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Bits of Everything

Study Shows Adirondackers Pay High Taxes

The Adirondack Journal reports on an interesting study.

Canon Mishap Story Questioned

The Post Star tells about a freak accident at Fort William Henry in Lake George.

Pakistani President Lands in Rutland

Who would have known? According to Denton Publications the President of Pakistan touched down in Rutland recently.

Washington County Searching for Ways to Deal with Budget

According to the Post Star, the Washington County Board of Supervisors is looking at all options to close the gap in next year’s budget.

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Bits of Everything

Man Wanted for Murder Arrested in Whitehall

The Post Star reports on an arrest made this week in Whitehall.

Triathlon Scheduled for October

The Adirondack Almanack reports on the Rogers Rangers Challenge triathlon scheduled for Saturday, October 3rd, in the area.

Study Shows Men Lose Their Mind Talking to Pretty Women

There is now proof! Beautiful women have an effect on men. Read about it in the Telegraph.

Now Becoming the Weak State: Business Must Now Pay Tax to Collect Sales Tax

Forget the empire state, we’ve become the tax state! This Times Union piece illustrates what NY has become.

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Bits of Everything

The Road Less Traveled to Lake George

The Daily Gazette has an interesting story with directions to Shelving Rock from Fort Ann. This is a little known road that will bring you into a great spot overlooking Lake George.

The APA’s Wrong Opinion Will Cost Us

Denton Publications reports the latest with the Lewis family farm. In brief, the Lewis family has won their case against the Adirondack Park Agency and has now asked to be reimbursed for their legal fees.

Start of School Brings Flu Fear

Time had a good story about what may happen with the new strain of flu once school starts. This article also has a great graphic on how the H1N1 virus started.

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Bits of Everything

Giants Break Camp in Albany, Perhaps for Good

The Times Union takes a look at the Giant’s recently completed training camp and if they’ll return next year.

Bike Trip Around Lake George

The Warren Pieces blog tells about a planned bike ride around the entire lake.

People Coming Upstate to Vote

WNBZ has a story about people who live downstate, coming upstate to vote.

Diving Deep for Art

The Post Star takes a look at a new exhibition, which runs through Sept. 10 at the Lake George Arts Project Courthouse Gallery, that “combines art and science to study how testate amoebae living at the bottom of Lake George have interacted for centuries with the submerged remnants of the “Sunken Fleet of 1758.”

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Seeing the Big Dipper & North Star

With the clear August nights we’ve been having, I thought this video on how to find the “Big Dipper” and the North Star would be interesting.

You can spot the “Big Dipper” at this time of the year from Huletts, by looking across the lake in the evening between Deer’s Leap and Sabbath Day Point. This video gives some background info and how to find the North Star once you’ve located the Big Dipper.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hepzUgFhgis

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Lecture Enlightens Crowd


John Warren, publisher of the Adirondack Almanack blog, and author of the new book entitled; Historic Tales from the Adirondack Almanack, enlightened the Casino audience on Saturday night with stories about early Huletts life and local history.

If you missed John Warren’s lecture on Saturday night, you missed a good one. John’s talk started with blogging and new media but covered a variety of local history.

He passed on to me a variety of topics for future posts. Topics discussed ranged from the Belden, Burgess and Huletts families, the Millerites, Benson VT where numerous Huletts also settled, Mormon history, and religious intrigue from the mid-1800’s.

I would highly recommend his new book entitled; Historic Tales from the Adirondack Almanack (published by The History Press).

Thanks John for spending the time with us in the Huletts Casino!

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New Media Meets History: At the Casino

I’m pleased to announce that John Warren, publisher of the Adirondack Almanack blog, has agreed to give a lecture at the Huletts Casino on this Saturday, August 8th at 7:30 p.m. about blogging in the Adirondacks and his new book. John has a special personal connection to the Hulett family whom Huletts Landing is named after so we’re quite honored to have him speak.

His talk is entitled;

Adirondack Almanack: Adirondack Blogs, Books, and History

The Adirondack Almanack is the most widely read and most respected blog in the Adirondacks and John has been blogging for a number of years.

He has also recently released a new book entitled; Historic Tales from the Adirondack Almanack (published by The History Press). It’s a compilation of history essays from the last four years of the Almanack and it’s the Adirondack region’s first blog-to-book.

John is a writer, historian, educator, and filmmaker. He has produced and directed prizewinning film and video crews around the world and holds credits on more than 100 hours of primetime television. John’s work has appeared in a variety of media from PBS, History Channel, and Discovery to Adirondack Life, numerous regional and local newspapers, and online. John has lectured on history, writing, journalism, and documentary production at nearly a dozen colleges and universities and has taught at Ithaca College, SUNY Albany, and Adirondack Community College.

There is no charge for the lecture. It will begin at 7:30 pm. If you want to come early and purchase dinner that’s OK too! It’s sure to be an interesting talk.

Here is a link to John’s post on his blog about the lecture.

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Bits of Everything

New York Giants Training Camp Begins Next Week in Albany

“If you’re a late guy, a half-fast guy, not a full-speed effort guy or if you’re an excuse guy, that does not sounds like somebody whose priority it is to be the very best they can be.” – Tom Coughlin during his first team-meeting with Big Blue.

If you’re a NY Giants fan, read a preview of their training camp here.

Waterkeeper Has No Credibility: Unregistered Since November ’07

Read the Post Star article here on the inability of the Lake George Waterkeeper to renew his professional registration. He and his employer might want to listen to Coach Coughlin’s advice above.

Adirondack Park Agency Loses Major Case

I missed this story in the Times of Ti a few weeks ago but it is a significant loss for the APA.

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Free Stuff Saves Money & Environment

I’ve noticed recently that more people are leaving old items out on the roadway for others to take by marking it as “Free”.

Yesterday I was on my way to Whitehall and I came across this little display covered with plastic because of the rain.

I stopped and opened it and found some interesting stuff. All of which you could take for free.

There was a remote control Dinosaur, some sheets, some interesting books, a puzzle and alot of other useful items. The word “Free” must trigger something in your psyche, because as I was leaving I heard brakes squeal and someone else stop. I picked up a few children’s books for my almost 3 year old niece who quickly started reading one about “pond life”. (She is studying ponds in school.)

I think this is one of those simple win-win-win all around ideas that more people should try. We have left free stuff opposite the Post Office on a few occasions this summer and all of it disappeared. It’s a win to the person getting rid of the stuff because you don’t have to lug it to the recycling center and pay to discard it. It’s a win for the person taking the stuff because you walk away with free stuff and finally it’s a win for the environment because the stuff doesn’t end up in the garbage pile.

I think we’ll see more of this in the days ahead. Perhaps you even have some “free stuff” hanging around your house.

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Something Has To Be Done

The Adirondack Association of Towns and Villages (AATV) and Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA), recently released their Adirondack Regional Assessment Study.

You can read the Executive Summary here.

A couple of interesting points to note:

From 1970 to 2007, the number of teachers in Adirondack school districts increased by 34 percent, while the student population dropped by 31 percent.

School enrollments in the park have decreased by 329 students annually throughout the current decade, which is equivalent to the loss of one average size Adirondack school district every 19 months.

Only 7 park communities have complete cell phone coverage, while the remainder have limited or no service at all.

Park residents average just under 43 years of age, older than any state for median age. By 2020, only the west coast of Florida will exceed the Adirondacks as the oldest region in America.

The regional economy is highly dependent on correctional services. One of every 26 people counted as living in the Adirondack Park resides in a correctional facility.

Read the whole thing. We don’t need more regulations. We need lower taxes, and vision to grow and revitalize Adirondack communities.

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Adirondack Park Agency – Meet Google

Google has recently launched a new tool designed to help web users find public data buried in hard-to-find government web sites.

The new service, called Google Public Data, is an effort to make information from all levels of government accessible to citizens.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qt2n34VEr4

I personally would like to see all Adirondack Park Agency decisions including permits, non-jurisdictional letters and any determination made by the agency in it’s entire history available online and searchable by topic, year, town, county, etc.

The Adirondack Park Agency has been criticized for having little regard for administrative law, making different determinations based on arbitrary findings and in many cases making entirely inconsistent rulings. This is a major reason why the APA encounters so much resistance from local communities. These criticisms could be easily proven untrue if all of the APA’s decisions were online. In this day and age it is unfathomable that the APA cannot organize its permit and non-jurisdictional rulings online in a searchable and open manner.

Google along with Wikipedia and Amazon have all been trying to make it easier to find government information on the web. In 2002, the E-Government Act mandated governmental agencies to make information more accessible electronically but many have complained that federal and state agencies do not organize their sites so they can be easily indexed by search engines.

Sadly, the Adirondack Park Agency lives in the digital wilderness. Their determinations are not online or searchable at all through their website. Google can’t find them because they’re simply not there.

The citizens of New York clearly deserve better.