SARATOGA SPRINGS — Ray O’Conor has worked as a financial consultant with a major Wall Street investment firm, a United States Border Patrol Agent and a Special Agent with the U.S. Department of Defense. He has served on the boards of several not for profit organizations, and is the CEO of a not for profit community development company. 

Close to home, you may know O’Conor as a former local bank CEO, a Wilton Town Board Councilmember, an avid mountain climber, the author of the book “She Called Him Raymond.” 

That’s a lot of lives for one existence, now here’s one more:  on Saturday, April 15 Saratoga Arts Center will host the debut screening of Veda Films’ documentary “An Above Average Day,” featuring longtime friends Ray O’Conor and Joe Murphy on their hiking and wilderness adventures while seeking answers the question: What could two men with a 30-year difference in age possibly have in common that would compel them to climb more than 400 mountains and hike in excess of 4,000 miles of trails?

Q. Where did the idea for the film come from? 

A. My good buddy Joe and I have done a lot of hiking and climbing over the last 15 years. We hiked more than 400 different mountains, most of them together and more than 5,000 miles of trail. 

About 2-1/2 years ago I got a message from Katera Kapoor - one of the founders of the Veda Films company – who said, “I’ve been following your adventures with your buddy Joe and was wondering if you had any interest in doing a documentary film together.” Katara is originally from Saratoga Springs. She told me how she and her husband (Aviral), both graduates of the New York Film Academy where they’d met, started this documentary film company. So, Joe and I said: sure. That’s how it all started.

Q. How did the filming work?

A. The husband-and-wife team followed us around when we went out. They were generally long days because in addition to the hiking itself, there was the setting up to take shots, second shots, third shots, and the interviewing. It’s taken a couple of years to get done. Joe and I had a lot of fun with Katera and Avi. They are exceptional people and superb storytellers.

Q. What is the focus of the documentary?

A. There are two sides to the story. One is the adventure side about hiking and mountain climbing. The other is about the relationship between Joe and I. There are 30 years between us - I’m 68 and he’s 38. My wife Mary has always said that my behavior is worse than a child, and Joe is like an old soul kind of person. So, one of the focal points is the relationship between these two guys who met by chance and spent a lot of time together over the past 15 years on mountains and on trails.

Q. You go up a city kid. Where did your fondness for hiking and climbing come from?

A. Back in the late 1980s, I decided to run for the town board in Wilton and Roy McDonald was our town supervisor. Unbeknownst to me, Roy was big on hiking at the time. He had climbed Mount Marcy like 10 times. So, Roy calls me and says, “I’m going to pick you up at 5:30 in the morning and we’re going to go on a hike.” I didn’t even know where we were going, or what I needed. It was a real nice weekend, so I had on a pair of gym shorts, a T-shirt, and some work boots that I wore when doing yardwork. We wound up hiking Mount Marcy. We had a great time. On subsequent hikes, I came much better prepared.

Q. How do you decide where to climb?

A. We have a list we work on. The first was the 46 high peaks of the Adirondacks. There’s a fire tower challenge  - 32 mountains between the Catskills and the Adirondacks that have fire towers on them.  And we’ve done all those. There’s a broader list called the Northeast 115, the tallest mountains in the northeast United States. And there are other smaller mountains – the Lake George 12ster, the Saranac Lake 6er.

The next list is the 50 highest points and peaks in the United States. I’ve already got 17 states done and Joe’s a couple shy of that. I’ve got a plan mapped out for a southern swing next month where we go to Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and Indiana. Nine states, high points or peaks in six days.

Q. For people inspired to go on a hike or climb, what local resources are available to learn more?

A. If you’re a beginner there is the Adirondack Mountain Club, the Appalachian Mountain Club, Saratoga Plan. You know you don’t have to climb Mount Everest to get the benefits emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Q. What do you get from hiking, emotionally, physically or otherwise?

A. I’d like to say it’s as good for the mind and the soul as it is for the body. There’s something special about being out in the wilderness. The Japanese have a term they call it: Forest Bathing. Being out in the woods, on the trail, in isolation. Getting away from all the world’s troubles is magical.

The debut screening of “An Above Average Day” will take place at the Saratoga Arts Center, 320 Broadway, Saratoga Springs on Saturday, April 15. Shows at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Tickets are $5 and available at: www.saratoga-arts.org/events. Produced and directed by Katera and Aviral Kapoor, founders of Veda Films. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — What’s in a name? Plenty when it comes to how some local residents see themselves represented. 

A new movie by local filmmaker Shaun Rose is garnering loud feedback from some in the community in which the movie was made - largely due to its one-word title: Toga. 

“I’ve never seen this before with any type of movie on any type of level. The fanatical ones, they’re at me like rabid animals,” Rose says. 

The 61-minute film tells Rose’s continuing story of a person progressing through different stages of their life. Released in January, “Toga” follows freelance videographer ‘Ellis Martin’ on assignment, scouting locations in the town where he was raised.

“I grew up in Saratoga Springs over on the west side of town by the high school,” says Rose.  “Toga” is a semi-autobiographical film and a sequel to his previous work, “Upstate Story.” 

“Getting into some of the biographical details of the movie, just channeling that, I think has been very therapeutic for me,” says the 37-year-old filmmaker. 

“The character is a fictionalized version of me, but there’s a lot of truth in that movie; Capturing me at different aspects, different time periods of my life,” says Rose, who handled most of the writing, directing, acting, and image-making/editing of the independent film. “Pretty much everything; tackling so many different roles, but I did have some help,” he says. 

“It has received good reviews from outside sources and has built up quite a few views over on YouTube. But it’s been controversial, to say the least - mostly due to the name alone and I’ve received a lot of hate from fellow locals over the shortening of our town name,” says Rose, privately sharing some of the more personally focused messages he received. Rose isn’t wrong in his labeling of these as “outright vulgar and disgusting. My girlfriend and co-producer received some as well.”

Saratoga: What’s In A Name

There is more than one Saratoga in the U.S. – a town in Wyoming, a city in California, and a Saratoga Springs in Utah, among them. Closer to home, the Town of Saratoga Springs was set apart from the Town of Saratoga in 1819. It was incorporated as a village in 1826, and in 1915 the City of Saratoga Springs came into existence. Its translation and spelling are varied:

•“Saratoga after an Iroquois Indian word Sarachtoue, which translates to “place of miraculous water in the rock.” - Visit Saratoga Wyoming, Carbon County Visitors Council. 

•“Saratoga, it is said, is derived from an Iroquois word, Se-rach-to-que, literally, ‘floating scum upon the water,’ a completely understandable interpretation to be put on the presence of mineral deposits showing up as vari-colored film on the surface of a pond.” – Saratoga Historical Foundation, Saratoga California.

•“Among the earliest dates in which the name Saratoga appears in history is the year 1684. It was not then the name of a town, nor of a county, neither was it the name of a great watering-place; but it was the name of an old Indian hunting-ground located along both sides of the Hudson River…Se-rach-ta-gue, or the “hill-side country of the great river.”-  Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester, 1878, History Of Saratoga County, N.Y. 

Toga? What People Are Saying

An inquiry posted this week on locally focused social media channels asking folks to reply with their preferred usage of “Saratoga” vs. “Toga” returned more than 200 comments. 

Some said they took no issue with either. Others pointed to the two-syllable “to-ga” as affording a clean and simple chant at high school sporting events. 

Those opposed to the abbreviated version – which counted more than twice as many commentators - said they had either had never heard the phrase uttered, or set blame for its usage on everything from “the younger generation” and summertime “invaders from New Jersey” to John Belushi’s portrayal of the bellicose toga-draped John “Blutto” Blutarsky in the 1978 film “Animal House.” 

Here are some of the comments:

• Calling Saratoga Toga is like calling your father “the old man,” or calling your mother by her first name, or calling your wife “my old lady”, etc. etc. Sounds cool to those of the same mindset. Lived in the area for most of my life and TOGA is just one of the many little things that irk some of us “OLD TIMERS” - Don.

• “Toga” is a nickname used by Saratoga high athletics only. Anyone else referring to Saratoga as Toga is a Neanderthal - Scott. 

• We don’t call it ‘Toga. New people do – Michele. 

• Toga a known cheer and chant. Nothing wrong with it. Everyone knows where Toga is - Barbara. 

• My dad is 79 and my mom is 73. We’ve all lived here our whole lives. I know plenty of “old” Saratogians and I’ve never heard it – Amber. 

• TOGA was probably made popular by a drunken frat boy – Heather. 

• Lifelong born and raised, graduated from SSHS. It has always been shortened to Toga – Dee. 

• Been here since 1956. Toga is an abomination. Nobody called it that when I was growing up… and get off my lawn while you’re at it – Eric.

• Notice that cranky “baby boomers” are the only ones offended – Bruce. 

• Bruce - boomer here...not offended. SSHS class of ‘79 and we used to chant this at basketball and football games, taking a page from Animal House – Cathy. 

• This must be coming from people who were NOT raised in Saratoga. No one I know of calls it Toga – Joan. 

• Lifelong resident and it’s always been Toga! My kids, current students, call it Toga! Never found it offensive or complained about the shortened name. A lot easier to chant “let’s go Toga!” – LeeAnn. 

• True natives say “Sara-doga” born there, raised there, still return any time I can. Never heard the Roman sheet reference until recent times. Kind of goes with backward ball caps and flips flops, not good – Brian. 

• I have called it both. At sporting events it was yelled as Toga but I normally said just Saratoga. I was not born and raised here but my kids call it both. Don’t really get what there is to be offended by but I guess that’s the way of the world at present. – Jonna. 

Rose first became Inspired to make films while growing up watching movies that came into his home from the video rental store that stood in the strip mall on South Broadway. 

“I used to go there all the time with my family and rent movies. I just fell in love with movies as a teenager,” he says. 

“I always try to make movies to connect with people. Outside the obvious title fiasco, I’ve gotten positive feedback from a lot of people who have liked it. Something that people can connect with,” Rose says. 

“When we usually see coming of age movies -it’s common to see kids transitioning into teenagers, or teenagers into adults - but what about further areas of adulthood? We don’t really see that. I think we as people never stop growing, or maturing, bettering ourselves. It’s constantly a learning curve,” he says. “I try to make things that people can connect with, a story I’m trying to tell, and balance it with comedy or drama so people can be entertained by it as well.”   

The film may be viewed on YouTube by searching “Shaun Rose” and “Toga.” Note, the film contains mature themes and strong language. 

In the early morning hours on November 20, 2022, members of the Saratoga Springs Police Department responded to the sound of gunfire coming from Broadway. The officers involved were assigned to the downtown area, and were on foot on Caroline St at the time. Within seconds, the Officers confronted two individuals exchanging gunfire on Broadway in the heart of the City’s busy downtown area. –Saratoga Springs Police Department statement March 28, 2023. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A deputy sheriff was charged with attempted murder and three men from Utica with attempted assault in this week’s reveal of charges in connection with a November early morning incident in Saratoga Springs that saw approximately 20 bullets raining down on Broadway. 

Vito E. Caselnova, a Rutland County Vermont sheriff’s deputy and Glens Falls resident, was arraigned Tuesday afternoon in Saratoga County Court. The sealed indictment, unsealed in court, documented eight charges - five felonies, two misdemeanors, and one violation. 

The charges: attempted murder in the second-degree, assault in the first-degree, possession of a firearm in a sensitive location (that “sensitive location” in this instance believed to be carrying a firearm inside a place that serves alcohol), two counts of possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device, menacing, reckless endangerment, and harassment.

“There is a wide range of sentences the court could impose if you are convicted of that (attempted murder) charge or if you plead guilty of that charge, but the most severe sentence is a determinate term of up to 25 years in state prison,” Judge Jim Murphy said in the courtroom on March 28. 

Approximately two dozen people filled the public area of the courtroom. Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen was seated in the first row. Ten members of the media sat in the jury box, notebooks and cameras in hand. 

“Given the configuration of the indictment, it may be that some of those charges would run concurrently, or potentially consecutively if you were to be found guilty or if you were to plead guilty,” Judge Murphy told Caselnova. 

Caselnova, who sat mostly quiet while in the courtroom, pleaded not guilty to all counts. 

Bail was set at $50,000 cash, or $100,000 bail bond. Caselnova’s attorney, Greg Teresi, said that bail would be posted on Caselnova’s behalf at the correction facility. Caselnova, 25, was handcuffed and led out of the courtroom. 

During proceedings, an order of protection – effective immediately - was issued advising Caselnova to not have any contact, directly or indirectly, with Alexander Colon. 

Less than 24 hours later and across the county, Colon’s name as well as those of two others allegedly connected with the Nov. 20 incident appeared on documents at Saratoga Springs City Court. 

Court records indicate that the three people, all from Utica, were each charged with one count attempted assault in the third-degree, a misdemeanor, in connection with the incident. According to the prosecutor’s filings, the charge specifies each of the defendants “attempted to cause an injury to a person by repeatedly punching him.” 

Those charged are: Alexander Colon, 28, Darius A. Wright, 29, and Christopher (AKA Christian) E. Castillo, 28. The charges were assigned on March 23, according to court documents. All three were summoned to appear in person in Saratoga Springs City Court at 9 a.m. on April 25.

According to statements by Saratoga Springs Public Safety Commissioner Jim Montagnino shortly after the Nov. 20 incident occurred, an altercation allegedly involving Caselnova - who was off-duty at the time - and “a group of individuals from the Utica area” was initiated on or around a Caroline Street bar before accelerating west and onto Broadway with approximately eight shots being fired. It is unclear how many weapons may have been involved, or who is suspected of firing first. 

City police officers subsequently responding to the incident fired approximately 11 shots after the off-duty deputy allegedly ignored calls to drop his weapon. 

“What they see is the Vermont sheriff’s deputy, standing on the sidewalk, his gun leveled and moving from side-to-side pointing the gun,” Montagnino said. “The officers repeatedly, loudly direct the deputy, ‘Drop the gun, get on the ground,’ again, again and again. By my count there are at least eight separate clear unequivocal demands to put the gun down and get on the ground. They are all ignored.” 

The incident marked the first discharge of a weapon in the line of duty by a Saratoga Springs officer in more than a quarter-century. 

City officers testified before the grand jury and waived immunity for their actions, according to a statement issued by PBA President Paul Veitch this week. “The Grand Jury decision to exonerate our officers confirms that they acted appropriately and justifiably during this stressful life-threatening situation.”

Caselnova suffered a number of wounds as a result of the incident and a woman believed to be his girlfriend was “nicked by one of the bullets in her upper arm,” Montagnino said. The woman, Glens Falls resident Cali Brown, filed the notice of claim against the city and police department signifying her intent to sue, the Daily Gazette in February. 

It is anticipated Caselnova will return to county court on May 2 at 9:30 a.m. for discovery compliance - the sharing of evidence in the matter.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner (D-Round Lake) is calling for a 20% increase to Medicaid reimbursement rates in the 2023-24 state budget to support upstate nursing homes. 

“Our upstate nursing homes are on the verge of collapse,” said Woerner, during a press conference held this week. “They have hundreds of beds that can’t be filled due to staffing shortages caused by lack of funds. While I am grateful that the Assembly’s one-house budget doubled the executive’s proposed paltry increase of only 5%, the need for a full 20% increase remains. Without that increase, many homes supporting the elders in our communities will be forced to shut their doors, and we cannot allow this to happen.” 

A systemic rebasing strategy, one that is based on current costs, is also critically needed if the rate is to keep up with the cost of providing care, Woerner added. 

Medicaid reimbursements rates -- the amounts Medicaid provides to cover patient health care costs — for upstate nursing homes have not increased in 15 years in New York. Nursing homes’ operating costs have meanwhile increased around 40% over the last several years, leading to shortfalls in what the nursing homes charge for service and what they receive. 

Medicaid pays for care for many nursing home residents across the state. At The Wesley Community, 75% of residents are paid for by Medicaid, yet it only covers part of the actual costs of care, according to J. Brian Nealon, CEO of The Wesley Community in Saratoga Springs. 

“With every Medicaid resident we care for, Wesley loses $106 per day. Annually, this means underfunding of $8,500,000,” Nealon wrote in an editorial published Feb. 16 in Saratoga TODAY. 

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wesley was able to approach breakeven in some years through alternative revenue streams and donations from the community. 

“That is no longer the case. Due to this shortfall, community-focused, nonprofit nursing homes statewide are closing or being sold to private ‘for-profit’ operators at an alarming rate. In Saratoga County alone, the number of nursing home beds has dropped by 55% in the last decade,” said Nealon, adding that 26 other states have increased their Medicaid funding during the pandemic, whereas New York reduced its reimbursement rates during that time. 

The result of the underfunding by the state has forced many nursing homes, including Wesley, to limit admissions, and without available beds, hospitals cannot discharge patients who would have traditionally gone to a nursing home for rehabilitation. 

“The governor’s recently released Executive Budget, with a proposed 5% increase, is a start, but still falls short of what is needed after years of underfunding,” Nealon said. 

Assemblywoman Woerner said that a 20% increase will shore up the finances of upstate nursing homes and allow them to operate and provide care to the people who need it most.