Posted on

Opinion: Huletts Should Consider Fire/Rescue Boat


Bolton’s fire/rescue boat at dock this past summer. Many fire departments around the lake have fire/rescue boats in the event of an emergency.

While it may be winter, here is something to think about. Huletts Landing has numerous miles of shoreline on Lake George, with many waterfront homes difficult to get to. One piece of equipment that would be helpful in the event of a fire on the lake would be our own fire/rescue boat. The number of homes along town’s lakeshore, and the growing needs for water protection for recreational boaters, are the essential reasons why a fire/rescue boat should be considered.

Some of the homes in Huletts are quite difficult to reach by land and in many cases it would be quicker to bring a boat around the lakeside of a house in the event of a fire.

Additionally, unlike the ability for victims to run from a burning building, those fleeing a burning boat can quickly fall victim to drowning and fatigue until they are safely on board a vessel.

The town of Hague purchased a fire/rescue boat last year and while it is certainly an extra precaution, in a town such as ours, it is certainly something worth considering.

Here is a video of a fireboat in action that I found on YouTube.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZsW3IPeQA

Posted on

Bits of Everything

DEC Demands Lake George Village Make Sewage Upgrades

The Adirondack Almanack has a good story about some improvements that will hopefully be made in Lake George Village.

Small Town Vulnerable: USPS loses $3.8 billion for Year as Volume Falls

The Washington Post reports on the problems at the U.S. Postal Service because of falling mail volume. Remember, please buy your postage form the Huletts Post Office.

Have Yourself a Microscopic Christmas: The World’s Smallest Snowman

Just in time with the first snow, Mail Online has pictures of the world’s smallest snowman.

Old Lake Champlain Bridge: Demolition Soon; Public Invited to Safely View ‘Implosion’

Denton Publications Online lets everyone know the meeting schedule today in Ticonderoga where it will be announced what is going on with the Lake Champlain bridge.

Posted on

Our Webcams Have Doubled

I’m happy to announce that the Huletts Current has now added a second webcam courtesy of Dennis Hudson on Kitchell Bay. So thank you, Dennis for sharing your beautiful view of Lake George from Kitchel Bay.

To see the new live view; click here.

The folks on Kitchel Bay seem to be leading the Landing in innovation because now both of the webcams on the left sidebar originate from there.

So if you have nothing better to do today, feel free to watch a live view of the snowstorm which has already brought about 6 inches of snow to the Landing.

Posted on

Oral Histories Needed


One project that the Friends of Historic Huletts is working on, is recording oral histories from longtime residents and people associated with Huletts Landing to preserve our area’s unique history.

We all have stories to tell, stories we have lived from the inside out. We organize these memories of our lives into stories.

Oral history is the systematic collection of living people’s testimony about their own experiences. Historians have finally recognized that the everyday memories of everyday people, not just the rich and famous, have historical importance. If we do not collect and preserve those memories, those stories, then one day they will disappear forever.

Friends of Historic Huletts would like to start an “oral history bank”, composed of recordings, video and testimony that is specific to the experiences of people from Hulett’s Landing. Oral history depends upon human memory and the spoken word. With the proliferation of camcorders and YouTube, this could be a great project and open to all.

Do you have a unique memory of Huletts? Then record it. Better yet, can you identify someone who has some great memories or stories about Huletts? Then ask them to sit for an interview where their narrative can be recorded.

I will be doing a few of these in the months ahead and posting them here. This is truly a worthy endeavor that everyone can join in and and learn from.

Posted on

Bits of Everything

Lake George Land Conservancy Gets Big Gift

The Lake George Land Conservancy was the recipient of a large grant from the Helen V. Froehlich Foundation recently.

Washington County Budget Cuts Protested

A number of people turned out to protest cuts to the Washington County Budget, the Post Star reports. Presently, no cuts have been proposed to the Washington County Beach.

Posted on

Absentee Ballots Counted: Town Board Race

Absentee Ballots Included in Vote Totals (Unofficial)
The absentee ballots in the Dresden Town Board election were counted today. Here are the updated totals with absentee ballots included.

Town Board Vote – 2 Seats Open

    Votes
Wayne Barrett (I)     122
Arthur Borin (R)     110
           
Joanne Farley (R)     105
Carl Sobeck (D)     88
George Gang (D)     36
Posted on

Election Update: No Ballots Counted Tuesday

The Washington County Board of Elections did not count the Dresden absentee ballots Tuesday.

Because of Veterans Day, their office is closed on Wednesday.

The Dresden absentee ballots should be counted on Thursday. As of 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, 52 absentee ballots had been returned. To be counted, an absentee ballot has to have been postmarked, November 2nd, the day before the election.

Posted on

Our Top 10!


Even though our name was misspelled on the Giants media pass when I visited their training camp in Albany in August, the fact that we were given media credentials demonstrates how bloggers have gained status in reporting on the news in the last year alone.

Yesterday we celebrated one year of posts at the Huletts Current. So to recap the last year I thought I would link to the top 10 posts from our first year:

1. Doing it Mountain Dew – Huletts 1980’s
2. Interview with Adam Terry, Baltimore Raven
3. Center for Watershed Protection -Their Backyard
4. The Lost Radio Ad
5. Behind the Plays: NY Giants Training Camp
6. What Exactly is a Catamount?
7. Behind the Scenes of the Today Show
8.Two Great Guys Honored
9.The Mystery of the 1842 Marker
10. The Keough’s & Vice President Biden

Tomorrow, the celebration continues with some out-takes from the videos I shot this past year.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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
Posted on

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.