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Thursday, 27 April 2017 11:21

New SPAC Series Seats Audience On Stage

SARATOGA SPRINGS - The Saratoga Performing Arts Center is launching a new programming series this summer that seats audiences directly on the stage of the iconic amphitheater.

The onstage seating capacity in the unique format is 300. The entire audience will sit onstage with the artists and no other seats will be sold for the four-concert series. 

“Positioning audiences onstage for this series will offer them a unique, visceral experience – a connection with the performance unlike anything they have experienced previously,” SPAC President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol said, in a statement.

The series takes place on four consecutive evenings in August.  New York City jazz band The Hot Sardines perform on Aug.7;  Time for Three, and its three classically trained musicians — violinists Nicholas Kendall and Charles Yang, and double-bassist Ranaan Meyer – perform Aug. 14;  Classical, hip-hop and R&B fused ensemble Black Violin – whose members have appeared at President Obama's Inaugural and three Super Bowls – perform Aug. 21, and three-time Grammy Award nominated Afro-Cuban music group Tiempo Libre will perform on Aug. 28.

Tickets to SPAC on Stage are limited and are $40 to $50, and available at spac.org beginning May 3. And check out this video clip about the series: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrSakvGGmHo&feature=youtu.be

Published in Entertainment
Thursday, 20 April 2017 15:41

April 21st - April 27th

COURTS

Charles B. “Chip” Locke, 44, of Porters Corners, pleaded guilty on April 12 to third degree grand larceny, a felony, in connection with the theft of funds from the Greenfield Home School Association. Locke served as treasurer for the Greenfield HSA and admitted to stealing approximately $15,070.70, according to Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen. Locke is scheduled to be sentenced on June 8, during which it is anticipated he will be ordered to serve six months in jail and pay back full restitution to the Greenfield HSA during a period of five years of probation.     

Clifford B. Nichols, 51, of Galway, was sentenced on April 5 to time served and five years of probation, after pleading to felony DWI in connection with an incident that occurred in Milton. 

Joshua Noll, 28, of Gansevoort, was sentenced to 1-3 years in state prison, after pleading to second degree vehicular assault and felony DWI, in connection with an incident that occurred in Saratoga Springs in August 2016. 

POLICE

Adam Y. Paul, age 29, of West Hempstead, was charged on April 14 with Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second-Degree, Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the Third-Degree, and nine Counts Criminal Possession of a Forgery Device – all felonies. The Saratoga County Sheriff’s office said on April 4 a Sheriff’s Deputy on patrol came across Paul parked alone in a town parking lot off of Moe Road in Clifton Park. Paul was suspected of sitting in a vehicle reported stolen from the state of Florida. Paul was detained and further investigation revealed numerous credit cards and a credit card reader/writer machine in the vehicle, according to authorities. In conjunction with the U.S. Secret Service, Albany Office, the credit cards in the vehicle were determined to be forged and contained stolen credit card account information on them. Paul was arraigned and sent to County Jail in lieu of $20,000 cash, or $40,000 bond. The investigation is on-going and additional charges could be filed. 

Ronnie Carrigan, 34, of Ballston Spa, Charaun Meertins, 30, of Clifton Park, David A. Coonradt, 45, of Saratoga Springs, and Jamar Henriquez, 28, of South Glens Falls, were each charged on April 13 with one felony count of grand larceny, one felony count  of welfare fraud, and three felony counts of offering a false instrument for filing. According to the Saratoga County Sheriff’s office, each of the four individuals allegedly submitted documentation to the Saratoga County Department of Social Services to receive benefits they were not entitled to and that they received, in total, more than $37,000. 

Abdellah N. Campbell, 20, of Troy, and Tyler R. Conner, 17, of Ballston Lake, were each charged on April 13 with first degree robbery, and second degree assault, both felonies, in connection with an alleged incident that occurred April 10 in the town of Ballston. Campbell and Conner are accused of being among a group of people who chased a 28-year-old man into a parking lot on Route 50 where they punched, kicked, and hit him with a tree branch causing injury, and forcibly took the victim’s boots, according to the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Department.  Campbell and Conner were sent to jail, in lieu of $25,000 cash bail or $50,000 bond, and $8,000 cash bail, or $30,000 bond, respectively. Additional charges are pending for other suspects involved in the incident, according to authorities.        

Craig M. Guilfoyle, age 31, of Ballston Spa, was charged on April 5 with felony criminal contempt, based on the accusation that he violated an order of protection by appearing at the protected person’s Malta residence and by telephoning the protected person.  He is alleged to have been previously convicted of criminal contempt in the first degree within the preceding five years, resulting in the charge being upgraded to a felony. He was sent to Saratoga County Jail in lieu of $10,000 cash bail, or $20,000 secured bond.

Cathleen T. Gorman, 40, and Edward H. Gorman, 53, both of Saratoga Springs, were each charged on April 7 making a punishable false written statement, and obstructing governmental administration – both misdemeanors, in connection with a motor vehicle accident that occurred in Halfmoon on Dec. 24, 2016. It is alleged they had given misinformation about who was driving the vehicle.  

Karen L. Hickcox, age 37, of Wilton, was charged on April 8 with assault in the second degree. She is alleged to have struck another person with a liquor bottle to the head on March 30 and causing physical injury to that person.  The victim was transported to Saratoga Hospital where she was treated and released. Hickcox was released on her own recognizance.  

Victor A. Maffetone, age 30, Saratoga Springs, was charged on March 26 with aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, and a vehicle equipment violation. 

Alexander A. Moniot, age 30, Halfmoon, was charged after being involved in a property damage accident on March 26 with misdemeanor DWI, refusing a pre-screen test, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, passing a red traffic signal light, making an unsafe lane change, operating an unregistered motor vehicle on a highway, no/expired insurance, and speeding. 

Keana H. Leton, age 39, Schenectady, was charged on March 29 with unlawful possession of marijuana, misdemeanor DWI, and two driving violations. 

Kalill A. Bostick, age 42, Troy, was charged on March 29 with aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended registration.  

Dianne M. Fuller, age 61, Saratoga Springs, was charged on March 29 with menacing in the second-degree, and criminal possession of a weapon, a felony.  

Joshua J. Allen, age 26, Saratoga Springs, was charged on March 29 with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor. 

Kariann P. Morris, age 46, Charlton, was charged on March 29 with felony grand larceny, and felony burglary. 

Eustace E. Edey, age 28, Malta, was charged on March 28 with unlawful possession of marijuana, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, and speeding. 

William E. Covell, age 48, Saratoga Springs, was charged on March 28 with two misdemeanor counts of forcible touching. 

Marissa L. Upton, age 33, Troy, was charged on March 26 with criminal trespass, endangering the welfare of a child, petit larceny, and criminal mischief. All charges are misdemeanors. 

Dennis H. Maier, age 22, Orlando, Florida, was charged on March 26 with misdemeanor DWI, and two driving violations, following a minor personal injury accident. 

Published in Police Blotter

SARATOGA SPRINGS – The Code Blue Saratoga Emergency Shelter’s annual “Blue Needs You” 8K run and expo took off through the streets of Saratoga Springs last weekend, and the results were all that the organization had hoped for.
Each year since beginning the 8K run event, Code Blue, a local emergency shelter for the homeless, sets a budget-level for the year going forward with the hope that the funds raised at the event will match or exceed it. This year, the proposed budget was $40,000, which the Blue Needs You event raised almost exactly, according to executive director Michael Finocchi.
“We were right on target,” Finocchi said.
This budget was up slightly from previous years’ races. Despite raising a larger amount, this year’s run saw fewer runners, 470, compared to last year, though still significantly higher than the first year. Finocchi and other at Code Blue say that this lower attendance may be due to other runs that were being held at the same time. This had not been the case in previous years.
This year’s run started out from High Rock Park in downtown Saratoga Springs. From there, runners took Lake Avenue for a ways, crossing up and down a number of side streets before ending up on East Avenue. From East, the runners went all the way to Excelsior Avenue where they took a right, following the street all the way through a loop it makes near the Residence Inn near the Northway. Coming back down Excelsior, they turned onto Excelsior Spring Avenue briefly, and then turned once more onto the Spring Run Trail. Following this trail all the way back down to East, they once again returned to High Rock where the run concluded.
Code Blue is a shelter that provides emergency housing for the homeless during severe winter weather conditions, such as when the temperature drops below freezing or when more than 10-inches of snowfall is predicted. Code Blue also works to transition its residents to more stable living situations, including apartments or rehab services.
“It was very reassuring when you’re down there and you see how many people care about those we help,” Finocchi said.

All photos by Photoandgraphic.com.

Published in Sports

WILTON – Closing out its most recent “Share the Love” charity campaign, New Country Subaru on Route 50 presented a check for $7,388 to local anti-bullying organization, “Act with Respect Always” (AWRA).  Headed by former Saratoga Spring tennis coach Rich Johns, AWRA visits schools and encourages students to understand what their peers may be going through and to treat them with respect.  This is New Country’s ninth year participating in Subaru’s nationwide Share the Love campaign.  In 2013, local dealerships were allowed to choose charities within their own communities to raise money for, alongside other nationally recognized organizations.  This year, the other charities included the ASPCA, Meals on Wheels, the Make-a-Wish foundation, and the National Park Foundation.

This marks the first year that New Country Subaru chose to raise money for AWRA.  Annie Robillard-Esposito, regional representative for Subaru, said that it is up to the specific retailer whether or not they work with a charity again for future Share the Love campaigns.

“It’s not just to sell cars, and do it for business,” Robillard-Esposito said.  “It’s actually to do the right thing for the community.”

The Share the Love event raises money by allowing every customer to choose a charity they wish to donate to, and for each car sold, Subaru of America donates $250.  Customers are able to choose multiple charities, so the amount often ends up split however many ways for each charity chosen.  This most recent campaign lasted from Nov. 17 to Jan. 3. 

As part of his work with AWRA, Johns tells people to accept the “1-percent” of others, meaning their outward differences such as appearance and class, and to get to know their “99-percent,” meaning the inner workings of a person that define them far deeper than tangible traits. 

“I’m working hard to take away those labels on the 1-percent,” Johns said.  “That we should all be accepted for who we are, what we look like, where we live… you are driving a different automobile, but I want to know what’s inside you, and that’s the 99-percent.”

All photos by Thomas Kika.

Published in Education
Thursday, 20 April 2017 13:30

Schuylerville Honor Society Induction

SCHUYLERVILLE – The Schuylerville branch of the National Honor Society inducted 45 new members in ceremony held on April 12.  Inductees were chosen based on several criteria, including scholarship, character, leadership, and community service.  Students and other attendees were also treated to words from guest speaker Khamel Abdulai, the director of training and talent management at Excelsior College and adjunct professor at the College of Saint Rose.  

The inductees are as follows:

  • Hailey Abruscato
  • Cameron Alber
  • Brandon Aschauer
  • Grace Beaulac
  • Freya Birkas-Dent
  • Kassandra Brennan
  • Alison Burnham
  • Amanda Carlstrom
  • Emily Carlstrom
  • Lillian Claus
  • Cassaundra Darrah
  • Thomas Donovan
  • Ryan Durie
  • Samantha Ellis
  • Hannah Eustis
  • Elizabeth Fordyce
  • Zachary Galcik
  • Aidan Garry
  • Sidney Gregorek
  • Morgan Gunter
  • Mikhail Hailu
  • Grace Hanehan
  • Nathan Hefner
  • Jack Hemingway
  • Jessica Hinners
  • Devynn Hough
  • Caitlin Kelleher
  • Johnathan King
  • Kadon Lane
  • Jessica Melita
  • Amy Moreau
  • Teghan Murray
  • Cassie Patrick
  • Matthew Peck
  • Lyndsey Prince
  • Christine Putman
  • Casey Renner
  • Trent Thomas
  • Tristan Turner
  • Emily Vallee
  • Dominic Vito
  • Alice Voell-White
  • Emily Warmt
  • Katelyn Weed
  • Derek Willson
Published in Education

SARATOGA SPRINGS – This weekend’s concert by The Orchestra of St. Luke’s will mark the second of six concerts brought to Saratoga Springs this year born of a newly forged partnership between Caffè Lena and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. 

The collaboration between the two venues, each which has staged more than a half-century of performances, will encompass jointly curated and presented programs at both venues, with the location varying by season.

The Orchestra of St. Lukes, one of Americas foremost chamber orchestras, will make a first-ever appearance in the Capital Region on April 25 in an exclusive performance at Lena’s café.

“I was in New York in January talking with some friends over coffee when they mentioned they had this program of baroque chamber music they were doing,” recalled SPAC President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol.  “It was written by Bach to be performed at Café Zimmerman - a coffeehouse in Leipzig where all the artists and intellectuals would gather at the time Bach was living there. When I heard it was at a coffeehouse, I thought: Oh my God, that has got to come to Caffè Lena. It’s a perfect collaboration between SPAC and Caffè Lena.” 

And while this weekend’s show is sold out, tickets are still available for the third spring program, which will be staged at Caffè Lena May 4 and features Louisville, Kentucky-based folk band Harpeth Rising.  Tickets are available at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2910973.

In June, the series shifts to SPAC, where three free Sunday afternoon concerts, one each in June, July, and August will be staged at the new gazebo.

“Very soon we’ll be announcing the summer component to the partnership which will include a monthly Caffè Lena Day at SPAC,” Sobol explained.  “It’ll be the whole afternoon, from 12 to 5, and families will be able to come and hang and make music a real part of the afternoon in the park.”  The three summer concerts are being curated by the café’s executive director, Sarah Craig.

“When we sat down and started talking about artists, every band Sarah mentioned to me I flipped over. Everything she mentioned I love,” Sobol said.

“I looked for artists that have a huge energy and a rich intensity that can hold up well in an outdoor environment,” said Craig, adding that the schedule of musicians, when solidified, could number as many as three performers on each of the three days. And while the teaming-up of the two Saratoga Springs powerhouses marks the first official collaboration between the venues, there is a long list of artists – from Bob Dylan to Melanie to Don McLean – who have performed at both, as well as a synergy historically fostered by Lena Spencer, who invited musicians appearing on the SPAC stage to come and perform after-hour concerts at her Phila Street café.

With six months under her belt as the new leader at SPAC, Sobol said one goal is creating new ventures while maintaining the venue’s time-honored traditions. 

“I was being very conservative until I got the lay of the land. I haven’t touched the big resident companies because they’re so important to the DNA of SPAC, but we’ve been making some enhancements – like this Caffè Lena partnership, and within the next couple of weeks we’re going to be announcing all sorts of partnerships with some of our other cultural family members,” Sobol said. “There are so many organizations here, my feeling is the more we all work together the more we raise Saratoga up.“ 

Published in Entertainment

SARATOGA SPRINGS – By the time the early 1970s rolled around, any promise perceived of a train bound for glory on a fast track to the Aquarian Age had instead become supplanted by a cranky subway car departing a graffiti-stained station with a congregation of misfits aboard.

It is these characters of humanity – Rake the hustler, Fick the junkie, Al the alcoholic, and Franny the transvestite prostitute – put on display, in all their grit and glory in the staging of Skidmore Theater’s presentation of “Balm In Gilead.” The play, scripted by Lanford Wilson, premiered Off Off Broadway at La MaMa in 1965 and a generation later re-set to take place in the early 1970s.

The geography is uptown Manhattan, the setting an all-night diner where characters drift in and out against a backdrop of booths and swiveling stools that lean on a cheesy, diamond-motif counter topped by metal napkin holders, red and yellow plastic-spout squeeze bottles, and a big, clunky cash register.

Under the direction of Phil Soltanoff -  a veteran of recent projects staged in Austin, Vancouver, Los Angeles and New York City - the two dozen or so Skidmore College players convincingly convey a scenario with a talented realism that certainly pre-dates the time before their own existence on earth if not their parents, in providing a voyeuristic experience of a collection of characters whose lives are simultaneously humorous and tragic.

Sydney Tennant portrays the doe-eyed Darlene - a naïve, newly transplanted New Yorker - with credible splendor, marathon monologuing deep into the night, expressing every single thought that pours from her mind with a blend of child-like innocence and annoying animation. She engages even the most hardened characters seated in the 24-hour diner in a shared humanity, if only for a fleeting moment. When she concludes her soliloquy by saying “Anyway, to make a long story short…” it cracks everyone up, characters and audience alike.  

In John - the grungy, apron-draped cafe manager portrayed by Jacob Hudson who alternates his time between cooking in the kitchen and showing non-paying customers the door - and Kay, the yellow- garbed waitress played by Anabel Milton who runs around taking coffee orders and wiping down tables – the play depicts a solid foundation of the drab, bleak realities of the working class. It stands in high contrast to the commotion of platinum blonde wigs and wounded blue jeans, hot pants, leather thigh-high boots and fishnet stockings, silver sequined miniskirts and post-hippie fringe in a sleaze-and-glam cacophony that lives somewhere between a New York Dolls concert and a Starsky & Hutch TV show. 

Lulu Fairclough-Stewart especially shines as the oh-so-bored, scarlet-haired Ann, providing a perfect foil to Darlene’s ramblings, nursing a cigarette and firmly encased in her hard shell of emotional body armor, before heading back into the street, past a shuttered bodega and an alleyway framed by trash, to make her living. Chris Naughton is convincing as well in a lead role as the mustached drug dealer Joe, for whom the naïve Darlene falls.  

The ensemble as a whole weaves its work like a large orchestra, a series of direct and non-direct actions conveying the mayhem with an authenticity; These student actors bring the scenes to life.

 An appropriate soundtrack blares out the diner jukebox throughout: Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Meeting Across the River,” “Thunder Road,” and “Jungleland,” and “Waltzing Matilda” sung by Tom Waits, that fittingly sprinkles the optimistic hope of escape onto on-the-nod moments of despair. 

After the final curtain call, the characters return for one more go-around the diner, reminiscent of the dusky cycling at the conclusion of the Rolling Stones documentary “Gimme Shelter,” and which leaves the open question: are we moving on to a grander time in this life, or being forced to return to our destiny, time and again?

Skidmore Theater Presents “Balm In Gilead,” by Lanford Wilson. Director: Phil Soltanoff.

Performances at 8 p.m. Friday, April 21 and Saturday, April 22, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 23.   Skidmore College: Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Mainstage. Tickets are $12 adult, $8 students and faculty. After the April 22 performance of Balm in Gilead, the Skidmore Theater Department will host its annual house party. “That 70’s House Party,” is a celebratory event to recognize the department’s achievements this year.

Published in Entertainment

SARATOGA SPRINGS – The twins are 13 now, the effort to fulfill their special needs a continuing work-in-progress.  

“I have to say my boys have some difficult challenges, but they’re hard workers and every day they make progress, every day they learn,” explains the boys’ mother, Kristin Howarth. “It’s not a sprint, but a marathon. You just keep pushing and keep teaching and keep helping them make those milestones.”

A little over a decade ago, Howarth and her husband relocated to upstate New York. The twins were about 18 months old when The Howarths noticed the boys seemed delayed in meeting some of their developmental milestones.

“We started a music program with the boys when they were just over a year. We looked around at the group and saw what the other kids were doing and what my kids weren’t,” Howarth recalled. “At around a year old there’s a certain number of words that a typically-developing child will say, that our guys were not saying. It made me ask some questions. It was a significant factor that made us speak out and have discussions with our pediatrician,” Howarth says.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children be screened for general development using standardized, validated tools at 9, 18, and 24 or 30 months and for autism at 18 and 24 months, or whenever a parent or provider has a concern.  

By their first birthday, a child will typically say “mama” and “dada” and voice exclamations like “uh-oh!” as well as trying to repeat words they hear from their parents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC’s milestones checklist may downloaded here: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/pdf/checklists/all_checklists.pdf.

An early intervention therapist was sent to work with the family, visiting the home four days a week over the next six months, after which Gavin and Noah were diagnosed with autism, also called autism spectrum disorder (ASD). 

“When you do hear it, it’s a blow and all of these things you picture as a parent come crashing down: Will my children ever play sports? Will they have friends and go to the prom? Will they drive? will they get married?” she wondered. There’s no welcoming committee when your child is diagnosed with autism. No one comes and knocks on your door to say: Here are some things that you can do; Here’s a go-to guide. You basically leave the doctor’s office after that diagnosis and you think: What do I do now?”

The CDC estimates that 1 in 68 children, in multiple communities in the United States, has been identified with autism spectrum disorder, or ASD - roughly 30 percent higher than estimates previously reported in 2012. The data also show that ASD is almost five times more common among boys than girls.

Howarth searched the Internet, but answers were hard to come by a decade ago. “They were diagnosed at just over two years of age and it quickly became pretty obvious to us that there weren’t a lot of resources in our area, short of traveling down to Albany,” she says. “It was a challenge because we live up in Queensbury. We figured, why can’t we create it? So, we did.”

Gavin and Noah were the driving force behind the creation of Upstate NY Autism Alliance (UNYAA). The organization provides resources, education, recreation and advocacy services. Howarth provides advocacy, program development, consulting and education through the group. 

“It was a very emotional time and that was also one of the factors in starting the group. We wanted to give children as many opportunities as we could, just like their typically developing peers, because they’re kids first. Autism is secondary.”  

Howarth’s group is comprised of volunteers who help connect parents with children diagnosed with autism, with resources.   “We also provide activities every month so parents can get together with their children and talk to other families and meet other people in their school district - families involved in the group, somebody they can feel comfortable talking with,” says Howarth, who adds that she has also accessed valuable services from Saratoga Bridges. “They have some wonderful things that provide services for families such as ours.”

UNYAA and Saratoga Bridges are teaming up to co-host this weekend’s Autism Expo at the Saratoga Springs City Center. The family event will feature more than 85 vendors and exhibitors, a variety of activities and games, arts and crafts, and sensory toys for kids.  More than 1,000 people are expected to attend Sunday’s expo.

“It’s an amazing event under one roof. We have all these resources for families who can talk to different vendors, providers, and people who offer different services for kids in the spectrum,” Howarth says.

ASD is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. There is often nothing about how people with ASD look that sets them apart from other people, but people with ASD may communicate, interact, behave, and learn in ways that are different from most other people. The learning, thinking, and problem-solving abilities of people with ASD can range from gifted to severely challenged. Some people with ASD need a lot of help in their daily lives; others need less.

“They have to be taught in a different way and broken down into simple steps. People don’t really understand what autism is, but really, it’s just that their brains are wired differently. They don’t learn the way we do, or they may not interpret things the way we do,” Howarth says.

All of the causes of ASD are not known. There may be many different factors that make a child more likely to have an ASD, including environmental and genetic factors.

“They look typical, but they don’t process information – both incoming and outgoing – so it can be a challenge for them to just pick up those social cues like another child might.”

The sixth annual Autism Expo will be held noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, April 23 at the Saratoga Springs City Center. The event is free and features exhibitors from camps, school programs pre-k through college, technological apps for autism, recreation and therapeutic programs, a bounce house and arts and crafts.

Upstate NY Autism Alliance (UNYAA) is a not-for-profit alliance formed by dedicated parents of children experiencing the affects of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). For more information, go to: http://www.upstatenyautism.org/. Saratoga Bridges has provided programs to people with disabilities and their families for more than 60 years. For more information, go to: http://www.saratogabridges.org/

Published in News
Thursday, 13 April 2017 18:29

The Red X

 

SARATOGA SPRINGS – They first began to appear on the front of buildings in the city a year or two ago. More recently, structures in areas of high visibility – South Broadway, Henry Street, and Van Dam Street, among them – have been adorned with a square placard marked with a red-letter “X.”

The signs, which grace the faces of approximately 40 buildings in the city, are used by fire and emergency service crews as a “do not enter” alert and indicate the building is structurally unsound or hazardous to safety in some way, explains Saratoga Springs Fire Department Lt. Aaron Dyer.

Building inspections are conducted annually and the placards are periodically added removed as is determined structurally.

Mostly, the red-letter X placard represents an abandoned or vacant structure; if by chance someone is inside during a fire – such as a homeowner conducting repairs or someone trespassing on the property - a decision is made by a member of the command staff about whether to enter the facility, Dyer said. Otherwise, the blaze is battled from the outside the building and any neighboring structures are protected from exposure to flames. 

Published in News

 

Who: Roy McDonald.

Where: Saratoga Springs Public Library.

Q. What are you doing today?

A. I’m with my granddaughter, Jane, at the library. She comes over every Wednesday for a wonderful reading program they have for little kids. My three daughters all used to go to the program when it was at the old Saratoga Springs Public Library.

Q. What occupies your time these days?

I have a wonderful wife, and children and grandchildren and now I’m able to spend a little more time with them.  I’m very blessed. I’m also on a variety of boards: New York State Military Museum Board of Directors, the Saratoga Bridges Board of Directors, Wildwood School System Advisory Board, the CAPTAIN’S Advisory Board. I’m very active in disabilities at the statewide level. I have two autistic grandsons who are the focal point of my life, and I’m going to have my sixth grandchild in May. 

Q. You spent a lot of time in public service as State Senator, as Assemblyman, and as longtime Supervisor for the town of Wilton.  To what extent do you still follow politics, locally and nationally?

A. I have nothing but positive things to say about the local situation. Nationally, I think people need to be a little more focused to get something accomplished, rather than being negative. 

Q. Is there something you’re most proud of during your years of public service?    

A. I’m very honored I had a long career and that I was able to do a lot of things in the town of Wilton, Saratoga County, in the Assembly and the Senate. I also had a business career. I’m very gratified. I love them all.  It’s like having children, they’re all equal. I specifically look at the town Wilton when I was Supervisor for 23 years. People say: you did a lot of stuff. But, nobody gets everything done by themselves. There’s good people in a lot of these places. We accomplished a lot and today the town of Wilton is the envy of just about every town in the state of New York.     

Q. What’s the most recent movie you have seen?

A. I went to see Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman (“Going in Style”) a couple days ago with my wife. We go to a lot of movies. We go to the one in the mall, and we go to the new one in Saratoga Springs as well.

Q. What brush have you had with fame?

A. I met President George Bush (43) and I met President Obama. The irony is most of the conversation was about baseball. President Bush was a Texas Ranger fan and President Obama was a Chicago White Sox fan and when they asked me who I liked, I said: the New York Yankees. OK? And they just smiled. And everybody knows I’m a Buffalo Bills fan.

Q. Have you gotten over Scott Norwood’s famous “wide right” kick that resulted in the Buffalo Bills losing to the N.Y. Giants in Super Bowl XXV ?

A.  I had the honor of meeting (former Bills’ quarterback) Jim Kelly some years ago and we talked about that. He told me it was one of the worst moments of his life. But he liked Scott Norwood. And you know “Tuna”? (Former Giants’ coach) Bill Parcells lives in the Saratoga area and I met him one morning at a Stewart’s. I was wearing a Yankee hat and he came up to me, said he was a Yankee fan and asked me, “Do you root for the Giants?” I said, no, actually I root for the Buffalo Bills. And he asked, “Do you forgive me?” And I said, “no,” ha. But, he’s a very good man.    

Q. How has Saratoga Springs changed over the decades?

A.  Saratoga Springs is the best city in upstate New York. I think it’s one of the best cities in the country if you look at proportional size. I think it’s a safe city, the people are very family-oriented - and that’s the key. You protect the people, the taxes are reasonable, and the suburbs: Wilton, Malta, Clifton Park, Halfmoon; I’ve watched school systems like Schuylerville and South Glens Falls, and Ballston Spa become tremendous school systems. I’ve seen it with Saratoga Springs when my children went to school, and Shenendehowa, and now the smaller schools are getting the benefit of this. So, we’ve been blessed. And most importantly, we’ve been blessed with good people. People who move here, or are from here and stay here. It’s beautiful.    

Published in Entertainment
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Blotter

  • New York State Police The New York State Police announced that it issued 5,576 tickets during this year’s St. Patrick’s Day enforcement initiative. The campaign began on Friday, March 15, and continued until Sunday, March 17. During the campaign, funded by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, State Police utilized sobriety checkpoints, additional DWI patrols, and underage drinking and sales to minors detail. State Police also ticketed distracted drivers who use handheld electronic devices. State Troopers arrested 132 people for DWI and investigated 199 crashes, which resulted in 25 people being injured and no fatalities. As part of the enforcement, Troopers also…

Property Transactions

  • BALLSTON Heather DiCaprio sold property at 473 Garrett Rd to Justine Levine for $288,000 Sharon Willman sold property at 99 Jenkins Rd to Charles Lemley for $165,000 CORINTH George Montena sold property at 422 Oak St to Stephen James for $142,250 Mark Makler sold property at 313 Oak St to Sabrina Sinagra for $195,000 GREENFIELD Landlord Services of Upstate New York sold property at 1935 NYS Rt 9N to Cochise Properties LLC for $210,000 MALTA  Linda LaBarge sold property at 35 Snowberry Rd to Qu Haozheng for $270,000 Dennis Mitchell sold property at 60 Village Circle North to BGRS Relocation…
  • NYPA
  • Saratoga County Chamber
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  • Discover Saratoga
  • Saratoga Springs Downtown Business Association