Thomas Dimopoulos

Thomas Dimopoulos

City Beat and Arts & Entertainment Editor
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Thursday, 23 April 2020 12:35

Get to the Point!

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Maura Pulver stood behind the counter of the Five Points Market & Deli, which she has owned the past eight years. The east side eatery has served the neighborhood for more than a century. 

Last week, one of the neighbors reached out to Pulver to express some concerns. 

“One of our regulars - she has three elementary school age kids – she said she and her husband were concerned about kids perhaps not getting meals,” Pulver explained. 

FivePoints PulverMaura Pulver poses inside Five Points Market & Deli with a pair of handmade signs that will be fixed to a table on weekends offering “free lunch,  for anyone who needs it,” while supplies on the table last. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos. 

With New York State on “PAUSE” and the closure of schools extended through at least May 15, the woman, Jenn McMahon, was brainstorming an idea for weekends that would complement breakfast and lunch availability for students provided via the Saratoga Springs School District.

“She was thinking about that kid, just riding by on their bike, who maybe didn’t get breakfast this morning,” Pulver said. “I thought, oh my God, I love that; Let’s make it happen.”

The fruition of the idea was to set some sandwiches upon a table outside the store during weekends providing a free lunch for anyone who needs it. 

“So I asked her kids to make the signs for it and this past Sunday was our first day of doing it. I put them out there - sandwiches, a nice little package. Some cold cuts, some peanut butter & jelly, some cheese, an apple and potato chips, and some baked cookies,” Pulver said. “There were about 15 of them and by 1 o’clock they were all gone. Jenn ants to do it every Saturday and Sunday, from 11 to 1, and she said: ‘We’re just very fortunate right now that we can help out, and I can probably pay for a month’s worth.’”

Area residents either out for a walk or perusing social media where images of the table fixed with bright blue and yellow hand-made signs topped by an offering of small brown lunch bags went viral were moved by the gesture. 

“Let me tell you what happened: when the neighbors heard about it, they came by and took pictures of the table and since Sunday people have been handing me money to have it continue,” Pulver said.  “Now we’re thinking about maybe adding another day, or maybe increasing the numbers. We want to keep it going for as long as we can.”

Tuesday, 21 April 2020 16:35

Dead & Co. Cancel Summer SPAC Show

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Dead & Company have canceled their previously scheduled Aug. 3 appearance at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. 

The statement, released Tuesday afternoon reads: "Because of the global coronavirus outbreak and to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, we have no choice but to cancel Dead & Company's Summer Tour 2020.  The well-being and safety of our Deadhead community, venue staff and the band’s touring family is of the utmost importance.  We also want to get refunds back to our fans while so many are hurting economically.  All tickets will be fully refunded at point of purchase. We are thankful for your understanding and we look forward to the day when we can all be reunited.  In the meantime, keep the faith and believe in the power of music.  We will return.  We will get by.  We will survive."

The show marks the third cancellation of the summer pop season at SPAC. 

Cancelations were earlier announced for shows featuring Celtic Woman (June 7), and Zac Brown Band (June 13). 

ALBANY – Fifty-one days since New York registered its first COVID-19 case, and 92 days since the first case in the U.S. was known, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that in New York City specifically, where more than 10,000 residents have died as a result of the virus, “the number would suggest we are seeing a descent (in cases and hospitalizations)…the question is how long and how steep the descent? Nobody knows.” 

A statewide antibody testing survey that will sample 3,000 people began Sunday in a handful of upstate communities. Local officials say they were not informed of the testing until it was already underway, and two of the local counties – Saratoga and Schenectady, handled this information in different ways.

Late Sunday afternoon, the Saratoga County Office of Emergency Service posted on its Facebook page that it had “been made aware that The New York State Department of Health is conducting Antibody Testing at the Malta Price Chopper,” and that “no appointment is required.” Many did rush to the market in the hope of securing an antibody test. 

In Schenectady County, where it appears the information was not made in such a public way, “nearly two-dozen people waited in line, including several county legislators,” the Daily Gazette reported.

The antibody test will tell whether a person had previously had COVID-19. The state is hopeful this large-scale antibody testing will help determine the percentage of the population that is now immune to the virus, allowing more individuals to safely return to work.

The finger-stick blood samples will be tested at the Wadsworth Center, which is located in Albany. The tests will take place at location across the state this week in the hope of securing random samples of the population and leading to calculations to determine how many have previously had the coronavirus. This test is different than the one which determines whether a person is currently COVID-19 positive.  

Gov. Cuomo said Monday that he anticipates “a rolling curve” of infections. That is, that different test-positive hotspots will flare up at different times. “New York City had the first curve and then they project higher curves in other states and in other parts of our state,” Cuomo said. “Buffalo will have a later curve, Albany will have a later curve, and we’re watching the curves in different parts of the state. Our strategy is: we deploy to wherever the curve is highest.”

Approximately 1.5% of Saratoga County residents had been tested for COVID-19, according to the state Department of Health through Saturday - with 251 of 3,276 persons tested had tested positive, a rate of 7.7% - similar to the rate of infection in Rensselaer and slightly lower than in Albany (9.7%), Washington (10.6%), Warren (11%) and Schenectady (12%) counties, through April 18. Updates, when they become available, may be found HERE.   

Sunday night, the Saratoga County Department of Public Health Services confirmed 269 cases of COVID-19 in Saratoga County with 11 of those individuals hospitalized at this time. The Department also confirmed the county’s tenth death from COVID-19 — a 67-year-old female from Malta.

SARATOGA - Upstate New York is further along in terms of reopening the economy than parts of downstate, more testing of upstate residents is needed, and the federal government should play a role in acquiring testing supplies, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik said on a Friday conference call with reporters.   

“I believe (reopening) needs to be a regional approach. You need to balance the needs of public health as well as the economic needs. From my perspective different parts of the state and different parts of the country are in different circumstances,” said Stefanik, who represents New York's 21st District in the House of Representatives. The New York district borders Vermont to the east and Canada to the north and covers rural northern regions as well as Warren and Washington Counties and parts of Saratoga County.  

“There’s going to be a lot of data to look at between now and then. Different parts of New York are in different phases. We have not seen the percentage of positive cases (upstate) that we’ve seen downstate. That also is taking into consideration the lower number of tests,” said Stefanik, who earlier this week was named by The White House to serve on a bipartisan Task Force on Reopening the Economy, focused on restarting the economy after the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is contained.  “I think we are further along in terms of reopening the economy than parts of downstate.”  

However, Stefanik stressed there needs to be a greater amount of COVID-19 testing upstate. “We should not be under-tested compared to downstate.”

Approximately 3,000 Saratoga County residents – about 1.3% of the county population – has been tested for the virus, with 7.7% of those testing positive. A smaller percentage of residents in Warren and Washington County have been tested, while the percentage of residents living in downstate hotspots such as Queens, Dutchess, and Westchester counties are twice or three times greater.  Statewide, about 550,000 tests have been administered. New York counts just over 19 million residents. It is not known how many residents may have been administered a test multiple times.    

Stefanik wouldn’t say specifically what percentage of upstate residents ought be tested, deferring instead to county public health experts. “I think our county public health departments will provide important guidance as to what they think that percentage should be. Again, that 1% is less than the 2.5% of all testing form the New York State perspective. We need to balance the economic need and the public health need to make sure we have the capabilities,” she said.

Regarding whether parts of upstate New York with lower rates may be closer to reopening than downstate, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday afternoon that “lower infection rate places, lower death rate places are in a better position than places with a higher death rate, higher infection rate. So yes, calibrating those differences is important.”  There was no specific indication when a reopening plan of any kind may potentially begin. The key, Gov. Cuomo said, “to get the economy open wherever you can, as soon as you can, whenever you can.”

In a measure that would seem to echo Gov. Cuomo’s desire, Stefanik said the federal government should take over the acquiring of testing supplies. “I think one of the lessons learned with the PPE’s and the ventilators is you had states competing against one another. We know we need widespread testing across the country. And I do think the federal government should play a role so we’re not rehashing the challenges we had with the PPE’s, where you had not just states competing, but county-to-county competing for the acquisition of those products,” she said.    

The needs of upstate are unique compared to the needs of downstate, Stefanik stressed. So too are the varying needs in different communities within the district.   

“It’s a real balancing act. What I don’t want is the rules of New York City - somehow those mandates also apply to upstate New York because I think we’re in different circumstances,” she said.  “But Saratoga County is also a totally different set of circumstances than St. Lawrence, or Essex County.”

Suggesting a regional approach, rather than a one-size fits all model, Stefanik explained she would recommend a county-by-county influence.

“Even if you look within the county, you have different needs, with Saratoga Springs itself versus Schuylerville, or some of the more rural parts of the county. But I think county governments in partnership with the cities are in the most local position to make those decisions - and they have that county public health expertise to drive it,” she said. “I’d like to see county leadership as part of the governor’s team in making decisions, because they’re obviously connected to the diversity within each county.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Margaret Kuenzel returned to her home Wednesday afternoon after spending her morning at the food pantry where she has worked for the past year. 

“It’s a drive-thru these days,” she explains in this age of essential employees in the era of social distancing. She is one of six at St. Clement’s on Lake Avenue - where Marianne McGhan coordinates the outreach program - bagging produce and canned foods, laundry detergent and toothpaste and leaving them on a table outside of St. Clement’s Chapel for their customers who need them.

Kuenzel had worked as Family And Consumer Science, or FACS, teacher for 36 years prior to her retirement. And even as her earliest roots date to Hyde Park, N.Y., the great-granddaughter of legendary trainer "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons has lengthy traces to the Spa City. “My mom came to Saratoga every summer, following the horses and it was funny that I ended up here too,” she says. “We started a little racing stable as a hobby and have a few horses that win sometimes. My husband Charlie is a Saratoga native.”

The couple’s son Matthew grew up in Saratoga Springs and since relocated to North Carolina where he works for a consulting firm. “Matt called me and said he and his coworkers wanted to do something to support the health care workers there in North Carolina.” They heard about a need for masks and Matt and his co-workers set out to create some. “He said to me: ‘ And I’m using the home and career skills  I learned in 8th grade in Maple Avenue in Saratoga Springs.’ That did my heart good to hear that,” Kuenzel says. “I’d been thinking about making masks, so I asked him if he wanted some help.”

Historians trace the history of respiratory protection back nearly 2,000 year to Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder, who had used loose animal bladder skins to filter dust from being inhaled while crushing cinnabar.

“I had been thinking about the masks as a FACS,” Kuenzel says. “The whole idea of being low in Personal Protective Equipment was astonishing to me.” She enlisted the assistance of three colleagues - two retired FACS teachers and one current teacher at Saratoga Springs High School - to help with the effort.

The group consists of retired Saratoga teachers Kuenzel, Shari Keller, and Dale Walton, as well as Kristin Harrod – a current FACS teacher at Saratoga Springs High School. “So, she is going through all of the Internet classrooms and lesson planning with students, and helping us on the side,” Kuenzel says.

In addition to working on masks tabbed for North Carolina health workers, Walton is also sewing masks for city workers in Saratoga Springs as well as for Saratoga Hospital. “So, across two states, and with little tentacles that go everywhere,” Kuenzel says.

“It takes us about a half-hour to make a mask and we try to make between eight and ten masks a day. I just shipped a box of 50 masks yesterday. When we go out I do see a variety of homemade masks and most look very similar to the ones we are producing: a rectangle of fabric, pleated with elastic that will go over the ears and situate in place.” All the fabrics have been washed with hot water and dried on high heat.

How long will she do it? “Charlotte is a little behind where New York is with the virus. My son was been hearing that they should peak in the next two to three weeks so we – the women I’m working with – we just sent 50 down and I think the four of us can make another 100 masks.”

BALSTON SPA — Saratoga County officials - featuring staff from the Department of Public Health, the Office of Mental Health and Office of Emergency Services - hosted a Facebook Live event April 14. Among the information they shared is the following: 

• As of April 14: 229 county patients had tested positive for the coronavirus and 122 of those 229 have recovered at this time.

• Fifteen people were hospitalized, and of those, five people were on ventilators. This number is down from the eight people who were on ventilators one day earlier; the three people who came off the ventilators were in stable condition. All those hospitalized are Saratoga County residents. 

• Approximately 1,000 people had been quarantined under a mandatory quarantine/isolation order. Those 1,000 people had been in contact with the 229 people who had tested positive.  Of those, 539 had since been cleared, released from quarantine and have recovered.

“What the public health department is doing is when someone is positive there is an infectability period and we look at every move that person made during that time frame. They identify to us where they’d been and who they’d been in contact with. We then reach out to each individual who is then at a high risk of contracting COVID-19 and we place them in isolation. That way if they become ill, they will not infect others.” 

Testing sites: Saratoga Hospital has limited capacity; Albany has a drive-thru at the campus of SUNY- Albany campus, and Warren County has a testing site at their municipal site. 

How to take a test: “Warren County requires a prescription from a doctor and an appointment. For Albany, you can go to the New York State Department of Health website where you can fill out a form to receive the test. However, they’re not testing everybody.  There is a priority for someone who is ill and showing symptoms of illness, as well as health care workers.  If you’re asymptomatic and you just want to have a test because you’re worried, then you may not be tested at this time. If you’re asymptomatic – you’ve had no symptoms, but you’ve been in contact with someone who’s tested positive, you’d be higher on the list.” 

Is testing for antibodies available in the area? Not yet. Antibody testing is coming along, and there is a ramping up and developing of capabilities to widely disseminate testing, but it hasn’t come to the area yet. There is a trial underway at Albany Med St. Peter’s that gives plasma from people who have recovered from COVID to patients who are actively affected. People who have recovered can also have their antibodies tested as part of being a donor for that program. 

Why has there been no disclosure of specific municipalities within the county where residents have tested positive? “We have cases in every area of our county, cases in every zip code. Giving zip codes at this point could be giving out a false sense of security of people are thinking: ‘oh there’s only one case that lives in my area.’  You have to assume that everyone has (the potential) to be positive at this time.” 

The Department of Public Health encourages all individuals to wear a mask any time they are out in public. Given mask shortages, it directs residents to the CDC website as a helpful resource that outlines how to wear a mask and instructions on how to make a homemade mask. That link can be accessed at:  www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html

BALLSTON SPA - A special meeting of the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors will take place 3 p.m. on Friday, April 17, during which seven resolutions will be considered and potentially voted upon – the creation of a COVID-19 ad hoc committee among them.

The special meeting will be held remotely via videoconferencing and teleconferencing. The public meeting may be heard live via audio signal using the call-in number: 1-844-855-4444 and entering the Participant Passcode: 823993#

The seven resolutions to be consideration and potentially approved are:

  1. Suspending Rule #1 of the Rules of the Board of 2020 for the month of April
  2. Authorizing the county’s insurance coverages through May 8, 2021
  3. Correcting a 2020 tax bill in the Town of Malta and authorizing a tax credit
  4. Canceling 2020 taxes in the Town of Saratoga and authorizing the issuance of corrected tax bills
  1. Authorizing transfer of funds from the Veterans Trust Fund and amending the 2020 budget in relation thereto
  1. Authorizing the creation of a COVID-19 ad hoc committee
  2. Approving Collective Bargaining Agreement with Saratoga County Sheriff Officers Association, Inc. (Corrections Unit) for 2019

In addition, the special meeting agenda shall include roll call and ratification of the call of the special meeting at the commencement of the agenda and the Chairman’s announcement of his appointments to the COVID-19 ad hoc committee at the conclusion of the agenda.

ALBANY – New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a new initiative Monday afternoon that involves a coalition of six mostly neighboring states to share information and address both public health and economy in discussions focused on coming up with a plan to potentially re-open schools, businesses and municipalities.

The six-state coalition will include a head of economic development, a head health official and the governor’s chief of staff from each state. “Six states, 18 people,” Cuomo said, during a special press conference called to announce the initiative Monday afternoon.

There are a variety of available options to a reopening strategy. Cuomo likened it to the careful opening of a valve. That is, enough to begin a return of the economy, but not too much as to cause the infection of a large segment of the population.

“If you want to open business, schools have to be open, to any large degree. You want to turn the valve a lot? Schools have to be open. Why? Because you can’t open businesses if people don’t have child care. Or, you can say: I’m not turning the valve that far, we’re going to ease into it, were going to phase into it. That’s what this group has to discuss.”    

An effective vaccine against COVID-19 is likely 18 months away. Two occurrences that would help the decision-making process – a rapid test for the new coronavirus that would indicate who is infected, as well as antibody tests — which could detect who had previously been infected with the virus and is potentially immune at present – have been slow to roll out from the federal government.   

Talks between the cooperative partnership will commence Tuesday, April 14. “This is about being smart. Follow the data, learn from the other countries,” Cuomo said.  Input will come from both healthcare and economic development experts, the governor added.

“I don’t believe that we come up with a fully common strategy. You have different states in different positions. Within this state you have different areas with different circumstances and the plan has to fit the facts of the circumstance. There may be one situation in New York, a different situation in rural counties, a different situation in suburban counties,” Cuomo said. “I want to make sure that we are smart in the way we are doing this for all the people we represent.”   

Monday afternoon’s presser included the leaders of the collaborating states, including Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, Gov. Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania, Gov. John Carney of Delaware, and Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island.

Locally, the Saratoga County Department of Public Health announced on Sunday that there are 221 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Saratoga County- with 12 of those individuals hospitalized at this time. The Department also confirmed the county’s sixth death — a Saratoga County resident who had passed away in New Jersey.

Slightly different totals were posted by the New York State Department of Health which indicated 2,640 persons have been tested in Saratoga County, with 201 – or 7.6%, testing positive.

QUEENSBURY — A drive-up novel coronavirus public testing site is set to open today in Queensbury providing the availability of COVID-19 tests for residents of Warren, Washington, Saratoga, Hamilton and Essex counties, according to Warren County Public Health Services.

The mobile site is the second in the region, a new state-run drive-through test site opened on the University at Albany campus on April 6.

Glens Falls Hospital and Warren County Public Health Services worked together to open the most recent public testing site on the Warren County Municipal Center campus.

According to a statement, the site will be open for drive-up public testing only for those who have obtained medical authorization. Anyone who believes they should be tested should contact their medical provider. Those wishing to have a test performed will need to get an order from their health provider, who will then contact Warren County Public Health Services to arrange a time for the test. The site will be staffed by Glens Falls Hospital personnel in personal protective equipment.

Testing site staff will be able to handle 50 or so tests per day between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., Monday through Friday. Results through a state laboratory will take 3 to 5 days.

The Municipal Center is located off Route 9 in Queensbury, near Exit 20 of the Northway. Those who have doctors’ orders for a test will follow electronic signs on Route 9 that will direct them to the testing location at the rear of the county complex. They will be asked to enter the Municipal Center through Glen Lake Road.

Through April 8, 2,269 Saratoga County residents had been tested overall, with 172 positive results for the coronavirus - a 7.6% positive return rate. Warren County had tested 581 persons (40 positive, 6.9%) and Washington County 383 (with 25, or 6.5% postive).  

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The idea came to him, as good ideas sometimes do, while otherwise engaged in the seeming mundanities of everyday life. 

Jacob Hopper and Dempsey, a yellow Lab, were out walking through Saratoga Springs. Hopper had started up the Evander and Louise lifestyle and travel brand, just as everything else around him began locking down.  March 1 was a heckuva time to launch a new business. 

“Horrible timing,” Hopper admits. A lot of the work is centered on the partnerships he created with 17 different local restaurants. 

“We know eating-out and taking-out can be a luxury for some people. And a lot of us are on limited incomes right now, watching the budget, but it’s really important that we support our small local businesses as much as we can. I think the more we can support them, the better we will be when we come out of this,” Hopper says. 

“Well, we launched and then this all happened. I started thinking: what can I do?” The answer came to him while out walking with Dempsey.  “Tag Your Take Out. It just popped into my head. I thought it might be a good way to promote these restaurants who really need help.”

The way the campaign works is this: people going out for take-out food snap a photo or capture a video of their excursion and post it to Instagram, tagging Evander and Louise at @e.l.saratoga and using the hashtag #tagyourtakeout. 

In addition to the photos making the rounds of social media and adding to a sense of community, Hopper’s E&L selects four winners every week from the posts. Each of the four receive a $50 gift card redeemable at one the group’s 17 restaurants. A $10 gratuity will also be provided to the restaurant, and for each $50 gift card given away, a $50 donation will be made to Franklin Community Center.

“We’re buying the gift cards. I didn’t want to ask the restaurants to give us gift cards because they’re already hurting enough, and we’re also including a $10 gratuity to the business because I think it’s important to remember that there are still people working. They might not be coming to your table like they usually do, but they are putting themselves at risk,” Hopper says. 

“With each gift card we give away, we’re also giving a $50 donation to Franklin Community Center as well – because the whole concept from the beginning was: support our local restaurants and support families who are in need, because the families can have other basic needs,” he says. “We’ve got 22 giveaways funded, so currently that’s $1,100 in gift cards and $1,100 to Franklin Community Center.” 

Franklin Community Center – which is located on Franklin Street – is a non-profit organization providing basic necessities and services to less fortunate individuals and families in Saratoga. 

“Anybody can tag their take-out at any locally-owned restaurants, and we’re certainly encouraging people to have fun with it,” says Hopper, adding that the support of sponsors, such American Natural Gas, help make the gift-card drawing possible.  “It’s focused on Saratoga, but we’ve gotten some who have tagged in Ballston Spa, and we’ve gotten some from Albany. Post a photo of it, tag us and tag the restaurant and you can be entered in the drawing.”

Each week on Wednesday afternoon four winners are picked, and Hopper says he anticipates staging the drawings and gift card winners for at least the next couple of weeks. 

“We want people to go and support local restaurants. The restaurants – obviously they’re all hurting and the feedback they’ve given me is they’re doing what they can to stay afloat and to keep their staff as much as is possible.” 

For more information about the Evander and Louise #tagyourtakeout initiative, and a list of the Saratoga eateries where the winning gift cards are redeemable, go to: evanderandlouise.com/tag-your-takeout

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  • Saratoga County Court  Kathleen M. Callanan, 62, of Saratoga Springs, was sentenced to 1 year in local jail, after pleading to felony grand larceny.  Cassandra R. Barden, 38, homeless, was sentenced to 1-1/2 to 3 years incarceration after pleading to felony attempted assault, charged in Milton.  Ashley Vetrano, 35, of Glens Falls, pleaded to felony robbery, charged in Moreau. Sentencing May 23.  Gabrielle Montanye, 63, of Stillwater, was sentenced to 5 years probation, after pleading to felony attempted identity theft, charged in Ballston Spa.  Daniel J. Koenig, III, 53, of Round Lake, was sentenced to 2 to 4 years incarceration, after…

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