The Eastwick Press Newspaper

Eastern Rensselaer County's Community Newspaper

Hoosick Falls

Everyone Wins At The Liporace Golf Tournament

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On July 25, The Tenth Annual Leonard Liporace Charitable Golf Tournament to benefit the Hoosick Falls Health Center Foundation was successfully held at the Hoosick Falls Country Club with one hundred and eight golfers participating. The Foundation was able to net $14,000 from the event.

First place was awarded to the Mahar Funeral Home team with a score of 58. The Saint Gobain team was a close second with a 59. Other prizes were awarded for closest to the pin, longest putt and most accurate drive. No one was able to win the hole-in-one prize (a 2008 Chevy Cobalt) sponsored by Patire Chevrolet. Golf shirts, acknowledging the 10th Anniversary of the tournament, were provided to each golfer by the Liporace family.

The day was filled with fun and memories with the entire Liporace family in attendance; many who came from out of town.

The Hoosick Falls Health Center Foundation Board of Directors thanks all who participated and sponsored the event.

One Business Sold, One Up For Sale On John Street In Hoosick Falls

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by Bea Peterson

 

Signs have been in the windows of Upsy Daisy and Bagels ‘N’ More on John St. in Hoosick Falls stating that the businesses are for sale. Mariea and Brian Rousseau have owned Upsy Daisy for 22 years. Howard and Sue Moxley have owned the bagel shop for seven years. Both owners say the businesses are doing well and they would be unhappy to see them close. The location of the two businesses is also ideal, they say.

For Howard and Sue, with daughters growing up and thoughts of a larger home, it’s time to move

Howard Moxley is filling customer orders for the last time this week. Bagels ‘N’ More has been sold and his last day will be Saturday, August 30. (Bea Peterson photo)
Howard Moxley is filling customer orders for the last time this week. Bagels ‘N’ More has been sold and his last day will be Saturday, August 30. (Bea Peterson photo)

 on. “We’re still trying to recover from the fire, both financially and emotionally.” When Dougherty’s, the restaurant on the corner, burned more than two years ago, both Upsy Daisy and the bagel shop suffered severe smoke and water damage. “After the fire, we started from scratch again,” Howard said. A stove fire last year was another setback. The Village helped the couple out financially then. Howard wanted someone to take over the business. “I’m sure Mike [Church] can make a go of it,” he said. “I’m happy and surprised we’ve lasted this long.” 

 

“It will be hard to leave. Basically, I’ll miss the people. I’m very appreciative of the whole community. They’ve been very supportive.” Howard said that when gas and oil prices first went up, business slumped for a bit but now people have made adjustments and things are running smoothly. “It’s a good spot, right in the center of town,” he said. Howard has no future career plans at the moment.

New Owner

Fortunately Bagels ‘N’ More is sold and will reopen September 8. Mike Church has purchased the business. Howard’s last day will be Saturday, August 30. The little restaurant will be closed for a week during which Mike will change the name and make some changes to the menu and interior.

Still Searching

Upsy Daisy has been for sale since December. “I’ve had a few people interested,” said Mariea. Nothing concrete has materialized to this point. Mariea has been dealing with health issues. “I don’t have the stamina I used to have,” she said. “When you have a respectable established reputation, you hold yourself to a high standard.” It’s hard to maintain the standard without the stamina. 

“People in town have been tremendous. Through the fire and my illness they have been encouraging and supportive. That’s one of the reasons I just haven’t closed up.”

“The business is viable. We’re close to the funeral homes, we have a tremendous customer base, wonderful customers, a good location and our interior is gorgeous!” Mariea feels some design experience is good, but a good business sense is more essential. She would be willing to work with somebody to get things going. “If you have a passion about what you’re doing, you’ll succeed,” she said. The right person hasn’t come by yet, she added. “I owe it back to the community to make this happen. I have to be optimistic. I don’t want to see us lose any more downtown businesses.”

Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte At Hubbard Hall Is A Rich Experience

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review by Alex Brooks

The first production of the Hubbard Hall Opera Theatre opened this past weekend to a packed house at Hubbard Hall. The show was Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, in which two pairs of young lovers test their fidelity under the skeptical eye of the wealthy philosopher Don Alonso, who bets the young swains their lady loves will not remain constant in their absence. After staging their disappearance under the guise of army orders to depart, the two young lovers return tricked out as “Albanian nobles” trying to woo each other’s fiancees.  Don Alonso recruits the ladies’ maid Despina to aid his schemes, and the game is on.

The fact that the two lovers in their disguise are reminiscent of Matt Groening’s characters Akbar and Jeff only adds to the hilarity. Despina has some fun ribbing them about their goofy costumes. Ivan Amaro, playing Don Alonso, Alix Jones, playing Despina, and Kara Cornell, playing Dorabella, are all accomplished comedians and get a lot of mileage out of wry expressions and  subtle glances.

It’s unusual for opera to be so intimate. Most big-time opera is in large houses where audience is quite a distance from performer, and the acting is necessarily broad. To have it so close is a delight.

One might have supposed an opera in Cambridge NY would be populated with young, inexperienced, or shaky singers. One would be supposing wrong. The quality of the music and the singing voices is astonishing. Some are professionals from New York City, some are very talented local or sort of local artists. The small orchestra assembled by Conductor Richard Giarusso is very solid. The company was apparently assembled largely by Alix Jones, who in addition to singing the role of Despina, is the founder of this opera company and the Production Manager.

The opera is sung in Italian, which gives the audience a lot to do – appreciating the music, taking in the dramatic action, and keeping track of the English translations projected on a small screen keeps the spectator busy. In addition, the show can be taken on several levels. It can be understood seriously, as a meditation on human fickleness, or it can be seen as primarily a romp, with comedy foremost. There is much more to say about it than I have space for here, but suffice it to say that this is an auspicious debut for this opera company, and it is a rich experience well worth the trip to Hubbard Hall.

Remaining performances are August 21 and 23 at 8 pm, and August 24 at 2 pm. Tickets are $30, $25 for members, $20 for students. For information or reservations, call (518) 677-2495

Bench Donated For Hoosick Falls Health Center Courtyard

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Pictured Left to Right around the bench are John Capano, Margaret LeStage, Paul Corbett, Health Center Administrator, and Jean Capano.
Pictured Left to Right around the bench are John Capano, Margaret LeStage, Paul Corbett, Health Center Administrator, and Jean Capano.

The Hoosick Falls Health Center Auxiliary donated a garden bench in memory of Alan Capano.  Alan’s mother Jean Capano served as President of the Auxiliary for many years and was instrumental in its growth.  Jean and her husband John continue as members of the Health Center Auxiliary.

The Hoosick Falls Health Center is an 82 bed not-for-profit skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility serving the area for over 90 years.

Fourth Hoosic River Ride Is August 23

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The Fourth Hoosic River Ride, a benefit bike tour for the Hoosic River Watershed Association, will happen on Saturday, August 23, no matter the weather. “We have provisions in place for shortening the course if we have a significant heavy-rain delay and will advise people on where it’s best to seek shelter in case dangerous weather moves in,” explained organizer Lisa Carey Moore. 

The one day event offers three routes of 13, 33 or 67 miles and cyclists can register online at bikereg.com or active.com or in person on the day of the ride. The longest ride, “The Watershed Challenge,” will depart the ride headquarters at Bennington College at 8 am and registration opens at 7 am. The 33-miler, “Two State Tour,” leaves at 9 am with the last group of riders for the “Monument and Bridges” 13 miler leaving at 10. Participants registering on the day should bring cash or checks, with the $40 (13-miler) or $50 (33 and 67 mile routes) fees covering a post ride lunch of burritos, assorted salads, baked goods, one free beer for participants 21 and over with many other beverages free of charge, too. The first 120 riders will receive an eco-tote and water bottle with the ride logo. Currently, just over 65 riders have signed up.

HFCS Tax Unchanged From Budget Vote

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by Alex Brooks

The Hoosick Falls Central School set its tax levy and tax rates at its meeting this week. The tax levy is $8,526,995, which is an increase of 3.5% over last year’s levy. It has not been changed from the figures presented to the voters at the time of the budget vote. The tax rate for Grafton is $202.77 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation, an increase of 3.6%, for Hoosick $61.52 per thousand, an increase of 2.9%, for Petersburgh $29.40 per thousand, an increase of 4%, for Pittstown $27.68 per thousand, an increase of 1.1%, and for White Creek $29.10 per thousand, an increase of 1.8%.

The new principals, Patrick Dailey for the Elementary School and Steven Leunig for the High School, made

Elementary School Principal Patrick Dailey. (Alex Brooks photo)
Elementary School Principal Patrick Dailey. (Alex Brooks photo)

presentations on trends in student academic achievement over the last few years. Superintendent Ken Facin said he had asked them to do so to “give them a snapshot of what they’re inheriting,” and to start thinking about setting academic goals and the means to achieve them.

Patrick Dailey presented the numbers from tests given in the elementary school over the last few years, which showed steady improvement in a number of areas. Superintendent Ken Facin thanked him for the presentation, and remarked, “We have seen positive gains in every assessment in the elementary, but we have a long way to go.”

Next, High School Principal Steven Leunig gave a powerpoint presentation on academic achievement in the high school over the past three years. The data showed improvements in most areas but some were up and down.  Leunig remarked that seventh and eighth grade English test results are improving but

High School Principal Steven Leunig. (Alex Brooks photo)
High School Principal Steven Leunig. (Alex Brooks photo)

are not yet up to the state average. He called science and foreign language test results “very nice numbers.”  The number of students passing Regents tests went up from 06-07 to 07-08 from 79% to 87%, and the number of students taking the tests increased as well.

 

The graduation rate has improved over the last three years, from 68% in 06 (2002 cohort) to 82% in 07 (2003 cohort) to 91% in 08 (2004 cohort).

The rest of the topics covered in this week’s School Board meeting will be published next week.

Hoosick Falls New Extra Helpings!

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Join Extra Helpings and save money on your food bill. Extra Helpings is a community food buying club with no age limits or income limits. Now there are more choices and better quality. For $20 you will receive: Meat and Entree items – four 6-oz. chicken cordon bleu, a 3 lb. box of John Morrell, all-meat franks, a 3 lb. box I.Q.F. boneless chicken breasts, 1.5 lbs. of Holton beef patties, a 1 lb. bag coleslaw mix and 1 pt. of grape tomatoes.  

Special #1 is  8 lbs. of boneless fresh pork loin for $19.   Special #2 is two 2.5 lb. bags of all-beef fully cooked meatballs for $12.  The meat box contains 2 lbs. of cranberry and apple stuffed pork chops, 3 lbs. of honey mustard flavored chicken breasts, 3 lbs. of home style beef patties, 2 lbs. of maple breakfast sausage links and 3 lbs. of chicken patties –  for $30.

Money and orders must be given to Donna W. Howes, 10 Second St., Hoosick Falls, NY, 12090, by September 7. Delivery will be on September 25 from 2:30 to 4 pm at the First United Presbyterian Church in Hoosick Falls. For ordering information, please contact Donna W. Howes at 518-686-9560.

Sunday Market In Wood Park In Hoosick Falls

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 The Rural Rensselaer County Council for Health and Human Services is hosting a “Sunday Market in the Park” in Wood Park in Hoosick Falls on August 31 between 10 am and 1 pm. Anyone who has a bountiful crop of produce,  preserves or handcrafts, etc. and would like to earn some extra money is welcome to bring goods to sell. Just bring your squash, cucumbers, tomatoes and other items and a table to set up to display your goodies. No registration fee!

Please call Delight Cullen at 686-4533, Pat Hayes at St. Mary’s Academy, 686-4314, or Stella Sawyer at Immaculate Conception Church, 686-5064, ext. 201 to reserve a space.

Flooding Brings A Deluge Of Complaints In Hoosick Falls

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A fire fighter sloshes through the water overflowing from Wood Brook behind homes on Hall St. Three and a half inches of rain fell in Hoosick Falls between Sunday and Monday evenings. (Bea Peterson photo)
A fire fighter sloshes through the water overflowing from Wood Brook behind homes on Hall St. Three and a half inches of rain fell in Hoosick Falls between Sunday and Monday evenings. (Bea Peterson photo)

by Bea Peterson

Winnie Restino and Pam Benkoski were at the Hoosick Falls Village Board meeting again Tuesday evening, August 12, to complain about the Wood Brook flooding behind homes on Hall St. They asked if the engineering report had been completed. Mayor Laura Reynolds responded there will not be an engineering report from Clough Harbour because there are no funds to cover any work to be done. She said she and Trustee Mike Hickey have been trying to reach Tom Sanford of the Rensselaer County Soil and Water Conservation District to put his previous recommendations in writing so they can act on them. She will ask him to come out again and give them a letter quickly. Benkoski said branches from the trees on the other side of the brook are leaning over much further than they were and she is concerned the roots won’t hold and the trees will topple. Both women were grateful for the help of the Village and the Fire Department in removing debris from the culvert to relieve the flooding Monday evening. However, no one moved the debris from the yard, they said. They were both disappointed there will be no engineer’s report. “This is a dangerous situation,” Benkoski said. “Someone should step in and do something.” Mayor Reynolds responded that because the trees are on private property there is a whole legal process to go through before anything can be done. And because it is private property, many grants are not applicable. Restino said, “When you see water coming on each side of your house it’s scary.”

Hickey had a letter from the US Army Corps of Engineers stating it could take up to ten years for them to do the work. Trustee Ric DiDonato explained that some of the properties above Main St. have changed the course of the brook. “I understand your frustration,” he said. “If it were me I would feel the same.” If the brook were damaging the road area the Village could take care of it, but it’s a different issue with private property. Bonnie Smith, another Hall St. resident said this is an old problem left to worsen. It is her understanding that a dam was removed 50 years ago and the water has been left to erode the brook. Who should be approached to fix the dam, she asked. Part of the brook runs on Town property and part of it on private property. Congresswoman Gillibrand’s office is aware of the problem. Federal funding is out there, but it’s not available yet. Hickey will make more calls to see where else the Village or homeowners can go. Mayor Reynolds reminded everyone they can’t legally make any changes to waterways without Army Corps of Engineers approval.

DiDonato said, “This is our biggest problem, but it is not the County’s biggest problem and not the State’s biggest problem.”

Truck Damage
Beverly James who lives on the corner of River St. and McCaffrey Ave. complained bitterly about the trucks ruining her lawn. They’ve widened the curb, she said and they’ve knocked off the wall. She wants to put up a six foot high fence. “I pay taxes and I want to put up a fence!” Mayor Reynolds told her that the Board has been advised by the Village attorney to delay issuing permits for six foot fences until a case before the Judge regarding such a fence is resolved. James was not at all pleased with the response.

Donna Parker complained about the garbage and trash around the house next to her. Building Inspector Dick Weeden said the owner has been cited and the case is in process. The Mayor added, “We have to go through the process.”

Loud Music
Daniel Brandy of Church St. complained about the loud music coming from the Youth Center. When he complained to the Center he was told that concert would be the last one, and then they had two others. “I can’t take it any more,” he said. “And the police say they can’t do anything. Three times is enough!” He said the music was so loud he couldn’t even hear his television. Mayor Reynolds told him the Youth Center is a private entity and the Village can’t do anything, but they would talk to the Director about his concerns.

Let The Buyer Beware
Michael Hyde recently purchased a HUD property at 71 Wilder Ave. as a two family dwelling. Trustee Ann Bornt told him Village records show the property to be a one family home. Hyde responded that it had been a duplex for 20 years! He said it has two kitchens, two bathrooms, two water tanks and two furnaces. Bornt said anyone buying a home in the Village should check in the Clerk’s office to see the status of that property. The Village has had a law since 1992 that single homes cannot be turned into doubles or more.  Hyde said, “This slipped past everyone.” Bornt said this has happened with many, many places. Hyde threatened to take the issue to Court. The Mayor suggested his first step should be to go before the Planning Board for a variance.

Jessie Stevens came before the Board for a third time regarding tying into the Village water line. Trustee Matt Monahan said he had reviewed the problem with Jim Hurlburt and Hurlburt will work with Stevens to see the connection is made.

Railroad Land Purchase Finally Underway
Trustee Ric DiDonato reported that the signing for the railroad property for a River Walk is coming up very soon and so far only one encroaching property owner has signed off. The Board agreed to hold to its previous resolution for the Village to purchase the property with funds gifted to it by the Hoosick River Watershed Association (HooRWA). The latest 60 day purchasing extension ends August 17. DiDonato is also interested in finding a use for the old water treatment building. Mayor Reynolds said they recently received a final $50,000 grant for the River Walk from Senator Bruno. She has requested a change in the grant to use some of the funds to purchase a new police car. Indications are that will be possible. 

DiDonato reported he had been invited to be on the Lakes to Locks Board to represent Rensselaer County. He has not made a decision yet.

Monahan reported that a new computer has been purchased for the Village office and the Village website should be up this week.

DiDonato reported that road work has been done on Rowley Ave. and this week work has started on Abbott St. The Board approved his request to rent an excavator from Capital Tractor for $3,300 to help with road projects. The Board also approved advertising for a leaf picking-up machine with bids to be in by 3:30 pm on September 9.

The Board approved putting out an RFP for clearing bunkers and culverts for flood control. Bids are to be in by 3:30 pm on Friday, September 5.

Congratulate John Luke
DiDonato and the Board extended congratulations to John Luke on achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. They hoped John would be at the meeting, but he was working at the Boy Scout Camp and next month he will be off to college.

Progress On The Corner?
When asked, Mayor Reynolds said that now that work on the wall on the Main St. building near the empty John St. corner is completed and the scaffolding removed the Village can work to make something happen on that corner. She hopes the land can be purchased by the Village and progress made to clean it up.

In other business the Board:
-Tabled the appointment of Jerry McAuliffe as Trustee to fill Robert Becker’s seat.
-Accepted the resignation of part time police offer Ryan St. Gelais.
-Approved Village Clerk Marie Bushey and Village Treasurer Denise McMahon attending COM fall training at Lake Placid September 15 to 19.
-Approved NY Leak Detection proposal to look at Clay Hill area gas and water lines. Estimated cost was from $3,700 to $5,050. The same company looked at the wastewater line for the Wastewater Plant project.
-Approved a request by Village Court Clerk Jan  Kimball to apply for a 2008 Justice Court Assistance Program grant.

The Board concluded the meeting with an executive session to discuss the Police Dept. Union contract.