I seem to be getting the Dryden Courier later and later in its weekly cycle, and combining that with my being out of town Monday and Tuesday means that the issue I'm about to write about isn't the one in stores any more. However, the Courier still does a great job of picking up stories I don't see elsewhere.
The front-page teaser "Village reasserts stance against livestock" was too good a headline to resist, so I immediately turned to page 19. Apparently the source of this "stance against livestock" is the interest of the New York State Agriculture Farmland Protection Board in two tax parcels on Springhouse Road within the Village. The parcels are surrounded by other agricultural land.
Trustee Dan Wakeman didn't sound happy: "The village was not put together to foster agriculture... you're not going to do it in the village." The village's prohibition on livestock came up, as Mayor Taylor pointed out that even chickens are prohibited. She suggested that a farm without livestock wouldn't be in violation of village ordinances, but:
"Ag law supercedes village law," she said. "What's the point in working so hard on a comprehensive plan when they can just force us to do whatever?"
Cooperative Extension representative Debbie Teeter "said that a compromise could probably be found sans livestock."
Returning to the front page, the Courier reports on the Dryden Caroline Drifters Chicks Ride, a snowmobile fundraiser for the Ithaca Breast Cancer Alliance, and on prospects for a larger number of students coming through Dryden High School.
Both Athletes of the Week were from Dryden. Lindsey McCutcheon won after being named "Outstanding Field Athlete" at the State Qualifier Meet for track. Also winning in track was Matt Trevits, who was to compete at the State Meet last weekend.
In his Inside Dryden column, Matt Cooper reports on the Barber Shop Cookbook's recipe-collecting, which was nearly done, and a performance of Hall Pass. He was a little confused by the weather:
Winter break is an alien concept to me. I only ever had spring break, which I understand they get around here too.
The weather decided to warm up significantly last week, which was a wonderful break from the big downpour of snow we received on Valentine's Day. We went from record low temperatures to record high temperatures. It was pleasant until all of the melted snow and ice froze again overnight, leaving sidewalks treacherous.
The column is accompanied by a picture of Ruskn and Bogdan Scevchenko building a snowman in the village of Dryden.
In Anecdotes and Brevities, Harry Weldon writes about happenings at the Dryden Hotel, from the days of early settlement to a recent conversation about who would be running for Mayor of the Village of Dryden.
Posted by simon at March 7, 2007 7:08 PM in Dryden Courier , Village of Dryden , agriculture , politics (local) , weather