LP SCHOOLS SEE DECLINING ENROLLMENT

School enrollment is declining faster in Lake Placid than elsewhere in the Tri-Lakes. That’s according to Lake Placid school Superintendent Ernie Stretton who briefed the school board Tuesday evening.

While last year's enrollment stood at about 800 students, Stretton said this year’s total enrollment for the district could fall as low as 760 when the final tally is completed later this week.

Stretton said a combination of factors are at work in driving down enrollment throughout the North Country: rising real estate prices, properties being sold as second-homes, a weak job market and rising property taxes have created a climate that's not favorable to raising school-aged children in places like Lake Placid.

“You add all that up and it has a huge impact on enrollment,” Stretton said. “It’s not doomsday but it's something we've been seeing coming for a long time.”

School districts in Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake are also experiencing a decline, though not as bad as the one in Lake Placid or neighboring Keene Central.        

Aside from the state’s five major metropolitan counties and Long Island, the superintendent said, enrollment is decreasing in much of the state and is a trend being felt nationwide.

In the wake of declining pupils, board member Bob Miller said the district needs to be very careful whenever it considers hiring staff. “If our enrollment keeps going down, we shouldn't have the same amount of staff,” he said.

Stretton said the district is controlling staff levels through attrition in order to avoid laying people off.

In other news, two brand-new scoreboards are set to be installed at the baseball/softball fields at the North Elba Horseshow Grounds. Through an agreement in which Pepsico has the exclusive right to sell its products on Lake Placid school campuses, the company has provided scoreboards at no cost to the district, Stretton said.

The existing scoreboards, which are about three-years old, haven't performed very well, Stretton told the board. After contacting the company, Pepsico representatives have agreed to replace the scoreboards free of charge to the district.

The village of Lake Placid's municipal electric crews will assist with the installation.

Stretton also updated the board on the school district’s capital upgrade made possible by a $1.3 million bond approved this spring by voters. The bond is covering the cost of upgrading athletic fields, repairs to sidewalks and a retaining wall, generator upgrades, and a new athletic building.

“I think we've made substantial progress,” Stretton told the board. “And if I were to say anything, I think we're ahead of the game.”

This week crews will finish a paving project, a new retaining wall is “99 percent finished” and work is progressing on reseeding the athletic fields at the horseshow grounds, Stretton reported.

In March, the bond package passed by a more than 2:1 margin after two more expensive bond proposals failed at the polls.

-Jacob Resneck

WOMEN CHARGED WITH EMBEZZLEMENT, FORGERY

A Lake Placid woman is facing a felony charge for allegedly taking more than $5000 from a Ray Brook gas station where she worked as a cashier.

31 year-old Melanie Rogers was arrested August 29 and charged with third-degree grand larceny.

State Police investigator Brian Sypek says Rogers allegedly embezzled $5700 from the till at the Fuel and Fare in Ray Brook from June to mid-August.

Rogers was arraigned in Town of North Elba Court and remanded to the Essex County Jail on $5000 bail.

In an unrelated case, State Police investigators arrested a Lyon Mountain woman August 30 for allegedly taking money from her mother-in-law’s bank account.

28 year-old Lisa Demaro was charged with seven counts of second-degree forgery, a felony, plus misdemeanor counts of petit larceny and second-degree criminal impersonation.

Sypek says Demaro allegedy stole from her mother-in-law’s bank account by forging her signature on withdrawal slips presented to several banks in Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and other areas.  The alleged theft took place from July 30 to August 11 and was less than $1000. 

Demaro was arraigned and taken to the Essex County Jail on $5000 bail.

-Chris Knight

LOCAL REPS MEET WITH STATE OFFICE OF SMALL CITIES

State housing and community development officials traveled to Lake Placid Tuesday to meet with a group of elected leaders, housing and community development specialists from across the region.

The session was the third in a series of four similar forums being held across the state.

Lake Placid Mayor Jamie Rogers, who hosted the event, said it was a great opportunity to make some important connections. “With the change in government, with the new Spitzer administration coming in, if you start to look at some of his commissioners, staff and members of different agencies, they’ve made it a point to start traveling this state and learning the needs of the different communities,” he said.  “This is a perfect example.”

One of the new Spitzer appointees is Deborah Van Amerongen, commissioner of the Division of Housing and Community Renewal.  She said the goal of the meetings is to reach out to local officials. “We have a lot of different resources from the federal and state government made available to us to foster community development,” she said.  “We want to make sure we maximize those resources to the extent of our ability.”

The resources of the Office for Small Cities have been providing critical support to local communities across the state, according to Director Joseph Rabito.  Over $300 million has been provided for housing, public facility and economic development projects since the year 2000.  $30 million in grant awards will be announced sometime in the next month, he said. 

During a question and answer session, the state officials were asked about their review process and proposed changes that could take effect next year.  Ribito said they’re planning to raise the funding caps for infrastructure projects and provide “bonus points” to applications that are green certified projects or involve the sharing of municipal services.

Some speakers, like Bill Osborne of Hamilton County, described their concerns about the fate of towns across the Adirondacks.  Excluding places like Lake Placid, “it is a bunch of dying communities separated by long stretches of desolate roads,” he said.

Osborne asked if there was some way to alter the job creation requirements for Community Development Block Grant funding.  “In the Adirondacks today there’s increasingly no one to hire,” he said. 

Alan Hipps of the Housing Assistance Program of Essex County said the median price of housing is growing much more rapidly than the average income of a family.  “The issues are large and they’re growing,” he said. 

Rabito said they are aware of the challenges the region is facing.  He encouraged the local officials to work with his office to find “creative” ways to make their funding applications successful. 

Van Amerongen said state funding for housing programs has “flat-lined” in recent years.  “That’s something we’re working very hard to change,” she said.

Earlier Mayor Rogers met with the state officials to discuss issues the area is facing such as high taxes, the lack of affordable housing and infrastructure repairs.

Lake Placid is planning to apply to the agencies for funding on its main trunk sewer line, Rogers said. “It needs replacing,” he said. “And as we heard today, under the past grants it’s been hard to meet the income levels to qualify based on income levels and other levels they need.  We talked about how we’re going to get around that and discuss some of those issues.”

Early estimates are the sewer project could cost $4 million.

Similar forums to the one held Tuesday have taken place in Western and Central New York.  Another will be held in the Hudson Valley next week.

-Chris Knight

ESSEX COUNTY ISSUES DROP-DEAD DATE ON COUNTY JAIL

Essex County has reportedly issued an ultimatum to contractors working on the new Essex County Jail.

Sheriff Henry Hommes told supervisors Tuesday that September 15 has been set as the drop-dead date for completion of work on the new jail in Lewis, according to a report in the Plattsburgh Press-Republican.

The jail’s opening has been delayed for more than six months due to problems with locks, an access card system, security cameras, perimeter gates and other issues. 

The sheriff met with supervisors last month to voice his frustration over the delays.  That led to a series of conference calls between county officials and jail contractors.

“There was progress on all fronts,” Board Chairman Noel Merrihew of Elizabethtown said.  “All issues were addressed.”

An ultimatum was given for contractors to finish their work before the county starts a review their performance bonds.

Hommes gave supervisors a list of 15 items that need to be addressed before the jail can bring in its first inmates. 

Once the jail is finished and guards are trained, he plans to ask the State Commission on Correction to set an opening date for the facility.  Hommes said the commission won’t set a date until construction is done.

Merrihew said the first inmates could be moved into the new facility by the beginning of October.

The county has been using a 21 bed modular jail until the new jail is ready to open.  But, because the daily population averages 40 inmates, the county has to pay to board inmates out to other jails in the region.

Construction of the new $40 million jail began in June of 2005.

-Chris Knight

NORTH COUNTRY AIRPORTS GET FUNDING

A pair of North Country airports will split over $1.8 million in federal funding.

U.S. Congressman John M. McHugh announced Tuesday the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded grants to Plattsburgh International Airport and Massena International-Richards Field.

The $901,000 grant to the Massena airport will provide federal funding for obstruction removal to enhance airport safety on the runways.

Plattsburgh International will collect a $900,600 grant that will provide federal funding to acquire an aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle.  The existing vehicle has outlived its useful life and requires replacement. 

A second $36,575 grant will provide federal funding for a wildlife hazard assessment to reduce the deer population and develop a wildlife hazard management plan, necessary to comply with federal requirements.

“By replacing aircraft emergency response vehicles, removing obstructions along the runways, and dealing with wildlife issues in a responsible fashion, we are advancing air service across the North Country,” McHugh said, in a news release.

-Chris Knight

NEWTON FALLS PAPER MILL BEGINS OPERATIONS

After sitting quiet for the last seven years, the hum of machinery returned to Newton Falls on Tuesday as the local paper mill resumed production.

The facility's old “Appleton Papers” sign was taken down to usher in the new era of the Newton Falls Fine Paper Company. Nearly 90 workers were busy Tuesday making paper that will be used in mail-order catalogs and text books.

Mill president Dennis Bunnell said more jobs are expected to be created within the next few years.

Newton Falls Fine Paper bought the mill in February from Newstech NY and its parent company, Belkorp Industries of Vancouver.

In 2002, former Gov. George Pataki came to town to announce the sale to Newstech NY. However, over the years, residents had grown skeptical that the plant would ever be more than a hulking giant on 15 acres.

“We had a big to-do and then nothing happened,” mill neighbor Roberta Provost said.

These days, people are believers.  “Everybody’s smiling now,” said Malcolm Kingsley, who owns the Newton Falls Hotel, which was built in the 1890s. The hotel recently reopened after being closed for a year.

“We know it will work,” he said. “We anticipate the mill helping us a lot, which it has already.”

Other growth will take longer.  Clifton-Fine Central School, which had 352 students last year, hasn't seen a windfall of new faces yet. Enrollment could drop this year to the low 340s, but a survey shows a brighter future, Superintendent Paul Alioto said.

“Gradually over the years, as long as they continue to make paper, we expect more families to move to the area,” he said.

-AP wire reports

POLICE REPORT

A Wilmington man was arrested after State Police were called to a report of a disturbance at 6 Mason Way.  Police say 21 year-old Christopher M. Mason was involved in a dispute with a female subject and allegedly threw a rock through the window of a 2001 Chevy Silverado owned by Brian Camire, whose name and residence were not provided.  Mason was charged with third-degree criminal mischief.  He was arraigned and sent to the Essex County Jail on $5000 bail pending an October 5 appearance in Town of Wilmington Court.

State Police in Tupper Lake arrested a Wells, NY man after being called to a property damage accident in the Town of Harrietstown around 7:40 p.m. last night.  Police say a vehicle driven by 52 year-old Mark E. Lacek had struck guardrails along State Route 3.  Lacek allegedly left the scene.  Responding troopers stopped his vehicle in the Town of Tupper Lake.  Lacek allegedly had a blood alcohol content greater than .18 percent and was charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated.  He was also charged with leaving the scene of a property damage auto accident and an equipment violation.  Lacek was processed and released to a third party to appear in Town of Tupper Lake Court on September 19.

Lake Placid Police charged 28 year-old Michael F. Moody Jr. of Lake Placid with disorderly conduct at 3:55 a.m. on Sunday.  Police say Moody was arrested after he was allegedly observed by patrol engaged in “tumultuous activity” and refused to leave the area.  He was processed and released on an appearance ticket for Lake Placid Village Court.