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Now for Some History: 1963

From the THE CITIZEN-ADVERTISER, WEDNESDAY, 10/16/1963

Volunteers Fighting Blazes Share Goal, Differ in Reasons

They come from NY City, Albany, Syracuse, from Fort Edward, Clemons, Hadley and nearby farms – the hundreds of men and boys who, off and on, for more than a week have battled the flames eating into New York’s vast and valuable forestlands.

These smoke-begrimed, oftentimes thirsty volunteers are engaged in a near ceaseless effort to contain the fires cropping up in tinder-dry-woods. Today about 75 fires were reported burning in woodlands across the state. Showers were forecast for some areas but the Weather Bureau held out little prospect of a good soaking rain. Some of the firefighters, including a group of sixteen-aged boys, who had to hike for about 30 miles with scarcely a ride, slept on bare ground without blankets. When the six could stand it no longer in the 30-degree temperature in the Adirondacks, they walked a mile to a house, where they were taken in.

Who comes to fight fires and why? Well, a professor in Albany telephoned the Conservation Department Office, near here, to ask directions to fire-fighting headquarters at the foot of Spruce Mountain. 25 miles northeast of here, betweens Lakes George and Champlain. A Conservation Department supervisor. Robert E. Richards asked why he wanted to come. The professor replied that he loved the Adirondacks.

Some come for the excitement, others to save property. It’s hard work and there is plenty of confusion, with so many strangers.

One group, armed to fight a fire, missed it and walked right by to the next hamlet Huletts Landing. The volunteers are paid 75 cents an hour. They generally work a 12-hour shift. Some leave after one stint.

Others want to stay on. Since the state has no shelter for them, they must go elsewhere or sleep on the ground. Most have transportation of their own. Any volunteer who checks the Conservation Department in advance is advised to wear heavy clothes and boots. At one point, Richards said, about 400 men fought flames on Spruce Mountain and at nearby Lapland Pond. The force had dwindled by today to the neighborhood of 100. This was the mop-up operation. The fires were believed to be contained. But said one veteran as he watched a youngster chopping away at the burning underground roots of an aged balsam: “That underground fire won’t go out until January.”

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FHHL Speakers – 2011

The Friends of Historic Huletts Landing (FHHL) will be bringing in three guest speakers during the summer of 2011 to speak on interesting, historic, topics of interest.

Previously, I announced the first talk here.

With things being quiet lately, I thought this would be a good opportunity to announce the second talk.

“The Adirondack Railroad: People and places along the Rails”.

By Persis Granger

While the large steamships get most of the publicity for bringing people up Lake George, the fact is that the railroads brought most people into the Adirondacks between 1880 and 1930. With there being renewed activity on the former Adirondack Railroad Line recently, this is a topic you won’t want to miss. It will touch on how the railroad brought people to the North Country, and how the trains brought life and activity to those who lived there.

Persis Granger is the editor of the John Thurman Quarterly and the President of Thurman Station Association.

More information on specific dates and times will be announced by the Friends of Historic Huletts as we get closer to summer. Plan on being at all three talks, you’ll be glad you did.

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2010 Lake Stewards Report Released

The Lake George Association has released a report for the public with findings from the 2010 Lake Steward program. The Lake George Lake Steward Program is a critical part of protecting the water quality of Lake George and preventing the spread of invasive species between waterbodies by boaters throughout the Lake Champlain Basin and the Northeast. While dozens of different aquatic invasive species reside nearby, only four are currently found in Lake George.

In 2010, Lake Stewards were posted at four launches around Lake George: Norowal Marina, Mossy Point, Hague Town Beach and Rogers Rock. Lake Stewards inspected a total of 2,538 boats at these sites, and educated boaters about the threats of Eurasian watermilfoil, zebra mussels, curly-leaf pondweed, and the Lake’s most recent invader, the Asian clam. Thirty-six samples of Eurasian watermilfoil were removed during the season. Nine samples of curly-leaf pondweed were found, three samples of zebra mussels, and five of water chestnut, an invasive that is not currently found in Lake George.

In addition, the program collects data on the body of water most recently visited prior to Lake George within the past 2 weeks, and whether spread prevention steps were taken prior to launch. In 2010, 65 boaters stated that the body of water they visited prior to Lake George was Lake Champlain, a lake with 49 documented invasive species. Thirty-three boaters had most recently visited the Hudson River, a waterbody with 91 invasives. Ninety-five percent of the boaters reported that they had taken spread prevention measures prior to their launch. Stewards also inspected bait buckets and educated boaters about New York State’s new baitfish and firewood regulations.

The 2010 Lake Steward Program was funded by the Bolton Local Development Corporation, the town of Hague, the town of Ticonderoga, the Lake George Park Commission, the Helen V. Froehlich Foundation, and the NYS Department of State with funds provided under Title 11 of the Environmental Protection Fund. The program was originally conceived by the Invasive Species Task Force of the Lake George Watershed Coalition and is currently coordinated by the LGA.

The entire report can be viewed at: http://www.lakegeorgeassociation.org/documents/2010LakeStewardReport.pdf

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Bits of Everything

What is the Berry Pond Tract?

The Adirondack Almanack has a good piece about the Berry Pond Tract and a scheduled hike.

Jimmer Started in New York

I’ve gotten some requests to interview Brigham Young’s Jimmer Fredette because he grew up nearby. He’s a little tough to get an interview with right now but you can learn more about his days locally from the NY Times.

How Big is the Space Station?

The USA Today has an interesting video showing how big the International Space Station is.

Every Oscar Best Picture Ranked

It doesn’t include this week’s winner but here is a fun list from Nerve ranking every Best Picture.

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School Board Math

I went through the last 6 years worth of data that is publically available and put together this table which compares the student enrollment in the Whitehall School district to the number of staff positions. As you can see, enrollment has been falling (and is projected to continue to fall) while teacher and staff positions have either risen or stayed approximately the same.

04-05 05-06 06-07 07-08 08-09 09-10 % Change
# Students 885 860 858 845 815 779 -11.98%
# Teachers 83 85 79 86 87 86 + 3.61%
# Professionals 6 10 10 9 10 9 +50.00%
# Paraprofessionals 38 46 39 45 46 37 -2.63%

I think these numbers are important for a number of reasons:

1.) The school board during the last 5 years lobbied for and spent millions of dollars expanding the physical plant of the school while enrollment was falling. It should be apparent that this was a very poor use of resources (as residents of Huletts argued). You may recall that the teachers supported this expansion. Doing simple projections on the expected enrollment over the next 10 years should result in a discussion about mothballing certain buildings going forward. It is absolutely reasonable to look into consolidating both the elementary school and the high school into one building at this time. At one time the buildings which comprise the school district housed approximately 1200 students. If current projections hold, we will reach approximately half that number sometime during the next 10 years.

2.) The teacher’s are very vocal about losing jobs and while this should be a concern to all of us, the ability of the taxpayer to fund rising salaries, benefits and other expansive ideas of the education establishment (all in a time of documented enrollment loses) has been reached at this point. Doing away with a number of positions based on falling enrollment is quite reasonable and should be expected based on these numbers.

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Some Winter Pictures

Things have been incredibly slow this week, so I thought I would post some winter pictures. (Which people always seem to enjoy.) My niece, Margot, wanted to have her picture taken in front of the sign!

Click on the picture to see in full view.

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School Admits Falling Enrollment – Plans Tax Increase

The Whitehall Times has an eye-opening article on the problems Whitehall has made for itself by the school board’s out of control tax and spend policies.

Finally, the plummeting enrollment of the Whitehall school district can’t be hidden anymore. Readers of the Huletts Current have known about this for some time now. What is the school’s board’s response? A proposed property tax increase of 13% at this time, which taxpayers of the district (including Huletts Landing) will be expected to pay.

Here’s an idea for the Whitehall School board. The plummeting enrollment (which all of New York is experiencing) is directly related to policies that always assume that the taxpayer can continue to match the spending increases that our school board regularly enacts. Look around Whitehall, the town is in serious decline and has been for some time.

The plummeting enrollment is expected to get worse over the next ten years. The discussion needs to include mothballing buildings, cutting spending drastically and lowering property taxes.

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Kobe Bryant is the ‘Black Mamba’

In celebration of tonight’s NBA All-Star game, Nike Basketball dropped the full-length short of the Kobe Bryant “The Black Mamba” film.

Kobe Bryant is, ‘The Black Mamba’. Directed by Robert Rodriguez.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TO4yeUIPWE

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Rachael Ray to Appear

The Lake George Alumni Association announces that Lake George graduate and TV celebrity, Rachael Ray, class of ’86 has agreed to join them once again at their benefit show. This will be her 9th appearance.

She will share her talents, answers questions, signs books and allow the proceeds from the ticket and book sales to benefit the LG Alumni Scholarship and School Equipment sponsorships.

The Alumni Association will again collect Pet & People Food Donations to benefit “Purrs & Paws”, Local SPCA and the Lake George and Lake Luzerne Food Pantries.

Please consider joining them. Here is their flyer.

SAVE the DATES:
Ticket Sales Saturday, March 26, 2011 LGHS LOBBY 9-1 ONLY
Benefit Show Friday, April 15, 2011 LGHS Auditorium 7:00 pm
$25.00 pp
6 Ticket Max
Cash or Check ONLY
Payable: LG ALUMNI

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FHHL Speakers – 2011

The Friends of Historic Huletts (FHHL) will be bringing in three guest speakers during the summer of 2011 to speak on interesting, historic, topics of interest.

With today being a cold winter’s day, this is a perfect opportunity to announce the first talk.

Adirondack Ice, a Cultural and Natural History

By Caperton Tissot

Ice has determined the course of Adirondack history in many surprising ways. Ms. Tissot will present a slideshow, talk and book signing highlighting the cultural and natural history of Adirondack ice based on her recently published book. The book traces the evolution of that influence, touching on everything from ice industries and transportation to recreation and accidents.

Caperton Tissot is an author whose fascination with regional history has led to the publication of two books: History between the Lines, Women’s Lives and Saranac Lake Customs and Adirondack Ice, a Cultural and Natural History.

“In Adirondack Ice, a Cultural and Natural History, author Caperton Tissot illuminates the history of our relationship with a defining element of winter. Valued and reviled, ice is an unavoidable fact of life in the Adirondack Mountains. As Tissot points out, it has ‘substantially determined the natural, economic, and cultural history of the North Country, yet it is an often overlooked and underappreciated influence. Filled with surprises, Adirondack Ice is a fascinating look at the many ways ice touches our lives in the Adirondack Mountains.”

Laura Rice,
Chief Curator, The Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake

More information on specific dates and times will be announced by the Friends of Historic Huletts as we get closer to summer. Plan on being at all three, you’ll be glad you did.