Eastern Rensselaer County's Community Newspaper
by Doug La Rocque
Stephentown Firefighters were called out in the early morning hours on Tuesday, December 14, to battle a structure fire at 116 Knapps Road, just east of the NYS Routes 43 and 22 intersection. According to Rensselaer County Director of Public Safety Jay Wilson, the Knapps awoke to find a fire in the wall near a wood stove. They managed to escape safely, but [Read more…] about Stephentown House Heavily Damaged By Fire
by Doug La Rocque
If you have ever traveled NYS Route 7 (Hoosick Road) during rush hour or on weekends, you have probably had a few not so pleasant words about the traffic situation. It is often backed up so it takes many turns of a traffic light to proceed, exiting and entering the road can be quite the challenge and is sometimes a nightmare for emergency vehicles. Traffic was a major topic of discussion for the Brunswick Planning Board when they deliberated the new Aldi, Hannaford and [Read more…] about A Glimmer of Hope for Route 7 Traffic
by Doug La Rocque
The Hoosick Falls Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday, December 14 opened with a public hearing on Local Law #3, which restricted parking on Elm Street near the Village Pizzeria to 15 minutes. The change involved a 60-foot section of the road. There were no speakers, and the Board later passed the law unanimously. What did spark debate, however, was an October change that limited the number of all night parking spaces in municipal lots, particularly the one off [Read more…] about Hoosick Falls Municipal Parking Lot Changes Have Unintended Consequences
Submitted by SVMC
In response to a sustained surge in cases of COVID-19 throughout Vermont and to mitigate the spread of the virus, Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), part of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC), will suspend in-person visits for hospital patients starting Monday, December 13. Visitor restrictions also include the health system’s practices and off-campus offices. Visitation at SVMC and other hospital systems has been restricted during times of increased transmission throughout the pandemic.
The policy has some exceptions:
View this week’s entire newspaper by tapping or clicking on the image: [Read more…] about December 17, 2021 Edition
In response to a sustained surge in cases of COVID-19 throughout Vermont and to mitigate the spread of the virus, Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), part of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC), will suspend in-person visits for hospital patients starting Monday, December 13. Visitor restrictions also include the health system’s practices and off-campus offices. Visitation at SVMC and other hospital systems has been restricted during times of increased transmission throughout the pandemic. Regional hospitals, including Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health and University of Vermont Medical Center, have also initiated visitor restrictions this week. [Read more…] about Southwestern Vermont Medical Center Restricts Visitors
by Doug La Rocque
On Friday, December 10, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that mask will be required in all indoor public spaces in New York State, unless a business or venue has a proof of vaccine requirement before entering. The mandate begins on Monday, December 13 and runs through January 15, when it will be reviewed. When issuing the new mandate, Governor Hochul said “ we are entering a time of uncertainty and we could either plateau here or our cases could get out of control. The Governors office issued a statement that says the mandate is aimed at addressing a winter surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, claiming the number of positive cases since Thanksgiving is up 43% and hospitalizations up 29% over the same time period. Violators could face fines and civil penalties up to a maximum of $1,000. Under the mandate, local health departments will be in charge of enforcing the requirements.
In Rensselaer County, don’t look for the county health Department to take on the added chore. County Executive Steve McLaughlin’s office has issued the following statement; “This is the wrong direction for the state to be taking, especially given the innumerable orders, policy changes and directives already made during the past two years. This is an overreach and it comes at a time when residents and businesses are already struggling.”
“Residents are already taking common-sense precautions and businesses, organizations and other establishments have been going above and beyond to keep the public and customers safe. Over 80 percent of state residents have already been fully vaccinated.”
“The county Health Department has been providing a seven-day-a-week, round-the-clock response to the pandemic for nearly two years. They are working on contact tracing, immunization clinics and many other duties and do not have the time or resources to deal with yet another state mandate.”
“Rensselaer County will not utilize resources to enforce this new state mandate. If the state wants to enforce the mandate, the state will need to utilize state resources for those actions.”
The County’s Public Health Director Mary Fran Wachusas issued a response to the new regulations as well;
“We are impressed that many residents have already gotten fully vaccinated and are taking reasonable and common-sense steps to deal with the pandemic. Businesses and organizations are also working to keep the public safe and we appreciate the patience and cooperation of the public as we are dealing with the expected and seasonal increase in cases.”
“Our Health Department is already dealing with an increase in contact tracing of cases, conducting three vaccination clinics each week and also handling the many other duties and responsibilities for our department. We simply do not have the staff to deal with the latest mandate by the state or enforcement of the mandate. We will remain focused on our current duties.”
by Chris Tergliafera
At the December 8 regular meeting of the New Lebanon Central School Board of Education, the board read a prepared statement answering the over 140 district residents who wrote letters asking them to reconsider the their stance and adopt the exemption. The Board stated that while they have the upmost respect for those who have served, they would not discuss the matter further citing the funds for such an exemption would come out of the pockets of others in the community. Read the full story on this and other matters discussed at the meeting in next week’s Eastwick Press.
by Chris Tergliafera
On December 8, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the Department of Health (DOH), the Rensselaer County Department of Health (RCDOH) and representatives from the Town of Poestenkill held two public availability sessions in the Algonquin Middle School cafeteria. The purpose of which was to inform the residents of finding, and plans going forward, in the ongoing PFAS contamination investigation. Those attending could go to one of five stations set up around the cafeteria, to find out information on various topics of concern regarding the contamination. Find out more in the full article next week in the Eastwick Press.
by Doug La Rocque
The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has released their decision on how to provide a new permanent source of clean drinking water for the Village of Hoosick Falls. That decision calls for:
• Developing two new groundwater supply wells. Existing test wells south of Hoosick Falls will be converted to production wells;
• Retaining one existing village well. Redundancy is required in the case of an outage of the primary wells;
• Constructing a water transmission line from the new wells to the village water treatment plant along public rights of way;
• Continued operation of the public water supply treatment plant to remove naturally occurring elements, and ensure disinfection and distribution to meet applicable water supply requirements; and
• Retaining the existing GAC treatment system to ensure removal of ambient organic compounds.
The two new well sites are on land off NYS Route 22 south of the Village, owned by Jeff Wysocki and Jerry LaCroix. That is what many had speculated would be the answer for a year now, ever since DEC [Read more…] about New Water Source Announced for Hoosick Falls
