The Stephentown Library Book Discussion Group will read House Rules by Jodi Picoult for its meeting on Thursday, January 5. Jacob, a teenager with asperger’s syndrome, is obsessed with forensic analysis and accused of murder. The book explores the intolerance and misunderstanding that he and his mother and brother endure as the case develops and goes to trial.
Meetings are held in the Community Room at the Stephentown Memorial Library, Main Street, Stephentown, from noon to 1 pm. Bring a lunch if you like. Copies of the book are available at the library desk. New readers are always welcome. For more information, call 518-733-5750.
Local News
Poestenkill Historical Society Holiday Party
The Poestenkill Historical Society will be hosting its Annual Holiday Party on December 27 in the Poestenkill Town Hall (RT 351) at 7 pm. The public is welcome to come to celebrate the holidays with holiday desserts and punch. If you would like to share a Holiday Tradition from your family history or one that your family enjoys each year, we would enjoy hearing from you.The Poestenkill Historical Society would like to wish everyone a Happy Holiday and a healthy New Year. For more information and directions, call Pat at 518-283-5223.
Letter To The Editor – Focus On Christ During The Holiday Season
To the Editor:
Two things drive me crazy during this season: the focus on the secular and (ashamedly) the never ending requests for donations. The latter changed Saturday when I visited my sister. She is schizophrenic and in a nursing home. She has been crazy for 51 of her 69 years, yet she is a better Christian than I could ever be. She had one of those little plastic wrapped Kleenex packages. This was a gift from the Salvation Army. She was so excited that they came to visit her and gave her a gift. Then she gave it to me and asked me to wrap to give to our mother, saying, “It is not much but it is all I have to give her.”
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Ugandan Water Project
James Harrington, founder of Ugandan Water Project, visited the Hoosick Falls Community Alliance Church last month and shared heart wrenching data on the effects unsafe drinking water has on the lives of Ugandan people and a vision he was given to effect change.
Ugandans walk 2-5 miles twice a day to the nearest water source, typically a murky pond or river shared by livestock, wildlife and/or micro-organisms. Consuming this water leads to disease and often death. Many children in Uganda can’t attend school because their job is to haul water. Oh the things we take for granted!
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Letter To The Editor – The Armory’s Great Potential
To the editor,
Thank you to the over 40 people who attended the public hearing on Hoosick Falls Armory mostly speaking in favor of keeping the Town offices at the Armory and to the 350 people who signed the petition. So, we begin with a vision, a vision of success, a vision for the next chapter in Hoosick Falls history. And it all happens AT THE ARMORY
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Saint Nick At Saint Mary’s
HooRWA Annual Meeting
The Board of Directors and Staff of the Hoosic River Watershed Association are pleased to invite the public to the 26th Annual Meeting of HooRWA. The guest speaker will be Russ Cohen of the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, Riverways Program, who will speak on “Why We Should Care About Wild Trout Streams and their Inhabitants.”
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Commemorating The 150th Anniversary Of The Civil War – Letters From A Stephentown Area Soldier
by David Flint
Calvin A. Haynes of East Nassau, NY, at the age of 24 enlisted in August 1862 at Troy in the 125th New York Infantry Regiment. His letters home to his wife Lucy have been transcribed by John Minitti of Winchester, MA, and are here reproduced, with some editing, courtesy of the New York State Library, Manuscripts and Special Collections.
Haynes is writing from Camp Douglas where he and fellow 125th soldiers are on parole following their surrender at Harpers Ferry in September, 1862.
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Hue And Cry To Save The Armory In Hoosick Falls
by Bea Peterson
On Monday, December 12, the crowd attending the public hearing on the future of the Armory filled the meeting room in the Armory and overflowed into the hallway. Town Supervisor Keith Cipperly handed out pages of information on the costs of operating the Armory in 2010, including fuel costs, which exceeded $20,000. Cipperly also passed out a sheet explaining that the Town could purchase the building for $1, but if it was not maintained, the State could take it back. Cipperly reiterated his feeling all along that the Armory is too costly to keep.
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Corkscrew Rails And Tales: History Of The Rutland RR From North Bennington To Chatham
by David Flint
For those in the Taconic Valley who remember the days when the trains of the Rutland Railroad were part of the daily scene, or for those who just have a nostalgic interest in railroading, James R. “Jim” Jones has created a special treat. The radio personality, railroad buff and media professional has just put out the sixth and last in his “Rutland Remnants” DVD series, this one entitled “North Bennington, VT to Chatham, NY – Corkscrew Rails & Tales.”
Jones describes it as a documentary in the style of a Ken Burns production. “I prefer that local people tell the story, not me,” he said. Some of the local people that appear include Art Koepp of Stephentown, Carol Lobdell VanHeusen of West Lebanon, Bruce Cobb of Chatham and Bev Bowman Chiarella of Canaan.
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