News & Opinion About Huletts Landing, N.Y.
While this doesn’t look like it will affect any local Catholic churches right now, there was some pretty significant news from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany this week:
As reported by the Albany Times Union.
“Roughly 20 percent of worship sites in the 164-parish Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany will close or merge in an unprecedented restructuring plan expected to be released this month, Bishop Howard Hubbard said Wednesday.”
During the early to mid-1980’s, Mountain Dew received permission and filmed a commercial on the Paulist Islands off of Huletts. The camera crew took their equipment out to the islands from Huletts. I remember speaking to the crew and it was quite a production. They had numerous cameras and a lot of equipment.
The commercial wasn’t on TV that long and many people never saw it or even knew about it.
However, after a lot of searching, we found a copy. You’ll definitely recognize the background. Doing it Mountain Dew – Huletts 1980’s. Those were the days!
Here are some links which I thought people would like to know about.
Here’s a story about the completion of a deal to protect 104,000 acres of Adirondack forest. That’s a lot of land.
While they may be acquiring acreage, here is an update on how the state is at the same time proposing to not pay their share of property taxes on their Adirondack land. This issue is bringing together groups from both ends of the political spectrum.
Finally, this is something the Huletts fire department may want to consider in the future. The Hague fire department just purchased a new fire/rescue boat to protect shoreline property and make lake rescues. Perhaps something to consider for Huletts someday?
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According to these figures, the Whitehall School District will get about 3.00% less state aid next year. |
This is a little misleading because there was an 11.00% increase in aid from 2007-2008 to 2008-2009, so the difference between the 2007-2008 year (last year) and the 2009-2010 year (next year) is still an increase of about 7.5%.
What is amazing is that even with an increase of 11.00% in state aid last year the District increased taxes.
It is interesting to note that the names of the Whitehall School Board members are no longer listed on the Whitehall School District’s website. Are they in hiding? Could it be they don’t want to hear from the taxpayers?
We’ll have more for you in the weeks ahead.
Update – January 6, 2009 – 11:05 a.m.
We just noticed that the Board of Education Members are back on the website. I may have originally missed this but it’s good to know who our board members are. Click here for the list.
Note that there are no elected members with Dresden addresses.
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This is a good start for next year’s Washington County budget. However, the county needs to do alot more. |
Every state with low taxes and a climate favorable toward business is doing better in this rough economy.
That said, Washington County needs to do more:
The county needs to undertake a comprehensive review of every position in the county with a goal in mind to reduce the County’s payroll by 10%.
The county also needs a committee or person whose primary goal is to attract business to Washington County. There are major conferences every year run by manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, etc. and Washington County needs to be there and be wooing businesses and employers to our county.
Innovation and growth comes from the private sector and the government needs to remember this.
One of the great things about Huletts is the amazing night sky we have in the summer. There’s nothing like being out on the lake at night and gazing up and seeing the brilliant night sky.
This is a short little clip, with some amazing animation, about a little known nearby galaxy called “M74”. It’s difficult for amateur astronomers to see, but the Hubble Space telescope has captured some amazing pictures of it. What the naked eye sees as distant stars are in many cases faraway galaxies that burn brightly.
| [hulu=0E0mzqejeNwIzUNdo3BJjg,CENTER,340,16:10,Phantom Galaxy,AUTOPLAY] |
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“Lead us to the perfect light” |
“Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.”
Thomas Jefferson
Every wonder what the Whitehall train station looked like from the back of a train in winter?
So did someone else.
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North Country Public Radio has a short radio spot which came out about 10 days ago which highlights that: |
“For the first time since the 1800s, the state of New York wants to cap property tax payments on forest preserve land in the Adirondack Park.”
This would be absolutely devastating to property owners in the Adirondacks. Right now the state pays property taxes to local towns and school districts based on the land they own in that town. This would effectively reduce their share, shifting the burden to private landowners.
Listen to it here. It’s only about 3.5 minutes.
You can read about it here (includes a link to the full report).
These recommendations have no force of law and are simply recommendations. The State Assembly and Senate would have to pass legislation and the Governor would have to sign it.
The problem is that most teacher union contracts require that all teachers keep their jobs in the event of a merger and the professional administrators who run most school districts have shown no ability to cut costs even though enrollment in north country schools is declining significantly. Our own State Senator, Betty Little, seems hesitant on consolidation.
The good news may be that the problem has grown so significantly that it cannot be ignored anymore.
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We wanted to wish you a Happy New Year and a healthy and prosperous 2009. We were blown off-line yesterday with some heavy winds but everything is a bit calmer today. If 2009 is already here, it means the summer of 2009 will be here soon. |
With so many media outlets declaring their top new stories for 2008, we thought we would pick the top event in Huletts for the year.
We had many big stories from the past year. All of the following happened in 2008; the grand opening of the new firehouse, the Washington County budget and beach funding controversy, the Whitehall school district receiving over $700,000 in increased state aid and still raising taxes, the Huletts Island View marina roads being turned over to the Town, the new book – Huletts Landing on Lake George being released, and the passing of longtime Huletts resident and Town Board Member, William McElhenny. All of these were significant events in our small community. There were many other newsworthy items that we could include in this list.
However, the Huletts Current pick for the top story of 2008 was the restoration of the shorefront and beach by the Huletts Landing Property Owners Civic Association and its Junior Members. This major project, which was years in the making, was not only a significant investment for the future, but was a commitment to life and the enjoyment of Lake George. We name it “Top Story of Huletts 2008” and congratulate all those who were part of this great undertaking.
Photo Courtesy of Baltimore Ravens photographer Phil Hoffmann
The Huletts Current recently interviewed local standout, Adam Terry, who is now playing offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens. This is a transcript of our interview with him.
What exactly is your affiliation to our area? We know you went to high-school in Queensbury but did you grow up in Whitehall?
“No, but I spent a lot of time up there. That’s where most of my family resided. On my dad’s side, my grandparents lived in Whitehall. On my mom’s side, they lived up in Clemons, which is on the other side of the mountain from Huletts. So I spent a lot of time up there. My aunt and uncle still live up there. I haven’t spent much time up there lately, but when I was in high school and younger – and even in college – I’d go up there quite a bit.”
Do you have any favorite outdoor activities in upstate New York?
“I like being on Lake George. Huletts is right there on Lake George. When I was young, we spent a lot of time up at Ticonderoga camping up there. As we got older, we spent more time on Lake George. It’s about five minutes from my house, so I spent a lot of time up there and I still do. I like being up there.”
What kind of insight can you give about what it’s like playing in the NFL?
“I guess one thing you could say is it’s a glamorous lifestyle, but it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. You know, it’s nice to be recognized, and you get your perks every once in a while – a free meal here and there. As far as it goes, though, there’s a lot of dedication and a lot of perseverance, especially for myself, dealing with injuries. It’s a full-time job, and I think people don’t realize that. They see what you do out on Sunday, but there’s a lot of preparation, a lot of dedication during the week.”
Getting drafted in the 2nd round by the Ravens must have been a dream come true. What advice would you give to young people who want to follow their dreams?
Even for me right now, it’s just continuing to focus on what you want to do and what you want to become. For me, growing up, I really didn’t even want to play football at a professional level. When I was real young, I wanted to play hockey. My dream died on a pond; it didn’t even go to an ice rink. It was baseball from there. But when you have an .087 average and can bunt real well, but you can’t run really fast, I don’t think that’s conducive to being a pro baseball player. But then John Irion, my high school coach, saw something in me that other people didn’t when I was growing up, and I attribute a lot of my success to him giving me an opportunity. There were a lot of people growing up that… There were a lot of doubters. Grow close to the people that have confidence in you. I think that’s the main thing. As a kid, I didn’t know where I wanted to be or what I wanted to do, but I just kept plugging along. This was my niche. So far, I’ve been successful.
Any interesting tidbits from Huletts or Lake George?
“When my father was growing up, they used to run the county beach up there in Huletts. It’s a great area. As far as Whitehall, what is it? The Italian Festival, I want to say. We used to go up there every year and watch the fireworks when they used to be out at Mt. Carmel field, and then they went downtown. But I have a lot of memories up there because, like I said, a lot of my cousins were up there. So we used to run the streets up there. And then Lake George, Thomas Jefferson described it as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. The people that go up there, it’s a nice area. It’s getting a little too expensive to live there, (laughing) but hopefully I can keep playing long enough that I can buy a house on the lake.”
Adam – thank you for your time and best of luck. If you’re ever back up our way, please let us know. (Big Smile)
The Huletts Current appreciates the time Adam spent with us this week. He was busy preparing for the Raven’s last game of the season, which if they win, will put them in the playoffs.
To learn more about Adam, click here to see his official bio with the Ravens.