends over the years, “but were never encouraged to stop- until that year! They wanted to know where they could eat, where there were other gift shops and stores.”

Mrs. Delehanty said her group was a little concerned that closing Park Street might hurt some of the businesses there who benefit by people pulling up at the curb to pick up take-out orders.

“So I asked Gary Kucipak next door, who owns Guido’s Pizzeria, if it impacted his business and he told me it ‘didn’t impact him either way, because most of my business is done with deliveries’.”

“That made me feel better that closing the two blocks didn’t negatively impact his business,” she told the village board members.

She said some of those first customers in 2019 have returned in subsequent summers after being introduced to their shop that first year.

Andrew Russell, who is one of the new owners of the Top Notch Motel on Upper Park Street and who was at the meeting on another matter, said when he and his wife Ilona are driving through a community any time with their two small children they often use events like “Party on Park” as a chance to stop, get out and let their kids stretch their legs. -And often times, he noted, he and his wife will shop a bit.

At that point the mayor took the floor for a moment and said people often ask him why Tupper Lake does not paint our main thoroughfare green like their do in Saranac Lake on St. Patrick’s Day each year.

“The main road in Saranac Lake is not a state highway, so it does not have to follow state guidelines in its main business district.”

Retailers will lobby tonight for closing uptown business district for “Party on Park”

by Dan McClelland

At least two members of the Park Street retail merchant community are expected to appear before the village board at its monthly meeting tonight to present solid facts why the uptown business district should again be a pedestrian mall on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.

Appearing with Garrett Kopp of the Birch Boys business on Cliff Ave. and Josh McLean of the Adirondack Store at Cliff and Park will be the hometown publisher, Dan McClelland who is currently the interim president of the Tupper Lake Chamber of Commerce. The chamber all but dissolved last fall, but Dan McClelland has hopes of creating a similar but different type of business organization in its place.

Their appearance was prompted by a call from Mayor Paul Maroun to come before the board at its April meeting to convince them why Cliff Ave. should be closed for the retail community’s “Party on Park” on the Memorial Day Saturday, where local organizations and vendors join the retailers for the street festival.

The event was launched in 2019 and held again one of the COVID years, and both times Park Street was closed for it. The retailers’ request to close Park Street was denied by the village leaders last year.

The day-long closure of that part of Park Street caused no problems for traffic through or in and around the village those times.

Cliff Ave., which is a village street, has been routinely closed for special events there in recent years, most recently during the operation of the Tupper Brewing, when it was situated there for about four years.

At the village board’s March meeting the mayor said that the two blocks of the Park St. business area won’t be closed to vehicle traffic this year, and Cliff Ave., may not either.

He asked that the retail merchants and the chamber appear in April to plead their case.

Village leaders have always been reluctant to close the Park St. blocks of the uptown business district because it is a state highway. It requires the permission of the regional Department of Transportation office in Malone to close it. That permission has come a number of times in the past, including the day-long celebration several years ago to commemorate the completion of the ambitious DOT rebuilding of the business district corridor five years ago.

It has also been closed also for at least one public event organized by Tupper Arts in the holiday season.

The mayor is likely to argue tonight that the village currently does not have enough officers (three sergeants and four uniformed officers) to direct traffic around the business district for the Memorial Day Saturday.

All Park Street area businesses are invited to attend tonight’s meeting to weigh in on the issue.

The meeting begins at 6p.m.

North Country Community College announces venture with UPNCoding in Tupper Lake; new jobs on horizon

North Country Community College is partnering with a new computer coding initiative here called UpNCoding to prepare students for careers in the growing software engineering industry.

UpNCoding is both a company and a course that focuses on preparing the next generation of software engineers through education and training.

Together, NCCC and UpNCoding will offer a 12-week course, beginning this May, that is designed to provide students with career opportunities across multiple industries and with varying sized companies.

When they complete the course, students will be prepared for modern software interview processes and will be educated in various potential entry-level positions from Full-Stack Engineer to Machine Learning Engineer.

UpNCoding has been creating a partner network where students would be able to interview for open positions immediately after completion of the course.

The course introduces software engineering principles through instruction-led projects and industry standard tools that students will interact with in their future technology careers. The class meets three times per week for 3-hour sessions. The sessions will be available in a HyFlex format with in-person, synchronous online instruction in addition to recorded sessions to allow for flexible learning. All sessions will be taught by one or two industry-experienced instructors.

“While other institutions focus on a front-end app development, UpNCoding is providing a more well-rounded, full-stack education that better addresses the growing needs of the software engineering industry, said Dan Preice, CEO of UpNCoding and one of the course instructors.

North Country Community College will host the course while UpNCoding will provide instruction and the curriculum.

“We are excited about our joint initiative with UpNCoding,” said Sarah Maroun, North Country’s Vice President of Academic Affairs. “This technical curriculum will provide direct-to-work training with a 12-week program, and we are excited that additional courses are being prepared in topics such as Security, DevOps, Microprocessor Firmware and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning to better address the needs of the industry and region.”

To further align the needs of the community, NCCC and UpNCoding are also developing a second phase of their relationship with a joint venture to provide software contracting services as a means to introduce resume-building workplace experience to our students.

The course schedule is May 22 through August 7, every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at the NCCC campus from 4-7p.m. The format will be HyFlex with in-person, live broadcasting, and recording available.

More information can be found at www.nccc.edu/coding. Or call 518-891-2915 ext. 1203

Recent grants boost fundraising of history museum project

by Dan McClelland

When they are not continuing with their renovations at the new Tupper Lake History Museum on Upper Park Street, the volunteer board members are working full speed on grant applications to assist the local fundraising work.

The board of directors of the local museum, under the direction of Chairwoman Kathleen Lefebvre, is committing a good share of its recent donations to getting their new place finished for a grand opening this summer.

-And there’s been plenty of good news in recent months.

The museum board received a $5,000 donation recently from the Aseel Legacy Fund, created by the family of the late Alfred Aseel in support of good projects here.

More good news came on the back of that generous donation- this time from an anonymous donor, who sent along a check for $5,000.

On the last day of March last week the museum fundraisers received even more good news- this time from the Adirondack Foundation. The local foundation awarded a grant of $2,500 through its Generous Acts fund “for bringing the Great Room to Life.” Partnering with the Generous Acts program of the Adirondack Foundation is its Fund for Tupper Lake.

The last piece of great news came from Leslee Mounger, funds and program officer at the foundation to Museum Board Member Joe Kimpflen, who wrote the grant application.

“We are so thankful to the very community-minded folks at the Adirondack Foundation, at the Aseel Legacy Fund and from our anonymous donor for helping us with our renovations and believing in the importance of a vibrant local museum to tell some of the history of our community,” Kathleen Lefebvre said this week.

“We will be open for business again this summer, thanks to these recent donors and to the many people who have donated to our project in recent years!”

Several other grant applications have been filed in recent weeks by the museum volunteers who are anxiously awaiting the results. The largest is a $10,000 “Destination Development and Marketing” grant application that was filed to the Franklin County Tourism Department by Monday’s deadline by Mr. Kimpflen. The application followed a meeting Tourism Director Phil Hans had with Mrs. Lefebvre and Board Member Dan McClelland last month at the museum site.

The museum board’s fundraising efforts continue and donations can be sent to the Tupper Lake History Museum, P.O. Box 824, Tupper Lake.

Once all renovation costs are covered, the campaign will devote all donated resources to paying off the building’s $100,000 mortgage.

The names of all donors will continue to be published in the Tupper Lake Free Press.

Watch for a story on the museum renovations and other development there in upcoming issues.

Erin’s Easter Egg Hunt set for April 1

Young Easter Egg hunters and their parents are reminded of Erin’s Easter Egg Hunt set for April 1. The annual event remembers Erin Farkas Dewyea and her many kindnesses to local students during her all too brief teaching years here.

Sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Tupper Lake, of which Erin was a member, and the Adirondack Regional Federal Credit Union, the hunt for tasty eggs starts at noon sharp on the fields of L.P. Quinn Elementary School.

Infants to pre-k students will hunt on half of the Rotary Club’s football field and the kindergarten to second graders will comb the other half for goodies in the colorful shells. Older egg hunters in grades three to five will hunt the grounds in front of the elementary school.

Hunters and their parents are advised it’s a rain or shine event, so come prepared with boots, rain coats, and such to handle anything Mother Nature throws at us the first day of April.

Hunters are also encouraged to bring with them their collection baskets. There will be an opportunity to have a photo taken with the Easter Bunny.

The event is free for all children up to the fifth grade.

Erin’s Easter Egg Hunt set for April 1

Erin’s Easter Egg Hunt, which remembers the memory of Erin Farkas Dewyea and many kindnesses to local students during her all too brief teaching years here, will again be celebrated on Saturday, April 1.

Sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Tupper Lake, of which Erin was a member, and the Adirondack Regional Federal Credit Union, the hunt for tasty eggs starts at noon sharp on the fields of L.P. Quinn Elementary School.

Infants to pre-k students will hunt on half of the Rotary Club’s football field and the kindergarten to second graders will comb the other half for goodies in the colorful shells. Older egg hunters in grades three to five will hunt the grounds in front of the elementary school.

Hunters and their parents are advised it’s a rain or shine event, so come prepared with boots, rain coats, and such to handle anything Mother Nature throws at us the first day of April.

Hunters are also encouraged to bring with them their collection baskets. There will be an opportunity to have a photo taken with the Easter Bunny.

The event is free for all children up to the fifth grade.

Come tell your story, tomorrow

by Joseph Kimpflen

The best thing about our history, is how much of it is saved, to teach and inspire us. The worst thing about our history, is how much of it is lost, forever, every day. Tomorrow (Thursday, March 16), our effort to change that, right here in Tupper Lake, revs back into gear.

Tupper Tale Tellers (T3) is an oral history project, dedicated to preserving the rich history of our area by tapping the memories of those who lived it. At the same time, the program seeks to foster cross-generational communication and understanding, because it is our young people who take the lead in collecting older residents’ stories. T3 operates with the cooperation of both the Tupper Lake Central School District and the Goff-Nelson Library.

Launched in 2019 with a grant from the Aseel Legacy Fund, the program quickly won the participation of a core group of about 15 Tupper Lake High School students, and got off to a vigorous start. Local residents interviewed early on included John Amoriell (at the time the town’s oldest resident, at 109) and town historian Jon Kopp (with participation from Birch Boys entrepreneur Garrett Kopp). The COVID epidemic forced T3, like so much else, to go on hold, although not before the students found ingenious workaround for the virus, interviewing well-known Tupper Laker Jim Frenette remotely via Zoom, as well as family members at home.

Tomorrow’s session, to be held in the Community Room (entrance off back parking lot) of the Library from 1p.m. to 4p.m. is open to all. It will be all at once an open house for anyone interested in learning about T3; a jump-start to get the program going again post-COVID; and a chance to conduct actual interviews. In addition to high school students currently involved in T3, expected participants include middle-school students hoping to join the effort, and graduates who were active in the program’s pre-COVID era. Future plans for T3- including a soon-to-be-launched website, and longer-term plans for how the taped interviews will be organized, stored, and made available to the public—will also likely be discussed.

So, think back on your life and times, and what you could tell the future. How you coped with severe winters in years gone by. What Tupper Lake High School was like for a student in the 1970s. Memorable hunting seasons over the years. Work in the woods, on the railroads, and at great camps. Businesses come and gone in town. Soldiers returning from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Family life during the Depression. The Spanish Flu epidemic of 1919 (ok, maybe not that one). But you get the idea. You remember more than you think you do, and it’s a lot more important, and interesting, than you think it is!

In addition to providing seniors the satisfaction of telling their stories, and giving all of us a precious historical record to draw upon, it’s not hard to see the potential benefits for the students involved. The act of interviewing, itself, builds self-confidence, listening and thinking ability, and good interpersonal and social skills. Subsequent work, editing and organizing the raw material of interview tapes, should involve critical thinking and analytic skills, as well as decision-making ability, not to mention command of grammar, spelling and punctuation. Not a bad haul of learning, in an era when young people are too-frequently seen as overly focused on social media and gaming, to the detriment of traditional academic skills.

T3 operates with the adult supervision of Adirondack Experience veterans Caroline Welsh and Christine Campeau, and of TLHS’s Wendy Cross.

So, come out tomorrow, to encourage our young people in a great initiative—and maybe to tell your own stories of the colorful life you have lived, and that is now a part of our rich, shared history. If you cannot come tomorrow, but want to be interviewed, or know someone who does, reach out to Goff-Nelson Library Director Courtney Carey (518-359-5186; goffnelson@gmail.com), and she will put you in touch with the T3 team.

Joint town and village board meeting re-scheduled for March 20

The joint meeting of the town and village boards that was originally scheduled for last Thursday has been rescheduled for Monday, March 20 at 5p.m. at the Community Room of the Emergency Services Building on Santa Clara Ave.

On the agenda for discussion that evening will be a number of community issues which relate to both boards and both local governments.

The public is most welcome to attend.

Chamber to reorganize this month; tourism director to showcase county grants

The Tupper Lake Chamber of Commerce will hold a re-organizational meeting on Thursday, March 16 at 4p.m. at Raquette River Brewing.

The aim of the meeting is to gather interested business people and community-minded residents to chart a new course for the chamber, which has been in operation here since shortly after the turn of the last century. The current aim is to develop an organization that won’t be involved in staging events or creating advertising materials or promotions. The principle aim will be to develop a membership organization that will be a strong advocate for commerce and economic development- a new voice for all things good for Tupper Lake and its economy.

The goal of that afternoon’s meeting will be to create a steering committee to guide a refocussed chamber.

The chamber’s board of directors last fall announced the planned dissolution of the organization. To that end, the 2022 town board agreed to enlarge its youth activities department into a full-blown recreation department that assumed the role of event-promoter here. The board agreed to take over all of the chamber’s half dozen or so major events each year.

After the chamber board’s vote to dissolve, long time Chamber board member and chamber treasurer Sandi Strader asked Free Press Publisher Dan McClelland, an active community volunteer for many years here, to help her re-energize the organization. The March 16 meeting is a step to that end.

Also featured at the March 16 will be a presentation by Phil Hans, the new director of Franklin County Tourism, who will outline the many new grants available for tourism and economic development now available through his county office. Since the county’s tourism office was re-formed last year to take advantage of the more than a million dollars now generated in the county each year from the new bed tax, businesses and organizations have won dozens of $5,000 and $10,000 grants to help fund improvements that will foster more business in the county and more visitors through the advancement of tourist-promotion endeavors.

His information should be particularly meaningful and helpful for all businesses here and for the leaders of all community organizations.

Those planning to attend the meeting are asked to RSVP Mr. McClelland at tupperlakefreepress@ gmail.com.

Town board uses half of sum offered for police contract to help rescue squad hire drivers

by Dan McClelland

In an effort to give town residents faster emergency response from the Tupper Lake Emergency and Ambulance Squad, the town board at a special meeting Friday, January 27 amended its budget to provide $25,000 more to the squad in 2023- specifically to pay for additional personnel.

The rescue squad began over 60 years ago as an almost all volunteer force. Over the years some of the positions- particularly the senior medical ones- became paid ones.

In recent years, because of a decline in volunteers, some of the ambulance drivers and emergency medical technicians became paid positions too. The squad officers recently hired a part-time paid driver to work Friday and Saturday nights because it was difficult to find volunteers to staff those shifts.. Some of the new town money will help fund that position.

The money will come from the $50,000 pool town leaders last year, under acting Supervisor Mary Fontana, were going to pay the village for the emergency response to the township of the village police.

The village leaders were asking the annual town police contract sum be upped to $60,000 to more accurately reflect, what they thought, represented a fairer share of the PD’s service to the town. Village officials had calculated from recent year’s statistics, the 5% of the department’s work was responding to emergency calls in the town. The village police budget is about $1.3 million.

In negotiations between Trustees David Maroun and Jason McClain and Ms. Fontana and Councilman John Gillis, a town offer of $50,000 was presented, with $15,000 of it contingent on the police department returning this year to full-time service.

In recent years the town has budgeted $29,000 for the service. Up to five years ago, there was no funds exchanged and no contract, and police officers just routinely rolled to the town neighborhoods when there were calls for help from town residents.

Village officers carry defibrillators and other life-savings equipment in the trunks of their patrol cars, and are often first on the scene of a call for help in the town. They have saved lives in the past.

Village officials rejected that offer as too low and the longstanding contract for the emergency services of the village police between the town and village governments expired on December 31.

Councilwoman Mary Fontana began the discussion of the new funding Friday.

“After the village board chose not to continue with the police contract, I reached out to Mark Picerno of the rescue squad to see what their needs were.

“We set up a meeting and met with them on Martin Luther King day and went through their list of immediate needs. -And what voids we could maybe help fill with some funds from the town.”

Their main concern was lack of volunteer drivers and the need to hire paid ones, she continued.

“We unofficially committed that day to $25,000- based on their estimates of need for drivers.”

She said the “fine details” of the arrangement still need to be worked out with the squad’s treasurer, Kelly Fleury.

Supervisor Rick Dattola said the squad officials liked the idea of the town budgeting a line item of $25,000 per year and so when they hire a new driver, the town could then release the money to them to help pay that person.

There is “some flexibility” with the new budget line, including the provision that the cost of training new members could also come from that town money, Ms. Fontana added. She said it is commonplace for drivers to eventually take the medical training to become emergency medical technicians, and their training could come from the town appropriation each year.

“The $25,000 also diminishes the line item of $50,000” the board had set aside to pay the village in any revised police contract. “If the village does come back to us with a contract offer, there’s only $25,000 left to negotiate with,” she told her colleagues.

Councilman John Gillis asked if the town budget still contains a sum of $10,000 the town board has given the rescue squad in recent years to help with their purchase of medical equipment and he was told by the supervisor that money “stays in the budget.”

A past town board established that funding, but it requires that squad officials each fall come to the board to ask for it and explain exactly what type of equipment it will be used to buy.

“It is really good because as the squad leaders said: ‘it solves the problem of response time’ when volunteer drivers aren’t available, Mr. Dattola told his board members.

“If they can get a couple more paid drivers, their response time to calls is going to be that much quicker,” he added. “It will be an ongoing thing. It’s from the $50,000 we put in the new budget for the police contract. Now $25,000 of it will go to pay some of the drivers!”

The board passed a motion to set up the new budget line unanimously.

Councilman John Gillis held out the possibility that more financial support could come from the town in years ahead to make sure the rescue squad has enough drivers and EMTs to be the first responders to every emergency call to the town.

It was noted in the discussion that afternoon, that is was better to have a trained EMT at the scene of an emergency than a police officer. The board action was designed to make that happen more often.

Two local linemen promoted to supervisory positions

by Dan McClelland

Two local linemen were promoted to supervisory roles in the Tupper Lake Electric Department, Superintendent Mike Dominie announced at January’s village board meeting.

Chris Zaidan, who has served as “chief line worker” in recent years directing the crews, was promoted to “line supervisor”- the second in command in the department under Mr. Dominie. Chris replaces Carl Larson, who retired this year and who has held that senior post for a number of years.

William “Willie” Bencze was promoted to Mr. Zaidan’s old position.

Both promotions were effective January 15.

Both were open positions and the promotions came after recent interviews by the superintendent and Trustee Eric Shaheen.

Only Mr. Zaidan’s promotion to “chief line supervisor,” was provisional, as the permanent appointment awaits the candidate successfully passing the civil service test for the supervisory position. By contrast, according to Mr. Dominie, the “chief line worker” is a “seniority position” under civil service law.

Mr. Dominie said he was not aware when the next test for Mr. Zaidan’s position will be offered.

New supervisor’s first comments include applause for the work of 2022 board

by Dan McClelland

Tupper Lake’s new town supervisor Rickey Dattola began the meeting Thursday which kicked off his new term with thanks to the many town residents who supported him in his election bid in November.

He also applauded the four council members on his board for doing all they did in 2022, functioning as a board of four.

“It was a tough, tough year for the town. We lost a really good guy in Clint Hollingsworth. He would have done a fantastic job as supervisor. We lost him early in his tenure!”

“I want to thank the board for filling in, but especially Mary Fontana,” who served the year in Clint’s absence as acting supervisor. “You did a wonderful job and I know it was tough, and I know it was something you weren’t expecting!”

Loud applause by the three other board members.

“You certainly rose to the occasion...so thank you, Mary!”

AARP’s Tax-Aide Program Set to Resume Here

For the fourth year running, free help in preparing income tax returns will be available to area residents. The Tax-Aide program, which operates under the umbrella of the AARP Foundation, uses IRS-trained and certified volunteers to provide residents help in preparing and filing their federal and state returns. The volunteers will once again meet with residents by appointment, on Sunday afternoons in the Goff-Nelson Library Community Room, from January 29 through mid-April.

The program is open to any individuals, seniors or families desiring assistance, and is not limited by age or income level; you do not need to be an AARP member. The team of local volunteers has grown, and hopes to be able to help even more residents this year than in years past. The only limits on eligibility involve the complexity of the return; some more complicated tax situations—for example, involving income from a business with employees—may be beyond the scope of the program.

To receive help, start by picking up an advance meeting packet at the library beginning Jan 17th, then phone 518-359-5012 to schedule an appointment, and to have any eligibility questions answered. Leave a message and your call will be returned. Appointments are recommended; walk-ins will only be accommodated if a tax preparer is available.

AARP Foundation Tax-Aide is the nation’s largest volunteer-based free tax preparation service. Volunteers are re-trained and IRS-certified every year to ensure they understand the latest changes to the U.S. Tax Code. They also adhere to strict rules of ethics and confidentiality. More information about the program, including what documents you will need, is available online at aarpfoundation.org/taxaide, or by emailing 141028051@aarpfoundation.org.

Village leaders told of excessive vehicle noise

by Dan McClelland

Underwood Ave. resident Doug Menge first appeared before the town board here on December 8, along with his wife Kayla, to ask town officials’ help in bringing some relief for them and many residents here from loud and very offensive vehicle noise.

Many neighborhoods in past months have been harassed by the presence of loud vehicles- sometimes with illegal mufflers- roaring through them, and sometimes late into the night.

Mr. Menge was directed by town leaders to the village board because the village operates the village police force and so on their advice he appeared on December 21 to address those local leaders.

He told the village lawmakers about his town board appearance, noting it was the first local government meeting he’d ever attended.

“Our discussion that evening was about the excessive vehicle noise in town.”

He said, however, since his town board appearance, there’s been a decrease in the noise from vehicles in his Underwood Road neighborhood. Mr. Menge said some of that reduction can likely be traced to the amount of coverage Publisher Dan McClelland devoted to it in a front-page article in his newspaper on December 14. He said he believed that “was a huge contributor” to eliminating some of the noisy vehicle practices.

“I’ve spoken with a number of Tupper Lake officials including the Tupper Lake police chief and several of his officers about the topic a number of times.”

He said he was not sure how long this improvement in the vehicle noise situation would last- “but that’s all we want...for it to last!”

In speaking with others in the community about the noise, he said that all anyone wants here is some peace and quiet in their neighborhoods.

At the earlier meeting he attended he said he often has to report in the winter months to his state Department of Transportation job here in the early morning hours, and so tries to sleep in the evening. He noted that is routinely interrupted when loud vehicles scream down his street.

“We don’t want any kind of retaliation” against anyone here complaining about this noise.

He said he was not looking for these vehicle drivers to be arrested, but would just like this upsetting practice to stop and for them to show a little courtesy to their neighbors.

“I just want this situation resolved!” he told the village leaders.

He said he’s been told by people who know some of these culprits that these people make other kinds of trouble here, “but I won’t get into that!”

He said the reason he has attended the local government meetings to raise this issue is “I wanted others here who are suffering to know they are not alone here.”

He called it a community-wide issue that must be solved.

Mr. Menge said he would certainly be interested in helping people in other neighborhoods who might be experiencing these same problems and expressed a willingness to return to the board to support them.

Mr. Menge was supported that evening by another resident, Robin Jacobs, who first addressed the village board about the excessive vehicle noise in town six months ago.

“I’ve had it with this also,” she told the village leaders.

“It’s the same trucks doing it all the time...I’ve said that before.”

She asserted that she has seen an uptick in the excessive noise again in recent weeks. She said too she worries about retaliation from some of these people.

“I hear their noise at sometimes 2a.m. or 3a.m. They roar up and down Park Street!”

Councilman Rick Donah, who lives at the corner of Park and Mill, told his colleagues at the earlier town board, excessive noise, particularly in the late night and early morning hours, is a huge problem here.

Trustee David “Haji” Maroun, who lives uptown, said he hears the loud trucks many nights.

“It’s very disturbing at night. You want to have a nice sleep. It’s very loud and it’s very disturbing.”

Ms. Jacobs said she agreed with Mr. Menge it really is a big problem. “I was here six months ago and nothing has changed!”

Asked by Mr. Menge if there has been some improvement in recent weeks since the article was published and she admitted it had. “There’s still a few at 2a.m. or 3a.m. sometimes,” she added.

“It may be because we have no village police presence from 7p.m. to 7a.m.,” she guessed. “-And they know that!”

“I’ve said before that I don’t expect everything to be silent all the time here,” Mr. Menge told the board.

They both said, however, it’s the common practice of vehicles roaring around the community that is troubling.

Mr. Menge mentioned an incident he’d been told that someone’s pet had recently been killed at the park by a reckless driver here.

Mr. Menge said while he’s enjoyed the relative quiet in his neighborhood in recent weeks, he figures there will be a resurgence of the problem soon.

“This is a huge issue. But I don’t think this problem lays solely on the shoulders of the Tupper Lake Police Department. I think this is everyone’s problem.” He said he realizes the police can’t be everywhere, all the time arresting these troublemakers.

He said he favors a community-wide strategy to combat this problem, and an important first step would be town-wide communication.

Promoting a civil dialogue here- and even including the views of some of the violators- would be a most welcome tool in improving things here. He said he and others here would like to know why these people think they need to squeal their tires and roar their engines while driving through town. “Do they have problems with our town? Is this their way of somehow retaliating against it? Is there some way we can help them resolve how they feel?”

A public meeting where everyone would be welcome to attend to discuss this problem might be very helpful too, he thought.

He told the village officials that local teenagers are very aware of this problem “and it’s affecting them too.”

This reckless and inconsiderate driving sets a very bad example for new drivers here, he added.

“I don’t want to be the face of this problem and I definitely don’t want to be a martyr. But I just want a resolution to this!”

Mayor Paul Maroun told Mr. Menge that he appreciated him raising the issue. “It’s something we talked about over the years!”

He said “from the enforcement side” of the problem, the village would first have to pass a noise or what he called “a decibel law.”

“The chief and I have talked about it a number of times. There’s a new state law on the books that a person cannot amend an exhaust system on a vehicle.”

He said if a community adopts a noise or decibel law it would also cover motorcycles. It just can’t be spot enforced” to curb truck noise.

The mayor admitted he’s heard many complaints about loud vehicle noise and he’s often heard it himself at a house he owns on Wawbeek Ave.

He said he hoped the owners of these potentially loud vehicles would try to be considerate of their fellow residents “however, they don’t always think that way!”

Mr. Menge said there are owners of specially equipped vehicles here who are very considerate about how they operate them.

“I’m not angry or upset at the people making this noise, but I am disturbed by it as are the members of my family.”

He said the recent article in the Free Press helped to a great degree, at least in his neighborhood.

“Well, Danny is a great communicator;” there’s no doubt about that, Mr. Maroun told him.

The mayor also told Mr. Menge and Ms. Jacobs the village would try several public relations things in the weeks ahead to ask these noisy drivers to be considerate of their neighbors here.

“But I’m going to tell you my experience: they are not going to change!” He held out the hope, however that “maybe some common decency will prevail.”

Chief Eric Proulx said the recent change to the faulty muffler law just involved increasing the fines.

Many accomplished singers headed for local stage tonight

by Dan McClelland

Many folks familiar with the Tupper Lake High School stage but who have been absent from it in recent years will be returning tonight (Wednesday) for what the Tupper Lake Red & Black Players are calling a reunion concert.

The event begins at 7p.m. and it promises to be musically packed.

Some of the returning musicians will be from as current as a year ago to some who performed a decade ago or longer.

Here’s a run-down on some of the talent the audience will find on stage tonight. Some of the singers will be accompanied on piano by Liz Cordes and some will perform to the musical sound track of the song.

Local teacher Danielle LaMere will sing “Gimme, Gimme” from “Thoroughly Modern Millie” which the Red & Black Players did in 2011.

Kendall Davison is all set to sing “Little Girls” from the musical “Annie,” performed on stage here in 2010.

Kirsten Denis will perform “Everybody Loves Louis” from the musical, “Sunday in the Park with George.”

George Cordes, who founded the Red & Black Players over a decade ago with his wife, Liz, will apply his rich bass voice to “The Impossible Dream” from “Man of LaMancha.” He will be accompanied by his wife on piano.

George and Liz’s daughter Annachristi will entertain the crowd that evening with her rendition of “Whatever Happened to My Part,” from “Spamalot.”

Noah Cordes will offer up the lively “Luck Be A Lady,” from the popular “Guys and Dolls,” performed by the Red & Black company in 2018.

“She Used to be Mine” from “Waitress” will be sung by Samantha Brickey, accompanied by Mrs. Cordes.

Bryce Davison will team up with his cousin Noah and maybe a few others to belt out “Mama Says”- one of the favorites from “Footloose,” performed her in 2019.

Laura McGowan, who graduated over 15 years ago, will be back tonight to sing “What I Did For Love,” from “Chorus Line.” She will be accompanied on piano.

Mitchell Jensen will sing the light-hearted “I’m Allergic to Cats,” from “Theory of Relativity,” never performed here.

Another familiar face on the local stage in recent years will be Saide Johnson, performing “Dandelions.”

Laura and Bryce will sing a duet, “I’ll Cover You” from the Broadway hit, “Rent.”

Laura will also be singing with her friend Redia Spada the familiar “Stepsisters Lament” from “Cinderella,” performed here a decade ago.

“Dear Theodosia” from the Broadway musical “Hamilton” will be sung by another duo, Abby St. Onge and Kendall Davison.

Another local pair, Stephanie Fortune and Sophia Martin will put their voices together in harmony when they perform “By My Side,” from “Godspell,” performed here in 2017.

The trio of Annachristi Cordes, Danielle LaMere and Kirsten Denis, accompanied by Mrs. Cordes, will perform “Ladies Who Lunch” from the musical “Company.”

Vocalists Melissa Savage, Morgan Facteau, Jamie Gachowski, Allison Sexton, Maurice Fortune and Amy Wilson are expected to have a lot of fun with “Kids” from “Bye, Bye Birdie,” last performed on stage here 15 years ago.

Rounding out what is expected to be a wonderful musical evening here are two familiar pieces, “Anything Goes” and “I’ve Had the Time of My Life” that will be sung by ensembles of two dozen or more, who will include (not mentioned above) Karen Bujold, Billie Gadway, Andrew Trudeau, Lowden Pratt, Jenna Switzer, Mitchell Baker, Emileigh Smith, Breanna Trombley and Nolan Savage.

While there won’t be an admission charge, the event is actually a fundraiser for needed musical supplies and equipment that the Red & Black Players generally provides its young musicians.

Microphones and head sets for the young performers are in short supply and so all proceeds from the concert will be to buy more of those, according to Liz Cordes, who will be directing the concert with husband George.

Donations of every size are most welcome and together they will go a long ways to helping our students this year and in future years when they are performing on the school stage, Mrs. Cordes told the Free Press in recent weeks.

Kiwanis Castle of Toys delivering toys Saturday

The Kiwanis Club’s Castle of Toys extends a very hearty Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all its many supporters here The Kiwanis Castle of Toys, its busy elves and an even busier Santa will deliver gifts on Saturday, December 17, starting at 9 am. Pick-ups will occur beginning at 9 am at the VFW Post 3120, Santa’ home away from the North Pole.

Reunion concert to enrich school concerts here this month

by Dan McClelland

The holiday concert series in local schools this month will be enriched by a new event featuring the alumni from many past musicals and concerts here. It’s a power-packed Reunion Concert presented by the Red & Black Players. Those talented musicians performing are past performers on the high school stage here, who are now in college or in work careers.

Students of the local school district will be in concert three nights next week, entertaining parents and family members.

On Tuesday the high school chorus and orchestra will perform in the high school auditorium, beginning at 6:30p.m. The next night, Wednesday, the fourth and fifth graders at L.P. Quinn are all set to perform at the elementary school at 6:30p.m. The third in the three-night concert series will be on Thursday when the middle school students of sixth, seventh and eighth grades will delight the audience at the high school auditorium, beginning at 6:30p.m.

The next week, on Wednesday, December 21, is when many who have performed on stage in the musicals and dramas of the Red and Black Players will be coming home early for Christmas for the big Reunion Concert.

While there won’t be an admission charge, the event is actually a fundraiser for needed supplies and equipment that the Red & Black Players generally provides its young musicians.

Microphones and head sets for the young performers are in short supply and so all proceeds from the concert will be to buy more of those, according to Liz Cordes, who will be directing the concert and who with her husband George formed the Red & Black Players over seven years ago. George and Liz are huge boosters of musicals and drama every year in local schools.

Donations of every size are most welcome and together they will go a long ways to helping our students this year and in future years when they are performing on the school stage, she told the Free Press this past week.

Some of these sophisticated microphone/receiver units run $300 or more each.

If the event can produce $1,500 to $2,000 in donations upwards of a half a dozen units can be purchased for young Red & Black players to use when they perform here. Right now, when the company performs plays and musicals, headsets are borrowed from the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts, which Mr. Cordes has been closely associated with over the years. There’s never enough of them for every singer or performer in a production, and so typically only the leads are loaned one.

What began as a comment on Facebook, has blossomed into a full-blown production that evening over two dozen singers ready to perform solos, duets and ensemble numbers.

Some singers will perform to track music, while others will be accompanied by Mrs. Cordes on piano.

Some of the alumni members already signed up for the show include: Jenna Switzer, Abby St. Onge, Mitchell Baker, Emileigh Smith, Saide Johnson, Bryce Davison, Allison Sexton, Kirsten Denis, Breanna Trombley, Nolan Savage, Stephanie Fortune, Annachristi Cordes, Kendall Davison, Danielle LaMere, Mitchell Jensen, Johnathan Jauron, Sophia Martin, Karen Bujold, Billie Gadway, Andrew Trudeau, Lowden Pratt, Samantha Brickey, Redia Spada, George Cordes and Laura McGowan.

9Th Annual Erin Dewyea Turkey Trot back in person this Thanksgiving

The 9Th Annual Erin Dewyea Turkey Trot is returning in person this year, and organizers couldn’t be happier.

The race will be held on Thanksgiving morning, 11/24/2022 at the Tupper Lake Christian Center 102 Main Street in Tupper Lake. The doors will open at 8:30a.m. with the race to start at 9a.m. The cost to register this year is as follows:

$35 for the 10K run, and $25 for the 5K run and walk.

There will be prizes for the first place 10K male and female runner, first place 5K male and female runner and walker, as well as prizes for the best individual costume, team costume, and child costume and even a prize for the “turkey who got away” (last place).

Thanks as always goes out in advance of the event for all the community’s support in helping Erin’s family and friends continue honor her memory. The continued support is greatly beneficial in funding Erin’s scholarship fund as well as all of her passions around the community of Tupper Lake.

For those interested in registering, organizers are accepting cash, check, Venmo, PayPal and Cash App as forms of payment. Please contact Nicole Boyer at 315-730-0119. You can call or text her at any time. This year’s organizers look forward to seeing everyone on Thanksgiving morning.

Mayor encourages community to stay calm in face of rash of crimes

by Dan McClelland

The recent incident where police found a burned out truck off McCarthy Street on October 16 generated some comments about public safety from Mayor Paul Maroun at the October 19 village board meeting.

State police in recent weeks identified the body of the man found in the wreckage of the black 2009 GMC Sierra as Ross L. Goodenough, 72.

There had been rumors in the community shortly after the truck was found that foul play was involved.

A pathologist at Ellis Hospital in Schenectady in an autopsy in the days following the discovery of the body determined the cause of death as smoke inhalation.

“I talked with the chief and although it was not in our jurisdiction,” we have received many calls from the community, in addition to the many calls from the media in the North Country, the mayor began that evening.

“We don’t believe there is an imminent danger to anyone in the community, based on what happened down there!”

Chief Eric Proulx echoed that comment.

“As you know, however, there are other issues in the community,” he added, pointing to a growing frequency of drug-related crimes in Tupper Lake this year.

The mayor concurred “there are troubling issues in the community” right now.

The chief elaborated somewhat. “We have two active investigations” of crimes within the last week where “accelerant” was placed on two houses in the middle of the night and lit on fire. “That’s the kind of stuff we’re seeing!”

Chief Proulx said there have also been several “home invasions” where homes were illegally entered with the residents still inside.

“The types of crime we have been seeing is nothing like anything I have seen in my 29 years in the department!”

“It’s taxing my four or five available officers. We’re four and five weeks behind in our work. It’s utterly ridiculous the amount of work we’re behind in right now!”

Mayor Maroun reflected a bit that evening on the department’s chronic shortage of officers, which forced the village board this past summer to move the police department to a one 12-hour shift per day arrangement.

“Just so people know, we continue to search for new police officers. There are no officers thinking about transferring in or candidates thinking about applying for jobs here.”

“We are trying and we will continue to try!” he asserted.

Kiwanis Castle of Toys gearing up again for holiday giveaway

It’s that time again that the Tupper Lake Kiwanis Club and its supporters swing into high gear planning their Christmas distribution of toys to local children.

The Kiwanis Castle of Toys, a program that goes back generations here to the days of Dan and Issy Cassell when the family and its many friends ran the program, always needs support during the holiday season. Donations are welcome not just at Christmas, but throughout the year.

Families interested in applying must live within the Tupper Lake Central School District, and the children must reside with their parents/guardians. Applications can be picked up at the Ivy Terrace Office or Food Pantry. Applications can be mailed to Kiwanis Club of Tupper Lake, PO Box 1023. All applications should be returned as soon as possible. Pick-up and delivery will be held on Saturday, December 17 from 9 am to 11 am at the VFW.

Those wishing to make toy donations can drop toys off at the Adirondack Regional Federal Credit Union or contact Juli Dukett at 518-524-6220. Monetary donations are also most welcome.