On the beaten path

By KIM SMITH-DEDAM
Staff Writer

Long stretches of swooping roads are precious in the Adirondack Park.

They are sometimes extraordinarily beautiful and sometimes dangerous.

They were authorized by amendments to the state constitution with land trades.

In 1918, Saranac was connected to Old Forge. In 1927, Whiteface Mountain Road was cut.

In 1933, Indian Lake was connected to Speculator.

The Northway was authorized in 1959 and absorbed 300 acres of state forest land.

My favorite road is Route 73, with its narrow throat connecting Keene and North Elba.

The road rims two stretches of deep water between Pitchoff and Cascade mountains.

Nothing can stop the pass from being wild, not even the plow trucks, though they try.

DOT had to close it a few years ago to blast back a gargantuan boulder that seemed ready to roll onto the road.

It might have kept rolling down the ramp of 73 like a 20-ton pinball. I think it would have headed east to Keene.

Almost every evening drive home from the mountains in Lake Placid to the Pleasant Valley is breathtaking in one way or another.

Sometimes I hold my breath when the wind-swept snow blasts over the guide rails like a horizontal storm.

But I love it most when the moon lifts from the bottom of the long crevasse of 73 as night falls.

As you drop into the pass, it appears all at once, hung huge and bright yellow between the grey cliffs.

It stays with you the whole way, ducking only once or twice behind the sheer Cascade wall.

When winter moons are full in a clear sky, birch-covered slopes beside the lakes are marked with erratic dark shadows on snow in cold light.

I’ve had to stop a few times to get out and look at them.

I can only imagine the 12 hours it used to take to get from Elizabethtown to Lake Placid by stagecoach.

Horses’ hoofbeats must’ve sounded pretty cool bouncing off the ledges.

The 25-some-odd mile morning trip is never the same.

I watch distant mountains a lot as I go. They work like a compass if you know the peaks.

Coming over Spruce Hill toward the T at 73 is stunning.

It’s not just the wall of mountain layers that explode into view as you crest the hill.

To the east, if you catch it right, the Sentinel _ with his nose, chin and mouth facing skyward _ guards the very pinnacle of Whiteface.

Whiteface gets tricky at the end of 73.

I’m not sure if it’s an optical illusion, but the mountain actually seems to MOVE.

Just past the Lake Placid ski jumps coming into town, Whiteface looms fierce and tall to your right — or apparently east — over the horse show grounds.

As you approach the village limit in an apparent straight line, it disappears.

And then when 73 ends and you turn left onto Main Street, Whiteface emerges again — only this time to your left, or apparently west — off the north end of Mirror Lake.

If you look at a map, it still doesn’t really make sense, unless you put it in motion.

You’ve actually encircled distant Whiteface by about 180 degrees.

The whole 73 pass actually cuts a sharp south-to-north curve dividing the High Peaks from the Sentinels.

It’s wild.

But you have to slow down to see it.

Posted by Lois Clermont at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By LOHR McKINSTRY
Staff Writer

For the last 15 years, I’ve covered Essex County government for the Press-Republican.

That means the County Board of Supervisors and many county departments see me at least once a week.

It seems like covering the county would be easy — just go to the one or two weekly meetings they hold and write stories.

But it’s a lot more complex, or at least I make it more complex.

The real news about how the county runs comes out of the many committee meetings — Public Safety, Human Services, Economic Development, Finance and so on — that the Board of Supervisors hold.

If you go to the main meeting, the once-a-month regular session of the Board of Supervisors, you’ll see a list of resolutions and spending requests approved by all the committees and presented for final OK. The discussion has already been held, so the regular meeting goes by pretty fast most of the time.

That’s why committee coverage is important, but talking with everyone before and after meetings is just as important. I don’t go to a meeting to write a story that says “the Board of Supervisors voted to buy a dump truck” or some such minutia. I try to find issues. Then I write about them.

So stories about Essex County government are usually compilations of meeting coverage and interviews. The idea is that our readers are concerned about the issues that affect their lives and that’s what we should write about.

That’s doesn’t mean that sometimes the meeting itself isn’t the story, as we’ve all seen with coverage of Peru Town Council slugfests. But supervisors in Essex County are usually pretty cordial with each other, and they try to be professional.

I try to get to the Old County Courthouse about 15 minutes early for meetings, so I can talk with people as they arrive. That’s usually how I find out what the major topics will be at a meeting. Agendas are provided on the podium at the back of the supervisors’ chambers, and I take one and look it over.

When the meeting starts, I take notes on my laptop computer. It’s faster and easier than trying to keep up by writing on a pad. The various items of discussion are later evaluated for use as individual news stories.

I try to sit in the front, because you can hear best there. Clerk of the Board Deborah Palmer got them to install a folding table for me at the end of the right front row, so I set up there and have a flat surface to type on and take written notes.

Sometimes people come in to address the board, and if it’s on an important issue I try to take a photo.

That’s harder than it seems because the podium naturally faces the supervisors, and I have to vault over the front-row railing to get a good angle for a photo. More than once I’ve caught my foot and stumbled, although I haven’t fallen down yet.

Sometimes the supervisors refer to me, as Newcomb Supervisor George Canon did the day County Social Services wanted a bill paid for $248 worth of pizza pies from Bub’s Pizza and Deli in Elizabethtown.

“I am willing to bet you that the Press-Republican’s headline tomorrow is ‘County buys $248 worth of pizza,’” said Mr. Canon.

Guess I’ll have to write a brief on that.

Posted by Lois Clermont at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

By STEPHEN BARTLETT
Staff Writer

My daughter finished “War and Peace” before graduating from kindergarten and in first grade penned a book on sign language, which emphasized the importance of recognizing the toddler crotch squeeze as an indication a bathroom visit was needed yesterday.

She split her first atom in elementary school, cloned our cats in middle school and performed a triple bypass in high school while downloading more than 1,000 songs on her iPod.

OK, you got me. She’s only in sixth grade and isn’t being recruited by the CIA, NASA or International Alliance of Human Cloning, which is awaiting the arrival of the intergalactic creators of the universe.

But she’s still one smart cookie.

I like to think it’s the genetic batch she inherited from her father, a self-proclaimed genius, though I suspect, at the suggestion of her mother, that participating in a high-quality preschool program, which we paid for, has something to do with her continued academic success.

Studies show that children who participate in early childhood programs are 40 percent less likely to need special education or be held back a grade and are more likely to graduate from high school, attend college and land a high-paying job.

According to studies, preschool programs improve educational performance, reduce crime, increase tax revenues, decrease dependency on welfare and raise living standards for entire communities.

In fact, a study in New Mexico indicated that every dollar invested in preschool would save $7 in years to come, while a similar study in Louisiana predicted that for every $1 invested in pre-K, the state would recoup $2.25 in benefits.

If that’s the case, I believe parents who enroll their children in preschool should see a small percentage of the profits. That money could go a long way in helping me afford a Jaguar and construct a solid-gold trophy case for my high-school athletic awards. Sure, I’d have to largely fill it with knickknacks, but at least the top shelf would prove my former athletic prowess.

The idea of free universal pre-K has been kicked around for years, and the main sticking point continues to be funding.

Taxpayers are already struggling to shoulder their bulging bill of funding public education in place of state and federal governments that believe shifting the burden elsewhere is working just fine for them.

And it’s too early to tell if Gov. Eliot Spitzer is going to make that much of a difference.

I’m not going to toss around ideas on how universal pre-K should be funded. I elected individuals who are supposed to do that for me, and I refuse to believe claims they are enslaved to special-interest groups that send them on vacations, take them out to dinner and keep them relaxed with weekly spa visits.

It should be noted that 85 percent of an individual’s intellect, personality and social skills are developed by age 5, yet 95 percent of public investment in education occurs after children reach age 5, according to a study released by Harvard University Press.

Another study that began in the 1960s followed a group of low-income children in Michigan from preschool through adulthood and found that those who attended preschool were more likely to graduate from high school and had slightly higher incomes than those who didn’t have such a learning advantage.

Children in Oklahoma’s pre-K program scored significantly higher than their peers who were not in the program on tests of cognitive development, motor skills and language skills.

In the Chicago Preschool program, children who participated in it compared to those who did not had a 20-percent higher rate of high-school completion and a 42-percent lower rate of juvenile offense.

Pre-K should not be a luxury only afforded by families who already have the assets to enrich their children’s academic lives with vacations to historical sites and summer-enrichment programs.

It’s time free pre-K for all becomes a federal mandate, though it should not be an unfunded one.

Maybe the government could spend less on war and begin investing more in our children.

Posted by Lois Clermont at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By LOIS CLERMONT
News Editor

People often call here to ask that we keep the name of someone who was arrested out of the paper. Sometimes it’s the person who was charged who calls; sometimes it’s the father, mother, wife or husband.

We have had calls from big advertisers threatening to pull their ads and from people we know appealing to our friendship, even some of our relatives.

We tell them all the same thing: If it’s a felony arrest or a personal injury accident involving any level of charge, the arrest will be going in the paper.

It’s not that we don’t have empathy for how publication of the arrest affects people’s lives. Do you know how hard it is to tell a tearful friend, “Sorry, but I can’t keep your name out of the paper”?

We all have families, too, and some of them have had problems with the law. We know how embarrassing it for people to see their name in the Police Log or a crime article.

But, to keep local people informed about what is happening in their communities, we have made a commitment to report felony arrests and accidents where someone was hurt.

And it would be unethical for us to withhold those reports just because we know the person or are worried about losing advertising.

Is that the kind of newspaper you would want?

When our former editor’s son crashed his car and was arrested for DWI years ago, it was in the paper. When a big advertiser’s son was arrested for DWI, we ran that too, even though we lost advertising for months.

We have to have integrity so that you’ll trust our reporting.

If you know someone who was arrested and don’t see it in the paper, there are two reasons: It was a misdemeanor or violation, not a felony; or it wasn’t given to us on one of the three times a day that we call every police agency in our area to ask for arrests and accidents.

We feel for the people who are charged, but we feel more strongly that we have to be fair and treat every arrest the same way.

Posted by Lois Clermont at 2:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

By ANNA JOLLY
Assistant News Editor

Next week is a special time for newspapers and First Amendment lovers across the country; it’s what journalists call “Sunshine Week.”

The idea was born in 2002 when some Florida officials tried to create a bunch of exemptions to the state’s open-government laws.

The first organized “Sunshine Week,” though, was not realized until two years ago.

Some larger newspapers and TV stations produced series reminding the public really how much access to information can be obtained with some filing of paperwork and persistence.

The Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) is used often by journalists to get paperwork that is public information but not readily handed over.

Using the law, which required a written request, can be frustrating for members of the public, who may not be taken as seriously by a government agency.

Requests are said to be rarely denied, but they can take quite a while.

There are a number of exemptions agencies can use to deny FOIL requests, but citizens have the right to file a civil suit against the government if they feel their rights are being denied.

The public — and oftentimes journalists — don’t realize how much information they are entitled to.

For a refresher or to learn more about Sunshine week visit www.sunshineweek.org or www.dos.state.ny.us/coog/freedomfaq.htm

Posted by Lois Clermont at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By KIM SMITH DEDAM
Staff Writer

The short winter will start to thaw out in about six weeks.

Mud season means frogs come out of hibernation.

I doubt they yawn.

Boys seem to love these slimy green creatures with flat ears and Cheshire smiles.

Ever seen a grown man better than six feet tall chase a frog?

I did last spring, and let me tell you what.

Relaxing in the back yard after working in the garden, I glanced over the depleted woodpile into the neighbor’s lawn to see this hulking mass bent over his haunches, knees tucked behind his ears.

One pounce, two pounce, three pounce … the ground didn’t shake, but it could have if it weren’t so soggy.

“What the heck are you doing?,” I hollered.

“I’m seeing if I can still do it,” he said, completely unabashed at the thought of the picture he made all squat-legged and belly-folds.

“Do what?” I exclaimed.

“Catch a frog,” he answered, standing up with a green spotted amphibian clutched in his hand.

“And I can.”

I guess it is part of the process to jump like a frog to catch one.

There was nothing to say except to look at the green creature, which now had to endure a sort of airlift before reaching the safety of the brook.

“Yep, that’s quite something,” I said, looking at the man, not the frog.

I’ve watched little boys perched many times with hands open, eyes fixed on the edge of a brook or pond, waiting for a precise signal to spring.

I don’t know what trigger releases the leap, but after a few years, they get quite good at it.
I can’t pretend to understand what sway the almost predictable path a frog’s hop holds over a boy’s (or a man’s) will; I’d rather catch butterflies.

But I’m convinced that if the kind of focus frog-chasing requires could be bottled and stored, it might make a good tonic for times when kids (and men) walk away from chores undone.

“Pretend it’s a frog,” I might say next time the lawn needs mowed.

Posted by Lois Clermont at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By LOIS CLERMONT
News Editor

At some point, we’re going to have to figure out what to call the area that used to be Plattsburgh Air Force Base.

When the base closed in 1995, the Plattsburgh Intermunicipal Development Corp. was formed to redevelop the property. That later evolved into Plattsburgh Airbase Redevelopment Corp., known by just about everyone around here as PARC.

For years, Press-Republican stories referred to that section of land as “the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base.” Sometimes we still do.

Some agency, either PIDC or PARC, held a contest at one point to name the former base. The winning name was Plattsburgh International Tradeparc.

But the name never caught on, and even though you can still read it on a Northway exit sign, no one calls it that.

Some people think we should just go with PARC. But the city and town have divided up the land and redeveloped it, with a great deal of residential area as well as the industrial sites.

So isn’t the former base oval just another section of the City of Plattsburgh? Should we just call it U.S. Oval, Plattsburgh? And isn’t the flight line and business area of the base just another part of Town of Plattsburgh?

If we write about something in the city’s South End, people think of the area from the South Catherine Street Bridge to the edge of the base, not any of the base property.

It’s been 11 years now since the base closed. When is it no longer “the former base”? Will it forever be known as that. Or PARC?

I’d be interested to hear the opinion of readers.

Posted by Lois Clermont at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)