News & Opinion About Huletts Landing, N.Y.
Picture in the Ticonderoga Dunkin Donuts.
In the Ticonderoga Dunkin Donuts there is a beautiful aerial view hanging on the wall. This should be recognizable to any reader of the Huletts Current. So the next time you’re getting donuts in Ti – step up for a closer view.
The special election to determine the last seat on the school board due to a Board Member candidate tie in the regular election has now been finalized.
June 20, 2017 in the Jr/Sr High School Gymnasium from 2:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
To elect one (1) member of the Board of Education due to a Board Member candidate tie.
Michele M. Redmond
Roxanne Waters
The vote for the School Board Member will be by paper ballot or absentee ballot.
Unveiling of the Dresden Veteran’s Memorial Plaque by Town Supervisor, George Gang, and the Honorable Frank C. Foster, Whitehall American Legion Post 83 Service Officer.
The town of Dresden officially unveiled the new Veterans memorial sign on Sunday, May 28th. Many people worked very hard to get the plaque and make this event a success. A large crowd came out for the ceremony. Below are some pictures from the day. Many thanks to all who made this happen. (Click picture to see full-scale.)
Sean Patrick Hart, Bugle Player.
Whitehall American Legion Post 83 Color Guard.
Whitehall American Legion Post 83 Adjutant, James Lafayette, and Dresden Town Supervisor, George Gang.
American Legion Post 83 Chaplain, Henry Gurney. (WWII)
Honorable Jack Eggleston. (Vietnam War)
Conrad Peterson. (Marines WWII)
Stiling Knight. (WWII)
Michael Huntington with his father, William Huntington. (WWII)
Honorable Frank Barber and wife, Betty.
Dresden Town Councilman John Barber and wife, Julie.
Whitehall American Legion Post 83 Color Guard preparing to do gun salute.
Honorable Jack Eggleston and Honorable Frank C. Foster (also Service Officer for Post 83).
Post 83 Chaplain, Henry Gurney (WWII), Mark Ives (Vietnam), Stiling Knight (WWII), and Jack Eggleston (Vietnam).
Jim Lafayette, Former Dresden Town Supervisor Sue Foster Ives, and Frank C. Foster.
“I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” – – Nathan Hale
Update: 10:00 AM
I just learned that Conrad Peterson is going to be the Whitehall Memorial Day Parade’s Grand Marshall.
Please support our Huletts Landing Volunteer Fire Company with a generous donation.
Huletts Landing Volunteer Fire Company
News Letter / Fund Drive
Your 2016 donations enabled the community to obtain 5 AED’s and certify 75 residents in CPR . We now have Medical Direction from Glens Falls Hospital, for the community AED that is mounted on the caddie shack at the Huletts Golf Course. Our newly acquired Stair Chair has already been used 3 times in medical responses. Firemen are now being given additional video training at our fire house. An ice rescue pole, extending to 60 feet, has been added to our rescue and fire fighting equipment.
Huletts Fire Co.hosted a successful mutual aid fire drill on Lands End Road, with fire companies from Putnam, Dresden and Whitehall. From a drafting site on Chase Road, 6 tanker trucks supplied 3 portable ponds with water. Our Engine #371, flowed a consistent 800 gallons per minute.
Additionally, the Huletts Fire Co. participated in a mutual aid drill with Dresden, Putnam, Ticonderoga at Chilson Hill on Rt 22 by the Ticonderoga town line.
Huletts responded to a house fire on top of the mountain, establishing a tanker shuttle refill site at the beaver pond. Huletts firemen manned the site with our tanker for 9 1/2 hours.
5 of our firemen have received their Ice Rescue Certificates from Whitehall, for a class taken with State Forest Rangers and the West Fort Ann Fire Dept.
We are proud to report that Dresden and Putnam have both requested that Huletts be added as part of their automatic mutual aid response plan. This is due to the continued dedicated efforts and training of our volunteers.
Please, take time to congratulate our new firemen, Rich Hunter, Mark Kenyon, Pat Bradley, David Floyd, Chris Hansen, Tom Conrad and JonCarl Smith. Their service to the community is appreciated.
The annual Open House will be held on Saturday, August 5th from 2 pm to 4 pm. Details will be posted on the Town Crier boards.
The annual Christmas Party will be held on Saturday, December 2nd at 5:30pm (RSVP to Nita Smith (518) 499-1099 and Lee Storms (518) 499-1129) Gail Vander Plaat will be accepting donation of items for the raffle events.
Please see the other side of this letter for helpful information on 911 calls.
Please continue your support of this volunteer community service. Your donations can be mailed to HLVFC, P.O. Box 59, Huletts Landing, NY 12841
Respectfully,
Jay Vander Plaat
Understanding a 911 Call
All 911 calls are answered by the Washington County Communications Center in Fort Edward and dispatched accordingly.
MEDICAL CALLS
Our CFRs* and EMTs** respond in their personal cars, Our fire engine responds with more medical and first aid equipment, Our fireman take positions so that they can direct the ambulance from our fire house to your home. Your fire department stands by to assist in patient transport to the ambulance because a ambulance responds with only 2 people. County control starts the search for an ambulance based on availability Skenesborough, Fort Ann, Granville, Ticonderoga, Fair Haven or Poultney, VT. A ambulance may be diverted from a low priority call to a higher one.
Calling 911 should come with the understanding that you are requesting emergency transportation by ambulance under the care of a EMT and Paramedic for Hospital Emergency Room care.
FIRE CALLS
The fire whistle, pagers, email and text messages are activated for Huletts, Dresden, Whitehall and Putnam. Huletts rolls out 3 trucks, Dresden rolls 4 and all hands, Whitehall rolls 2 plus 12 men and Putnam rolls 1 plus 6 men. 10 fire engines from 4 departments and all available man power responding. YOU MUST BE ABLE TO PROVIDE A STREET ADDRESS. Please make sure your guests or renters know the information.
* Certified First Responder **Emergency Medical Technician
The vote totals from yesterday’s school district election:
Proposition 1 – Budget Proposition
Yes – 214
No – 50
Proposition 2 – Bus Proposition
Yes – 207
No – 54
Board Of Education Election (Top 5 candidates)
4 year seat for Jeremy Putorti – Resigned (immediate start) – Chris Dudley* 232 votes
3 year seat (July 1 start) – Richard LaChappelle* – 225 votes
3 year seat (July 1 start) – James Brooks* 208 votes
2 year seat for Tony Scrimo – Deceased (immediate start) – Jason Hoagland* 147 votes
2 year seat for Amy Austin – Resigned (immediate start) – (TIE) Michelle Redmond & Roxanne Waters 140 votes
TIE to be determined by special election
Virginia Rivette – 117 votes
*Winner
Below, I post a candidate interview with Michele Redmond, candidate for the school board. She is one of seven candidates running for five seats on the Whitehall School Board. Voting is Tuesday, May 16th. I mailed candidate questionnaires to all those running in this year’s election and will post their responses in the order received. Below are my questions and Ms. Redmond’’s responses.
1.) Could you please tell us about yourself and why you are running for the school board?
I was raised in Whitehall and currently live here with my husband and two children. I am a Registered Nurse and a Nationally Certified Diabetes Educator. I am very interested in the education that our students are receiving. Although I have already had one child graduate from Whitehall Jr. Sr. High School and I currently have a child in the ninth grade, I want to be directly involved in decisions that are being made that will ultimately benefit ALL the students at Whitehall Central School.
2.) The Whitehall school district has consistently been ranked in the lower half of Washington County school districts based on standardized test scores. What will you do to increase the test scores?
I would suggest that the school board members work closely with the Superintendent to develop a committee that will collaborate with local school districts that excel on these standardized tests.
3.) Many of the students educated in the Whitehall school district talk about leaving Whitehall once they graduate and going elsewhere to look for work. Does the school board have a responsibility to cut spending to make the local taxing climate more receptive to jobs and growth?
I don’t know that cutting spending is the answer, but being fiscally responsible is important. What might be a better option would be to create job shadowing/internship opportunities for our students with local businesses. I’m sure that many students, and community members, have no idea the many different job opportunities that are available in our area. Through this program, we many encourage our graduates to stay in Whitehall, or return to Whitehall in the future. Who knows, our graduates might open their own businesses and create more job opportunities in the future.
4.) The job market today is a highly competitive one. Should the school district be doing something that it is not already doing or should it be offering additional classes to see that its graduates have the skills and education necessary for success?
Whitehall Central School District has been offering college level classes through SUNY Adirondack for several years. Starting in the fall of 2017, they will be offering additional advanced classes in Science, Math and Business.
5.) Health insurance costs are increasing by 10.5 percent this year. What can realistically be done to keep this cost from rising so fast?
Whitehall Central School joined the BOCES consortium so that they could benefit from the best negotiated health insurance rate. The 10.5% increase is the rate that all schools in the consortium face this fall. Healthcare is expensive and until it is fixed on the national level, it is the reality that every employer faces.
6.) What is the biggest issue that children face today and what can the school board do to address it?
I turned to my children for their input on this question. One of their biggest concerns is that there is so much material that needs to be covered to prepare them for Common Core and Regents testing that students sometimes haven’t fully grasped a concept before they have to move on to the next concept. If a student doesn’t have a good grasp on the material before having to move on, they are more apt to do poorly. Perhaps the school board needs to take this perspective into consideration.
Editors Note: I would like to thank Ms. Redmond for her answers to my questions. I will post the other candidate’s responses in the order I receive them.
The minutes for the March and April school board meeting of the Whitehall Central School district are posted below.
The minutes from the April 2017 Dresden Town Board meeting were recently approved and have been posted on the town’s website.
The May minutes will not be approved until June and so on.
On May 28th, the Town of Dresden will have a commemoration of our new Veterans memorial sign. The event will take place at noon at the Town Hall with the American Legion performing the service. The new sign includes all known Dresden veterans from the Revolutionary War until the present. ALL ARE INVITED to help remember our veterans.
Voting for five open seats on the school board, adoption of the annual school budget and a school bus purchase resolution will take place on Tuesday, May 16th between 12:00 noon and 9:00 pm at the Gymnasium of the Junior-Senior high school building on Buckley Road in Whitehall.
Under the proposed budget the school district is proposing to increase spending by $602,383 which represents an increase of 3.92 percent from this year. The tax levy is expected to rise 2.51 percent or $133,267 with the remainder coming from increases in state taxes.
Voters will also be asked to approve the purchase of two school buses, not to exceed the cost of $220,000.
I expect to be sending out questionnaires to all the candidates running for the school board in the next few days.
A public hearing will be held on Monday, May 8th at 6:00 pm for those with questions concerning the budget and/or vote.
Seven candidates have filed to run for the five school board seats up for election this year in the Whitehall Central School District. Those candidates are:
James Brooks
Chris Dudley
Jason Hoagland
Richard LaChappelle
Michele Redmond
Virginia Rivette
Roxanne Waters
More to come.
The minutes from the March 2017 Dresden Town Board meeting were recently approved and have been posted on the town’s website.
The April minutes will not be approved until May and so on.