Please come and join others who live, work or play on the Rensselaer Plateau for a presentation and discussion of the Rensselaer Plateau Regional Conservation Plan (The Plan). On Thursday, March 21, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm, the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance (RPA) will host a public meeting at the Carner-Etman-Smith VFW Post in Grafton. Turn on South Street directly across from the Town Store. The VFW Post is 1/3 mile on the right. A copy of the draft plan is available at www.rensselaerplateau.org.
The Plan has been under development for over two years which included community forums in 2010, public workshops in 2011-12 and targeted stakeholder meetings to facilitate public input. The purpose of the Rensselaer Plateau Regional Conservation Plan is to:
• identify the areas with the most significant ecological, economic and community values;
• identify conservation and stewardship needs for those areas, and
• create a toolbox for all of the stakeholders of the Rensselaer Plateau region to use.
Participants will have an opportunity to discuss and comment on the plan. RPA will be accepting individual and organizational comments until May 1, 2013.
Stephentown
Katharine F. Potter
Stephentown – Katharine Fanning Potter, 86, of Gardner Hill Road, Stephentown, NY, died on Monday, March 11, 2013. Born in Stamford, CT, on August 9, 1926, she was the daughter of the late William L. and Mercy Dawes Fanning. Kay was a kindergarten teacher at Pine Cobble School in Williamstown, MA, for over 50 years.
Survivors include her daughter, Libby Potter Demick of Stephentown, her son, Mark and wife Dorothy Potter of Lenexa, KS, her brother, William (Lou) Fanning of Mystic, CT, her grandchildren, Matthew Potter, Erin Demick, Megan Gabehart and Emily Demick, and her great-grandchildren, Spencer and Isabel Gabehart. She is pre-deceased by a grandson, Michael Demick. Private services will be held in Saugerties, NY, at a later date. Memorial contributions may be made to the Pine Cobble School, 163 Gale Road, Williamstown, MA, 01267. Arrangements are under the guidance of Hall & Higgins Funeral Home.
Former Stephentown Resident Mushes In The Famed Iditarod Race
by David Flint
The famed Iditarod sled dog race kicked off last Saturday in Anchorage, Alaska. One of the 65 starting mushers this year in the grueling thousand mile run to Nome through the rugged Alaskan wilderness is former Stephentown resident Mike Ellis.
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Open Burning Banned Between March 16 And May 15
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) implemented a new open burning regulation that took effect in October 2009. As part of that regulation no open burning is permitted between March 16 and May 15 each year. The regulation also specifies what can and cannot be burned.
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Letter To The Editor – Supporting The Legislative District Public Library
To the editor,
I am writing this to express the benefit it is to have our Library in Stephentown. The Stephentown Memorial Library is very important to the community. The resources and services they offer create opportunities for learning and support education. The library is needed now and especially for our future generations. Our library welcomes the growing community with its family programs.
In order for the Stephentown Memorial Library to keep operating, we need the library to become a public library. This will allow and offer more funding that is needed for funding basic operations, (open hours) at the library.
Andrew Schrump
Route 43, Stephentown
Small Business Owner
Letter To The Editor – Supporting The Legislative District Public Library
To the Eastwick Press Editor:
I wish could vote Yes on March 19th.
The library is the most important part of the village of Stephentown. It honors our history and our veterans. Stephentown is a community. The idea of community is right there in the library. It is has the tradition of a village kind of library with everything you need from a big city library right there. When you ask a question, you receive a polite and articulate answer. People are genuinely friendly. It is a place to go for some.
Our family has owned land in Stephentown for three generations. We return every summer for vacation and make many visits to the library. The letter and information you sent about your special district initiative was so well done and clearly written. I wish I could help the library become a district library. It is time. It is right. I truly wish I could vote Yes on March 19th .
Claudia Hodder
410 Manitoba
Playa del Rey, CA
Tsatsawassa Protective Fire Company Breakfast
Members of the Tsatsawassa Protective Fire Company, serving Brainard and East Nassau and surrounding area, will hold their monthly breakfast on Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, from 8 to 11:30 am at the firehouse located on Firehouse Lane behind the post office near the intersection of Routes 20 and 66N in Brainard.
Breakfast offers your choice of pancakes or French toast served with bacon or sausage, eggs cooked to your order, applesauce and an assortment of breakfast beverages at a cost of $6 over the age of 12; children under five eat for free. Special thanks is expressed to the Hannaford Corporation for their generous donation toward our breakfast menu and to the Cub Scouts who help in the serving.
Stephentown Volunteer Fire Department Texas Hold’em
The Stephentown Volunteer Fire Department will hold a Texas Hold’em Tournament on Saturday, March 16, in the Stephentown Fire Hall, located at 35 Grange Hall Road in Stephentown. The doors will open at 5:30 pm and close at 6 pm. Play begins at 6:15 sharp.
A free buffet will be served at the first break, and refreshments will be available.
No advance registration is required, and a donation of $35 per player will be accepted. Players can make an additional $10 donation at the door for 1,000 extra chips. This tournament will pay one place for every ten players with a minimum of four places and a maximum of nine places.
For further information, please call John Linton at 518-733-0469.
Woods And Wildlife Workshop
“Caring for Your Woods and Wildlife” is a day long workshop for forest owners held at Tamarac High School in Brunswick, on Saturday, March 16. There will be seven presentations on a variety of topics in the morning, followed by a woods walk in the afternoon. The talks will be geared toward issues and concerns of woodland owners in the Rensselaer Plateau area. Speakers from the NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation, the Hudson River Estuary Program and the Cornell Cooperative Extension will cover topics including wildlife ecology, forest regeneration, streamside management, woodland transfer and how to develop a forest management plan.
The afternoon walk in a nearby forest will give attendees the opportunity to see how some of the management topics can be applied in their woods. The workshop is sponsored by the Hudson River Estuary Program and the Cornell Cooperative Extension Biodiversity Program Work Team, with endorsement by the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance, Greene and Rensselaer County Cooperative Extension and the Capital District Chapter of the NY Forest Owners Association.
The $15 fee covers refreshments, lunch and an information packet. To register by March 9 online or to print a mail-in registration form, go to www2.dnr.cornell.edu/ext/pwt/bio/. For more information, email Kristi Sullivan at kls20@cornell.edu.
The Stephentown Library Legislative District Would Have Taxing Authority
by David Flint
The Stephentown Memorial Library held a public hearing on Thursday, February 21, regarding its proposal to convert the Library to a Special Legislative District (SLD) public library with taxing authority. Attendance was surprisingly low. In a town with about 3,000 inhabitants, only about 30 people attended. There were no comments in opposition to the proposal or expressions of any particular concern. Library Board President Sue Cass said that another public hearing would be held in early March, at the Town Hall instead of at the Library. This hearing has since been scheduled for Wednesday, March 13 at 7 pm at the Town Hall. The vote on this proposal is scheduled for March 19.
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