SARATOGA COUNTY —Primary Election races will take place in six municipalities in Saratoga County on Tuesday, June 27. Polls will be open 6 a.m. – 9 p.m.
In the city of Saratoga Springs, incumbent Democrat Mayor Ron Kim is facing a primary contest challenge from former city Public Safety Commissioner Chris Mathiesen. There are 8,330 registered Democrat voters in Saratoga Springs who may participate in the Primary Election.
Regardless of Tuesday’s outcome, both Kim and Mathiesen may still appear on the ballot in the general election in November, as Kim has additionally been endorsed by the Working Families Party and Mathiesen by the group One Saratoga. The Republican Party has endorsed John Safford for mayor.
Courtney DeLeonardis, chair of One Saratoga, last week announced that the group, “nonpartisan, dedicated to unity and good government in Saratoga Springs,” secured sufficient signatures – nearly 1,000 – to ensure a line on the November ballot.
To cast a ballot in the Primary Election, voters must be enrolled in the specific political party that is featured in that Primary Election.
This designation includes registered Democrats in Saratoga Springs, registered Conservatives in Clifton Park and Malta, and registered Republicans in Clifton Park, Day, Mechanicville and Providence.
Contested Primary elections, and parties involved: Town of Clifton Park
Conservative – Town Justice:
Vida Sheehan v. Robert A. Rybak.
Republican – Town Justice:
Vida Sheehan v. Robert A. Rybak.
Republican – Highway Superintendent:
Michael Traider v. Dahn S. Bull.
Town of Day
Republican – Town Councilmember (vote for 2): Lorraine Newton; Ellen Taylor; Joseph L. Flacke, Jr.; Cheryl L. Allen.
Town of Malta
Conservative – Town Councilmember (vote for 2): Murray Eitzmann; Timothy F. Dunn; Craig M. Warner.
Conservative – Judicial Delegate for the 113th Assembly District (vote for 2): Thomas J. Sartin, Jr.; Michael J. Welch; David F. Buchyn; Jeffrey A. Hurt.
Conservative – Alternate Judicial Delegate for the 113th Assembly District (vote for 2): Tristan A. Ramsdill; Janet Hurt; Michael R. Biss, Jr.; Isabel L. Sartin.
City of Mechanicville
Republican – Commissioner of Finance (remainder of term): Mark Seber v. Tamar Martin.
Town of Providence
Republican – Town Councilmember (vote for up to 2): Ann Morris; Randy Wolfe.
City of Saratoga Springs
Democratic – Ronald J. Kim v. Christian E. Mathiesen.
To find your polling place, go to: voterlookup.elections.ny.gov.
The Union Avenue side of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, on June 19, 2023. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The five prized trophies went missing shortly before the midnight hour on a late Thursday night in September 2013 in Saratoga Springs.
A decade later, a narrative describing their forced exit, subsequent whereabouts and ultimate outcome has come to light in a 62-page indictment announced last week by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
The allegations charge nine Pennsylvania residents with conspiring to break into a dozen museums and institutions in multiple states – the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs among them – and stealing priceless works of art and sports memorabilia. The accusations claim the events transpired over a period of 20 years and included the transporting of stolen goods to Pennsylvania where some of the suspects melted the memorabilia down into discs and bars and sold the raw metals in the New York City area for hundreds or thousands of dollars.
The suspected “smash-and-grab” burglary in 2013 at the Union Avenue racing museum involved a man wearing dark clothing forcing their way into the museum. Among sounding alarms, triggering sensors and more than a dozen surveillance cameras, he vandalized two display cases and escaped through a separate exit with five trophies in a duffel bag, police described at the time. The entire ordeal took less than five minutes.
There were five trophies in all in the Saratoga heist – three gold and two silver collectively worth more than $400,000. They included a 1905 Saratoga Special Trophy, a 1903 Brighton Cup Trophy, a 1903 Belmont Stakes Trophy made by Tiffany & Co. featuring semi-precious stones, and a pair of steeplechase trophies – one crafted in gold in 1914, the other in silver in 1923.
According to the indictment, 53-year-old Nicholas Dombek, 47-year-old Damien Boland and a person identified as “Conspirator No. 1” made multiple visits to Saratoga Springs prior to the September 2013 incident to view objects on display at the racing museum and observe security measures in place.
Boland is accused of driving Conspirator No. 1 to the museum on Sept. 13, when the latter broke in, used tools to smash multiple display cases and remove the five trophies. The two are then alleged to have driven in Boland’s car to the Saratoga Casino Hotel parking lot where the trophies were transferred to Conspirator No. 1’s car.
The two are said to have later met up at a Denny’s Restaurant in Dickson City, Pennsylvania to inventory the trophies before proceeding to Boland’s bar, Collier’s Bar in Scranton, where they melted the trophies down into metal pieces. They subsequently transported those metal pieces to New York City where they were sold for approximately $150,000 to $160,000. Conspirator No. 1 later paid Nicholas Dombek $30,000 from the proceeds of the sale in exchange for Dombek’s help in planning the theft, according to the documents.
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs released a brief statement this week which thanked law enforcement for their efforts and said they are “pleased to learn arrests have been made in conjunction with the 2013 theft of priceless trophies from our institution.”
The nine people accused overall are all Pennsylvania residents. Their alleged actions at times mimicked a Hassidic disguise to case out a mineralogical and geological museum in Massachusetts, and saw them pose as prospective members of a Country Club to secure a scouting tour of clubhouse memorabilia and evaluate on-premise security measures. There are additional accusations of being draped in a fireman’s uniform and carrying an axe in order to not draw suspicion prior to smashing display cases, as well as selling some of the goods “to an individual named ‘King Joe’” in New York City.
Among the various objects claimed to have been taken from numerous locations: 9 World Series rings awarded to Yogi Berra between 1947 and 1962; 6 championship boxing belts; a 1961 MVP Trophy awarded to Roger Maris, an Andy Warhol artwork created in 1984 titled “Le Grande Passion,” and a work created in 1949 by Jackson Pollock titled “Springs Winter.” Additionally, the allegations document the thefts of antique firearms worth more than $1.3 million; an 1903/1904 Tiffany Lamp, $400,000 worth of gold nuggets and a variety of gems, minerals, jewelry, and other items taken from multiple stores in New York, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. The whereabouts of some of the paintings and stolen objects to this day remain unknown.
The accused: Nicholas Dombek, age 53, Damien Boland, age 47, Alfred Atsus, age 47, and Joseph Atsus, age 48 – indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to commit theft of major artwork, concealment or disposal of objects of cultural heritage, and interstate transportation of stolen property. All four men were also charged with substantive counts of theft of major artwork and the concealment or disposal of objects of cultural heritage; Dombek was further charged with a substantive count of interstate transportation of stolen property.
Five other individuals were charged by felony informations for the same conspiracy. They are: Thomas Trotta, age 48, Frank Tassiello, age 50, Daryl Rinker, age 50, Dawn Trotta, age 51, and Ralph Parry, age 45. According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, the indictment and informations charge the nine with conspiring and other objects.
More than two dozen law enforcement agencies were involved in the lengthy investigation, including the FBI, New York State Police, and the Saratoga Springs Police Department.
The maximum penalty under federal law for the conspiracy count is five years imprisonment, and for each of the other offenses is 10 years imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.
A breakdown of alleged violations within each NY Troop
NEW YORK — State Police announced this week that it issued a total of 38,363 tickets statewide during the National “Click It or Ticket” enforcement campaign, including just over 3,000 in the Capital Region alone.
The special enforcement period began on Monday, May 22, 2023, and ran through Sunday, June 4, 2023.
During the campaign, partially funded by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, State Police utilized sobriety checkpoints, additional DWI patrols, and ticketed suspected distracted drivers who used handheld electronic devices.
Troopers arrested 399 people for DWI and investigated 2,436 crashes, including 410 personal injury crashes and two fatal crashes.
As part of the enforcement, Troopers targeted speeding and aggressive drivers across the state. A sampling of the total tickets issued include: Speeding- 10,654; Distracted Driving – 1,334; Seatbelt violations – 8,473; Move Over Law- 337.
The New York Move Over Law requires drivers to be extra cautious when approaching an emergency or hazard vehicle that is stopped on the side of the road with its emergency lights on. Drivers are expected to move one full lane away from the stopped vehicle.
During last year’s “Click It or Ticket” enforcement campaign (May 23, 2022 – June 5, 2022), New York State Police issued 40,038 total tickets and arrested 441 people for DWI.
Treat Williams speaking at Grant Cottage’s Bicentennial Birthday Gala, Oct. 16, 2022. Photo provided.
SARATOGA COUNTY — Treat Williams suffered critical injuries after he was unable to avoid a collision and thrown from his motorcycle on Vermont Route 30 on June 12. He was 71.
The popular actor, a resident of Manchester Center Vermont, was airlifted to Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York, where he was pronounced dead, according to a statement released from the Vermont State Police, who are investigating the crash.
Williams was a member of the Board of Trustees at the Friends of the Ulysses S. Grant Cottage, and spoke at Grant Cottage’s Bicentennial Birthday Gala last October.
The Ulysses S. Grant Cottage State Historic Site released the following statement on June 13:
“The Friends of the Ulysses S. Grant Cottage are deeply saddened by the passing of actor, husband, father, friend, and Honorary Trustee Treat Williams,” reads the statement. “Treat Williams was a great friend of Grant Cottage and a member of our Board of Trustees. He had been working with Cottage staff and volunteers to produce a one-man show on General Grant, a segment of which he performed at our fundraising Gala last October. His death is a tragic loss to all who knew him personally and who experienced his creative work on stage and screen. Our condolences to his wife Pam Van Sant and his two children.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College announces its series of popular, fun, educational Family Saturdays for the summer will be on June 24, July 29, Aug. 12, and Aug. 26. The programs foster multigenerational creative cooperation through looking at artwork, discussing it, and engaging in a hands-on art-making activity.
The programs, which are free and open to the public, run from 2 to 3:30 p.m. They are suitable for children ages 5 and older, accompanied by their adult companions. No registration required; supplies provided on a first-come, first-served basis.
The first summer Family Saturday takes place June 24 with a program called Family Saturday: Bead Broadcast. Led by Njeri Jennings, the Laurie M. Tisch Educator for K-12 and Community Programs at the Tang Teaching Museum, participants will view works by Christine Sun Kim: Oh Me Oh My, whose art engages with different modes of visual communication, and then use perler beads to create pie charts and echos reflecting on how they communicate.
For more information call the Tang Visitor Service Desk at 518-580-8080 or email tang@skidmore.edu.
Early voting for the Primary Election runs June 17-25
SARATOGA COUNTY — Early voting in advance of the June 27 Primary gets underway Saturday, June 17 and will continue through Sunday, June 25.
All voters interested in voting early may do so at any of the three poll sites offered. They are: Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library, 475 Moe Road., Clifton Park; Saratoga Springs Recreation Center, 15 Vanderbilt Ave., Saratoga Springs, and at the county Board of Elections, 50 W. High St., Ballston Spa.
To cast a ballot in a Primary Election, voters must be enrolled in the specific political party that is featured in that Primary Election.
This designation includes registered Democrats in Saratoga Springs, registered Conservatives in Clifton Park and Malta, and registered Republicans in Clifton Park, Day, Mechanicville and Providence.
Contested Primary elections, and parties involved:
TOWN OF CLIFTON PARK
Conservative – Town Justice: Vida Sheehan v. Robert A. Rybak.
Republican – Town Justice: Vida Sheehan v. Robert A. Rybak.
Republican – Highway Superintendent: Michael Traider v. Dahn S. Bull.
TOWN OF DAY
Republican – Town Councilmember (vote for 2): Lorraine Newton; Ellen Taylor; Joseph L. Flacke, Jr.; Cheryl L. Allen.
TOWN OF MALTA
Conservative – Town Councilmember (vote for 2): Murray Eitzmann; Timothy F. Dunn; Craig M. Warner.
Conservative – Judicial Delegate for the 113th Assembly District (vote for 2): Thomas J. Sartin, Jr.; Michael J. Welch; David F. Buchyn; Jeffrey A. Hurt.
Conservative – Alternate Judicial Delegate for the 113th Assembly District (vote for 2): Tristan A. Ramsdill; Janet Hurt; Michael R. Biss, Jr.; Isabel L. Sartin.
CITY OF MECHANICVILLE
Republican – Commissioner of Finance (remainder of term): Mark Seber v. Tamar Martin.
TOWN OF PROVIDENCE
Republican – Town Councilmember (vote for up to 2): Ann Morris; Randy Wolfe.
CITY OF SARATOGA SPRINGS
Democratic – Ronald J. Kim v. Christian E. Mathiesen.
Note, voters who cast a ballot during the early voting period will not be allowed to vote on Election Day. Voters who have been issued an absentee ballot are not permitted to vote on the voting machines but may be issued an affidavit ballot. For more information, call the Saratoga County Board of Elections at 518-885-2249.
BALLSTON SPA, NY — The Second Annual Summer Kickoff Festival launches on Sunday, June 18 in Wiswall Park, Ballston Spa.
The event takes place 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. and will be hosted by Natalia Martinez – owner of the children’s retail and play space Play Hollow, and Dayanis Bowie, owner of DB Trends, a gift studio featuring home decor and tropical plants.
This year, there will be 30+ vendors selling baked goods, specialty foods, clothing, handmade gifts, jewelry as well as promoting local services including pet boarding, home needs, childcare, child development education and more. The Kids’ Free Activity Tent will have a yoga class, face painting, surprise visits from special characters, as well as bubble and water play stations.
The first 25 shoppers will receive FREE swag bags full of local goodies and every purchase recorded on the event stamp pass will be entered to win several giveaways.
For more information, go to: https://www.playhollow.com/pages/summer-kick-off-2023
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation will present via Zoom “Historic Preservation & Lost Histories of Saratoga Springs,” at 7 p.m. on Monday, June 19.
In celebration of Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, the Foundation will partner with Dr. Myra Young Armstead of Bard College for a community conversation about Black history in Saratoga Springs, the effects of Urban Renewal, and the role historic preservation plays with lost histories within a community.
The program will take place on Zoom for a suggested donation of $10 or more. For additional information or to register for the virtual program, visit www.saratogapreservation.org or call 518-587-5030.
The Frederick Allen Elks Lodge #609 has additionally scheduled a weekend of local public events celebrating Juneteenth in Saratoga Springs.
Events: Friday, June 16 – The Slingshot Band, 9 p.m., at 69 Beekman St.
Sunday, June 18 – Author Carol Daggs’ “Brandtville Boogie Neighborhood Walking Tours,” 3 – 4 p.m. (also 10-11 a.m. June 19), $25/person (proceeds to benefit Frederick Allen Elks Lodge #609). Tours begin and end at 29 Doten Ave.
Monday, June 19 – 2nd Annual National Holiday Juneteenth Celebration, 1 – 3 p.m. Hosted at UU Congregation of Saratoga Springs 624 Broadway; Saratoga BLM’s “Poetic Community,” 4-7 p.m. at 69 Beekman St., with Spoken Word, Art, African cuisine. For additional events and updates, go to: https://www.frederickallenlodge.org/juneteenth-week
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Dake Foundation for Children raised more than $180,000 to support local children with disabilities during their May 31 annual Child’s Play fundraiser.
Founded by Gary Dake, President of Stewart’s Shops, the Foundation has provided grants to local children with disabilities since 2009 with a focus on inclusion, independence, and fun. The Foundation announced it will now additionally be offering assistance to local 501c3 nonprofit organizations seeking to make their spaces or programming more accessible and inclusive.
The first recipient of the Community Grant program will be the Saratoga Springs Children’s Museum, who will be provided with up to $25,000 towards building an inclusive playground.
To apply, donate, or to learn more about the Dake Foundation for Children, visit http://www.dakefoundation.org.
BALLSTON SPA — The Ballston Spa Business and Professional Association (BSBPA), along with the Saratoga County Department of Health, will host a Narcan Training event Monday, June 19. This training session aims to equip the community with life-saving skills and knowledge to combat opioid overdoses effectively.
The event will take place from 5:30-7:30 on the lawn of Brookside Museum, located at 21 Fairground Ave. in Ballston Spa. Admission is free to all members of the public who wish to participate. Participants will receive valuable instruction on recognizing signs of an opioid overdose and administering naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, an FDA-approved medication that can reverse the effects of an overdose. Narcan kits will be given away, and each training session lasts about 10 minutes.
To receive further information about Narcan Training in Saratoga County, please contact the Saratoga County Health at 518-584-7460.
