Tinman's returning: Village approves use of municipal park for return of Tinman; big field expected when event goes live in June

by Dan McClelland

The village board last month gave the Tupper Lake Chamber of Commerce permission to use the municipal park as a staging area for the Tupper Lake Tinman Triathlon on the final weekend of June.

The chamber, which has sponsored the three-leg athletic competition since the early 1980s, has had to stage it virtually the past two years, what with the pandemic.

This year it will return live.

The village board granted the chamber use of the park during the week of June 20 to 27 to set up the Tinman which will go off that Saturday.

The chamber has again engaged Wendy Peroza as race director this year and she said the organizers and the many volunteers here are excited by the prospects of the return of the major summer event.

“We're doing it for real this year...at least that's the plan, Wendy announced this week.

When the chamber leaders made the decision to host it virtually in 2020 many of the athletes planning to come that year had already registered for the live event. Their registration fees were held to use when the event returned. Mrs. Peroza said this week most of those people plan of attending the 2022 event.

Wendy succeeded her father-in-law Maynard Peroza as race director in 2016. She was assistant director of the 2015 Tinman. Ted Merrihew ran the event for many years before Mr. Peroza, who was race director for a number of years.

The participation this year “is looking big right now.” She said the last time the Tinman was done live in June, 2019, there were just under 700 registrants, and that was up considerably from the year before-2018- when 557 triathletes challenged the local course.

Right now, she said, registration is over 500 with many months until the event.

Attracting 800 or 900 participants “is certainly possible this year,” she confided.

Planning board gives green light to OWD Development apartment complex

The rendering by Architect Tim Geier shows the OWD Development LLC's new landscaping plan beyond the town's community garden behind the town hall parking lot. The garden is shown as a gray area. The trees that will be planted won't grow as tall as ones in an earlier plan would have.

by Dan McClelland

At a special meeting Monday the Tupper Lake joint village and town planning board unanimously approved a permit for the OWD Development LLC's major apartment and commercial complex project on The Boulevard. The permit did not include a condition for one year of continued oversight of landscaping, lighting and parking by the planners, as had been proposed at the January meeting.

Joining Developers Joe Gehm and Mike Dunyk on Zoom that evening were a number of the consultants and state officials assisting on the ambitious project including Tyler Beerse, permit specialist Zina Lagonegro of Passero Associates, Tim Geier, David Cox, Kyle Malder and Diane Jakinoski.

At the January meeting both sides presented a set of proposed permit conditions in three subject areas- lighting, landscaping and parking. The two sets of conditions were similar, except that the planning board sought to have one year of continued oversight in those areas.

Developer Joe Gehm said the year of oversight was unacceptable to his state and private financial backers and Diane Jakimoski of the state Division of Housing confirmed that.

Since the January meeting the developers and their team and the local planning board members reached agreement over lighting, parking and landscaping.

Monday's conversation was led by Ms. Lagonegro of Passero Associates, a firm that specializes in municipal permitting and by Mr. Gehm.

Ms. Lagonegro said that since the January meeting they have trimmed the number of apartment units from about 90 to 80. “We've also changed the mix of one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, so there are now more one-bedroom apartments.”

She said the aim was to reduce the pressure on the indoor parking garage in what was most recently the Tupper Lake Veneer Corp. portion of the building and in the outdoor parking area adjacent to it.

In earlier discussions, the planning board members questioned whether or not the 135 parking spaces planned were enough to accommodate the residents of the 90 apartments- some of whom may own two cars- as well as their guests.

Joe Gehm reviewed what he called “the handful of changes” they made since the January presentation.

He said “one reason for the change” in the number of apartments was a recently updated market study they did in preparation for a submission to the state housing agency. “We went a little heavier on the one-bedroom side. We wanted to help the parking ratio, that we had discussions with you guys on.”

Another reason for the change in types of apartments and the reduction of ten apartments was “budgetary.”

“We wanted to tighten up our budget a little so the removal of those ten has helped on all three fronts.”

He explained that “to fill the space” left by the ten less apartments they have proposed an area of self-storage for tenants in building No. 2. There are eight different buildings in the proposed complex.

Mr. Gehm said that to answer some of the concerns by the planners of too much lighting, his consultants had answered some of the board's questions in the time since the January meeting.

He also said their landscaping plan was “updated” to address some of the board's concerns.

Architect Tim Geier had also produced some high resolution renderings from the westerly direction that the planning board had requested, Mr. Gehm said.

He said they also completed a maintenance plan since January to address some of the board's landscaping and lighting concerns.

Looking at Mr. Geier's rendering Chairman Shawn Stuart thought the 24-foot high light poles looked a little tall.

Planning Board Member Jan Yaworksi asked about curbs around the outdoor parking area and it was confirmed there would be curbs in areas.

Board Member Andrew Chary asked the consultants to detail the changes made since last time in the rendering of the western side of the project.

Tim Geier said he added more of the features detailed in the redrafted landscaping plan, including taller trees on one side with shorter ones on the other closer to the building and lower shrubbery throughout.

Chairman Shawn Stuart said that since the last meeting the members of his board had reviewed the maintenance plan prepared by the developers and were agreeable with it. The planners also reviewed the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) assessment, he noted.

Before voting on the permit, however, that evening the planners, at Ms. Lagonegro's request, went line by line through the state-required document, affirming there were no negative environmental impacts associated with the elements of the new development.

Community leaders reflect on passing of Clint Hollingsworth

by Dan McClelland

The community was deeply saddened by the untimely death last week of new Town Supervisor Clint Hollingsworth and many thoughts from local officials reflected that deep loss.

At their regular monthly meeting Wednesday- the day after his death- the Tupper Lake Village Board members each paid tribute to Clint and his many contributions to the community, and particularly those he made during his years on the village board as trustee.
Mr. Clint resigned this fall as village trustee to step into the town supervisor's job following his election in November.

At the start of Wednesday's meeting Mayor Paul Maroun asked Clint's long time friend Ron LaScala to begin.

Trustee LaScala, who was introduced to Clint by his best friend, Adam Hurteau, when they were teenagers, was very close to Clint for many years- and grew closer in recent years as colleagues on the village board.

“Clint was proud to serve Tupper Lake for more than two terms on the village board and he worked well with everyone sitting in this room tonight,” Mr. LaScala began.

He said Clint was very “excited” to be beginning this new phase of community service as town supervisor.

Among his many “wishes” for the community of Tupper Lake was that the “people of Tupper Lake would go in the right direction. “He strongly advocated for positive change here!”

Among those changes he envisioned and endorsed, according to Mr. LaScala, was the “revitalization of Big Tupper Ski Area and the Tupper Lake Country Club.” He said he longed to see the golf course facility become a year round attraction here- a place for people to “socialize and recreate” on the trails there each winter.

“On a personal note, I've known my buddy since we were about 14 years old. We played a lot of games as kids, grew up and ended up here together on the village board.”

Ron remembered the times, as teenagers, they used to slide on sleds and such behind Clint's four wheel drive Eagle.

Ron said he was “blessed” for the opportunity to serve on the village board with his good friends Clint and Jason McClain, and together try to bring meaningful and positive change to the community.

Ron was a frequent visitor to the Hollingsworth home on Lindsay Ave. where their families socialized. He said in recent years he and Clint would often pick a local political topic and verbally spar- each of them playing devil's advocate to the other.

Ron said Clint nicknamed him the honey badger, for his tenacity and his unwillingness to give up easily in any public or private debate.

“My friend Clint will be deeply missed by this community!”

“I hope that everyone understands that everyone in public service gives up something very precious and that's time and you never get time back. Clint gave up a lot of his time to try to make Tupper Lake better, because he loved this place and he loved its people and he loved his life!”

Deputy Mayor Leon LeBlanc, who like Mr. LaScala, served at least foujr years on the village board with Clint, called his colleague “a big asset” to the village and its board. “When he left to go to the town this fall, he left with many good directions. He had some great plans for the town. He will be deeply missed!”

“To lose someone who you have worked closely with for years” and accomplished all the things we as board members did in recent years is very painful.

“Clint was a good man and my heart and my prayers go to his family.” Mr. LeBlanc too called him a local leader who will be deeply missed.

Trustee Jason McClain said he knew Clint well long before they were elected to the village board.

He said the senior trustee was very “supportive” of his efforts during his first year on the board last year.

Jason said he worked for Clint in his contracting business from the time he started it until he left in 2011 to go to college to obtain his nursing degree. “He was very supportive of me when I made that decision. Clint always promoted growth. When I worked with him he always thought that someday he would be mayor, but chose to run for supervisor instead.”

“He will be very much missed by all his many friends and by his family, as well as this board.

Trustee David “Haji” Maroun served with Mr. Hollingsworth on the board for a handful of years before stepping down a year ago and returning to fill Clint's position this fall when he resigned to become supervisor.

“Clint was a great guy. He worked hard during his time. He always worked for the community. He loved it!”

Trustee Maroun said Clint was “always very respectful” of the people he worked with at the village.

“He was a great husband, a great father and a good friend to many...he will be missed!”

“On behalf of the Village of Tupper Lake and the community of Tupper Lake, we are all sad to lose a colleague and a friend of this community,” Mayor Paul Maroun said when it was his turn to pay tribute to the trustee.

“To Alison, Cash and Lily our prayers and deepest sympathies,” he offered.

“Clint sat to the right of me at the board table for years and told me many times he planned to assume the mayorship when I retired. We talked often about it. He deeply loved Tupper Lake. He liked everything here, from the library to the electric department which he directed for years.”

The mayor said in village deliberations and debates at the board “he had the ability to calm things down, ” especially when things would become heated “between myself and some of my brethren at times.”

“Clint also had the ability to learn quickly and to do what was right for Tupper Lake!”

“He once told me that Ron LaScala had told him the only way to win an election in Tupper Lake was to switch political parties and become a Republican. At the recent GOP caucus, when he won that night, he won big!”

The mayor noted that while he knew Trustees McClain and LaScala knew Clint better than he did, “I knew him when he was a baby because his family, on his mother's side, lived right next door to me!”

“Clint will certainly be missed by myself, by this board, by the town board and by the entire community” because as trustee and most recently as town supervisor he had, as Trustee LaScala said, “a vision and a plan for the mountain, and plans to work closely with this village board to make this community a much better place for everyone.”

“Thank you, Clint, for all you did for all of us! You will always be in our prayers!”

Deputy Town Supervisor Mary Fontana, who was appointed to that post by the new supervisor at his only town board meeting in January and who presided in Clint's absence at the town board's February meeting, said last week she was deeply saddened by his passing.

“It's a big loss for Tupper Lake,” she began. “It's difficult to find the right words” to reflect the scope of that loss.

“Clint was a dedicated family man and a dedicated community man! He had big dreams for Tupper Lake!”

“I'm sorry Clint won't be here to witness some of the great things” coming for Tupper Lake- many of which were in his dreams.

Ms. Fontana said she knew Clint before their community service in their various business dealings- he as a contractor and she in the insurance business.

She lamented Clint won't see his dreams for the town board's involvement in Tupper's future growth come to fruition.

Councilwoman Tracy Luton said she will miss the opportunity to serve with Clint on the town board. “He was very good on the village board. He had the best interests for Tupper Lake at heart. He was a great guy, a great family man!”

Ms. Luton said she believed Clint would have been a great town supervisor. “He had the ability to listen to others and compromise!”

“My heart is broken by his death!” she asserted. “I would have liked to have seen what Clint could have done as supervisor. Unfortunately for the community, we'll never know!”

While new Supervisor Hollingsworth and new Town Councilman John Gillis both joined the new town board together, they knew each other for years in their business capacities- Clint as a major contractor here and John as a skilled cabinet-maker.

“As a contractor, Clint set the bar high and its showed throughout his crew,” John told the Free Press last week.

“I always enjoyed working with Clint” on our various projects over the years.

John said he brought business savvy and quality workmanship to each project “and he did well, as result.”

“When he was hired to do a job, he and his crew went out there and got it done,” which resulted in building a solid reputation as a top notch and very reputable contractor, according to Mr. Gillis.

“The projects we worked together on weren't simple projects. There was a lot of complexity to them and Clint was good at fitting all the pieces together.”

Many of them too were both large in size and scope, he admitted.

“Clint definitely had a passion for Tupper Lake. He really, really did. He had a vision for the town and I remember telling him after we got elected this fall, I can't wait to do this journey with you!”

John said in the short time they worked together in recent months Clint had already changed his perspective on a few things. He had a great perspective on many local issues and a great way of articulating it...I am totally going to miss that!”

"Clint was ready to lead, he was always working to better our community, he understood risk, he knew how to build, he was interested in seeing Tupper Lake thrive!" is how Councilman Rick Donah described him. “I told him before he passed, that I appreciated his willingness to run for office, and that I supported him and that I would keep fighting for the priorities we had discussed."

“For those who loved him, we are devastated by his passing, he was a great father, husband, community leader, employer, and most importantly, a real friend who would help you out in a pinch!”

Kurt Garrelts worked for Clint and his company as electrician and plumber, among other things. We ran into him Wednesday afternoon last week where he was inventorying materials and straightening up things at the company headquarters, in the renovated former uptown fire hall on High Street. He said he and his co-workers are heart sick over losing their boss and friend.

“He was the best boss,” Kurt began.

He said in addition to having great trade skills, “he was a great business man,” who studied business administration in college.

“-And as a boss he was outstanding!”

Kurt said that Clint as a businessman and contractor and local employer he was “very open-minded. “When he approached me five years of so ago to come to work for him it was a no-brainer,” given what I knew about Clint and how fair he was with everyone.

“In any group setting, he would always listen to what people had to say. He'd never belittled anyone by not listening to them. He truly was eager to listen to what you had to say!”

“He often told me you learn a lot by listening to the other guy!”

Mr. Garrelts said Clint and his crews always talked thoroughly about the projects before them. “Everyone always felt they had a piece of the project and it was a good way to do things!”

He said “a great team effort” was always present at Hollingsworth Carpentry and Renovation.

“He always stressed that we had to keep our customers happy and he was very good at working with our clients.”

Kurt said too that he was very generous to the people of the community and when tragedy struck, he was often the first one to step up and offer the services of his crew without charge. He cited several recent examples of his generosity.

Kurt said there have been many times over the years when Clint would have as many as 16 people on the payroll.

“He respected everyone who ever worked for him,” and there were many tradesmen on his various crews over the years- some excellent and some not so good. “But he never belittled anyone. He gave everyone a chance...he wanted everyone he hired to succeed!

Clint was good friend of many of the people who worked for him, according to Kurt. He remembers one late autumn day during deer hunting season when he and Doug Snyder were working at a client's house in the woods and fresh snow had fallen.

“I told Doug...look at it out there. What a day. We should be in the woods hunting deer!”

“So Doug got right on the phone and called Clint and asked him if he minded if we took the afternoon off to go hunting.

“Where are you guys? Clint immediately asked him, according to Kurt. “He told us to come back to town and meet at the shop, but just give him time enough to go home to get his gun and his hunting equipment.” The three of them went to camp for an enjoyable afternoon of hunting. “That's the kind of boss we was!” Kurt noted. “He loved to hunt. We all did!”

In Clint's final days receiving care from hospice, his employees were frequent guests at the house, along with Clint and Alison's many other friends and family members, according to Kurt.

Scenes from the Brewski 2022

Kids take part in 4th annual Lumberjack Scramble Ski Race

The Tupper Lake Youth Nordic Ski Club held its fourth annual Junior Lumberjack Scramble Ski Race over the weekend at the golf course and included cross-country skiers ages 6-14.

There were five age brackets of races, those 7 years old and younger on the Lollipop Loop (.8K) and were not timed, those 8-10 years on the Golf Course Loop (2.4K), those 11-12 years old on the Cranberry Pond Loop (4K) and those 13-14 years old, also on the Cranberry Pond Loop.

Those who participated were:

7 and under: Kit Armendola, Jocelyn Dukett, Genevieve Arsenault, Estelle LaBarge, Timothy Snye, Owen Barrett, Major Day, Madelyn Boushie, Nadia Geil, Remington Tristram and Eloise Littlefield.

8-10 years old: Claire Snye, Lincoln Counter, Jax Kenny, Lance Schaffer, Ethan Olds, Delainee Wilson, Finnigan Harris, Isabelle Sauvageau, Fern Henning, Ryan Mannion, Tyler Erenstone, Emmie Brunette, Will Scanio, Olivia Zande, Heath Turner, Emerald Hoehn and Forest Hoehn.

11-12 years old: Jade Hoehn, Asher Murray, Kaileigh Dukette, Lucas Olds, Anika Mian, Connor Mannion and Grady Brunette.

13-14 years old: Hunter Hoehn, River Gray, Parker Scanio and Caleb Turner.

The winners for the 11-12 year old category were: Connor Mannion, first place; Anika Mian, second place and Grady Brunette, third place.

The winners for the 13-14 year old category were: Hunter Hoehn, first place, Parker Scanio, second place and River Gray, third place.

Big Brew-ski on tap for Saturday

by Dan McClelland

There are expected to be 1,000 people or more at the Tupper Lake Chamber of Commerce's Brew-ski at the golf course Saturday. More brewers than ever will be showcasing their brews.

The chamber will again create its major winter event in cooperation with the Tupper Lake Lions Club's 11th annual Fire & Ice golf tournament (see story this week).

In February 2020- before the pandemic- the Brew-ski and Fire & Ice drew over 1,200 people to the course on a sunny winter day, with the mercury hovering about 25 degrees F. It was picture perfect weather for a winter event.

Chamber Events Coordinator Christine Day said Thursday that the chamber's plan this year is to cap the number of attendees at 1,000. That way there will be enough beer for the craft beer fans to sample, she explained.

The brewers and brewing companies that will be showing off their fine beverage products for everyone to sample will be: Ausable Brewing, Hex and Hop, Lake Placid Pub and Brewery, Big Slide Brewhouse, In-Law Brewing, Paradox Brewery, Raquette River Brewing, Wood Boat Brewing, Rareform Brewing, Township 7 Brewing, Northway Brewing Company, Oval Brewing Company and Woodland Farm Brewery. At least four of them have participated at past brew and ski events produced by the chamber.

Nine brewers were on site at the 2020 event.

As of Thursday 700 tickets have already been sold for Saturday's event and Ms. Day figured all 1,000 will eventually be sold- presenting a banner attendance.

For the price of a $20 ticket, each participant receives one sample at each of the 13 brewing booths set up around the upper nine.

This is Ms. Day's second time running the event. Last year's Brew-ski was cancelled because of Covid-19. The chamber's board of directors organized two or three Brew-skis before Christine joined the team.

Before the huge turn-out in 2020 it typically attracted 400 to 500 craft beer fans, who walked, skied or snowshoed around the frozen upper nine, enjoying the various craft beers.

Ms. Day and the chamber organizers are aiming to provide a great experience for all attendees this year. There are more bathrooms available this year, including the new heated ones in the town's renovated pro shop. The chamber is paying each brewer a nominal fee this year to make sure they have enough beer on hand for all the samplers.

“The only complaints we heard in 2020- because we were overwhelmed with the big crowd- was the need for more bathrooms and more beer, so we've taken care of that on both fronts. We also offered pre-sale tickets this year which we didn't have in 2020,” so we'll have a better gauge of the size of the crowd we'll see Saturday.

The Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) strategic planning team is expected to have a table at the event to explain details of the $10 million grant program to local and area business people who may be interested in participating.

The chamber plans on erecting a 20 foot by 20 foot tent with sides and equipped with a portable heater just outside the pro shop and that's where people who bought their tickets early and those who still need to buy them will be registered.

“We're hoping people who have already purchased their tickets on-line will have a copy of their receipt so their registration will go very quickly.” For those without receipts their names will be checked off against the chamber's master list of ticket buyers by Ms. Day inside the pro shop.

Also inside the now-heated pro shop, the Lions Club will have a table to register the snow golf teams and sell the club's 50-50 tickets. With the Lions inside will be the folks from K&W Ranch with their food-infused treats. The chamber volunteers will also have a table where Brew-ski souvenirs will be sold. Included will be two-colored long sleeved t-shirts, knit caps and ball caps, also in two colors, silicone pint glasses and dog bowls, as the event is pet friendly.

High Peak Cyclery of Lake Placid will be bringing its fleet of fat-tired bikes for visitors to navigate the golf course trails. The company, however, won't be bringing its cross-country ski equipment to loan as it has in the past.

Both the Brew-ski and Fire & Ice run from noon to 4p.m. and the long range weather for Saturday is calling for the mercury in the mid 20s.

The Tupper Lake Lions Club will again be selling their locally famous hot dogs and hamburgers, smothered in Lions onions if participants wish. The Lions will be set up next to the large fire pit on the southern edge of the driving range.

Also selling their food products will be Tyler's Pizza of Tupper Lake from its food trailer.

The chamber will again run its Brew-ski costume contest, inviting participants to dream up and wear whacky apparel. The first place prize is $50. The second best costume will win its owner a Brew-ski shirt. A couple or group in costume can also win them $50. A couple or group whose costumes are judged to be the second most creative will win a host of chamber souvenirs.

“The costume theme is Brew-ski....skiing and drinking beer,” the event coordinator explained. “We're expecting to see a lot of very interesting costumes, judging by the contest at the 2020 event.”

Full event details can be found at tupperlake.com or on the Brew-ski site on Facebook.

Lions to stage 11th annual Fire & Ice snow golf event

After last year's absence, the Tupper Lake Lions Club will again be staging its popular Fire and Ice Golf Tournament on the frozen fairways of the Tupper Lake Golf Course on Saturday, February 19. The fun event will again be held in conjunction with the Tupper Lake Chamber of Commerce's Brewski, which draws craft beer lovers from all over the North Country.

The Lions will also be selling their Fire & Ice 50-50 tickets again this year. In recent years the winnings have approached $2,500.

In February 2020- before the pandemic- the Brewski and Fire & Ice drew over 1,500 people to the course on a sunny winter day, with the mercury hovering about 25 degrees F. It was picture perfect weather for a winter event.

This year in an effort to bring more people into the snow golf tournament, the local Lions have lowered the team entry fee from $60 to $30. So for the three-person scramble, that's only $10 a golfer.

The event will again be on a five-hole course in the vicinity of the driving range. Teams are encouraged to play two rounds and turn in their best 5-hole score.

The event runs from noon to 4p.m. that day.

The 11th annual Fire & Ice again benefits the Lions' extensive community service work.

An entry form for the three-person teams is published in this week's issue and should be mailed in with the $30 team entry fee to PO Box 635, Tupper Lake. Payment and entry form can also be completed on the day of the event.

Local snowmobiler narrowly escapes death

Searchers from the Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake fire departments and the New York State Police at the staging area at the state boat launch site late Thursday. (Photos by Jim Lanthier)

The SLVFD's new airboat used in the search.

Two local snowmobilers lost their way on the big lake here around midnight in the high winds of Thursday's snowstorm and one had a close brush with death when his sled crashed through the ice on Tupper Lake west of Moody Bridge.

Justin Drayse was reportedly in the frigid water for some time, clinging to the ice, before he was able to get out of the water and was later rescued nearby by emergency crews from Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake.

A second rider snowmobiling with Mr. Drasye, who also lost his way in the storm, was Shawn Fleury.

The Tupper Lake Fire Department and the Tupper Lake Volunteer Emergency and Rescue Squad were called out about 11:30 that there were two snowmobilers missing on the lake and one was in the water there.

Tupper Lake no longer has a dive team so Fire Chief Royce Cole immediately called for help from Long Lake and Saranac Lake Dive Teams and the Saranac Lake team responded, according to reports this week.

According to a report from the Saranac Lake Fire Department this week “the call was initially reported as two snowmobilers through the ice with one person in the water, possibly under the ice shelf and one on top of the ice.” The incident took place during Thursday night's fierce snowstorm.

The Saranac Lake Fire Department responded to the mutual aid call from Tupper Lake with three members of its dive team, three other firemen, two trucks and its airboat. The department's new airboat made its maiden voyage that night.

Also responding to the call was the state police and its dive team.

The Saranac Lake volunteers joined the Tupper Lake firefighters in their search at approximately 12:53 a.m. Friday. Dive team and rescue personnel, working with local firefighters familiar with the lake, worked alongside the airboat and its operator, according to the SLVFD report.

“The first missing snowmobiler (Shawn Fleury) was located approximately 10 minutes later across the lake on an island in a small bay, where he had taken shelter in the storm. He reported to the airboat crew “he last saw the second victim (Drasye) in the water and had last heard him yelling ten minutes earlier,” according the department report. He wasn't able to locate his whereabouts in the storm, however.

Given the new information the search team continued looking for Mr. Drasye and found where his sled had broken through the ice. A few minutes later the searchers found him facedown in the middle of the marsh, unresponsive and suffering from severe hypothermia.

Both riders were transported back to the search party's staging area at the state boat launch where they were treated by the Tupper Lake Rescue Squad and transported to the Adirondack Medical Center for treatment of their injuries.

The airboat's maiden rescue that evening took place exactly five years to the day the Saranac Lake department acquired its first rescue craft- a 2002 Yankee airboat purchased used from the Consensus Fire Department in 2017. Its first trip was February 4 that year when it was instrumental in locating and rescuing an individual who went through the ice on a four-wheeler on Oseetah Lake. The incident also occurred during a blinding snowstorm.

“The new airboat was put to the test and ran through the gauntlet during its maiden search and rescue in Tupper Lake,” said the department release. “This new airboat is specifically designed for search and rescue and hopefully will serve as a tremendous resource for the entire tri-lakes and surrounding regions for years to come.”

Its hull is designed to handle the rigors of ice travel as well as strikes from underwater objects. Rated for five-foot waves, it is designed to effortlessly transition from open water to ice and back again. Its V-hull and contour planning hull is designed for stability on ice, water, snow or slush.

Local planners close on approval of Oval Wood Dish apartment development

by Dan McClelland

The members of the joint village and town planning board are very close in their approval of the ambitious redevelopment of the former Oval Wood Dish Corp. industrial complex on Demars Blvd. into a modern residential facility with over 90 apartments, judging by the discussion at last week's January board meeting. There is still some work to be done, however, on any conditions that may be attached to the coming approval.

A half a dozen of Developer Joe Gehm's project team appeared before the planners via Zoom Wednesday.

Zina Lagonegro, director of entitlements and permitting from Passero Associates of Rochester, who has prepared many of the permitting documents for the project, introduced some of her colleagues that evening.

With her from Passero Associates was Joshua Saxton, who was there to answer any any questions the planners had about lighting of the development and parking, she said. She also introduced Architect Tim Geier.

Also in attendance were Diana Jakimoski of the division of housing, Mira Mejibovsk, Briana Mitchell and Charlie Breuer.

Developer Joe Gehm briefed the planners on some of the recent changes made to the site plan of the project- many at the planners' requests at the last meeting in late October.

In the southwest corner of the property near the town hall, part of a planned retaining wall was scaled back.

An outdoor parking lot in front of the former Tupper Lake Veneer Plant portion of the complex where indoor parking is planned was increased in size slightly to the west, he said.

The plan is still for a total of 135 parking spots in the indoor and outdoor lots, as had been proposed originally and which generated some concerns by the planning board members at the October 27 meeting as not enough, given that some of the tenants of the 90 apartments planned will have two cars.

Mr. Gehm said the western side entrance was moved slightly to the west to make it easier to access the two parking areas.

He said that unfortunately they cannot afford to build a third lot behind the former Veneer plant to add more parking spaces, as the local planners would have liked.

“We feel confident that 135 spots is ample for the project at the moment.” He held out the possibility more parking could be added in the future if there was a demonstrated need for more parking of tenants and guests.

The new plans also called for the relocation of a dumpster area behind the town hall, another concern by the planners last time, to the eastern side of the property behind the pellet silos of Roger Sullivan's O.W.D. Inc. and out of sight of passersby on Demars Blvd.

Ms. Lagonegro said the site changes done since the fall meeting and during correspondence between them and the town planning office in past months address all of the concerns expressed by the planning board members in October.

Planner Jim Merrihew, who had a number of parking and other concerns and visibility questions at the October meeting, reminded Mr. Gehm and his group that he had liked the original parking plan with 84 spots where more of it was hidden. “You'll remember my comment about parking that the best parking lot is the one you can't see” or at least one that is difficult to see. “That was ideal!”

“People in town know what the building looks like and what it will look like when it's done,” he said of the reports and photos published since last fall. He noted that how the project is finished on the exterior will greatly influence how it and the community will be viewed by passersby of the site.

He said while he didn't understand the economics of the venture “but if you are saying it is cost prohibitive” to move the parking lot behind the Veneer portion of the building “I get that.”

“I think this is a great project. I want to see it happen! It will be a great project for Tupper Lake!”

He said his intent to have the outside parking moved to the rear of the site was to give the campus more of a residential feel and not resemble a strip mall.

He said too the addition of more green space between the enlarged outdoor parking lot and the town's community garden is most welcome. “It'll make it more difficult to see there's a large parking lot there!”

With respect to the lighting plan he said it was apparent the plan advanced by the developers is “dark-sky compliant,” as both the planning board and the leaders of the Adirondack Sky Museum project want.

“If you can pay attention to how much lighting each of your areas require, that would be very good for the observatory” and its night sky viewing.

“We require dark-sky compliant lights. You have met that and I'm okay with that.”

He said the renderings furnished the planners set in a beautiful sunset with clouds overhead makes “the building looks great!”

“Overall I like your plan. I wish the parking could have been hidden on the north side, but I'll take what we have right now for the project,” Mr. Merrihew told Mr. Gehm and his team.

Board member Tom Maroun said he agreed with Mr. Merrihew on having the parking moved out of sight to the rear of the property. “I do understand there would be extra costs involved with doing that.”

“I like the project. I think everything looks good.” He said he liked the way the developers had scaled back the amount of lights they intend to erect and for making them downward pointing and in compliance with the community's dark sky regulations.

Mr. Maroun also liked the fact the trash receptacles were moved from near the outdoor parking area on the western side of the property to the other side where they were out of public view for the most part.

“I'm good with this plan,” he asserted.

Doug Bencze also agreed with the points made by his colleagues.

He wondered, however, about the need for overflow parking to accommodate guests. He thought under the current plan those people would encroach on tenants' parking spaces.

Joe Gehm said he thought that guests could be easily accommodated with the 135 new parking spots proposed there. He said apartment dwellers will not be parked there all the time and may be out of town certain times of the week- leaving many spots open to guests. “Quite honestly, I think we'll be okay!”

Jan Yaworski said she also agreed with her colleagues on the points they raised that evening.

“I think it's a great project.”

On the large red maples that will be planted in the green area behind the community garden next to the town hall, she wondered if they would provide too much shade for the garden plots. She wondered if a different variety of tree that didn't grow as tall might be a better choice.

It was noted later in the meeting that with the sun in the southern sky any shade from any new trees would be beyond them.

She also questioned the lighting contour map that had been furnished to the board that day which appeared to reverse the illuminated areas around the complex and the intensity of the lighting in each from the October plan.

Joshua Saxton, who made the changes to the lighting plan advanced in October, said the closer to each building the stronger the degree of lighting. “The foot candle measurement decreases the farther you go from the building which means less light,” he told her.

He apologized that the colors used to denote the lighting contours might have been switched in the most recent lighting plans. “The colors of the lines were apparently switched in the recent plan,” he explained.

Ms. Yaworski continued. “Within the lighting plan when there is one light facing the other and when they are situated on the outside balusters of the buildings, will it be brighter there?” she asked the consultants.

Mr. Saxton said in those instances the light shed wouldn't be doubled. The trouble with staggering lights on opposite buildings sometimes causes dark spots, which can be troubling particularly in the court yard areas and entrance areas proposed outside many of the buildings.

“That's why we want those areas in particular evenly lit and well lit for safety!”

Ms. Yaworski asked if they planned to use any dimmer switches or motion-sensitive lights in various areas of the complex.

Mr. Saxton said lighting will likely be dimmed in the early morning hours when there are few or no pedestrians around the buildings. “The main point of enough lighting is for safety of people walking by or through the court yards,” he told her.

“There will be a set dimmed times likely from 11p.m. to 5a.m.,” he thought.

The indoor parking area lights would also be dimmed somewhat in the early morning hours.

“All the lights will be dim-able and all will be on timers,” according to Ms. Lagonegro.

Andrew Chary noted that the front parking lot appeared to be uniformly lit at one-foot candle. “Is that the minimum for a parking lot or you wouldn't want some pools of one-foot candle and then some dimmer areas?”

Mr. Saxton told him that the “general rule of thumb” is that a half a foot candle (of light) is the minimum but his firm prefers to recommend one foot candle lighting for areas like parking lots. “It provides ample lighting for drivers and for pedestrians,” he told Mr. Chary.

Mr. Chary said while he is new to the project being at his first planning session, he found it “very exciting.”

He said in his review of the local zoning language quoted in the project's engineering plans, he learned that the minimum parking aisle in town is 26 feet. A parking aisle is a service road passing between rows of parking.

“-And yet we're being presented aisles of 24 feet. I'm looking how tight that parking lot is and presume you can't get the 26-foot aisles? He wondered why the narrower aisles.

Mr. Saxton explained that 26 foot wide roads between rows of parking are generally required if there are fire hydrants installed along them and a fire access lane is required of ample width for fire trucks to maneuver.

“We're not proposing any hydrants near the building so we don't require aisles of 26 feet.”

He said they find 24 feet between rows of parking is sufficient for two-way traffic on private roads in parking lots.

Planning Board Member Dave St. Onge, attending by Zoom, felt his colleagues had covered all his questions about the project's site plan.

“I really like the new place for the garbage bins.”

He wondered if there was going to be a central building control system to regulate the various elements of the lighting system- including aspects of the dimming and what lights are on at certain times of the day.

Architect Geier explained most of the operations of the lighting will be on “set timers” and will be fully automatic. There won't be a central control system that Mr. St. Onge asked about. “All our lights will be programmed to dim at certain times.”

Chairman Shawn Stuart called the apartment complex envisioned “a great project” and thanked Mr. Gehm and his team for the changes “and input” made since the October meeting.

At his request, the designers posted views of the development from each direction on the town's large video screen that evening.

“From my standpoint, I'm not that concerned about the parking” and the view of it when it comes to traffic from either the east or west. He said from the east, the buildings block the view of the outdoor parking area. From the west some of the lot is blocked by the town hall, the community garden and the green area and trees to be planned there. “Any view of it is just a flash as people drive by,” he told his colleagues.

A sweeping driveway leads off Demars Blvd. to the parking lot, adjacent to the town hall.

At Mr. Stuart's request, aerial shots from above were shown both in day time and night time.

There will be new lights on all sides of every building, but rear lighting will be very minimal, it was noted.

Andrew Chary said he had read the various discussions between Mr. Merrihew and the design team at past meetings. “Could someone explain drainage swale crossing and the costs associated with putting parking” in the back of the indoor parking building “that are dissuading you” from doing it?

Mr. Saxton said that additional drainage is planned in addition to the swale around the parking area.

Mr. Chary pressed about the reasons the northern parking lot recommendation by the board had been abandoned.

Ms. Lagonegro said there is an existing swale that runs along the western side of the structure “and there is a substantial area of gravel which we are removing” to meet the state storm water regulations.

She said by adding more pervious surfaces again (like the gravel in a new parking lot) it “complicates” their compliance with the storm water regulations.
“That's one of the reasons. The other reason is that the swale (ditch) itself and providing a new road along the western side of the building (to the new parking lot) would “require some fill and some substantial regrading to rework our storm water management plan” to get to the back of the building.

She said that rear area has also been reserved for recreational space for the complex and where a new playground will be situated. There will also be a connection to the Junction Pass trail there, she told the planners.

“We haven't thoroughly thought out all the public aspects of the project yet,” she explained, noting more recreational and public elements may be added to the complex over time.

“So we don't want to do a lot of grading and reworking of our storm water management plan and the extension of our utilities to add costs to the project which would be prohibitive at this point until we know more about what the site wants to be ten years from now,” she told the planning board.

Mr. Chary asked them if they could use some of the gravel that will be removed to put in other areas of the site that need fill as a cost saving for them.

“Probably not, as it is a mix of earth and gravel,” Ms. Lagonegro told him. She said those materials don't compact well.

Asked to comment on the project by Mr. Stuart, Village Code Enforcement Officer Peter Edwards said he liked the changes the design team had made since the last meeting.

As the 45-minute discussion came to a close Paul O'Leary presented a list of conditions for permit approval that the planning board members had asked him to draft in advance of Wednesday's meeting. Factored into that list were some conditions suggested by the applicants.

The town planner first read the planning board's recommended conditions:

“That the planning board shall retain continuing jurisdiction of the exterior lighting plan regarding wattage and shedding of light for one year after all improvements have been completed and during this one-year period the planning board may prescribe reasonable modifications that it sees fit to mitigate any adverse impact of the project lighting. That the planning board shall retain continuing jurisdiction over the parking, landscaping and planting plans of the project until one year after the certificate of occupancy is issued for the whole project. During this one year period the planning board may prescribe reasonable additional parking and plantings as it sees fit in order to mitigate inadequate parking and visual impacts. Plantings that do not survive will be replaced in kind within the one year period.”

The applicant offered the following conditions of permit:

“It is a condition of site plan and special permit approval that the owner of the property construct and execute building and site improvements, pursuant to the approved plan for the redevelopment of the Oval Wood Dish factory consisting of multi-family residential and commercial uses and at its collaborative effort between the owner and the planning board to: 1) insure the building accent, parking lot and courtyard lights are dark-sky compliant and sufficient to provide the safety and security of residents and visitors to the site; 2) to insure that the approved parking lot is constructed to meet the needs of residents and visitors to the site; 3) to insure that the landscaping is maintained to provide color, texture and visual appeal to the site including proper care and maintenance and replacement of dead and unhealthy plantings.”

Mr. Stuart called for a motion that included permit approval with all those conditions.

Mr. Gehm interrupted at that point saying the town conditions calling for the continued oversight by the planning board for the next year were financially unworkable. “We cannot add that financial risk with any conditions that may be brought up after certificate of occupancy.” He said those conditions would compromise their position with their state and private financial backers. “It's a financial exposure we unfortunately cannot take on!”

“We're all for working with you guys to make sure that we come to agreement with all these specs- but as far as a one-year window after your approvals, that's just not something we can agree on.”

Mr. Stuart then picked the board conditions apart. If the plantings die, you have to replace them. If the lights are too bright they have to be turned down. He said neither of those things are financially burdensome.

“If we are talking about dimming lights, that's once thing,” countered Mr. Gehm. “If you are talking about removing lights that's another.”

Mr. Stuart asked for his members' input.

“Your term collaborative effort with the planning board,” began Mr. Merrihew, “takes the place of our” one-year of oversight. “I suppose it would be very easy in a collaborative effort, if we have an issue and we're meeting with you folks and we're trying to come up with a plan that satisfies both of us. The easy out is- and I'm not trying to be insulting, that 'we can't afford it.' Is that a true collaborative effort between us?”

“I get what you are saying, Joe!” He offered, however, he couldn't really predict how “this collaborative effort” between the two groups would exactly work. “Maybe there won't be any problems?”

Mr. Gehm suggested a third party be retained to work out conditions that are agreeable to both sides. “This process should result in the final decision in a process you guys are comfortable with in what we are going to construct and put on that site and how it is going to be lit. Going back after the fact” is not a workable solution, he told them.

“There's an open exposure for our team and for our banking partners and it won't work!”

“Our goal is to get an approval from you that you are happy with what we are presenting.”

Diane Jakimoski of the division of housing said if the state sees any major conditions in the planning board's approval it “does tend to hesitate” and “we don't want to give the state any reason not to fund the application.” She explained that conditions can precipitate both delays in state funding and rejections of applications, requiring applicants to re-apply with changes.

Mr. Stuart worried about the planning board signing off too early on the unfolding project.

“Once that parking lot is full of vehicles and it looks like Yankee Stadium, and it's apparent there needs to be more shrubs (to screen it) and break up the view from the state highway” there needs to be a way to make that happen. “We're just talking about tweaking” the permit, he told Mr. Gehm.

Mr. Gehm said they would rather that the planners make any and all recommendations right now.

On the chairman's recommendation, the planning board tabled the project for the time being and agreed to consult with a third party to resolve the differences between the planners and the developers.

Andrew Chary said before voting on the permit he would first like to discuss with the board “the things they would like to be able to fine tune in the future.” He thought excess lighting may be something neighbors might complain about later, and so the planners should leave themselves with a vehicle to revisit those sorts of complaints.

“I understand that Joe's proposed language says if we get your approval that's all we are going to do. On the other side of the table, however, where the town does keep purview over plantings and lights and screenings, we could be more specific about what our concerns are. Those may not be monetary. They might be simple things. We might say that's our purview and that may help the differences in our languages come together more.”

He thought there may be advantages in tabling action on the permit to allow more discussion between the planners and the developers.

David St. Onge explained he raised the issue of the development having “a building control system” so problems like too much lighting in certain areas of the complex could be addressed very quickly and at no cost to the owner.

“I'm not so concerned with parking. I thought Shawn brought up a good point you will only see the parking lot from Demars Blvd.” a short time while driving by.

“I don't think parking is as much of a concern as the lighting” of the buildings. He thought the board might abandon its call for conditions, if there was a mechanism in place where the community could address any complaints that arise in the future.

Doug Bencze made a motion to table the permit, leaving the door open for more discussions with the developer. Tom Maroun seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

Chairman Stuart suggested the board members meet several times in coming days to develop “some ideas” of what might be acceptable to Mr. Gehm and his group.

APA official confirms ACR project underway following Oxbow gift

by Dan McClelland

A recent letter from a top-ranking Adirondack Park Agency official confirms what Adirondack Club and Resort developer Michael Foxman and Mayor and County Legislator Paul Maroun discovered in recent weeks. That gift of the 34-acre Oxbow parcel from Preserve Associates LLC to the Wild Center that was announced in recent weeks also constitutes the start of the 6,235-acre development.

Mr. Maroun, a member of the Wild Center board, assisted Mr. Foxman in facilitating the addition of the Oxbow parcel to the Wild Center campus and in doing so discovered, what the attorneys in the matter hadn't, the gift keeps the ACR permit alive.

Mr. Foxman told the Free Press in early January that Mr. Maroun found “the provision the attorneys missed that he thought should be included in the deed and he was absolutely right.”

He explained that under the Adirondack Park Agency permit for the ACR, the Oxbow property transfer means “the project has commenced.”

The permit was due to expire on January 22, 2022.

In a letter this month to ACR attorney Thomas Ulasewicz, Robert J. Lore, deputy director of regulatory programs at the APA, confirmed the project has officially started.

The following is his letter:

“Thank you for your letter and associated documents, received by the agency by electronic mail on January 17, 2022, and January 20, 2022.

The information you submitted indicates that the 34-acre museum lot authorized by Agency Order P2005-0100 was conveyed to the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks by deed dated December 9, 2021, and filed in the Franklin County Clerk’s Office on December 29, 2021. Accordingly, I can confirm that the 6,235-acre project described and authorized in Agency Order P2005-0100 is in existence. The remaining individual permits described in Order P2005-0100 will be issued by the Agency as a non-discretionary act as described in and pursuant to the terms of the order.”

ESWG adaptive sled hockey action coming to civic center

by Rich Rosentreter

The Empire State Winter Games will return to the Tri-Lakes Region February 3 to 6 and Tupper Lake is scheduled to host adaptive sled hockey at the civic center. The Games will feature athletes from across New York State and others area of the Northeast to compete in more than 30 winter sports events.

The ESWG are returning to the region after being canceled last year due to the pandemic. Although most of the events will take place in Lake Placid and Saranac Lake, many local athletes take part in the competition, such as figure skaters and several levels of youth hockey players. About 2,000 athletes are expected to take part in the ESWG and being a resident of the state is not a requirement to participate. The sled hockey competition replaces the other hockey events that have taken place at the civic center in previous years.

On January 11, ESWG officials hosted a meet-and-greet session at the civic center that included several sled hockey athletes along with Tupper Lake Mayor Paul Maroun, who expressed his support for the upcoming games.

“To think of the people and the time and the energy that puts this together here (Tupper Lake), Saranac Lake, Lake Placid, the whole North Country benefits from it,” Mr. Maroun told the audience. “And it’s great to have the president of Community Bank here today, because they did keep this event (ESWG) going during the years when things were tight and we’re so glad to have them here in Tupper Lake.”

Mr. Maroun said the ESWG is good for the region and he will keep working hard to keep the Games moving ahead.

“The Empire State Games have to continue because it’s not only a great thing for Lake Placid and Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake and for tourism, it’s a great for the participants. These kids really do a great job and outstanding job,” he said, as he reflected to the women’s hockey games that have been played. “They play hard hockey! It’s great for the young children to see this in the community and it’s great for the community. I want to thank everybody for being here today. I hope you enjoy this facility.”

Adirondack Sports Council managing director Chris Carroll said his organization is excited to have sled hockey in Tupper Lake.

“This really an amazing event. It brings together amazing young athletes,” he said, adding praise to the local civic center, a place he had not been to before. “This is really an amazing place.”

According to ESWG spokesman Jon Lundin, there is a connection between these Games and the Winter Olympics, which are also taking place in February. The ESG have produced 34 athletes who have gone on to compete in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Olympic Games, and 12 of them have gone on to win Olympic medals, he said.

“These Empire State Games are a catalyst for many athletes to go on to compete in other international events,” Lundin said.

Teams

According to Lundin, many of the teams competing in the ESWG will be composed of Wounded Warriors and wounded veterans and a couple of players will have actually tried out and had participated in selections for the U.S. Paralympic hockey team.

“We will have eight teams as of now competing in Tupper Lake and it’s the first time the civic center has held this tournament,” he said. “One of the reasons we held this was to help introduce the media to this great facility and introduce some of these players to the rink they’ll be playing on.”

There will be plenty of players who hail from the North Country playing sled hockey, with many of them coming from the Fort Drum, Lundin said.

“Unfortunately in the Tri-Lakes area there is not a league for adaptive athletes for hockey,” he added. “Our hope is that disabled athletes see this and they are inspired by these athletes and maybe in the future there will be a team or league from this area that will play.

Lundin also used his past experience watching the sport to give people an idea of what they can expect to see during the ESWG at the civic center.

“I have seen a lot of sled hockey, and these are fantastic athletes. I think if you sit in the stands you will be amazed by the speed and the precision of these athletes. They take it very seriously, it could be a physical game as well. There’s as much emotion as you see in an NHL game or a high school game, there’s a greater amount of emotion here with sled hockey,” he said. “I think it’s something people really should see and they’ll really come to appreciate.”

Sled hockey

The basics of sled hockey is explained on the ESWG website, which states that the sport “follows most typical ice hockey rules, with the exception of the equipment. Players sit in specially designed sleds that sit on top of two hockey skate blades. There are two sticks for each player instead of one and the sticks have metal pics on the butt end for players to propel themselves. Goalies make modifications to their gloves — metal picks are sewn into the backside to allow the goalie to maneuver.”

“Sled hockey provides opportunity for many types of disabilities and there are opportunities available in local areas for recreation/competition all the way to the National Sled Team that plays in the Paralympics,” it reads.

Rachel Grusse and Randy Gollinger were two of the sled hockey athletes who visited the civic center on January 11 to introduce themselves and their sport to the community.

Grusse, is 29 years old and from Vernon, Connecticut. She plays for the Boston Ice Storm and is a member of the U.S. National Women’s Sled Hockey Development Team - and set to play the ESWG with the Central Vermont Pioneers, who won the silver medal in 2020.

Grusse was born without a spleen and lost both legs at 15 months old when they were amputated below the knees due to an infection. She has played wheelchair basketball, competed in the Paralympic swim trials, competed on able-bodied soccer and swim teams in high school and has tried gymnastics and wheelchair lacrosse.

“It helps with mental health. The level of exercise, being around people who are in similar situations who enjoy the sport that you do is very good in general. The sled community can be similar to a family at times, having the community that sled hockey provides is fantastic,” she said in a prepared statement, adding what she enjoys most about the game. “Checking. I definitely think people don’t really know how physical it is. I’ve had people come watch games and they’re surprised I’m checking male players, maybe two times my size. I don’t really think much about it.”

“There’s something very freeing about being on the ice. I felt like it was a lot easier to move for me. I liked the physicality of it too You get to hip check somebody,” Grusse said. “Gliding on the ice, I have a sense of freedom when I’m skating. Breathing in that cold air just feels so good.”

Randy Gollinger, is a military veteran and lost his leg and an eye at 19 when his convoy was struck by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2006. He was a multi-sport athlete growing up in small-town, and was the 2021 ESWG sled hockey player of the year. His team won silver medal in the 2020 ESWG.

Gollinger said he got started in sled hockey after getting encouragement from his girlfriend – he watched others play sports but could not join in until she pushed him to try sled hockey. He said once he tried to give it a try, he was hooked and it truly changed his life for the positive.

“Every year I felt like I was dying one year at a time,” he said in a prepared statement. “The moment I first sat in a sled I felt almost at peace. This is what I was meant to do.”

Both Grusse and Gollinger will be competing in the ESWG at the civic center.

ESWG

The ESWG will include sports such as downhill skiing and snowboarding, cross-country skiing, bobsled, luge, biathlon, figure skating, ski jumping, sled hockey, speedskating, snowshoeing and winter biking among others.

Sport venues are located locally at the Tupper Lake civic center and in Lake Placid, Wilmington, Saranac Lake, Malone, and Paul Smiths. Venues include: Lake Placid Olympic Center Herb Brooks Arena, Lake Placid Olympic Jumping and Sliding complexes, Whiteface Mountain, Paul Smith's College, Paul Smith's College VIC, Saranac Lake Civic Center Ice Rink, Dewey Mountain Recreation Area, Olympic Cross Country and Biathlon Center, Titus Mountain and Mount Pisgah.

This year, the Opening Ceremony will be held outdoors at the village beach at Mirror Lake on Thursday, February 3.

For more information on the ESWG including a complete schedule, visit www.empirestatewintergames.com.

Improvements made to ski trails, buildings at golf course

by Dan McClelland

Town committee reports were light Thursday, given the arrival of three new town board members and the appointment of new town committees that evening.

The main report came from John Gillis, who as a town councilman is on the committee that oversees the summer and winter operations at the local golf course. It was a logical appointment. Mr. Gillis has been building and maintaining the trail system on the golf course campus with his small team of volunteers for many years.

During the second half of December and in early January when there were no town roads to plow and sand, the town highway crew worked on the trails there, cutting trees and pulling stumps. Mulch was added in places to level the trail terrain.

Referring to that work Thursday Mr. Gillis reported that “The James C. Frenette Recreational Trails now offer a new grooming pattern and I just wanted to let Highway Superintendent Bill Dechene know that it's skiing nicely. It's been well received by the skiers.”

He said his crew began grooming those trails on December 19 but “the weather has been hit and miss” since.

Mr. Gillis said on January 12 they did “the first full groom of the trails. We still need another four to six inches of snow to get our trails in good condition.”

“Skiing under the lights has been a big hit!”

He offered that evening a robust thanks to all those who have recently donated to the trail improvements. To those generous donors he said: “Your donations were the matching funds which helped the town get a new grooming drag worth almost $10,000 with no cost to town taxpayers. You also helped light up the trails and helped the town purchase trail counters!”

Mr. Gill remembered that last February the town board approved the order of four trail counters for the trail system. “I installed them on various sections of the trail.”

He explained they pick up a passing heat source “and while they will count a deer I have them set high enough they will not count passing dogs.”

In his data collections taken over the past ten months he said he deducted five to nine percent for “misreads, wildlife and groomer passes” and came up with the following statistics. “Total user visits on the golf course loop were 2,012. Of those people the ones who also went up the Cranberry Pond loop were 1,110. Of the original 2,012 those who went down the original Hull's Brook Loop were 425.

The counts were gathered between March 1 and December 31 last year. The busiest month was last March with 655 visitors, he told the board that evening.

“In June, July and August- our slowest months- we had an average of 82 visits per month.”

He said he and his team members have talked about the need to purchase two more counting machines to put on the upper trails “so we can gauge the use there. We're now seeing how the lower trails are being used. We know a smaller group use the upper trails but we'd like exact data of that use.”

Mr. Gillis said he knows trail use is busiest in January and February each year. He predicted that visitor counts for the 12-month period ending this coming March 1 would exceed 3,000.

“With the counters all over I can tell if a person went out and back or went all around and we'll be well over 3,000 visitors.”

New Supervisor Clint Hollingsworth said the town's trail system is already a major town asset that will just continue to grow in popularity. He predicted exponential growth in use in coming years.

Mr. Gillis said his numbers do not include “the sliders” who frequent the golf course's sliding hill most winter weekends. He said on a typical weekend, about half the people are headed for the ski trails while the other half are going sliding on sleds and toboggans. “So we're seeing potentially a thousand people a month using the country club facility in the winter months for recreation.”

The supervisor said he believed it certainly an asset worthy of continued town investment.

“-And it's a sustaining asset,” added Mary Fontana.

“We're in the process of shifting gears here, John, and we're going to make some real things happen there,” the supervisor promised.

In another matter at the golf course, Miss Fontana said the town had received a notification from Friends Construction that won the town contract last fall to make winterization improvements to the pro shop building and the maintenance garage. She said there are some issues with the garage roof that will need to be addressed in the spring.

Mr. Hollingsworth said that Councilman Rick Donah had forwarded him some photos of the work the firm did there in recent weeks during a time he was quarantined and he said what he saw he liked. The local contractor said the Friends company “did an amazing job in the garage.”

“We're expecting the doors when they get here,” Mr. Gillis commented on a supply-chain set back the contracting firm ran into during its work this past month. It is currently awaiting the two new overhead doors it needs for both ends of the garage.

Councilman Donah said he skied the nordic trains in recent days and on one of those visits he checked out the garage work. He said the contractors really cleaned up the building and their improvements were impressive.

“It was a bare bones building before” with a lot of clutter inside. -And while it looks like they have a little more to do” the place is really shaping up.

In a different matter, he proposed that the town try to purchase or acquire a rescue sled to assist skiers or hikers who might become injured on one of the trails. Mr. Donah thought that possibly the Big Tupper Ski Patrol volunteers might have one to loan to the town temporarily. The renovated garage might be the place to store any new sled the town can acquire and keep it out of harm's way.

Mr. Gillis said his team does have an emergency sled that is all set up to “go into a tow hitch” of one of the nordic machines. “What we don't have is the gear that goes on it!”

He said fortunately the only accident where the sled was employed over the past eight or nine year occurred on the sliding hill.

Mr. Gillis said he hoped gear could be found in the ski patrol's inventory that could outfit the sled with safety gear, at least in the meantime, until the town could buy its own. Mr. Donah also said he hoped a way could be found to make that happen.

As for operating an emergency sled should an accident happen at the golf course, Mr. Gillis noted that he and several other members of his grooming team were former members of the Big Tupper Ski Patrol. He said he knows of others here who are still ski patrol-certified who could be called upon in emergencies at the town trail system.

“We definitely need a first response mechanism in place,” suggested Mr. Donah.

The board members that evening agreed developing a safety protocol for the town facility makes a lot of good sense, given the growing popularity of the place.

New town board agrees to permit county elections board to move voting here to Aaron Maddox Hall

by Dan McClelland

The new Town of Tupper Lake town board agreed in a split vote last week to permit the Franklin County Board of Elections to move its single polling place here from the former Holy Ghost Academy to the town-owned Aaron Maddox Hall.

Republican Elections Commissioner Tracy Sparks was at Thursday's meeting to make a case for the move.

In recent years all of Tupper Lake's voters have voted in the same place- the former parochial school on Marion Ave.

“We've been using HGA for a long time. It's been an awesome place and Terry Doolen (as caretaker) has been amazing,” Mrs. Sparks began that evening.

“We were paying a small fee” for the use of the premises on primary and election days “which was fine.” She said her county agency was willing to continue using the place at that rate of rent.

She said in December, after the county budget was already approved, the fee was doubled by church leaders to $200.

“That's not a lot for the board of elections to pay,” she admitted.

She said her office is currently working on a new consolidation plan for voting districts in the county. Recent state election law changes now allow for 2,000 voters for every election district. That new formula means that Tupper Lake's five election districts can be reduced to three, she explained to the town leaders that evening.

Going forward will be one full-town district and two village election districts.

A number of years ago the number of districts in Tupper Lake was reduced from six to five.

The county board of elections office has now fully embraced the poll pad system. “No longer, when a person goes to the polls to vote, are there books to sign.” The poll pads eliminate the need for a voter to even know their polling district, she noted.

“So the amount of space we now need for checking purposes has also decreased.”

Mrs. Sparks explained that the space available in the town-owned Aaron Maddox Hall is now adequate to accommodate all Tupper Lake voting on general election and primary days.

She said spacing requirements were carefully examined by her and her fellow election commissioner, as was accessibility to the building.

Mrs. Sparks said even though the new $200 charge is not excessive, “we don't feel it is a good taxpayer-funded cost.”

All the costs of the county's election operations are charged back to the towns, it was noted in the discussion that evening.

“We're fortunate in Tupper Lake to have the Aaron Maddox Hall which can easily accommodate the number of voters we now have.”

The current Tupper Lake vote count is about 3,300 voters- “give or take some,” she estimated that evening.

The biggest voter turn-out here during a recent presidential election was about 2,600 people, when about 80% of eligible voters here voted at the HGA, according to Mrs. Sparks.

The plan would be to use the Aaron Maddox Hall proper for the voting. The rear ramp into the senior citizen part of the building would provide “the accessibility” for all voters.

The building, she said, would generally be used two days a year- the primary in June and for November's general election.

Every four years, she said, the building would be used three days a year, with the third day being the presidential primary that April. Some years the building would be only used for voting one day when there were no primary contests.

On voting days the building would be open from 6a.m. to 9p.m. and elections officials would need time before and after the voting hours for preparation and procedural work, she told the town leaders.

“It will be easier for us to have a smaller area to use.”

Responding to a question from Councilwoman Tracy Luton, she said she has already talked with Adult Center Director Ray Bigrow about “the accessibility” to the place through his part of the building.

“Did he have any concerns about disturbing the lunches served the seniors?” Ms. Luton wondered.

Mrs. Sparks said Mr. Bigrow thought arrangements could be worked out to accommodate all parties.

“We use several other adults centers around the county for voting...and there haven't been any issues there!”

She said most people would enter the building via the front entrance off Main Street. The rear ramped entrance would only be for those with special accessibility needs.

Mrs. Sparks admitted said they also considered using a bay or bays in the fire station portion of the Emergency Services Building as a possible site. “The concern there is, while we could open up a bay and move a truck or trucks out, if there was a fire, and some voter had temporarily parked out in front, that could be a concern.”

In an election where a large turn-out resulted, like in a presidential election, parking near the building and the need to move emergency vehicles in and out of the immediate area could result in problems, she suggested.

She noted too during the 2020 presidential election, the average wait time per voter at the polls was about 25 minutes.

“So I certainly don't want cars blocking emergency vehicles here.”

“-And God forbid, should someone forget where they parked and were wandering about after voting and something were to happen!”

Supervisor Clint Hollingsworth said that one of his concerns with the relocation plan was that the new site was “right on the main street, on a busy corner.” By contrast, he said, the Marion Ave. site is in a quiet neighborhood with a very spacious parking lot.

“If it was a nasty evening in November,” safe access in and out of the hall could be a problem, he thought.

“I know there's a parking lot there, but the HGA parking lot accommodates many more cars.” He added that the emergency services building has a large parking area, as does the civic center a short distance away.

Mrs. Sparks reminded the board members that the Aaron Maddox Hall was a traditional voting place for the two junction election districts here for many years prior to the centralization of voting at the HGA site.

Using it again, she suggested, may present some historical significance for some here. She said too many years ago more voters voted in that two-poll site, than will in all the districts now.

She said too that while the HGA request is not a huge amount, it comes at a time when her agency has been dealing with dozens and dozens of state election law changes, which each come with increased costs to her agency's budget.

The Marion Ave. site was the only one in the county that the elections board had to pay rent to use. The rest are free, she told the town lawmakers.

“Normally we haven't minded, but doubling the fee is concerning,” despite how accommodating Terry and others have been there.

Councilman Rick Donah asked Mrs. Sparks when she needed a decision from the town board. “Do we need to make this decision tonight?” he asked her.

The elections commissioner said that all information about poll sites needs to be in the hands of the state board of elections by March 1. Inter-county poll decisions need to be in place by the second or third week of February.

Councilwoman Tracy Luton didn't see any problem with the Aaron Maddox Hall site. “A good number of people can park on Water Street” or on Main Street. She thought the town quarters could accommodate even a large election turnout some future year. “I'm okay with it!” She made the motion and it was seconded by Mary Fontana.

A motion to permit the board of elections to use the town building passed four to one with the dissenting vote coming from Rick Donah, who said he thought the HGA quarters more easily accommodates more people, and particularly elderly voters with its ground level entrance.

Mrs. Sparks told the local lawmakers that the reason her office likes to use senior citizen centers for polling places is that they are specifically designed to accommodate elderly people. Many, she said, have received state and federal grants to make sure they are fully handicapped accessible and have greatly benefitted from that assistance.

She speculated too if there was a conflict between election use of the building and the delivery of meals on wheels, meals could be doubled up the day before an election event, similar to the way senior citizen centers double up Fridays to include weekend meals to recipients.

County COVID numbers high

by Dan McClelland

COVID is raging across Franklin County with the number of positive cases over the weekend approaching 300.

“Our numbers aren't good...they are way up!” is how County Legislator Paul Maroun explained, detailing the current county trend in the pandemic.

COVID cases are up too in Tupper Lake, but he said he didn't have exact numbers, due to the way the county health department is now reporting.

The way the department reports active cases is due to change soon, so he'll have exact numbers from Tupper to report each week, he said.

This week there are 21 children in the county under four years of age who have tested positive for the virus. Among children five years to seven years, there are 47 active cases now in Franklin County. There are 37 youngsters between seven and 17 with COVID, he reported.

He also noted that the health department is planning a booster clinic in Tupper Lake in early February for children from the age of 12 to 17. The clinic date will be announced soon, he promised. It will likely be held at the local Emergency Services Building on Santa Clara Ave.

“People need to try to get vaccinated and boosted to fight the virus. That's the best thing for people to do at this point!” he asserted.

The village office, he said, has a supply of “tight fitting N-95 masks” available to the public. He speculated they might be best suited for children or smaller adults.

Interior renovations planned at train station this winter for train traffic next summer; museum looking for new home

by Dan McClelland

In preparations for the coming of train excursions here next summer will be renovations to the interior of the Tupper Lake train station off Depot Street in coming weeks.

The Adirondack Railroad Preservation Society, which has been charged by the New York State Department of Transportation with operating the new tourist train line, anticipates the first train to roll into town on July 4. From that point on there will be various trips up and down the Adirondack line to and from Tupper and from points south like Big Moose, Remsen and Utica.

Various train excursions from Tupper Lake for special dining and other events are planned by the not for profit railroad operators, starting next summer. There will also be rail bikes for rent, out of the Tupper Lake station.

In order to adapt the interior of the historic train station into a working station, ARPS is planning to engage a local contractor to erect partitions and such to provide offices for the volunteers who will work there selling tickets and such and serving train-traveling patrons.

According to Bob Hest, who with Jim Ellis and Al Dunham are three members of the ARPS board who live in the area, the design of the new offices and visitor areas inside the station will be historic in nature, in keeping with the building's 1895-era architecture.

The photo above left shows a nearly empty great room of the Tupper Lake train station this week, in anticipation of interior construction work in the weeks ahead by the Adirondack Railroad Preservation Society.

For the past three years the train station has been home to the Tupper Lake Museum, which delighted visitors with its local artifacts. Nearly 1,000 visitors have enjoyed its historical offerings each of the past two summers.

So that the place can really become a train station this coming summer, the museum volunteers have been working diligently in recent weeks bundling up the museum's many possessions into carefully labelled boxes for moving day last Thursday.

The museum leaders contracted with Madden's Transfer and Storage that day to move all the artifacts and its display cases into clean and dry storage at several sites around town.

Museum President Kathleen Lefebvre said Bill Madden and his staff were all very careful in loading and unloading the museum's keepsakes. The laborious moving event took over eight hours. The photo above right shows the Madden trucks backed up to the train station doors.

One of the temporary storage places is the former Hyde Fuel gas station on Demars Blvd., the premises generously loaned out by a museum board member, Marlene Hyde, and her husband Tom. Office space and storage areas were also made available to the museum group at Ivy Terrace by the board members of the Tupper Lake Housing Authority and the Ivy Terrace staff.

Plans are currently underway by Mrs. Lefebvre and her board members to find a permanent home for the Tupper Lake Museum- so that it will never have to be moved again.

Discussions are currently underway with several local property owners and their real estate representatives.

A fundraising campaign to raise the money needed to buy a building on a main thoroughfare here that would be suitable for a local museum is expected to be launched in coming weeks. Watch for details of that!

Woodmen Life chapter helping to bring Homeward Bound retreat closer to reality

The officers of WoodmenLife chapter 1024 based here in Tupper Lake were both happy and joyous to be able to put the money of its members to work in assisting the campaign of Homeward Bound Adirondacks to build its new veterans retreat center. Presenting HBA president Mark Moeller (right) with a giant $10,000 check on the steps of Community Bank last week were from left WoodmenLife officers Phil Wagschal, Joanne Wilber, Rick and Judy Wilburn and John Ellis. (Dan McClelland photo)

by Dan McClelland

A $10,000 gift was made last week to the campaign of Homeward Bound Adirondacks to help it build its new retreat to help disabled veterans recover from their injuries. The major donation was made by the officers of Tupper Lake's WoodmenLife Lodge Chapter 1024.

The giant-sized version of the check was presented last Monday by the lodge's board to Homeward Bound chapter board chairman, Mark Moeller on the steps of Tupper Lake's Community Bank. Friday marked Mr. Moeller last day as bank manager on the occasion of his retirement.

The following is a statement released with their gift to Homeward Bound last week by the WoodmenLife lodge officers: John Ellis, Phil Wagschal, Judy and Rick Wilburn and Joanne Wilber.

“As the pandemic goes on, it creates different needs in our communities. In many ways, it makes things worse, like the situations of homeless people, that less fortunate veterans or their families face when it gets colder outside, and the needs of every day living and medical support. So local chapters of WoodmenLife across the nation are making it just a little warmer with more help in our 'Shelter with Care' campaign.

“Even though we have suspended all in-person community activities, we are still living out our values, like supporting our communities in other ways during these uncertain times. Your future Adirondack Veteran Retreat Center in Malone project is perfect! The additional services you are providing also shows your cause is leading to results!

“We want people to know that WoodmenLife is here to lend a hand, so we were encouraged as a chapter to make monetary donations to homeless shelters or other organizations that assist anyone in need. Certainly, the addition of your capital campaign for the retreat center site and your increased essential services now in our North Country area is remarkable! Your group, simply put, is the vital link to fulfilling the multiple needs of our veterans through advocacy. Perhaps our donation on behalf of all WoodmenLife members in our communities will honor our veterans that your projects serve.

“Please accept this $10,000 donation from your local WoodmenLife chapter 1024 in order to to help support the capital campaign and everyday services you provide. Thank you for your board leadership, multiple volunteers and the staff at Homeward Bound Adirondacks. Your efforts bring our veterans a brighter and warmer day. But more importantly, helping them to independent living is where you shine!”

About WoodmenLife chapter 1024: Since April 1, 2019 the WoodmenLife fraternal chapter or members' community support connection was re-organized. Its officers are John Ellis, president, Phil Wagschal, vice president, Judy Wilburn, secretary, Joanne Wilber, treasurer and Rick Wilburn, auditor. The group's mailing address is P.O. Box 1136, since it has no physical location at this time.

The chapter's area of service is basically all of Franklin County and nearby areas where chapter members reside. The chapter board meets four times a year to transact business. However, during the pandemic there have been no public gatherings of the membership or the board, which operates electronically.

WoodmenLife was founded in 1890 as a not for profit. The organization gives back to its nearly 700,000 members, who are joined together in a shared commitment to family, community and country.

In a letter last month Mark Moeller appealed to the community for help with its current project, the creation of a permanent home on its recently acquired 105-acre tract south of Malone.

The new place will be called the Sgt. Carlton A. Clark Veterans Center. Sgt. Clark of Vermont was a 22 year old member of the 101st Airborne Division killed in Baghdad, Iraq killed in 2006 during combat operations.

In his letter Mr. Moeller wrote that “almost two decades of war has taken its toll on the many individuals serving our country in uniform. PTSD, depression, anxiety, isolation, traumatic brain injuries, physical disabilities and intolerable rates of suicide has brought us to a critical point.

“To address the needs of our veterans, Homeward Bound Adirondacks (HBA) was formed. It is a private, community-based not for profit veterans' service organization located in Saranac Lake. With a small, dedicated board of volunteer directors and a mental health professional who serves as our executive, we are focused on helping veterans and their families.

“Funding for all we do comes from grants and through the generosity of donors who believe in our mission. We are proud to boast an overhead of less than 3%. That means over 97% of all the money we receive directly benefits veterans. Over the years we have been able to provide referrals to community services, transportation to medical and mental health appointments, emergency grants and assistance for veterans and their families including those facing homelessness, hunger and thoughts of suicide, restorative weekend retreats that provided hope and healing for hundreds of veterans dealing with the physical and mental injuries resulting from their services to our country. These retreats are free of charge to the veteran and offered through the support of our donors.

“How can you help Homeward Bound Adirondacks? HBA has begun a capital campaign to build the structures needed on our new property to host weekend retreats for up to 20 people. Donations will help HBA to develop and maintain a retreat site in the Adirondacks which means HBA will reach more veterans in need.

To support the mission of HBA, people are asked to visit Homewardboundadirondacks.org and hit the donate button. Donations of any size are appreciated and begin at levels of $25.

COVID cases remain high in county, across region

by Dan McClelland

Franklin County health officials have recorded 48 new cases of COVID-19 in the county in the 24 hours between Sunday and Monday, County Legislator Paul Maroun reported this week.

The virus and the new Omicron variant are raging across New York State and across our county and town.

“There are five children in the county under the age of five years of age who have contracted the virus,” he said. Across the county too are another 16 children between the ages of five and 12 and seven cases among teenagers 13 to 17 years of age.

Mr. Maroun said there was a second death in as many weeks on Sunday, bringing the total of people who have died from COVID- related causes to 29 since the pandemic began nearly two years ago.

He said people of all ages in the county have died from the disease.

“Of the people now testing positive, 35% of them have been vaccinated. Fifty-four percent of those who have recently tested positive for the virus are unvaccinated.”

“Franklin County remains what health officials are calling 'a critical risk area',” he reported.

The county legislator and mayor said there are is considerable effort at the county level these days to make more masks available to the public and particularly for local schools.

He also said there are currently five COVID patients receiving treatment at the Adirondack Medical Center and seven in the hospital at Malone's Alice Hyde.

Mr. Maroun was scheduled to participate in a Zoom call with the governor's office on Monday and after that call he expects to know more about the number of test kits coming to this area.

He said he wasn't sure how the test kits will be made available to the public but will know more later this week. There has been news from Albany of late that test kits will be provided to every school student in coming days, he noted.

“I'm asking everyone, if they are not vaccinated, to please do so. If you don't think you are going to contract the virus, then that's fine. But it's about people who are more fragile than others or who may have immune systems that are not as strong as healthy people!”

“I run into people every day who don't want to get vaccinated and I understand. But I don't believe it. Science says these people are wrong.”

He said people should get vaccinated to protect the people around them: the young, the elderly and the frail.

“To everyone I say: please get vaccinated!”

Middle/High school winter concert entertains parents, families

by Rich Rosentreter

The Tupper Lake high school held its Winter Concert on December 14 as the band and chorus entertained family and friends with holiday and other music in the high school auditorium.

The concert got under way with the playing of the Star Spangled Banner followed by a performance by the chorus under the direction of Mrs. Elizabeth Cordes. They began with “Alleluia, Alleluia!” and continued with “White Winter Hymnal,” “Larger Than Life” and a song originally done by John Lennon and Yoko Ono titled “Happy Xmas,” with solos by Shae Arsenault, Hannah Barber, Ayden Rabideau, Hailey Bissonette, Raegan Fritts, Sophia Staves, Jamin Whitmore, Emileigh Smith and Lowden Pratt.

Next on stage was the high school band under the direction of Mrs. Laura M. Davison. The band performed “Chameleon,” “Duel of the Fates,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Christmas Vacation” and “The Polar Express.”

Members of the high school chorus are as follows:

Seniors: Hailey Bissonette, soprano; Aiden Dattoma, baritone; Morgan Dewyea, alto; Lowden Pratt, tenor; Emileigh Smith, alto; Trista Strader-Moore, soprano; Jenna Switzer, soprano

Juniors: Genna Carmichael, soprano; Emily Roberts, soprano (Area All-State); Jamin Whitmore, baritone.

Sophomores: Shae Arsenault, alto; Cody Auclair, tenor; Michael Baker, baritone; Katherine Barkley, soprano; Garrett Dewyea, baritone; Raegan Fritts, soprano (Area All-State); Abby Rogers, alto; Peyton Williams, tenor.

Freshmen: Hannah Barber, soprano; Elli Dukett, soprano; Samantha Flagg, alto; Amira Foster, alto; Genavieve LaScala, alto; Charels Levey, baritone; Dane O’Connor, baritone; Ayden Rabideau, tenor; Sophia Staves, soprano; Taylor Stoll, soprano; Nevaeh Toohey, soprano; and Sadie Tower, soprano.

Members of the High School Band are as follows:

Seniors: Karen Bujold, flute; Morgan Dewyea, flute; Emileigh Smith, flute; Johnathan Jauron, bass clarinet; Nolan Savage, bari sax (Area All-State); Lowden Pratt, trumpet; Dawson Symonds, tuba.

Juniors: Olivia Ellis, flute; Meika Nadeau, tenor sax and flute (Area All-State); Jamin Whitmore, alto sax; Angela Bujold, percussion; Kylie Mashtare, percussion.

Sophomores: Peyton Williams, flute; Kylie Rohrbach, tenor sax and flute; Raegan Fritts, clarinet; Margaux-Angel Flagg, alto sax; Emily Bissonette, trombone; Tory Amell, tuba.

Freshmen: Mary Becker, flute; Nevaeh Toohey, flute; Hannah Barber, alto sax; CJ Levey, bari sax; Dillon Boudreau, trumpet; Dane O’Connor, mallet percussion; Ayden Rabideau, percussion (Area All-State).

Middle school winter concert brings season alive

by Rich Rosentreter

The Tupper Lake middle school held its Winter Concert on December 16 with members of the band and chorus entertaining family and friends in the high school auditorium.

The concert started with the playing of the Star Spangled Banner followed by the performance of the 7th and 8th grade chorus. The students performed “Shine Like Stars,” I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,” “Cantar!” and “Winter Lullaby.”

Next on stage was the 7th and 8th grade band, which performed “Theme from Spiderman,” “Saxes Take the Lead,” and “Up on the Housetop.”

The 6th grade chorus were next and started with “Seize the Day,” which included solos by Molly Hales, Aubrey Bissonette, Eliza Bujold, Odessa Holmes, Lacey Pickering, Lyla Robillard and Lylah Fuller. They also performed “Snow is Falling” and “Give Us Hope.”

Finally, the 6th grade band performed “Cowboy Cattle Drive” and Jolly Old St. Nicholas.”

The chorus was directed by Mrs. Elizabeth Cordes and the band was directed by Mrs. Laura M. Davison.

Members of the 8th grade chorus are as follows: Joelle Bedore, part 2; Hannah Callaghan, part 2; Haylee Callaghan, part 1; Antwon Gachowski, part 3; Morgan Lohr, part 2; Casper Pratt, part 2; Tanner Varden, part 3.

Members of the 7th grade chorus are as follows: Ash Barber, part 2; Ethan Barkley, part 2; Jeevika Branchaud, part 1; Heather Bujold, part 1; Olivia Chesbrough, part 1; Odelia Combs, part 1; Brittany Curry, part 2; Adrianna Dattola, part 1; Ava Facteau, part 1; Mya Fortier, part 1; Aubriana Giacovelli, part 2; Bug LaVigne, part 2; Abbygail Stalhammar, part 1; Payton Stevens, part 1; Alaina Strack, part 2; Lacey Tarbox, part 1; Brianna Towne, part 1; Blake Wagner, part 2; Mary Wood, part 2.

Members of the 8th grade band are as follows: Alison Richer, clarinet; Casper Pratt, bass clarinet; Brock Fleishman, alto saxophone; Averie Switzer, trumpet; Antwon Gachowski, trombone

Members of the 7th grade band are as follows: Brittany Curry, flute; Ava Facteau, flute; Heather Bujold, clarinet; Jeevika Branchaud, alto saxophone; Brianna Towne, alto saxophone; Sean Wood, alto saxophone; Ethan Barkley, tenor saxophone; Kendyl Hanna, euphonium; Aubriana Giacovelli, percussion; Bug LaVigne, percussion; Shanlee Ricker, percussion.

Members of the 6th grade chorus are as follows: Aubrey Bissonette, part 1; Eliza Bujold, part 1; Lylah Fuller, part 1; Molly Hales, part 1; Odessa Holmes, part 2; Raegan Hudak, part 1; Rylee Kennedy, part 2; Nicholas LaPlante, part 2; Lacey Pickering, part 2; Rena Reandeau, part 1; Addison Roberts, part 1; Lyla Robillard, part 2; Noah Switzer, part 2.

Members of the 6th grade chorus are as follows: Eliza Bujold, flute; Raegan Hudak, flute; Rylee Kennedy, clarinet; Rylee Preston, clarinet; Memphis Collegian, alto saxophone; Nicholas LaPlante, trumpet; Bryce Richer, trumpet; Kristoff Rohrbach, trumpet; Noah Switzer, trumpet; Odessa Holmes, mallet percussion; Lyla Robillard, mallet percussion; Taylor Dewyea, percussion; Levi Harrison, percussion; Logan Lohr, percussion; Kamden White, percussion.

Village wins big twice in as many weeks; NCREDC round helps town, others here too

by Dan McClelland

Only about a week after the Village of Tupper Lake leaders won a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative state grant to help local businesses and the local economy overall, came more state money to help the village and its residents.

As part of this year's round of grants through the North Country Regional Economic Development Council, the village last week won $337,492 to continue its work improving its waterfront and the municipal park shoreline, in particular.

The shoreline enhancement work will include the purchase of a new system of floating docks at the base of Cliff Ave. where the owners of shorefront properties on local lakes and the river will be able to boat to the park, moor their crafts and wander up to the Park Street commercial district to patronize businesses there.

The village's grant will also pay for improvements to the Depression-era grandstand that graces the Tupper Lake Municipal Park and is now the home of Tupper Lake's Riverpigs semi-pro baseball franchise. The improvements there will include the painting of the grandstand's exterior siding and trim, the installation of a new historic sign and an outfield scoreboard.

The improvements funded are all part of the village's revitalization strategy and action plan, including waterfront improvements, developed with skill by Community Developer Melissa McManus and the village board with public involvement in recent years.

The money will channel through the state department of state and its waterfront revitalization program which has produced the Little Logger Playground, the Sunset Stage bandshell, the extension of the waterfront walk this summer and other park initiatives.

The Town of Tupper Lake was awarded a $346,050 sum where it and other local government partners will develop together a regional GIS (Geographic Information System) “for highway and public works infrastructure”- a new system aimed at helping the town with its asset management, budgeting and planning work.

That grant is coming to the council through the department of state.

An advocate for the town's creation of this new GIS system has been its engineering and planning consultant, the Development Authority of the North Country (DANC).

The Syracuse-based investors who have formalized here as the OWD Development LLC and who intend to refurbish the long idle Oval Wood Dish complex on The Boulevard won a $2.5 million grant from New York's Empire State Development. The group intends to redevelop “the blighted former manufacturing site” into a $30 million complex of mixed uses, according to Governor Kathy Hochul's announcement. Included will be some 90 market rate apartments and commercial space including a new Raquette River Brewing production brewery.

OWD Development LLC is also looking for a piece of the village's $10 million DRI.

The biggest winner in this year's NCREDC package of funding is the Wild Center, which was awarded $650,475 in Empire State Development money “to develop and promote its “More to Explore: Build Back Better marketing plan that uses a suite of strategic promotion activities to expand year-round indoor and outdoor Wild Center exhibits and programs that will re-build the prior audiences while attracting new, more diverse visitors to the region.”

According to the Governor's announcement, the two year project will include new exhibits, special programs and events that will increase tourism and help the regional economy.

In neighboring St. Lawrence County the Cranberry Lake Mountaineers Snowmobile Club received $233,240 to acquire new trail grooming equipment to maintain and improve trails in the area.

A big award for the Historic Saranac Lake organization in Saranac Lake was $500,000 to help it rehabilitate the Trudeau Building into a museum in the village's downtown.

Governor Hochul said last week that $196 million had also been awarded to support 488 projects across multiple New York State from state agency programs that participated in Round XI of the Regional Economic Development Council initiative. This year, $525 million in resources from state agencies was made available to support community revitalization and business growth consistent with the REDC strategic plans. Additionally, projects within each region are eligible for a share of $300 million in Industrial Development Bond Cap to support low cost tax-exempt bond financing for qualified projects. Additional project awards, including the State’s Water Quality Improvement Project program, will be announced in the coming weeks.

"The economic toll of the pandemic has been felt in every corner of the state, which is why we must ensure that our equitable economic recovery does the same," she said. “This new round of funding, rooted in a bottom-up approach that partners with local leaders and utilizes unique regional strengths, will be another important tool as we work to transform communities across New York State into places where people will want to live, work and visit for generations to come."

The Regional Economic Development Council initiative is a key component of the state's approach to state investment and economic development. In 2011, 10 regional councils were established to develop long-term strategic plans for economic growth for their regions. The councils are public-private partnerships made up of local experts and stakeholders from business, academia, local government, and non-governmental organizations. The regional councils have redefined the way New York invests in jobs and economic growth by putting in place a community-based, bottom-up approach and establishing a competitive process for state resources.

During the last decade the North Country Regional Economic Development Council has won millions in funding for viable projects in the region- often surpassing the gains and successes of all other councils in major urban centers around the state.

Kiwanis Club making Christmas better for many children

In a Christmas tradition that began decades ago with Dan and Issy Cassell and their Cassell of Toys, members of the Tupper Lake Kiwanis Club, which took it over some years ago, have been working like busy elves all year long gathering gifts. On Saturday morning, all those gifts for local girls and boys were moved downstairs from their headquarters above the VFW Post to be loaded onto Santa's sled. Deliveries of boxes full of toys went to many families that morning and to children whose holidays were made brighter by them. Shown above were the masked Kiwanis Club Castle of Toys volunteers who had just finished loading the sleigh and below was Santa saluting their efforts. Photos by Dan McClelland.