SEVEN SUSPECTS CHARGED IN TUPPER DRUG ROUNDUP

Seven alleged drug dealers are facing charges today in an early morning round-up coordinated by Tupper Lake Village Police with the assistance of the Franklin County Narcotics Border Task Force.

The suspects, accused of pedaling cocaine and prescription drugs, were each charged with third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, a felony.

Those taken into custody were identified as 31-year-old Zachary A. Clement, 42-year-old Alviis D. Rivera, 20-year-old Robert P. Brown, 47-year-old David B. Malone and 32-year-old Jeremey T. Graton, all from Tupper Lake. Two other individuals currently residing in the Hamilton County Jail will face the same charge, which carries a maximum sentence of up to nine years in prison.  More arrests are expected.

Village Police Chief Thomas Fee says the nine-month investigation involved a collaboration of law enforcement agencies using undercover narcotics officers.

Fee said the arrests further illustrate the drug problem in Tupper Lake. “The community is aware of the problem,” he said. “And I get an awful lot of phone calls from people that are concerned in the community worried about their kids getting hooked on drugs and they’re worried about adults selling, and they’re worried about some of the other things that go on with the drug culture,” he said. “Our resources are somewhat limited but if we all work together, we’re able to get things done.”

The chief said drug dealers operating in the community should know that they will face stiff penalties. “We know they’re out there and we know their names,” he said. “When they get caught it’s going to sting. Derek Champagne is District Attorney for Franklin County and he takes are very aggressive attitude towards drug dealers,” he said. “I really hope this leads into another investigation, which leads into another investigation.”

Beyond law enforcement, Fee said people throughout the community have mobilized to address the roots of the drug problem such as the Respect and Responsibility coalition. Also drug education is provided in schools.

Clement, Brown, Malone and Graton were remanded to the Franklin County Jail on $10,000 cash bail or $20,000 bond. Rivera was released to the supervision of the Franklin County Probation Department.

-Mike Fritts & Chris Knight

NORTH COUNTRY HIT BY SMALL EARTHQUAKE

A small earthquake shook parts of the Tri-Lakes Region and the North Country at 11:47 p.m. last night.

The National Earthquake Information Center reports the quake was a magnitude 3.2 on the Richter scale. Its depth was registered as 1.2 miles below the surface. 

The epicenter was listed as being in the Town of Santa Clara, just west of Upper Saranac Lake. 

The quake hit not far from the DEC’s Fish Creek Campground.  Caretaker Dale Martin said they definitely felt it. “It was shaking – we thought it was some kind of explosion,” he said.  “It didn’t last very long, I’ve felt two earthquakes before.  Sounded like two explosions.”

Martin said they found no damage from the quake.

A caller to WNBZ who lives on the Forest Home Road in Harrietstown reported that the quake shook his house around 11:50 p.m. last night.

By early afternoon, the Earthquake Information Center had received more than a thirty reports from people in Bloomingdale, Lake Clear, Tupper Lake, Saranac Lake and surrounding areas who felt the quake.  Most reported light shaking and no damage. 

Dr. Frank Revetta, SUNY Potsdam’s earthquake expert, said the quake registered on two of their seismic stations.  “3.2 is big enough to be felt,” he said.  “The only problem is it occurred at 11:47 p.m. last night.  I was up at that time but I did not feel anything.”

Revetta said the source of the area’s seismic activity remains somewhat of a mystery.  One theory is that the small quakes are caused by reactivation of old faults.  “In other words, there’s old faults present in the area and none of them reached the surface.  They would be reactivated by stresses in the earth.  The ultimate source of the stresses is plates moving.  And so the favored theory is reactivation of faults.  And they must be small faults because most of the time the earthquakes are small.”

Local police and fire departments reported no damage from last night’s minor quake.

-Chris Knight

BICKFORD PLEADS GUILTY TO GRAND LARCENY

A Saranac Lake woman accused of bilking a local fuel company out of thousands of dollars plead guilty to third-degree grand larceny this week.

29 year-old Susan Bickford, a former bookkeeper for Big D Fuel, was arrested by Saranac Lake Police in January of 2006.  She was initially charged with second-degree grand larceny and 27 counts of falsifying business records.

Police said at the time that Bickford stole more than $60,000 from the company from December 2004 to September 2005.

But, according to Jack Delehanty, Franklin County’s Chief Assistant District Attorney, Bickford was accused of taking $240,190 over a five year period.

“The prosecution will be compelled to prove the extent of her fraud” at a restitution hearing scheduled for October 1, Delehanty said Wednesday.  County Judge Robert Main Jr. will administer the hearing.

Bickford’s sentencing will take place October 22.  Delehanty said the judge has indicated he will sentence Bickford to at most five years probation with the first 180 days in the Franklin County Jail.  “Restitution was the principle concern of all parties in the matter and incarceration would serve no practical purpose,” Delehanty said. 

It could be more difficult to collect restitution without the sentence of probation, he added.

The case is the latest in a string of employee larcenies in the county over the last three years.  Some have involved businesses, community service organizations and even charities. 

Delehanty said some employers put too much trust in their key employees and don’t have appropriate business practices established.  “The employee relies on that trust and uses it for their own purposes,” he said. “Gambling, drugs and just plain old avarice has a lot to do with it.”

Businesses need to make sure they have the appropriate checks and balances in place so such thefts are recognized more immediately, Delehanty said.

Asked if a longer jail or prison sentence could deter such crime, the prosecutor said they typically ask for longer sentences “when there is no prospect for payment of meaningful restitution.” 

The DA’s office also needs to respect the wishes of the victim.  “Their principle concern, and especially in this case, is they glean as great a measure of restitution as they possibly can,” Delehanty said.

In other county court action this week, a Tupper Lake man plead guilty to felony driving while intoxicated.  27 year-old Benny A. Haywood was sentenced by Judge Main to five years probation, a $2000 fine and had his license revoked.  A condition of his probation is completion of drug court.  The charge stems from an incident September 3 of 2006.

-Chris Knight

ADIRONDACKS LOSING PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIANS

More and more primary care physicians are leaving the Adirondacks, lured away by offers of better pay and from exhaustion from the rigors of working as a rural doctor.

As result some new patients have had to be turned away while others have been forced to travel miles from home or endure long waits to see a doctor.

To try and find a solution to the escalating problem, a meeting will take place today in Lake George among 100 physicians, health care administrators, government officials and business leaders.  The event is being organized by the Hudson Headwaters Health Network.

“The national health care crisis is hitting first in the Adirondack Park because of its unique nature,” Stephen Acquario, executive director of the New York State Association of Counties, told the Albany Times Union. “We need to address it there while it’s still manageable enough to solve.”

A recent study by the University of Albany’s School of Public Health found that between 2001 and 2005 the North Country has lost 20 of its primary care physicians, an eight percent decline.  That leaves just 258 primary care physicians or 60 for every 100,000 people in the region.

Over the same time period, the number of physicians statewide increased by five percent.

The crisis is being felt locally by Adirondack Medical Center, which has hospitals in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid and nursing homes in Tupper Lake and Lake Placid.

President and CEO Chandler Ralph told the Times-Union that AMC-Mercy in Tupper Lake is having a particularly hard time recruiting two primary care physicians and has had to get by with a doctor who works as a temp.

Ralph is also struggling to keep the doctors she has, many of whom are nearing retirement age.  “I can’t really blame the doctors for leaving,” she told the Albany paper. “Being on call all the time is a real challenge in a rural area.”

To address the problem, Ralph says she’s been tracking medical students who grew up in the area and will to recruit them after they’ve finished school.

Harvard Professor Rashi Fein said solving the crisis in the Adirondacks is going to require assistance at the state level. “The only institution power enough to lead the battle is state government,” he told the Times-Union.

-Mike Fritts

SPITZER VETOES LITTLE’S SQUATTERS RIGHTS BILL

Gov. Eliot Spitzer has vetoed a bill proposed by Senator Betty Little that would have prevented people from taking ownership of properties through a centuries-old statute commonly known as “squatters rights.”

The squatter's rights legislation would have changed the state's “adverse possession” law, which dates back to English common law and allows a person to take title to a property he uses for 10 years or more, without objection from its actual owner, even if that person knew the land wasn't his to begin with.

The bill, introduced in April by Senator Little, would have changed the law to prevent such a transfer of ownership when the person knows the property belongs to someone else.

In a memo justifying his veto, Spitzer said the bill may appear to improve the law, but it could create a flood of lawsuits because it would make it difficult for property owners to know when the statute of limitations had run.

“I cannot approve a bill that undermines this statute of limitations and thus leaves property ownership rights so uncertain,” Spitzer said.

The legislation was also opposed by the Real Property Tax Section of the New York State Bar Association.

Proponents of the bill were disappointed by Spitzer’s veto.

“This measure would not have overturned the entire adverse possession legal mechanism,” Little said in a statement. “It would, however, have addressed those situations, for example, in which someone mows their neighbor's grass or plants some shrubs in the hope that they may eventually claim the property as their own.”

Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward, who had also sponsored the bill, said it found almost unanimous support in both houses of the legislature. “Its disappointing to know that special interest groups can persuade the governor to veto sound legislation meant to protect the hardworking taxpayers of New York State,” she said.

The governor also vetoed bills Wednesday that would have limited the amount of lead that can be used in jewelry and eased financial oversight requirements on the city of Buffalo. The governor signed several other bills into law as well.

-Chris Knight with AP wire reports

POLICE AND FIRE REPORT

Saranac Lake Police charged 23 year-old Justin R. Drasye of Tupper Lake with second-degree harassment, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and third-degree intimidating a victim or witness.  He was arrested at 6:30 a.m. this morning on warrants.  Police say Drasye allegedly struck another person several times in the face in the presence of two children under five years of age.  Police say he was trying to intimidate the victim and stop him from further pursuing charges for an incident that occurred in Tupper Lake.  Drasye was arraigned and released to appear in court at a later date.

Saranac Lake Police charged 48 year-old Jeffrey L. Plumley of Saranac Lake with driving while intoxicated at 3:35 p.m. Wednesday.  Police were called to the scene of a motor vehicle accident on Main Street by the Harrietstown Town Hall.  An investigation revealed that Plumley, the operator of the vehicle that was struck, was allegedly driving while intoxicated.  He was processed and released to a third party to reappear in village court September 5.

Lake Placid firefighters were called to 126 Greenwood Street for a report of smoke in the basement.  One truck and nine members responded at 12:39 p.m. Wednesday.  The smoke was reportedly caused by construction workers and no action was required.  Firefighters returned to the fire station by 1:01 p.m.