Fact Finder Vol 3, Issue 9, Nov. 24, 2012

THE PORT HENRY FACT FINDER

Reporting the News and Needs of Port Henry and Vicinity

vol. 3, issue #9 November 24, 2012
This issue has been made possible by the generous support of the following:
Cheever Yacht Club, Fred & Randi Collins and Literacy Volunteers of Essex & Franklin Counties

NOTICES & EVENTS

Please note that three new meetings have been added to the Times and Places sheet at the end of the paper. The Town Board Meeting, the EDGe Meeting and the Moriah Chamber of Commerce. It is still vital that Port Henry villagers encourage and enjoy the uniqueness of our Village of Port Henry; however, we are a part of the Town of Moriah and, as such, share some governances and certainly many economic challenges, some of which could be solved to better advantage through a joint effort. Moriah's EDGe Committee has been working tirelessly to further their many projects. The Cheney Mountain hiking trail has been an amazing success. The Moriah Chamber of Commerce has always been the Chamber of Commerce for Port Henry and with its restructuring brings a new source of positive effort, not only for the Town, but for our village.

Port Henry, officially, now has a new furniture store, the Firefly, which opened this past weekend. The space itself is perfect, soft brown paneling from floor to ceiling with lovely big storefront windows to entice people to step inside. The furniture and room accessories are displayed appealingly, as they might be used in a home. It is a store inviting regular return visits, as stock will be changing frequently as floor items are sold. If a customer wants something specific which the Firefly does not have, owner's Danielle and Andy Brassard will bring their professional skills into play and try to obtain it for that customer. Store hours are: Wed.-Thurs. 1-4 pm; Fri.-Sat. 11 am-4 pm, Sun. 1-4 pm.

Champlain Best Wash will have its official opening this Saturday, November 24th from 10am-2pm. As a new business, a welcoming plaque from the Moriah Chamber of Commerce will be presented to them at this time, probably early on, if you wish to be there for this presentation.

Moriah Central School's Honor Society is sponsoring a Blood Drive on November 29th from 9am-3:30pm. Call Sue Nephew at 546-3301 to schedule an appointment. All donors will need ID.

The CP Rail Christmas Train will be making its annual stop in Port Henry on Friday, November 30th at 5:30 pm. Bring along a lot of non-perishable food donations which will be very appreciated by the Town of Moriah's Food Pantry.

Be sure to save Saturday, December 1st from 10am-3pm for the fun of Moriah Madness in Port Henry, sponsored by the Moriah Chamber or Commerce. The FUN will be generated by Penelope the Clown, a visit from Santa at the Lee House, rides on a Port Henry fire truck, music by Terry Collins and offerings by visiting merchants.

LIBRARY NOTES
Our Library's November flyer is filled with many important announcements. Fact Finder has excepted several of them to be sure those people who may not have read the flyer will be aware of its useful content.

Thanks to the generosity of the community, the library raised $4065. this year during its annual appeal. While the library does receive some funding from the Village of Port Henry and Town of Moriah, we still need this local community support to provide new books and continue our programs. If you like to listen to a book while commuting, check out our books on CD and for those who now use a digital format, e-books are available through CEF.

Betsy Brooks of the Clinton-Essex-Library system will be at the library on Thursday, November 29 at 6 pm to give a presentation on down-loading e-books from the CEF web-site. You may bring your own device with you.

The Libri Foundation, which is based in Eugene, Oregon, provides children's books to rural libraries through grants. A patron donated $150 to the library and the Libri Foundation matched the donation 2 to 1, allowing the library to receive $467 towards children's books. Now 28 new children's books are on our shelves. Also, a signed copy of the second Molly Lou Melon book, Have Fun Molly Lou Melon, has been donated to our library by its author. Stop by and check out these new children's books: Amanda Pig; First Grader; Anne Frank; Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones; The Case of the Left Handed Lady; Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride; Mr. Putter and Tabby Spill the Beans and the other 22.

A book discussion group meets on the third Thursday of each month at 6 pm. Books to be discussed are selected by the members. New members are always welcome to join the group. The Cat Who Came For Christmas by Cleveland Amory will be discussed on December 20th.

Library Director, Jackie Viestenz, and local writer, Frank Martin, have collaborated on a richly illustrated history of the Moriah and Port Henry area, Moriah and Port Henry in the Adirondacks. There are nine chapters including "New York's Iron Capital", "Downtown Port Henry Through the Decades", and "Moriah's Villages and the Company Towns of Mineville and Witherbee." The book is part of the "Images of America" series published by Arcadia Publishing and will be available in April of 2013 for $21.99. If you would like to reserve a copy, you may do so by contacting our Library.
With Christmas right around the corner, check out the library for the many books by local authors just waiting to become very special gifts for the very special people on your list. Titles such as: Christmas in Port Davis, An Adirondack Novel of the Sixties, The Golden Eagles, Karma in the High Peaks and other Adirondack Writings, The 21 Mine, Stuck on Twelve, Paper Girl: a Nostalgic Look at Port Henry during the 1950 and Poems from the Champlain Valley are some of the titles representing authors Dave Donahue, David Parkinson, Judith Dow Moore, Mary Anne Johnson, Jeffrey Kelly, Jean Arleen Breed and others.The next monthly book sale will be on Saturday, December 1st from 10 am to 2 pm.

VILLAGE BOARD NOTES

A heart felt Thank You from the Mayor, the Board and all of us in the village to our DPW crew for the caring donation of their time in seeing that Port Henry properly honored its fallen soldier with our country's flags along the path his body traveled as he entered his hometown to rest.

The Village received a notice from the NYS Department of State that Local Law No. 4 of 2012 - Unsafe Structure Law of the Village of Port Henry - was filed on October 5, 2012 and is in full force and effect. A copy of the law may be read or obtained at the Village Hall.

Mayor Guerin had spoken with Mike Diskin from Essex County, with regard to the 13 Spring Street property. This property is currently on the 2013 Tax Sale list. The sale is scheduled for June of 2013. If the Village demolishes the building, the cost incurred will not be refunded for another year. Mr. Diskin suggested that the Village board up the windows, clean up the property, secure the building, etc. and then re-levy the cost associated to do so on to the June 2013 property taxes.

The Village received a letter from the Sherman Free Library with regard to the need for excavation of the Library's foundation due to water seepage into the basement. The Village verbally agreed to provide the equipment and manpower, along with the Town, for the project. The Library will pay for the materials. This is a very important project, as the Library is, not only useful in its service to our community and an unusually beautiful building, it is one of our historic buildings and, as such, deserves a lot of TLC on all three points.

pH7 NOTES

At the last pH7 Committee meeting, we were discussing one of Port Henry's ongoing problems, the need for businesses to fill the vacant shop spaces on Main Street. Suddenly Bernadette asked, "Do you realize how many businesses here are owned and/or managed (or both) by women?" We began to count them and here is our quick and surprising list: George's Restaurant, Back to Health Chiropractic, Barber-Cooke Agency, Sunsations, Fashion Corner Bridal Boutique, Celotti's Wines and Spirits, Light Works Yoga and Reiki, the pharmacist at Moriah Pharmacy, managers at both Glens Falls National and TFCU, also Stewart's, Adirondack Hair Associates, and the new Firefly furniture store will be run primarily by Danielle Brasard. What do these facts prove? Probably one positive and one negative fact. The positive: women are perfectly capable of doing anything they want or need to do. The negative: in this economy it seems to require two incomes to keep a household afloat.

It was noted that Jackie, Louise and Linda emptied the planters for winter storage. As many plants as possible were saved for reuse next year and are being winter-stored by Decker's Flats.

This Christmas the pH7 Committee will be supporting our Fire Department's Women's Auxiliary in their Toys for Tots fund raising efforts. This year the Christmas Tree in the Oval will be a Memory Tree. Christmas Tree bulbs are available from now until Christmas Eve. They may be bought for $2.00, then the person's name being remembered is written on it and the Auxiliary will laminate it and hang it on the tree. For bulb locations and further information call Jennie Ball at 546-8627.

MAYBE WORTH THINKING ABOUT
For the over two years of its existence the Fact Finder has scrupulously avoided politics, feeling there are too many agendas, hidden and otherwise, on all sides, that to take any side would be negating our very Fact Finder name. However, that being said, I feel compelled to include a re-print of the article below, as it does not seem to express any particular party's sentiments but more those of the majority of the average, middle class American people and, as such, is worth thinking about.

Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling ...
"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "...

You just pass a law that says that any time there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election."
The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months and 8 days to be ratified! Why?
Simple! The people demanded it.
That was in 1971 - before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.
Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land - all because of public pressure. Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message.
This is one idea that really should be passed around.

Congressional Reform Act of 2012
1. No Tenure/No Pension
A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office.
2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.
Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 12/1/12.
The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career.
The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

TIMES AND PLACES

Please note below, the changes which have occurred since the last printing of this information sheet.

Village Board Meetings are held the second Monday of the month in the Village Hall conference room at 7:00pm. The public is encouraged to attend.

School Board Meetings are held the third Tuesday of the month in the Moriah Central School Library at 6:00pm. The public is encouraged to attend.

Town Board Meetings are held the second Thursday of the month at 6:00 pm at the new Court House Bldg. in Port Henry.  Port Henry is a village in the Town of Moriah and as such it benefits villagers to become knowledgeable of the Town workings as well as those of the Village.

The time of the newly structured Chamber of Commerce Meetings will be announced at a future date.

EDGe Meetings are held the second Wednesday of every month at 6:00 pm. at the new Court House Bldg. in Port Henry.

The Sherman Free Library is open five days a week: Tues.-Wed., 12-4pm; Thurs.-Fri., 12-7pm; Sat. 10-2pm. Its book sale is held the first Saturday of every month. A book discussion group meets the third Thursday of each month (except July and August). New members are always welcome. Call the library for information on the current book being discussed,

St. Patrick Catholic Church at 12 St. Patrick's Place holds daily masses at 8:30 am. Saturday mass at 4pm, Sunday's at 8:30am. Confessionals are Saturday 3-3:30 pm.

Mount Moriah Presbyterian Church, on the corner of Main and Church Sts. holds services Sundays at 10:30am in the Fellowship Hall, its winter location.

The Lake Champlain Bible Fellowship, on the corner of Church and Foote Sts. Holds Bible Worship 10:30-12N. Sunday School is held 9-10 am. For information on its Youth Ministry call 546-4200.

Don Foote's Miss Port Henry Diner is open for breakfast and lunch, Wed.-Sat., 6am-2pm and Sun., 6am-1pm.

The Golden Palace is open 11am-11pm.

George's Italian Restaurant is open Tues./Wed. 3-8pm; Thurs. 11am-8pm; Fri./Sat. 11am-9pm; Sun./Mon. 11am-8pm.

The King's Inn is open for dinner Wed.-Sun. 4:30-8:30pm or closing.

The Port Henry Fact Finder may be contacted at slovell@nycap.rr.com

Look for the next issue of the Fact Finder on Saturday, November 24h at Adirondack Hair Associates, Macs and Moriah Pharmacy; also you may find copies to read at the Sherman Free Library.