Posted on

Whitehall School Enrollment Declines Signficantly

School enrollment figures for school districts across the state were updated recently for the 2014-2015 school year (last school year) and the Whitehall School District’s total enrollment fell to 736 students. This was a drop of 21 students from 757 from the 2013-2014 year.

The complete enrollment figures for 2014-2015 school year can be found here.

I have been tracking and reporting on the enrollment for a number of years. To put this number of 736 students into historical context I have updated my yearly enrollment chart below:

# 04-05 05-06 06-07 07-08 08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 14-15 Percent Change
 885 860 858 845 815 779 753 742 755 757 736       -16.8%

As you can see, enrollment has been down 16.8% since the 2004-2005 school year. It is the lowest enrollment for the district over this time period.

During this time, local property taxes have increased every year. The Board of Education has not passed on any savings from this plummeting enrollment to the local taxpayers, in spite of increased state aid.

Our neighboring school district to the north in Putnam recently decided that the taxpayers of their district deserved a break and has proposed a property tax levy 11.59 % lower than the previous year. Read about it here in the Post Star.

There will be another school board election in May for two seats on the school board. I will ask all the candidates running what their position on falling enrollment and its impact on the budget is.

In the past, many of the candidates running have simply not answered that question. However, there is a cost to the community for not addressing this issue. Until it is addressed – the cycle will continue; businesses and people will continue to leave as taxes and the lack of opportunity drive them away. The problem will only become more pronounced and harder to ultimately correct until it is addressed and rectified. Putnam has taken a big step for the taxpayers of their district, will the Whitehall School Board do the same?

Posted on

Paving Completed in Post Office Parking Lot

While I don’t have any pictures, the County did return recently and paved the area where the new dry-well was recently installed near the Post Office parking lot. So hopefully this will improve conditions for Post Office patrons in the future on rainy days.

Posted on

Frank Kapusinki Argues Before New Jersey Supreme Court


Frank Kapusinski arguing a case before the New Jersey Supreme Court earlier this month.

In a bit of legal news, which is interesting for its local connection, my brother, Frank Kapusinski, argued a significant case before New Jersey’s highest court earlier this month. He represented Bergen County’s County Executive in the case: Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority v. Kathleen A. Donovan. The case revolves around a County Executive’s veto authority and has implications for the counties in New Jersey that have a County Executive form of government.

Posted on

Work Finished to Prevent Post Office Parking Flooding


This photo, taken in February 2016, shows the flooding that was occurring in the Post Office parking area due to the repaving of County Route 6 last year.

Now that things are getting warmer, work is beginning on a number of projects in Huletts Landing. Over the past two days, the county installed a dry well off of County Route 6 to alleviate some flooding that was occurring in the Post Office parking area due to the repaving of County Route 6 last year.


A hole was dug on the side of County Route 6, near the Post Office flag pole.


The completed hole once the dirt was removed.


Great care was taken to see that the Post Office parking area remained open while the work progressed.


The dry well was brought in and lifted into place.


The final placement of the dry well.


Stone was added as back-fill to improve the drainage.


The almost completed work as of Thursday afternoon.

The county will return over the next few days to restore the paving and re-seed the grassy area. (Click all pictures to see larger version.)

Posted on

The “Beast of Whitehall” Coming to Huletts


The Beast of Whitehall, a new documentary produced by Small Town Monsters, will be shown numerous times this summer in the Huletts Casino.

I’m happy to announce that a new documentary entitled the “Beast of Whitehall” which documents an historic sighting of Bigfoot in Whitehall will be playing in the Huletts Casino this summer. There will be a small admission charge to cover the licensing fee to show the documentary. Stay tuned for dates and times.

Posted on

Huletts Landing’s Connection to Different Sports Continued


Sanford Stragnell of Huletts Landing refereeing a women’s rugby match.(Click to see full-scale.)

I recently learned that Sandy Stragnell of Huletts now referees rugby matches. If I had known this earlier, I would have included this in my recent post on local connections to sports. So if you don’t know anything about a scrummage or the difference between the rugby league and the rugby union, Sandy would be the one to know.

Sandy was a rugby player in high school and in college. While playing for the Oregon State Rugby Club he was part of a traveling side that played in Wales and England one summer. He also coached both men’s and women’s rugby at Castleton State College (now Castleton University) in Vermont. He played briefly with the Rutland Men’s club and is now a Level 1 Rugby Referee.

Posted on

Huletts Landing’s Connection to Different Sports Continued


Liam Ballantyne (5th from the left) with the United States Coast Guard Academy’s sailing team. (Click picture to see full-scale.)

In my recent post on our local connections to sports, I failed to include Liam Ballantyne’s participation on the United States Coast Guard Academy’s sailing team, currently ranked fourth in the Northeast. Liam is the son of Peter and Angela Ballantyne.

You can read Liam’s Coast Guard Academy’s sailing profile here. Liam is the skipper of a J70 sailboat, which is quite large, as seen in the picture below.

This past October he won his race at the Boston College regatta where he made a quick tack right approaching the finish line and surged ahead of three other boats.


Liam skippering his J70 (on the left) for the Coast Guard Academy against the Harvard team (right). (Click picture to see full-scale.)

Posted on

Huletts Landing’s Connection to Different Sports

While so many of us are fans of some team or sport, I wanted to try and put as many connections that Huletts Landing has to individuals, teams or sports that might be of interest. While I can’t say that these are all of them, I wanted to try and start compiling a list. So here’s to sports in our community:


Aileen Colligan holds her Silver Medal in Figure Skating from the 2016 Empire State Games.

Empire State Games

Aileen Colligan, daughter of John and Beth Colligan of Huletts Landing, recently won a Silver Medal in Figure Skating at the 2016 Empire State Games in Lake Placid. This follows her Gold Medal from the 2015 Winter Games.

Princeton University Football

Brett Stewart, son of Jeff and Pam Stewart of Huletts Landing, just finished his freshmen year playing defensive back for the Princeton Tiger’s football team. Stewart’s grandfather played football in the NFL for the Chicago Bears. Read Brett’s Princeton football profile here.

George Washington University Basketball

Mike Lonergan, who I interviewed when he was the head coach of the men’s basketball team at the University of Vermont, is now the head coach at George Washington University, where his team is fighting for an NCAA berth. Mike and his family are frequent visitors to Huletts Landing. Recently, he recounted for a DC Radio station, the hilarious story of when he was asked to leave his daughter’s JV basketball game.

Historical

1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games

Russ Considine, who grew up in Huletts, and who continues to visit, took many award-winning photographs at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics. His blog account of the famous games can be found at: http://rustyconsidine.blogspot.com

The following video by Yahoo Sports, contains many of his award-winning photos of speed-skater Eric Heiden who won 5 gold medals at the 1980 games. (It contains a short 15 second advertisement at the beginning.)

Former MLB Baseball Player – Ebba St. Claire

Former Major League Baseball Player, Ebba St. Claire, and his wife Maxine ran the Soda Fountain during the 1970’s while their son Shane constructed some docks in Huletts Landing. Randy St. Claire, one of their other sons, has had a long career in Major League Baseball, first as a pitcher for the Montreal Expos and later as a pitching coach. Most recently, he served as the pitching coach for the Miami Marlins last year.

Former NFL Quarterback – Ken O’Brien

Finally, I have been told, that former NY Jets starting quarterback, Ken O’Brien, who was born in Rockville Centre, once visited the Casino when he stopped by Huletts. He evidently posed for some pictures – which if anyone has – I will gladly post. Is this enough to make any Patriot’s fan switch their allegiance to the Jets??

Posted on

Huletts Landing Volunteer Fire Department News

Jay Vander Plaat, Chief of the Huletts Landing Volunteer Fire Department, was kind enough to provide an update about some winter training activities.

Wanted everyone to know that on the Saturday of Super Bowl weekend, Jim Leghorn brought up two donated ice rescue suits. We now have four and we can practice rescues. Now it’s not as hard to find someone to play the victim. It doesn’t take a lot to get it started and by 2:00 pm on Saturday there were ten of us on a dock in Indian Bay.

So, Terry Storms and his wife, Lee, Jim Leghorn and his wife, Cathy, John Delucca and his wife, Robin, Barb Semcken, our medical person, (just in case), Jay Vander Plaat, Luke Smith and Sandy Stragnell all made our way out onto a dock in Indian Bay. Some ice, some open water, perfect conditions to refine our skills. No one expected that the ice would be thick enough to support us. It takes two people about three minutes to get someone into a suit.

While that was going on, some practiced throwing our rescue bags and some practiced repacking them so they could be thrown again. Everyone in the water is tied off with a rescue line. People on shore have special life preservers on. Everyone needs to have an understanding of what’s happening and what happens next.

Our teamwork continues to improve. Every time we try this conditions are different; old ice 12 inches thick that you cannot walk on, new ice less than two inches thick that you can sit on the edge and dangle your feet in the water, or no ice where we just practice simple skills like what happens when you lose your balance and turn over on your back like a turtle. With practice you can defeat the instant panic on not being able to get your feet back underneath by rolling onto your stomach. It’s all good.

Everyone has a real commitment to community service and the fellowship is next to none. Looking forward to seeing everyone again in the summer.