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Keep Eating Those Pancakes

One of the most interesting local industries, especially in winter, is the maple syrup business. Most maple farmers have been in the business for generations. This is a short video from Maple Land Farms in Salem, located in southern Washington County, about how maple syrup is processed.

If you ever want a fun thing to do with children in the winter, take them to a maple syrup farm. There are a number in Washington County and Vermont and they usually have tours. There is nothing like the sweet smell of maple syrup being processed in winter.

This video shows the production of pure maple syrup. Look closely at the containers you buy, because many of the large brands use only a small percentage of real maple syrup in their products. Local maple syrup is usually 100% pure.

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Two Signs Tell History

On December 13, 2008, an unveiling ceremony was held for two new historic signs, erected by the Washington County Historian’s Office, in Huletts Landing and the Town of Dresden. The signs tell the story of the famous French and Indian War event, the Rogers’ Rangers Trek, that took place in Huletts Landing in 1758. One sign is located at the southern rest area, on Rt. 22 in Dresden, and the other sign was placed in the Washington County Park at Hulett’s Landing.

Capt. Robert Rogers led his rangers up Lake George to Hulett’s Landing where over a period of three days they hauled their five boats over the mountains to Lake Champlain.

The signs go into detail of how this tremendous effort was accomplished. Participating in the unveiling were Commissioner Paul Loding of the New York State French and Indian War Commemoration Commission, Dresden Town Historian Agnes Peterson, Washington County Deputy Historian Loretta Bates and Washington County Historian Dona Crandall.

Bravos to Dresden Town Supervisor, Bob Banks, for helping to secure the funding.

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Help Us Make It Better

During the last two years, two sides of the Casino were painted and the electrical service inside was upgraded. This year we will be painting the other two sides and undertaking some major improvements which we will announce here in the weeks ahead.

However, we will also be cleaning up the back of the building too. We mailed this announcement out last week but we’re asking that you read it here if you didn’t get it. Thank you for your cooperation. Your help will make the area a lot nicer.

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Nine Counties to Sue APA

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

Attention Property Owners.

This is a story which you should pay attention to.

The Adirondack Park Agency has revised its rules and regulations to apply to the expansion of shorefront homes built before the APA came into existence.

The APA has been traditionally criticized for overstepping its authority but nine counties within the park all clearly feel this is an abuse of the APA’s statutory powers. What the Agency is seeking to do is to apply their shorefront restrictions to those shorefront structures built before the APA even came into existence.

Thankfully, nine Adirondack counties are speaking out in unison against this. After watching the goings on at the APA for 25 years, if the APA is successful, all property owners should be concerned because they will be coming for your property next.

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Saturday Quote

“It is a good thing to read books of quotations. The quotations, when engraved upon the memory, give you good thoughts. They also make you anxious to read the authors and look for more.”

Winston Churchill

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Many Catholic Churches to Close

While this doesn’t look like it will affect any local Catholic churches right now, there was some pretty significant news from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany this week:

As reported by the Albany Times Union.
“Roughly 20 percent of worship sites in the 164-parish Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany will close or merge in an unprecedented restructuring plan expected to be released this month, Bishop Howard Hubbard said Wednesday.”

Read about it here.
See the video of the bishop here.

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Doing it Mountain Dew – Huletts 1980’s


During the early to mid-1980’s, Mountain Dew received permission and filmed a commercial on the Paulist Islands off of Huletts. The camera crew took their equipment out to the islands from Huletts. I remember speaking to the crew and it was quite a production. They had numerous cameras and a lot of equipment.

The commercial wasn’t on TV that long and many people never saw it or even knew about it.

However, after a lot of searching, we found a copy. You’ll definitely recognize the background. Doing it Mountain Dew – Huletts 1980’s. Those were the days!

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Bits of Everything

Here are some links which I thought people would like to know about.

Here’s a story about the completion of a deal to protect 104,000 acres of Adirondack forest. That’s a lot of land.

While they may be acquiring acreage, here is an update on how the state is at the same time proposing to not pay their share of property taxes on their Adirondack land. This issue is bringing together groups from both ends of the political spectrum.

Finally, this is something the Huletts fire department may want to consider in the future. The Hague fire department just purchased a new fire/rescue boat to protect shoreline property and make lake rescues. Perhaps something to consider for Huletts someday?

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A Burglar Must Have Picked Their Website

According to these figures, the Whitehall School District will get about 3.00% less state aid next year.

This is a little misleading because there was an 11.00% increase in aid from 2007-2008 to 2008-2009, so the difference between the 2007-2008 year (last year) and the 2009-2010 year (next year) is still an increase of about 7.5%.

What is amazing is that even with an increase of 11.00% in state aid last year the District increased taxes.

It is interesting to note that the names of the Whitehall School Board members are no longer listed on the Whitehall School District’s website. Are they in hiding? Could it be they don’t want to hear from the taxpayers?

We’ll have more for you in the weeks ahead.

Update – January 6, 2009 – 11:05 a.m.

We just noticed that the Board of Education Members are back on the website. I may have originally missed this but it’s good to know who our board members are. Click here for the list.

Note that there are no elected members with Dresden addresses.

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Take the Bull by the Horns

This is a good start for next year’s Washington County budget. However, the county needs to do alot more.

Every state with low taxes and a climate favorable toward business is doing better in this rough economy.

That said, Washington County needs to do more:

The county needs to undertake a comprehensive review of every position in the county with a goal in mind to reduce the County’s payroll by 10%.

The county also needs a committee or person whose primary goal is to attract business to Washington County. There are major conferences every year run by manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, etc. and Washington County needs to be there and be wooing businesses and employers to our county.

Innovation and growth comes from the private sector and the government needs to remember this.