I missed covering last week's Dryden Courier, and there are only a few days left to get the current issue. I've chosen some especially unfortunate issues to cover late. If you want to get a feel for all the candidates up for election Tuesday, I strongly recommend getting this week's Dryden Courier. It includes answers to a questionnaire from Legislative...
This week's Dryden Courier leads with a picture of last week's press conference at which County Legislator Mike Lane and Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton announced $50,000 in funding for firefighting equipment at Dryden's Neptune Hose Company and Freeville's W.B. Strong. $35,000 at Dryden will pay for an emergency generator to let the fire hall operate as an communications center in case...
I've been slack in covering the Dryden Courier lately, and I should cover it while it's still available. This week, it's even been available for free at the XtraMart at the Sunoco station on the Route 13/366 overlap with any purchase, so it's a good chance to check out the local weekly. The Courier visits BB Farms, also on 13/366,...
This week's Dryden Courier leads with stories on Freeville's Foxglove Bed & Breakfast, which has been in business since 1997, and the upcoming visit of the Harlem Wizards to take on a team of Dryden school staff and coaches. The Wizards game will be held on Wednesday at Dryden High School at 7:00pm, and is a fundraiser for the Dryden...
I was planning to spend this weekend catching up on a number of stories, but instead wound up resting (for the first time in too long), painting and fixing storm windows, and replacing my windshield wiper blades after a chunk of what appears to have been wet cornbread came flying across Route 13 by the airport. Fraternity prank? Fortunately, the...
One of the many things I wanted to write about this weekend but didn't get to was the latest Dryden Courier, and I do feel I should cover it while it's still available on news stands. Last Wednesday's issue has a picture of the Backyard Circus at the Freeville Harvest Festival. It leads with a visit to kindergarten at Dryden...
This week's Dryden Courier takes a detailed look at the contstruction at Dryden Elementary School and efforts to keep it from disrupting the school year, which just started. There's also an article on Help A Needy Dryden Student (HANDS), a program which proves help to district students and families facing hard times and difficult situations. There's mention of the upcoming...
With the Labor Day weekend, I almost forgot to report on last week's issue of the Dryden Courier. It leads with articles on the Dryden School District's rush to finish renovations on the elementary schools, and with the successful completion of the Virgil Creek restoration project, which put Virgil Creek back in its original bed along Lake Road. Inside, there's...
It's a busy week for the Dryden Courier, covering both Village of Dryden news and new employees for the coming school year, as well as prospects for sports. A report on the Village of Dryden Board of Trustees' August meeting discusses their finalization of the 3.9 acre Simonet annexation along the eastern edge of the village, as well as the...
This week's Dryden Courier visits last Saturday's Farm City Day, with a picture of a horse-drawn hay ride and coverage of the displays and activities as well. They also have an article and photo about work being done at the Dryden School District's elementary schools. There's still a build to come at Dryden Elementary School on August 27th. Inside, there's...
This week's Dryden Courier leads with a profile of Rob Bailey, a US Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel serving in Iraq. The article is largely an interview with his brother, John Bailey, also of Dryden, and echoes Bailey's Memorial Day address. Also on the front page is an article introducing the new pastor of Dryden United Methodist Church, Alan Kinney. Kinney...
This week's Dryden Courier leads with an article about Dave Perkins' fire truck collection, which at one point included 14 motorized trucks (now down to seven) and two buggies. There are pictures of the buggies on the cover and inside. Perkins seems to be dispersing his collection as he prepares for retirement, but hopefully some of it will stay around...
This week's Dryden Courier comes folded very strangely, to accomodate an "Ithaca Times Menu Guide" that I suspect was sized for the larger Ithaca Times. Inside, though, there's plenty of information. There's an in-depth look at the summer construction at Cassavant, Freeville, and Dryden elementary schools, including information on the disruptions construction will cause at Dryden into the school year...
The lead story in this week's Dryden Courier is the Hobasco Lodge No. 7216 Masons moving into the old Methodist Church and former West Dryden Community Center on West Dryden Road. The Masons, who meet there once a month, are working on repairing and upgrading the church, and need to winterize the downstairs for year-round use. (I've written about the...
This week's Dryden Courier leads with articles on improving life for Dryden children. There's an article on Opportunity, Understanding, Respect, and Success (OURS), a group providing activities in Conger's Mobile Home Park started by Jessica Houle, a Cornell student who grew up there. Houle got a grant through Cornell Cooperative Extension, and is working toward buying a meeting place, and...
This week's Dryden Courier leads with the Dryden High School graduation, as well as congratulations given to the Dryden school board and superintendent. Inside the paper, there are articles on the plans for a Freeville-to-Dryden trail and one on the walk Rebecca Elgie and Bernie Fetterly took, including a stop at Dryden's Time Square park, to highlight health care issues...
This week's Dryden Courier leads with the success of two community volunteer initiatives: the Dryden Lake Golf Club and Dryden Dairy Day. The Lakeview Golf Course is running once again as the Dryden Lake Golf Club, with a crew of volunteers operating it. While George Szlasa still owns the course, the volunteers have been working on it since April 28th,...
This week's Dryden Courier looks at the transitions from the school year to the summer. There's an article on the Montgomery Park summer concert series, which starts this coming Wednesday at 6:30pm with the Burns Sisters. A full list of the concerts (and everything else on the recreation calendar) is available at the Recreation Department site. There's also a piece...
I should probably write about last week's Dryden Courier while it's still available on newsstands. The front page has an article about Town Councilman Mike Hattery's run for the County Legislature seat held by Mike Lane, as well as a picture of bicycle rodeo and a long piece recognizing retiring Dryden school employees. (Those profiled include high school assistant principal...
The Dryden Courier has some of the deepest coverage of labor issues I've seen in a long time. The cover has pictures of the rally SEIU workers held May 25th at George Junior, and has a picture of the inflatable rat inside. Beyond the photos, it has two articles: a front-page article on the labor negotiations themselves, discussing the issues...
This week's Dryden Courier takes a look at Dryden Superintendent Mark Crawford's first year. A few of the key points are the formalizing of the HANDS program, creating an after-school program at Cassavant Elementary School, and the recent passage of the budget on the first vote. Crawford is also holding regular meetings with the faculty and staff meetings, and starting...
The Dryden Courier leads with an article on Dryden High School students placing at the New York Olympics of the Visual Arts. (The article is available online from the Ithaca Times.) There's a picture of students modeling a Louis XVI ball costume that took second place in Fashion Design, and an article inside that looks at the recent school board...
This week's Dryden Courier starts with the Dryden High School prom, and then spends a lot of time looking at the school district. The article looks at both this year's James Bond-themed prom and parents' memories of the proms of the past. There's an article reviewing the Dryden schools budget, and there's a question and answer piece with candidates for...
The front page articles of this week's Dryden Courier are devoted to teens. One explores the Dryden High School Senior All Night Extravaganza (SANE), an alcohol-free graduation night party which entices seniors to come with surprises. Even the location is a surprise. There's also a piece on honors received by Dryden Serteen Club President Luca Cerretani and advisor Laszlo Engel...
This week's issue of the Dryden Courier leads with the reopening of the Dryden Hotel, starting with a party last Friday night and returning to its usual schedule this week. Closed for four months because of a flood from the sprinkler system, the Hotel has been repaired and reopened. The mural of Dryden has been retouched where necessary by the...
This week's Dryden Courier is packed with news about the town, on levels from local lacrosse to the county legislature to a protest at Congressman Boehlert's office to a Dryden dentist returning from Iraq. Once again, if you don't read the Courier, now's a good time to start. George Birman, a dentist practicing in Dryden and Groton, turns out to...
In this past week's Dryden Courier, Tony Hall asks "how green will the new building be?" He reports on NYSERDA's possible financial support for an energy-efficient Town Hall, and related green-building projects at the SPCA and the Town of Lansing Highway Department. There's also an article on the Dryden Kitchen Cupboard, which is having a food drive, with the support...
I'm late getting to the Dryden Courier this week, and their article on the Dryden schools budget getting close to a 10% levy increase has been made obsolete by this morning's Journal article on their staying below 9%. There's lot of good detail on what went in and out of the budget in the Courier, of course. The Courier also...
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 costs having increased. Fortunately, they didn't. There's also an article on the challenges of the "strong-willed" Dryden school budget, which...
This week's Dryden Courier has a must-read article on the March 11th auction of the Lakeview Golf Course, where it was purchased by its current owner, George Szlasa. It's definitely worth getting up now and going out to buy the paper if you haven't already. The paragraphs that generated the most shock in me are: [Szlasa] was stunned the town...
This week's Dryden Courier leads with an article on the windmills Cornell has proposed building on Mount Pleasant, which could provide 10-15% of the university's electricity. Neighbors are less than happy, and the Courier reports that 15 of them signed a petition opposing the windmills. The key paragraph on the windmills' future seems to be: [Dryden Zoning Officer] Slater told...
I just got this past week's Dryden Courier, and should cover it while it's still available. It's also extra-appropriate today because it includes candidate questions and reponses for the Village of Dryden candidates. Polls will be open from noon to 9:00pm at the the Dryden Village Hall (map) and the Freeville Village Hall, although the Courier doesn't cover Freeville's uncontested...
This week's Dryden Courier leads with an article on roadblocks to TC3's expansion. Governor Pataki's veto of funding for it last year has stalled it, but even with the money, there's another large problem: needed repairs for the Village of Dryden sewer plant, which have resulted in a moratorium "on any increased inflow to the Village of Dryden's sewage treatment...
This week's issue of the Dryden Courier includes a detailed story on the Village of Dryden's January Board meeting. There's some explanation of the continuation of the multiple unit housing moratorium extension and its future: Mayor Reba Taylor said Tompkins County Planner Ed Marks questioned the extension, but conceded the village was doing its homework with studies and with and...
This week's Dryden Courier has lots and lots of Dryden news. The cover stories include a continuation of last week's profiles of the two Dryden student school board liaisons, focusing on Amanda Christofferson's accomplishments this time. The Courier reports that the Club Dryden event the town held on Febuary 5th was a huge success, with 240 participants instead of the...
The Dryden Courier's editorial this week reverses a policy it had set after the last round of local elections, when it decided "to no longer print letters supporting local candidates." They've changed their minds because: Local elections hit closer to home than any state or national contest. While bureaucrats on Capitol Hill argue over policies that will never have an...
This week it looks like I'll manage to cover the Dryden Courier while it's still available, unlike my way-late reporting of the previous two weeks. There's lots in it this week. The lead article look at the Help A Needy Dryden Student (HANDS) program, which began informally as the work of math teacher Howard Clafin, "has quietly diverted unused portions...
I've been painfully slack in getting the Dryden Courier over the last few weeks. I bought last week's on the Tuesday night before it disappeared, misplaced it, and just got to the current issue tonight. There's still one more day to buy this one! This week's issue takes a look at the prospects for parts of the Town of Dryden...
The lead article in this past week's Dryden Courier follows the move of the Dryden Barber Shop from its home in the Dryden Hotel to Stafford Chevrolet after a pipe broke in the Dryden Hotel. Several businesses offered proprietor Sylvia Short's barber shop a temporary home while the Hotel is repaired. There are also a photo of the Dryden indoor...
With the holidays, I almost missed an issue of the Dryden Courier. Fortunately, I picked one up today. (The new issue will be out tomorrow.) This past week's issue leads with a story about after-school programs for kids in McLean. 50 people showed up to an initial meeting about programs, and 25 kids came to a follow-up meeting. Cassavant Elementary...
This week's Dryden Courier leads with an article on Dryden's connections to the movie It's a Wonderful Life. They have a picture of John Bailey standing in front of George Bailey Insurance and an article comparing the claims of Seneca Falls and Dryden to be the Bedford Falls of the movie. There's lots of other Dryden news as well. Also...
The Dryden Courier has one of the best editorials I've seen in a long time, picking up on the possibility of "Welcome to Dryden" signs along Routes 13 and 38, and asking what the next line should be. Here's a small taste, but it's well worth finding a copy of this week's paper: In the grand scheme of things, backing...
This week's Dryden Courier leads with a story about Slinky Slithertail, the: "guilt-prone protagonist in Dryden resident Margaret Laurenzen's first book, which was published three years ago with the help of twelve-year old illustrator Mathew Habalou, a Dryden intermediate school student." Laurenzen, who was 77 when the first book was published in 2000, has a sequel, Slinky Slithertail and the...
This week's Dryden Courier is stuffed full of Dryden news. The front page leads with coverage of Dryden Middle School's presentation of The Pirates of Penzance, including both a picture and a story on the musical and its production. An article on the Etna Fire Department's troubles quotes Town Board member Steve Stelick extensively, saying: "They just have nobody to...
This week's Dryden Courier leads with a Victorian Festival that businesses in the Village of Dryden will be sponsoring on Friday, December 3rd. Nineteen businesses have come together in the past three weeks to do this. Businesses will have open houses and specials. There will be performances by the high school band and caroling, as well as the Village's tree-lighting...
This weeks' Dryden Courier takes a look at the Dryden Decorating Committee's efforts to raise funds, as they look for an additional $4,000 for wreaths to decorate village lightposts. The Village Board turned them down this time. There's also an article on psychologist Ellen deLara, who concluded after a four-month study that Dryden High School is largely a safe place,...
This week's Dryden Courier leads with an article on model rocketry's role in the fifth-grade science curriculum at Dryden Intermediate School. Students start with a simple rocket blown off the end of a straw, then to Alka-Seltzer rockets, and finally to the hobbyists' model rockets with solid-fuel engines. Students both build and launch the rockets, learning math and physics along...
Once again, I've been slow getting to covering the Dryden Courier, though I enjoyed reading it last week. The lead article, "Restaurant Doubles as 'Freeville Central' for Locals" visits Toad's, on Route 38 in Freeville. It's not a restaurant review, but rather a look at a place where people come to talk, and of course eat! There's also an article...
This week's Dryden Courier has lots of Dryden news, plus an editorial that looks at the Dryden Central School Board's most recent appointment, and color photos front and back. The front page starts with an article on the unanimous appointment of Amanda Kittleberger to the Dryden Central School Board. The article notes that: Discussions on the candidates were conducted during...
I seem to have read and enjoyed last week's Dryden Courier without reporting on its contents. The lead story is about people in the Village of Dryden riding lawnmowers on sidewalks for transportation and the problems it causes. The mowers seem to have become a transportation mode rather than a grass cutter: Moreover, the lawn tractors have had their cutting...
This week's Dryden Courier visits a Saturday Kids Club event at the Dryden Assembly of God Church, as Gary Croniser II presented a magic show combined with a religious message. They duplicate a story from last week about having the state purchase development rights from farms, but further inside the paper is an article that examines the "great sense of...
I was away last week, so I'm covering two issues of the Dryden Courier in one article. Both issues focus on farming issues and the start of the school sports seasons. In the September 8th issue, Courier reporter Tony Hall looks at the difficulties caused by increasing costs on the Dryden elementary school renovations and the challenges of extending the...
This week's Dryden Courier looks at the county's efforts to encourage rural small businesses. The Planning Department found that while 35% of the population lives in rural areas of the county, 55% of the small businesses are there. The county will be using a revolving loan fund to finance businesses started by people who take the "Getting Down to Business"...
This week's Dryden Courier explores the happier feelings coming out of the Dryden Central School District's negotiations with the Dryden Faculty Association. If all goes well as seems possible in the September 2nd vote, teachers should have a contract in place before the school year starts. The other front page article looks at the water contamination problem at 730 Midline...
This week's Dryden Courier has fairly little about Dryden in it. Even one of the front page articles takes place over in Mecklenburg. On the bright side, the lead article on Dryden has a lot of detail on an important happening. Monika Roth of Cornell Cooperative Extension gave an initial presentation at last week's Town Board meeting on the possibility...
This week's Dryden Courier has a lot of detail on Mao Shen Lin, who failed to show up to his trial for kidnapping and attempted grand larceny last week after posting $200,000 bail. Mao Shen Lin was arrested in connection with an attempted robbery at the Song Tao restaurant in the Village of Dryden last November. In brighter news, the...
A new issue of the Dryden Courier will be out tomorrow, and I'm still catching up on last week's. (Unfortunately I missed the week before, but I'll track one down.) The lead stories are on the Dryden Central School District's decision to subsidize summer school only for 11th and 12th graders, not for those in lower grades, and the Village...
This week's Dryden Courier takes a look at the Dryden Central School District's formation of a strategic planning committee to "map out district goals for the next five years," as well as the board's reorganization at its first meeting of the newly elected board. The Courier also notes Patricia Edgecomb's departure from the board. There's also a piece on a...
This week's Dryden Courier looks at the protracted saga of the Crown Castle Atlantic cell phone tower that the Town Board approved last week. They also visit the Dryden Historical Society, looking through the collections and talking about the programs. Inside, they examine grants made by the Dryden Youth Opportunity Fund and a challenge faced by Dryden High School students...
This week's Dryden Courier takes a look at the Dryden Intergenerational Summer Band and Chorus, which formed to help Dryden celebrate its 1997 bicentennial but "discovered they were having too much fun to disband". They'll be performing August 14th at 7pm at Groton High School and August 15th at 3pm at Dryden High School. They also take a look the...
This week's edition of the Dryden Courier reports on Dryden school graduations and retirements, along with end-of-year awards. They also have a piece on the concert series the town is sponsoring in Montgomery Park on Wednesday nights. Inside the paper are announcements of winners at Dryden Dairy Day and fund-raising for Supplies for Success, providing school supplies to children in...
I've been falling behind lately as work has been more and difficult, but fortunately the Dryden Courier is maintaining its weekly schedule. I just have to get around to reading it! This week's lead articles cover the retirement reception for Dr. Patricia Archambault, superintendent of the Dryden Central Schools, and volunteer monitoring of Six Mile Creek. Inside the paper are...
This week's Dryden Courier includes pictures of the Dryden High School class of 2004, from Allmendinger to Zhankov. The articles explore the 'hordes' at Dryden Dairy Day and the presentation Friday night about the solar panels on Dryden High School. Tricia Edgecomb discusses students making faux stained glass at Cassavant Elementary School, and there's an obituary for Dewitt R. "Toad"...
This week's Dryden Courier is heavy with Dryden school district news. The lead article reports on the district's loss of science teacher Dennis Pollack to a stroke and student Jamie Cutting to an ATV accident, and the other front-page article covers the school budget being put to voters on June 22nd. The paper also has an article on this Saturday's...
This week's Dryden Courier looks at the Dryden School District's challenge in assembling a new budget after the 718-718 tie. Some challenges the board has to face: a 15% increase in gas prices since January a 14% increase in health premiums this year, on top of 19% last year retirement expenses increasing while investment returns diminish a decline in state...
This week's Dryden Courier features an article on prospects for a new Town Hall, a project that's been in the works for a while but which was deferred to executive session at the May Town Board meeting. It seems there's a problem: the recent annexation of a parcel to the Village has increased the price of land in that parcel...
This week's Dryden Courier takes a long look at Lakeview Golf Course, the course the Town of Dryden has been considering buying. While it opens with the prospect of the town buying the course, it spends most of its time talking about the course itself, the problematic nine extra holes added two years ago, and the volunteers keeping the course...
This week's Dryden Courier leads with an article on students attending last weekend's Dryden prom, "when the cosmic powers that be dim the lights a little bit and put on music with real violins in the background and when a keepsake picture by Dryden Lake sums it all up." Inside the paper is a full page of conversation with Dryden...
This week's Dryden Courier cover stories look at what kids are doing in Dryden. There's an appreciative article on the Dryden High School a cappella group Beyond Measure's recent performance at Dryden Jazz Night. It also takes a look at the archery program at Klein's Archery, "the first program offered by the town's new recreation department that was run by...
The front page of this week's Dryden Courier has a picture of the Dryden Middle School production of Fiddler on the Roof. The lead stories focus on the Dryden Grange's honoring of farmer and school board member Tom Miller and Red Cross volunteer Marylyn Brooks, as well as the Dryden School Board's effort to 'resurrect' improvements for music classes at...
This week's Dryden Courier includes an article on Dryden Middle School's production of Fiddler on the Roof, which will be performed April 22nd through 24th at 7pm each night. On a similar note, the "Mind over Matters" column looks at a CD release party for beyondmeasure, Dryden High School's a cappella choir. There's also an editorial on open government, noting...
This week's Dryden Courier takes a close look at the Dryden school budget, particularly the business education position that was saved by the current proposal. There's also coverage of the proposed LOSAP benefit package for volunteer firefighters (which notably explains that the "buy-back" plan discussed at the board meeting would extend benefits five years back retroactively) and a look at...
This week's Dryden Courier takes the recent uncontested elections as a good reason to take a close look at the Village of Freeville, how it operates, and what it provides to residents. There's also a piece on Dryden Central School's ParentCONNECTxp program for connecting parents more directly to their children's performance through a web site, and a story on TC3...
This week's Dryden Courier includes detailed coverage of Monday night's Dryden School Board meeting, the forum Barbara Lifton had last week, Sertoma honors for Teresa Carnrike and Bill Deming, and Jaqueline Mathews, the teacher from England who has exchanged positions for a few weeks with Dryden teacher Cheryl Van Riper....
Once again I'm wishing that the Dryden Courier was available on the Web. This week's issue leads with detailed articles on the impact of budget difficulties on both the Dryden Central School District and the Village of Dryden, in greater depth than the Ithaca Journal provided on either the school or the village....
Today's Ithaca Journal editorial praises Town Supervisor Steve Trumbull for improving relations with the fire companies and for the recent annexation of land to the Village for a DOT facility. There certainly does seem to be much less strife with the fire companies, though some of achieving that is reflected in this year's 31.8% tax levy increase and the things...
The Dryden Courier's March 10 issue leads with some difficult news about the Dryden Central School District's budget: mandates, inflation, health insurance, and retirement costs could inflict an 8.9% increase in in the budget (and larger increase in the tax levy), even with a zero increase in most budget lines and losing four teachers because of an expiring grant. The...
The March 10 issue of the Dryden Courier has an article on what last year's controversial audits have turned up. Tony Hall reports that Sciarabba, Walker and Company, LLP, have submitted complete audit reports for three of the four companies, the Neptune Hose Company of Dryden, the W.B Strong Company of Freeville, and the Varna Volunteer Fire Company. The firm...
Today's Dryden schools news comes from three different papers. The Ithaca Journal reports that the Dryden Central School District will include summer school funds in its budget, providing juniors and seniors who need to pass classes to graduate to take courses. The closing of TC3's summer school had left uncertainty about whether Dryden would participate in a new arrangement with...