This morning's Ithaca Journal has a story on the continuing echoes of one of the darker stories of Dryden's past, the Harris family murders of 1989. The New York State Court of Claims - which pretty much decides which lawsuits...
As I noted earlier, it's a busy weekend for food in Dryden. Angelika and I started out with a trip to the Sertoma pancake breakfast at the Dryden Fire Station. Sertoma pancake breakfast. Then we went to the Dryden Community...
Apparently Dryden did not have a quiet Christmas - it just took the Ithaca Journal a few days to catch up to news of a fire early Christmas morning. Four residents of Creekwood Apartments, on Lower Creek Road, were displaced...
The latest eruption of the Etna Community Assocation newsletter, The Volcano, announces that they'll be having the Etna Holiday Craft Fair this Saturday, December 1st, from 9:00am to 2:00pm at Houtz Hall, on Lower Creek Road in Etna. They also...
It's continuing to be a good year for candidates forums, with about 25 people attending Tuesday night's event in Etna. We got off to a bit of a late start, because the Republicans needed to get their projector for the...
The Etna Volcano, the Etna Community Association newsletter, arrived last week. They're planning a busy fall, though the garage sale happened this past Saturday. At the Etna garage sale. Still to come are two Soup and Salad Suppers, on Wednesday,...
The latest issue of the Etna Volcano brings news that the 17th Annual Etna Community Yard Sale will be tomorrow, Saturday, September 8th, from 9:00am to noon at Houtz Hall (the Etna Post Office and Community Center building), 2 Lower...
I was delighted to get the latest edition of the Etna Volcano newsletter, which announces that "It's Chocolate Time!" The Etna Community Association will be having its 7th annual Chocolate Festival on Saturday, February 10th, from 10:00am to noon at...
Dryden had an action-packed Saturday this past weekend, with the Etna Community Association yard sale, the Freeville Harvest Festival, and the Ellis Hollow Fair as well. A busy Etna yard sale. Booths at the Freeville Harvest Festival. Eating at the...
There are fairs, festivals, and fun all over town this Saturday: The Etna Community Association will be having a yard sale on Saturday, September 9th from 9:00am to noon at Houtz Hall, at the intersection of Lower Creek Road and...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports that Etna Lane will remain closed until September 29th, extending the closure from August 31st. (The county is repairing a box culvert.)...
It's been a while since I reported on the Dryden Courier, but it's time to get back into it. This week's cover has a picture of plants growing at Cornell's Freeville Organic Research Farm, which just received certification that it...
No, don't worry. Lava isn't flowing, and there isn't ash everywhere. The Etna Community Association just sent out their latest creatively titled newsletter, and I'd like to post some of their announcements here: Etna History Book Judy Auble-Zazzara, Etna's hamlet...
Dryden Town Board member Mary Ann Sumner reports on kids working through today's rain to build a willow hut, which will grow into a shelter at 4-H Acres. Sumner also writes about event organizer Jessica Houle, who received the Cornell...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports on some strange aspects of the No Child Left Behind law that let school districts exclude test scores for some groups to avoid penalties. Usually those groups are non-white students, though white students' scores were...
This morning's Ithaca Journal (which isn't online yet) reports on the re-opening of the Freeville food bank at the Methodist Church, talking with volunteers, supporters, and visitors. There's also an article on an accident that jammed up Route 13 between...
Reading the Ithaca Journal lately, I get a sense that Dryden is a very sleepy place. Reading the December 28th Dryden Courier, though, I see a very active community with all kinds of things happening. I'm not positive, but I...
This morning's Journal reports on the Victorian Tea Party held at the Etna Community Church Sunday afternoon: Putting a modern spin on a tradition dating back to the days of Charles Dickens, the women of the Etna Community Church hosted...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports that the TC3 Foundation received approval for $7 million of tax-exempt bonds for building a dormitory. The article notes that the project received Town Board approval - though only for phase one - on Thursday...
This morning's Ithaca Journal visits Karel Westerling's barn-to-house conversion in progress. Westerling has moved a barn 75 feet, and is working to create two four-bedroom homes inside of the space. The Saltonstall Arts Colony is looking for resident artists in...
This week's issue of The Shopper adds another item to Saturday's busy schedule of Dryden events: the Etna Community Yard Sale, which will be Saturday from 9:00am to noon at Houtz Hall in Etna. There's also a schedule for the...
This week's Dryden Courier leads with good news: bids for elementary school renovations came in $180,000 under the expected $9.4 million budget. The referendum authorizing the project had been passed two years ago, and the board was very concerned about...
We went to the Etna Chocolate Festival yesterday with friends, and were rewarded for our journey (and a small donation per piece) with a lot of different kinds of delicious chocolate. A variety of chocolates for sampling in Etna. Gathering...
I forgot to mention one item in yesterday's Ithaca Journal, and it seems worth noting in a separate story. The Best Bets listing included this entry: Etna Chocolate Festival -- Featuring locally made chocolate and door prizes, proceeds go to...
After the introductory material on land use patterns, the 1968 General Plan goes into one of my favorite features: a building-by-building survey of the Town as a whole, with additional maps for Etna, Freeville, and Dryden. The map for the...
Today's Ithaca Journal provides more information on the Etna fire coverage agreement that was discussed at Tuesday's Town Board meeting. The article looks at the agreement between the four Dryden fire departments as well as the new Mobile Response Vehicle...
I had a few questions after Friday's Ithaca Journal article on fire company news, which says: Stelick and Michaels have long served as town liaisons to the emergency service providers and have found themselves wishing they had permanent, experienced staff...
Today's Ithaca Journal has a picture of children packing gifts at the Bethel Grove Bible Church for the Operation Christmas Child program of Samaritan's Purse. An Etna resident, Susan Morse, and her dogs Kiss and Whisper, are noted in K-9...
Today's Ithaca Journal Our Towns section visits the Crackerman of Etna, a baking business run by John and Beverly Bender of Etna. They've revived old-style crackers, and bake them in their house, a real cottage industry. If you want to...
The Etna Community Church, founded as the First Baptist Church of Dryden, is celebrating its 200 years of activity. Pastor Robert Doan, Postmaster Judy Auble, and a group of volunteers were posting information about the church and getting ready for...
Today's Ithaca Journal reports that Sherwood Boehlert defeated David Walrath by 20,365 to 14,741. In Tompkins County, the vote was 919 for Boehlert to 613 for Walrath. In the general election, Boehlert will face Walrath, who has the Conservative line,...
It's Wednesday, so the Ithaca Journal's Our Towns section is focusing on Dryden and Groton. This week, there's lots of Dryden news. They lead the Our Towns section with an article on the 25th anniversary of Willowbrook, the senior-citizens' complex...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports on the shooting of a reality TV pilot show in Etna, as "UltiMutt Makeover" combines home remodeling reality show with pet care. Richard Parker and Nancy Douglas and their St. Bernard, Shasta, have left for...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports on the shooting of a reality TV pilot show in Etna, as "UltiMutt Makeover" combines home remodeling reality show with pet care. Richard Parker and Nancy Douglas and their St. Bernard, Shasta, have left for...
It's a good thing I put up a late-night post that produced an entry for yesterday, as I left at 6:30am for Ottawa, Ontario, to pick up a friend, and wound up returning home after midnight, after my wife drove...
The Town of Dryden Planning Board gathered Wednesday night and held public hearings on and gave approvals to two subdivision proposals in Etna. Phase I of the Daniel Armitage subdivision, lots A, B, C, and D on the map (134KB...
Today was the kind of day that really calls for ice cream, so I stopped by the Etna Community Association's ice cream social at Houtz Hall on my way to the Planning Board meeting. For $1.75, I got two huge...
The Planning Board meeting , tonight at 7pm at the Dryden Town Hall (map), will include hearings on three subdivisions near Etna: two phases of the Daniel Armitage subdivision (one at the corner of Wood and Sheldon Roads, and the...
This week's issue of The Shopper includes an ad proclaiming April to be Fair Housing Month in the Village of Dryden, an ad from the Dryden Schools Art Department asking for public support in keeping art programs from getting cut...
George Goodrich's Centennial History of the Town of Dryden includes a chapter on "Isaiah Giles and Gilesville". There was no Gilesville on any of the maps I had (including the one in Goodrich's book), so I asked about it last...
This month's Planning Board meeting had a quorum, unlike last month's meeting, and was able to move forward with changes to the plan, though only two members of the public (myself included) were in attendance. Four planning board members, Dryden's...
Last night's meeting on "Speed Control on Rural Roads" at the Varna Community Center was very different from a similar meeting in West Danby, but brought up lots of issues specific to the Town of Dryden, especially Varna, Etna, and...
Yesterday's article explored the population of Varna and Etna, but even though it's interesting to know that downtown Varna's population is larger than Freeville's (679 to 505), the numbers needed to evaluate the statements about density in the Draft Comprehensive...
This week's sort-of Planning Board meeting on the Draft Comprehensive Plan's impact on Etna and Varna left me wondering about how many people actually live in the hamlets and what we data was available about them. In particular, the rental/owner-occupied...
Last night's meeting for "discussing revisions to the Draft Comprehensive Plan" wasn't precisely a Planning Board meeting, as only two members of the board were there (four are necessary for action), and only six people were in the audience, including...
We'll see what the Town Planning Board has to say about Etna's future tonight, but here's a rich description of its past from George Goodrich. Etna was a very busy place, and this entry is considerably longer than the one...
The Town of Dryden Comprehensive Plan page now indicates that: The Planning Board will be discussing revisions to the Draft Comprehensive Plan over the next several meetings. Public comments have been summarized into the topic areas listed below. This list...
The Town of Dryden Public Notices page (local copy) announces a meeting for Tuesday, January 27, at the Dryden Fire Hall (map), noting: The purpose of this meeting is to discuss ways to improve communications between the Town of Dryden...
I made it to last night's informational meeting on the Town's Draft Comprehensive Plan, held at the Dryden Town Hall. (The hearing on annexation was at the Village Hall, at the same time, and there was a bit of confusion.)...
I couldn't make it, but I'm happy to read that three dozen people showed up for the Varna informational meeting on the Dryden Draft Comprehensive Plan. It sounds like the tough questions about increasing density in Varna while having no...