SARATOGA SPRINGS — A 24-year-old local man accused of damaging 18 parked vehicles by standing and jumping on them during a Dead & Co. concert at Saratoga Performing Arts Center June 18 was charged with 18 counts of criminal mischief in the third-degree.
State Police said Troopers responded to the Saratoga Spa State Park after receiving reports of an individual damaging parked vehicles in the area of North South Road.
Scott M. Bullard, of Ballston, was taken into custody at the scene, with the assistance of the New York State Police Park Police.
Bullard was transported to SP Wilton for processing and was issued an appearance ticket returnable to the Saratoga Springs City Court on July 5. No one was injured during the incident.
SARATOGA COUNTY — A 42-year-old Northumberland man was killed after he was struck by a car June 17 on State Route 32 in the town of Northumberland.
Zachary D. Yeager had been walking southbound on Route 32 just north of the hamlet of Gansevoort when he was struck by a 2005 Honda Accord operated by 56-year-old Dale R. Cox of Schuylerville, who had also been traveling southbound, according to the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office.
As a result of the impact, Yeager was propelled into the northbound lane and struck again by a 2012 Acura TSX operated by 40-year-old Jaralyn F. Muzio of Queensbury, who was traveling northbound.
Muzio was subsequently arrested for DWI, operating a motor vehicle with a BAC of .08% or greater, and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the third-degree, police said.
The crash remains under investigation by the Sheriff’s Collision Reconstruction Unit.
Burke Funeral Home at 628 N. Broadway, Saratoga Springs, c. 1945. Photo provided.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Springs History Museum will host a discussion 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 29 of the rich history of the oldest continuously running funeral home in Saratoga Springs, which opened in 1893 as William J. Burke and Sons, Undertaker and Embalmer.
Panel speakers include writer/historian Carol Stone Godette, Burke & Bussing’s Mark Phillips, and Jacqueline Bunge, the History Museum’s Education Director.
The three will discuss Victorian-era mourning and funeral customs; how William Burke’s involvement in the embalming of President Ulysses S Grant led him to open his own funeral home; and the rich history of Burke’s role as one of four operating funeral homes in Saratoga Springs (including Simone’s Funeral Home, Bussing & Cunniff Funeral Home, and Kark & Tunison Funeral Home). Many historic and personal images from the speakers’ private collections as well as a special display of artifacts will illustrate the talk.
The program takes place at the Canfield Casino, in Congress Park. Admission is free for History Museum members, and $10 for non-members. Tickets and more details at: www.saratogahistory.org/events.
SARATOGA SPRINGS —The Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness continues its work with meetings scheduled to take place on June 26 and on July 13 at City Hall.
The task force is charged with determining whether a permanent low-barrier shelter is needed in Saratoga Springs and if so, proposing potential sites where one may be located. The initial deadline to report to the council was July 6. Those discussions will now come a bit later, city Mayor Ron Kim said this week.
“They have about eight sites that they’re considering and discussing as possible places to site a homeless shelter,” Mayor Kim said. “One issue is that none of those (eight) sites have a structure on them, so almost anything the city looks at will require some type of construction.”
A temporary 24/7 shelter recently opened on Adelphi Street and is operated by RISE Housing and Support Services. Additional beds have been added to the shelter, bringing the total number of beds to 35.
Mayor Kim urged city residents to attend county board meetings and speak to supervisors about sharing the expenses related to caring for the local homeless population.
“Some (county) money should go to taking care of the unhoused in Saratoga Springs – who are basically from various parts of Saratoga County,” Kim said. The annual city budget is approximately $57 million. The annual county budget is about $378 million.
The Saratoga County Board of Supervisors meets as a group monthly, typically at 4 p.m. on the third Tuesday of the month, at the county complex in Ballston Spa. The next meeting will be held Tuesday, July 18. Fifteen minutes are set aside for public input at county meetings, and any person wishing to speak must sign their name and address on a sign-up sheet for speakers prior to the 4 p.m. meeting start. Speakers are limited to three minutes. Written public comments may be to the Clerk of the Board at any time via standard mail (40 McMaster St., Ballston Spa, NY 12020), or electronic mail at: www.saratogacountyny.gov/contact.php?EID=125.
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.
