Gypsy Moths Munching Away


Gypsy moth caterpillars are crunching away on the leaves of many local trees.

If you look at the hills surrounding Lake George you will see many bare trees this year. The culprit? The gypsy moth. You will see leaf shards on the ground, ragged leaves, holes in leaves, and lots of green poop.

Gypsy moths have been present in the United States since the late 1800s. While a caterpillar, this destructive critter feeds on the leaves of over 300 different plant species. Gypsy moth caterpillars especially enjoy eating oak leaves, but if there is a large enough infestation the caterpillars will eat just about any tree species that grows in our forests. By July, the gypsy moths should fly away and hopefully our trees will re-leaf.

Until then, watch those black caterpillars and all those half eaten leaves and green poop.

Pike Caught Off Huletts


I was forwarded this picture of a northern pike caught off of Huletts this past week. The fisherman who caught it threw it back, so it’s now a little ‘wiser’ and will be harder to catch again. As readers of the site know, I always enjoy and try to post pictures of fish caught in Lake George.

NYS Drops Most COVID Restrictions As State Reaches 70% Vaccination Rate

During a press conference yesterday afternoon, Governor Cuomo announced that New York State has reached a 70% vaccination rate in the 18+ population, allowing for several of the remaining COVID restrictions to be lifted.

What Does This Mean for New Yorkers?
Effective immediately, the following state-mandated COVID restrictions are lifted across commercial and social settings.
– Social Gathering Limits
– Capacity Restrictions
– Social Distancing
– Health Screening
– Cleaning and Disinfection Protocols
– Contact Information for Tracting

This applies to the following: Sports & Recreation, Construction, Manufacturing, Trade, Child Care, Camps, Food Services, Offices, Real Estate, Buildings, Agriculture, Fishing, Forestry, Amusement & Family Entertainment, Personal Care Services, Gyms, Retail, Malls, and Movie Theaters.

*Institutional restrictions remain in place, including the following: large venues, schools, public transit, homeless, shelters, and correctional and healthcare facilities

NOTE: In addition to the institutional restrictions still in place, unvaccinated individuals are also still required to wear a mask in accordance with CDC guidelines.

Fr. Torres – Announcement of Transfer


The Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Albany, Edward B. Scharfenberger, D.D. (left), stands with Fr. Rendell Torres, Pastor of the Chapel of the Assumption (right) in a previous visit to Huletts Landing in 2014.

Fr. Rendell Torres, the Catholic priest who served at the Chapel of the Assumption in Huletts Landing and Our Lady of Hope in Whitehall for the past eight years announced this week that he has been transferred to a new parish. Below is his letter to parishioners.

June 12, 2021
+ The Immaculate Heart of Mary

Dear parishioners and visitors,

The Holy Spirit brought me to our parishes in 2013, and at the end of this month the Holy Spirit is moving me to another parish, St. Joseph the Worker in West Winfield and Richfield Springs. Their pastor died suddenly this past December, so they lost their spiritual father. My own father died a couple of months later, so it seems fitting that God is joining us together.

On the weekend of July 3-4, please welcome Father Zachariah Chichester, your new resident priest. Ordained in 2018, he will technically be the parochial vicar (or “associate pastor”), while the canonical (“official”) pastor will be Father Busch, who lives in Queensbury at Our Lady of the Annunciation. Father Chichester will live at the priest’s rectory at Our Lady of Hope in Whitehall and minister to your sacramental needs; additionally, he is also assigned to serve St. Mary’s in Granville (where retired priest Fr. Powhida has been the sacramental minister), although the three parishes in Whitehall, Fort Ann, and Granville remain distinct and are not being merged.

I am grateful to God and to you for the eight years that I have been blessed to serve as your parish priest. Please forgive me for my shortcomings, and pray for me to do God’s will always. I will also continue to pray for you.


Peace in Jesus
through Mary,
Fr. Rendell R. Torres

Saturday Quote

“Happiness is a state of the soul; a state in which our natures are full of the wine of an ancient youth, in which banquets last for ever, and roads lead everywhere, where all things are under the exuberant leadership of faith, hope, and charity.”

G.K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens: A Critical Study

State Senator Stec: Injured Firefighters Legislation Passes Legislature

The State Senate today gave final legislative approval of legislation that would add ‘vascular rupture’ to the list of injuries covered under New York State’s Volunteer Firefighters’ Benefit Law.

The legislation, introduced this session by Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner and cosponsored by Senator Dan Stec, honors Whitehall Volunteer Fire Company Chief James Brooks. Brooks died in September 2020 due to complications from an injury he suffered while responding to a fire in May earlier that year.

“Assistant Chief James Brooks died as a result of a line of duty injury,” said Stec. “He was doing what he loved, serving his community. The insurance fund that would help with medical expenses unfortunately did not cover his care, which totaled more than $1 million dollars.”

On May 2, 2020, Brooks suffered an aortic rupture while responding to a structural fire in the Town of Dresden, Washington County. The 27-year veteran of the Whitehall Volunteer Fire Company died on September 17, 2020, from health complications due his injury. The New York State Workers Compensation Board determined that Brooks’ injury does not qualify for insurance coverage.

The legislation (S4562a/A6767a) creates a presumption of coverage under the Volunteer Firefighters’ Benefit Law for vascular ruptures suffered in the line of duty. It would assure coverage for this type of injury in the same way that heart attacks, for example, are covered.

The legislation passed the Assembly on Thursday, June 3.

Gov. Cuomo Announces Most Remaining COVID-19 Restrictions to be Lifted When 70% of Adult NYers Have Received First Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine

Governor Cuomo today announced that most of the remaining COVID-19 restrictions will be lifted once 70 percent of New Yorkers aged 18 or older have received the first dose of their COVID-19 vaccination series. New York’s Forward industry specific guidelines — including capacity restrictions, social distancing, cleaning and disinfection, health screening, and contact information for tracing — will become optional for retail, food services, offices, gyms and fitness centers, amusement and family entertainment, hair salons, barber shops and personal care services, among other commercial settings. Large-scale event venues, pre-K to 12 schools, public transit, homeless shelters, correctional facilities, nursing homes, and healthcare settings must continue to follow the State’s guidelines until more New Yorkers are vaccinated.

Unvaccinated individuals will still be responsible for maintaining proper social distancing of six feet and wearing a mask as per federal CDC guidance. Consistent with the State’s implementation of the recent CDC guidance, masks will still be required for unvaccinated individuals. Large-scale event venues, Pre-K to 12 schools, public transit, homeless shelters, correctional facilities, nursing homes and health care settings will be exempt from the restriction lift. In those settings, New York State’s existing COVID-19 health protocols will remain in effect.

Rep. Stefanik Announces Pregnancy

Memorial Day: 2021

Today we honor and give thanks for all Americans who died while serving and protecting America. We celebrate the lives and sacrifice of our fallen.

I hope we remember to thank God today that we have such patriots who gave up their lives because they believed that America is our home, our land, the heart of who and what we are as not only a nation among others, but a key part of our very identity.

“May God support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in His mercy may He give us a safe lodging, and a holy rest and peace at the last.”

DEC Statewide Forest Ranger Highlights

Town of Fort Ann
Washington County


Hiker Rescued From Lake George Wild Forest Area

Wilderness Rescue: On May 22 at 12:30 p.m., Washington County 911 contacted DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch advising of a 28-year-old woman from Rensselaer with a non-weight-bearing ankle injury on the trail for Sleeping Beauty Mountain in the Lake George Wild Forest Area. Forest Ranger Lt. Ganswindt and Forest Rangers St. Claire and Baker responded. Once on scene, the hiker was packaged into a litter by Forest Rangers and members of the West Fort Ann and Bay Ridge fire departments, along with Fort Ann EMS. The hiker was transported utilizing the new litter wheel system to an ATV and driven to the trailhead. The injured hiker was then turned over to EMS for transport to a local hospital for medical treatment.

Town of Lake George
Warren County


Rope Rescue Training At Prospect Mountain

Rope Rescue Training: On May 20 and 21, Region 5 Forest Rangers participated in their annual rope rescue training at Prospect Mountain. This year’s training focused on low and moderate angle rescues utilizing the new litter wheel system. Forest Rangers spent two days refreshing their skills on setting anchors and patient packaging, as well as building, raising, and lowering systems. The litter wheel system has already been utilized on several rescues this month. All Rangers in the state need to maintain at least operations-level standards set by the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA). Forest Rangers have the additional opportunity to advance to the technician level to further their skill set in rope rescue.

Catholic Bishop of Albany, Edward B. Scharfenberger, Statement on Return to In-Person Church Services


The Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Albany, Edward B. Scharfenberger, D.D. (left), stands with Fr. Rendell Torres, Pastor of the Chapel of the Assumption (right) in a previous visit to Huletts Landing in 2014.

‘A Return to Mass’
Article taken from the Evangelist (May 17, 2021)

Warmest greetings and every prayer as we approach the end of our journey through this great season of Easter. May you, your families and friends, and indeed all those of good faith, experience the Easter gifts from our Lord of peace, joy and life. For many, if not all of us, Lent, Holy Week and Easter this year have a special and perhaps new meaning. This is especially true as we recall, only too well, the situation we faced last year, with the general lock-down and the suspension of public liturgies in our churches and parish communities.

Indeed, to call the last months that we have lived through “stressful” or “tough” would seem to be a major understatement! Everyone has experienced some form of trial or cross, not least because it has been so unexpected and so prolonged. I feel that for many of us, one of the heaviest burdens has been the unknown: living in uncertain times and sailing through uncharted territory for so long. Despite our fears or worries, we have often had to be strong and resilient for others, not least our family and, indeed, our parish family, even if we have experienced great loss. Hopefully too, we have drawn strength and direction from our relationship with God and from our parish/church family. So, our Lord’s resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost certainly takes on a new and perhaps even more profound meaning this year for all of us!

Perhaps too, we can reflect again and discern whether now is the time to return to being at Mass “in person.” Discernment is such a difficult and tricky thing! Yet, it is an integral and essential part of being a disciple. As St. Ignatius of Loyola notes in his Spiritual Exercises, choosing between a good thing and a bad thing is often relatively clear and easy. However, choosing between two goods is so much harder. This is what we might need to face at the moment. On the one hand, we must be safe and healthy and we must keep others safe and healthy too. On the other hand, there is the supreme good of the Mass, the sacraments and prayer. For example, having Mass online is great, but we know that it cannot be a substitute for being there in person and most especially for receiving our Lord in Holy Communion, for He is “real food and real drink” (John 6: 55). Furthermore, our faith is indeed an incarnational faith: one of presence and communion in many ways, especially one of a physical presence. We often speak of the obligation to go to Mass. Yes, there is certainly an obligation, of course, but there is so much more too. Now is a great time to take a fresh look at this matter and see what is best to do, given our own circumstances.

With all this in mind, given the recent changes in regulations and after considerable consultation; from the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Sunday, 6th June 2021), I will remove the general dispensation from the obligation to go to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days given back in March 2020. However, there would still be a particular dispensation from this obligation for those in certain circumstances; such as those who are sick or who are at risk, or who care for those who are sick or at risk, or those who experience a significant anxiety or fear of getting sick from being in a public setting.

It is hard to gauge how many people might return to being present at Mass in person because of this return to the norm. Evidence, admittedly anecdotal, indicates that many people would continue to make a prudential judgment about what to do. It may or may not be necessary for parish leaders to make considered decisions about what best to do, as they have done throughout the pandemic. Whatever the case, given the ongoing limits on the capacity of our churches (especially due to social distancing), it may not be possible for people to attend Mass and that good intention would also be included in that particular dispensation. Again, as you have done throughout this pandemic, a prudent and considered decision should be made by each person.

In charity and concern for others, at the Mass and other liturgies, we should continue to follow the various directives regarding health protocols such as social distancing, face masks and sanitizing. As the next few months unfold, the various liturgical guidelines will continue to be examined and more of the special arrangements put in place will be lifted, as and when it is safe and possible to do so. I would also like to thank deeply and personally parish leaders, staff and volunteers and Diocesan staff for all the incredible hard work that they have done and the amazing initiatives that they have launched, in keeping us safe as we celebrate the Mass and the sacraments in these difficult times.

The promise of new life that Jesus brings at Easter and, of course, the powerful and practical gifts of the Holy Spirit, are also then about our present, as well as our future. As Jesus says: “I have come that they might have life and have it abundantly” (John 10: 10). Our experiences over these last months may well have been hard and difficult, but, please God, we have also experienced light, goodness and hope. The terrible effects of the health crisis have also made us aware, and even made us rethink, what is really important in our lives; what really matters. Life is a gift and indeed a gift from God, but it is as fragile as it is precious. It cannot be taken for granted.

So, this year, it strikes me that the message of Easter about resurrection and new life is especially about the here and now. So, perhaps now is the time to focus on that Easter message of a resurrection right now. Yes, of course there are still obstacles and difficulties; but there are also all those Easter gifts of hope, strength and determination. Above all, let us experience that Easter gift of “peace.” Remember that the first words of our Lord to the apostles gathered as frightened people in the Upper Room were “peace be with you” (John 20: 19).

Sincerely yours in Christ,
Edward B. Scharfenberger
Bishop of Albany

Saturday Quote

“I have fought the good fight to the end;
I have run the race to the finish;
I have kept the faith.”

St. Paul, near the end of his life, tells his friend Timothy.