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We’re One Today!

Today is November 9, 2009 which is exactly one year since my first post on the Huletts Current. So, we have officially turned one together. During the past year, I’ve published 583 posts and other new sites and blogs regularly link to the Huletts Current. We’ve even broken some stories here.

We’ve done a lot in one year. We’ve gone from the Today Show to the NY Giants football training camp. We’ve done interviews, posted pictures, and tried to cover what’s going on in Huletts and regionally. We even saw the coldest night of the year. When things were slow, we even looked at some history now and then. We interviewed all the candidates running for the school board and the Dresden town board this past year!

To celebrate our first year, I thought I would share a note that I received which really captures what I hoped to do with the Huletts Current.

Dear Mr. Kapusinski,

I continue to enjoy the Huletts Current on a daily basis (except when I’m fortunate to visit the Lake). I’ve mentioned it to several people and they’re viewing it too. Because of you I found out about the history talk as Mountain Grove Church on the 19th of July (and was able to make arrangements to attend) and the Washington County Beach T-shirts (they were sold out when I went to get one but they’re getting more in and I’ve prepaid for one – they seemed happy when I told them, I “found” them in the Huletts Current).

I also taped the Today Show and loved what you wrote when you climbed the tree. Thanks so much for all the wonderful information you put together. I expect it takes a lot of work, effort, and time. I want you to know it is appreciated.

Thanks for the Noble webcam – I view that daily (at least) too. Please pass along my thanks to Jeff K for making it available to us.

It brightens my days in so many ways!

Thank you,
Marge Butler

I have to say the thank you, Marge, goes right back to you and all the readers of the Huletts Current from me. I’ve seen our unique page views climb to approximately 400 per week and without people reading the Huletts Current, I wouldn’t be doing this. We’re now even syndicated on Amazon’s new wireless e-reader, the Kindle.

So we’re going to celebrate this week with some fun posts. I haven’t run out of ideas and I have some more funs things in store for the year to come. We’ll also cover the “news” that impacts our community.

Tomorrow, I’ll recap the top 10 posts from our first year and don’t forget the absentee ballots in the Dresden town board race will be counted this week! We’ll report on it right here on the Huletts Current. Now 1 year old.

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Bits of Everything

Maryland Eastern Shore Newspaper Spotlights Huletts Chapel

The Dialog, the Catholic newspaper for Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore, spotlighted our own Chapel of the Assumption as one of their “Holy Places”. Now who might have submitted that? (You’ll need to scroll to page 9.)

Governor Paterson Calls Special Session

The Times Union reports that the Governor is calling a special session of the legislature to deal with the budget deficit.

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Is He or Isn’t He? There’s No “Communication”

In a surprise move early Saturday morning, the House Rules Committee, approved rules for debate on the health care bill. Included was an amendment to allow a vote to remove abortion funding.

The committee okayed a Rule that allows the House to vote on the Stupak amendment, offered by pro-life Rep. Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat, to the health care reform legislation. Stupak claimed to have approximately 40 Democrats who threatened to vote against the Rule and the bill if he did not get a vote on his amendment. I wanted to make sure I could represent Congressman Murphy’s view accurately on this important vote.

The health care bill, HR 3962, would fund abortions in two ways — by allowing the public option (or government-run health care program) to pay for abortions and by allowing the affordability credits the government would give to consumers to be used to pay for health care plans that fund abortions.

I contacted Rep. Scott Murphy’s office on Saturday to inquire if he was one of the 40 Democrats who were supporting the Stupak amendment and to inquire which way he intended to vote on HR 3692.

I repeatedly left messages with his communications staff and even went so far as asking the person answering the phones where Congressman Murphy stood on this important issue. No one called me back and no one could state anything about Congressman Murphy’s position. I was referred to his Clifton Park Office where another communication’s person could supposedly answer my question. The number I was referred to didn’t even have an answering machine attached.

You would think that on such an important topic someone on the Congressman’s “communications” staff could communicate something. I’m still waiting for a return call.

Update 10/08/09 6:05 a.m.

The Stupak Amendment passed 240-194. This means that abortion coverage would not be paid for by the federal government and would continue the Hyde Amendment. Congressman Murphy voted against this measure, meaning he wanted abortion coverage to be paid for by the federal government.

This vote cleared the way for conservative pro-life Democrats to support the health care bill, HR 3962, which passed narrowly 220-215. Congressman Murphy voted “No” for final passage. Hopefully his communications office will be able to explain the reasoning behind his vote.

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Albany Highlighted in Angelina Jolie Trailer

The trailer for SALT, the Angelina Jolie thriller that was filmed in Albany this past year, was recently released. While it won’t be in theaters until July 23, 2010, you can definitely see parts of Albany in the preview. They were filming the jump from the overpass when we brought a friend to the Albany-Rensselaer train station this summer.

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Governor Proposes Mid-Year School Aid Cuts

Gov. Paterson has for the second year in a row called for midyear cuts in state school aid that would cost the Whitehall School District $253,637 this year but help close a projected $3-billion state budget gap.

The School Superintendent’s are none too happy about this.

You can see the proposed cut for the Whitehall School District here on page 73 of the .pdf file (after the centerline / bottom of page).

Good luck with that.

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40 Years of Big Bird

For those who may have missed this, here is Big Bird being interviewed on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Sesame Street turns 40 years old next week, so I thought I’d pass this along. Some fun with a big yellow friend on a Friday afternoon. (Video is in 2 parts.)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el9tfwU208I&feature=popt00us0a

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b48x_uv_l1k&NR=1

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What Happens Now?

I contacted the Washington County Board of Elections and as of 1:00 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, they had received 51 absentee ballots from Dresden. To be counted, an absentee ballot has to be postmarked the day prior to the election.

The Board of Elections will start counting absentee ballots on Tuesday, November 10th. They’ll go through all the towns in alphabetical order. If they don’t reach Dresden on Tuesday, they will continue counting on Thursday, November 12th. (Wednesday, November 11th, is Veteran’s Day, so they’re closed that day.)

As soon as there are results, they’ll be posted here.

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Dresden Town Board Election Results

Tuesday Machine Vote Totals (Unofficial)
Absentee Ballots still to be counted.
(61 Absentee Ballots Requested / 47 Returned
as of 11:00 a.m. Tues. morning.)

Town Board Vote – 2 Seats Open

    Votes
Wayne Barrett (I)     112
Joanne Farley (R)     85
           
Arthur Borin (R)     70
Carl Sobeck (D)     61
George Gang (D)     33
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The Judicial Candidates

New York Supreme Court races have gone largely under the radar so far, namely because judicial candidates really can’t say how they’ll decide individual cases. Huletts Landing is in the the fourth judicial circuit, comprising Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, St. Lawrence, Montogomery, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren and Washington counties.

New York State Courts offers an impartial voters’ guide here. While it doesn’t say a lot, it’s at least something to consider before you vote.

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Tuesday’s Election May Go to Absentee Ballots

I contacted the Washington County Board of Elections and they had issued 60 absentee ballots as of Saturday, October 31st, to Dresden voters.

As such, while I will report the vote totals for the local town board race as they come in on Tuesday night, the winners may not be decided until the absentee ballots are counted.

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Dresden Town Taxes to Increase Slightly

Dresden recently finalized it’s 2010 budget which shows the amount to be raised from taxes will be $11,970 more than 2009. This translates into a 2.38% increase in taxes from 2009 to 2010. After cutting taxes for 2 years in a row, this is the first town-wide tax increase since the 2007 budget.

You can see a summary of this year’s town budget here.

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October 31st


George H. Eichler
April 15, 1900 – October 31, 1978

Not a year goes by without someone either asking questions about my grandfather, George Eichler, or telling me some type of story about him. I received a call this week and once again, someone had a remembrance of him which not only brightened my day but reinforced how many other lives he brightened as well.

So while today is Halloween, it is also the anniversary of George Eichler’s passing on October 31, 1978. Sadly, his final years were fought battling Alzheimer’s disease.

This is the last picture taken of him about a month before he died. Somehow he had chipped his front tooth and would not stand still for the photograph. He kept wanting to go and “talk to all his friends,” as he was known to do. My grandmother would say that unless she kept a strict eye on him, he would wonder around the Landing chatting with anyone. So many people would walk him home after he found his way to their house or party.

This was the last picture my grandmother had of him, because he collapsed from a stroke while eating dinner and died shortly thereafter on Halloween in 1978. Both my grandmother and my mother took it very hard and, while I was a child, my memories of him remain to this day.

His obituary listed him as many things but, to me, the essence of who he was revolved around the idea that “community” was more than where you lived and that “love of neighbor” was what everything else sprang from.

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Empire State of Mind .. New York

In case you missed it, here are Jay-Z & Alicia Keys singing Empire State of Mind .. New York from Game 2 of the World Series. Watch the players get down. Wow! It’s going to be hard to top in Game 3.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRVZvxjBrw8&feature=related